Friends...

I like friends. Not the tv show, but the real ones. On another note, I have a gift. It is the gift of launching into meaning of life discussions at the wrong time. Sorry brother. Maybe tomorrow.

Letters

I just talked to RPD. It is indeed against the law for people to have sex in their car in our parking lot at 2:50 in the afternoon. Good to know. That's not the blog topic but a free bit of wisdom for you lurkers out there who read.

I'm continuing my education. I had to fill out an application for a school, send transcripts, & write a personal essay, answering 4 questions. The questions, my answers:

1. Describe my salvation experience.
I believe it was around 1984, which would put me at roughly 3 years old. My family lived in Reno, Nevada at the time. I remember sitting on my parents bed, which was conveniently located in their bedroom. I was having a conversation with my mom about Jesus and what it meant to have Him come and live in Your heart. I decided it was something that I wanted to do. We prayed together & I went out & told my brothers what I had done. I can remember growing up & not necessarily taking ownership of my relationship with God through Jesus, but there came a point when I did. I realized that my parents weren’t responsible for my relationship with God around 6th grade. That didn’t necessarily change anything that I was or wasn’t doing at the time. I had a few moments here & there that you could say were wake up calls, or at least good reminders that this God thing or this “enemy” group were indeed real. With that being said, I believe me taking God seriously was a process that began in1984 & is still being worked out today.

2. Describe my Christian service experience over the last 5 years.
Is it service if it’s your job? Let’s say…yes. Going back to 2004…I was serving in the role of youth pastor & oversaw worship at The Fountainhead Foursquare church in Carson City, Nevada. Over the 3.5 years that I was employed there, I “served” in my area of responsibilities & also with things like: VBS, mission trips, & community outreach.
The past 2 years I’ve served at Hillside Foursquare Church in an administrative role. 6 months ago I began overseeing the worship ministry.

3. Describe my present stage of spiritual maturity
This is a loaded question. It’s “funny” that I’m asked to evaluate my spiritual maturity. I think I may be biased in my answer. When I think of spiritual maturity, a list of what I do & what I don’t do, runs through my brain. Thank you growing up in the church. Instead, I’m learning to look at a few things:
1- Am I consistent in my relationships with both God & people? I believe yes.
2- Am I able to resolve conflict? Usually, but still working on it.
3- Do I believe that you have to think or be like me, or am I threatened by “other opinions?” No.
I’m not sure where that would put my on the scale, but my mom says I’m a 10.

4. My perceived direction in ministry
I’ll be ordained by the Foursquare denomination on April 26, 2009. I don’t know for how long or it what capacity I’ll do my current job, but the plan is to continue doing what I’m doing. My current direction is continuing my education, which is the purpose of this application.

LA

I went to LA this last week. The purpose of the trip was to go hang out with a friend who teaches at a bible college. It happened to be preview day. Preview day is where the college invites mainly highschool juniors & seniors to come check out the school & they do their best to pimp the college. We, however, followed David around to his classes. There were three. Pentateuch, Biblical preaching, & a youth ministry class. I really liked sitting through the classes. It sounds dumb to say, but the classes were very academic. On one hand I wished I had the opportunity to go there & take these classes before I started "my min-uh-stray," but I'm grateful that I had a scholarship & was able to get a business degree. I'm going to begin distance learning/online courses from the school hopefully within the month. Yay learning. The students were pretty standard college students. A few paying attention, but then there are the disengaged, bored, etc. I can remember how I felt in many of my college classes. I think sometimes you only get perspective after the fact. I'm married, 1.5 kids, house, job, & responsibilities. Going to school the "traditional" way is unrealistic for me right now. But in some ways, I wish I could. Yay learning.
We went to chapel, or the campus church service. On the worship team was a guy named Caleb Quaye. Electric guitar player. Played with the beatles, Elton John & there are many more. The sad part...you couldn't hear him play over the clanging keyboard with piano sound. Oh well. He is a professor at the college. I'd like to take that class.
I got to sleep on the floor in Chumley's dorm room. I think the funniest part may have been watching Louie attempt to climb up to the top bunk. No ladder, just lovely awkwardness. We shared a bathroom with 4 other guys. OOR style bathroom on a smaller scale. Louie pointed out a wonder woman sticker on the inside of one of the stalls. Good choice.
The flight back was interesting. Lots of loud on the verge of drunk guys. I came to find later that there is a huge BBQ convention in town this weekend. That was them.

Conversations...

Another kid is on the way. It's official. I cannot deny it. I don't really want to deny it, but even if I did, I wouldn't. I drive a 1987 VW golf named Shirley. I used to drive a subaru wagon, which was pretty cool. We sold it & the explorer in order to get a nicer, safer, newer car for Jessica & baby todd. Enter the Pilot. Jessica loves it & I have no complaints. Shirley was my replacement. Shirley is great. She is old, but is barely broken in. 30,000 miles, all original & I even have the dealer's sticker in the glovebox. She's a smaller car & with baby todd, it's tight, in the cramped way. A few months back, Jessica had to drive the car one night. A large truck pulled up next to her & a few things came to her mind: 1- Shirley is tiny. 2- Shirley does not have airbags, child safety locks (for the carseat), side impact door beams, etc... She told me she liked the car but thought that I should get/deserve a "newer" car that is safer. I somewhat agreed. I'd like to keep her, but I need the money for a down payment. After much talk, I listed Shirley on a VW website for $5000. Sounds crazy, right? This is the car that Isaiah S. laughs at & tells me that my car is "funny." Not a good thing to be called funny by Isaiah... Less than 2 hours on the site I was contacted. The guy is interested. Hopefully it sells.

Anyway, I've been looking at Shawn's favorite website...craigslist. Everyday, 3 times a day, to see what cars are out there & how much $$$ I'd have to spend to get one. I like looking but haven't found "the car."

Here is a list of cars that I've seen & liked = I would buy them & drive them:
Toyota FJ Cruiser, 4runner, newer Rav4, highlander, Tundra
VW Passat wagon, toureg, Jetta
Honda Pilot, newer CRV
Ford F150, F250 diesel

I was looking today & saw a BMW that was sweet. AWD, leather, power everything, low miles. You get the picture. I was talking to someone today who came in to pick up their child up from the preschool & I told them about the car. We got talking. They smiled, laughed & said, dude if you roll up here in a BMW, there would be people who'd throw a fit. I was intrigued. A few things that we discussed:
-Their father (not a pastor or church employee) experienced something similar with people when he bought a Mercedes. A Mercedes that was cheaper than a new Kia. He sold the car after a year.
-It doesn't matter how much it costs, it's a BMW & that means something to people
-People would gossip & be pissed that a "pastor" drove a BMW, thinking "that's where my tithe is going" & other misc negative thoughts

This kind've blindsided me a bit. I say kind've because I've heard similar stories of pastors & how people have reacted to their cars/houses/clothes/hot tubs/anything that is nice. I know of pastors who have gone out of their way to live an impoverished lifestyle in order to avoid this conflict. Are there expectations that pastors/church employees shouldn't drive nice cars? Live in nice houses? Have nice things? Are my personal finances & how my family chooses to spend money under scrutiny because we are paid by a church/out of the tithe?

What would be insinuated by the gossip, the looks, the thoughts? That somehow I'd done something wrong? Are we serious? Are these expectations real? What are your thoughts?