27 Mar Jane Seely Celebrates the Big _0

Jane Seely, our newest employee, yesterday celebrated a significant birthday ending in a 0, and thereby merited a desk adorned with numerous black balloons, not to mention a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her husband.

And then there was the visit from her brother, Mike Caley, who made a surprise visit from Michigan. Mike is senior pastor of Banner of Christ UB church in Byron Center, Mich. He was in town for a meeting at Huntington University.

We all gathered in the break room and sang “Happy Birthday” to Jane. Then Mike, in a manner reminiscent of Tim Conway, doddered into the room wearing an old hat and overcoat.  He was hunched over a wooden cane, carrying a package and muttering about being old, terribly old.

So that was fun.

25 Mar Update: Darlene Burkett

Darlene Burkett came home from the hospital Saturday, March 21, having undergone extensive back surgery the previous Tuesday. She is expected to be out of the Global Ministries office for at least another three weeks.

24 Mar 33 Travel to Israel

Denny Miller, pastor of Emmanuel Community Church, returned a few days ago from a trip to Israel. Altogether, 33 people went, including UB ministers Kent Maxwell and Howard Cherry.

20 Mar Emerging Adulthood

Keith Drury, a professor and former Wesleyan denominational official who now teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University, publishes a thought-provoking column every Tuesday. It often spotlights new trends in the church.

In his most recent column, Drury discusses what he calls “emerging adulthood.” It’s about the trend for young people to not “settle down” until they age 30 or later. Perhaps you’ve noticed this in your church–twentysomethings who haven’t committed to marriage, a job, or even the church.

Drury describes the characteristics of these young people and the implications for the church. It’s really quite fascinating. In the future, he says, this age-group will be the “new youth ministry.”

18 Mar Update on Darlene Burkett’s Surgery

Phil Burkett called earlier this morning to let us know about Darlene’s surgery yesterday. He spoke to Jeff Bleijerveld, and Jeff passed along this information: “Darlene came through just fine and all went as planned. The operation was four and a half hours long and they installed 2 rods, 2 wedges and 10 screws. She’ll be in Lutheran Hospital on the third floor of the musculoskeletal wing for the next three to four days.” Jeff adds, “We expect she will be out of the office for at least a month.” 

16 Mar Darlene Burkett Readies for Surgery

Global Ministries is bracing for the absence of Darlene Burkett, their hard-working, multi-tasking, highly organized administrative assistant. Tomorrow, March 17, she undergoes serious back surgery at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind.

The operation is scheduled for 1 p.m., and might last up to four hours. Darlene will then be out of the office for at least several weeks. There may be some conflict between when she wants to come back (sooner) and when doctors say she can come back (later). We’ll see.

Darlene has endured back pain for several years. Please remember Darlene in your prayers–that the surgery will be successful, and the pain will come to an end.

On a positive note: a big congratulations to Phil Burkett, Darlene’s husband, who is Minister of Worship at College Park Church in Huntington, Ind. This weekend, Phil was notified that he can add the title “Dr.” to his name (the Dr. Phil jokes began a long time ago). He received his Doctorate of Worship Studies from the Institute of Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Fla. (founded by Robert Webber). In the coming weeks, Doctor Burkett will spend a lot of time taking care of his convalescing wife.

12 Mar Comments Link

On the right side, just below the XLR8 logo, you’ll see a new heading: “Recent Comments.” People sometimes comment on articles that have been posted for a while. The most recent comments appear at the top, regardless of how old the original article is.

Only ten comments are listed on the side, but there is a link to show all comments posted to this blog since we redesigned it last May.

10 Mar Breakfast with Dr. David Jeremiah

Dr. David Jeremiah is having a pastors’ breakfast in conjunction with an appearance in South Bend, Ind., on Thursday, April 2. Perhaps you’re interested. Here’s the description:

All pastors are in need of encouragement and replenishment. Having shepherded a church for more than thirty years, no one knows this better than David Jeremiah. His desire is to build you up and minister to you, so that you might go back to your congregation with a renewed desire to share the Word of God with strength and conviction.

This breakfast will be held at the College Football Hall of Fame.

06 Mar The Berry Bucket Analogy

In a seminar on Church Consultanting, I learned a concept that I found to be very helpful. You may have heard the Berry Bucket analogy before. You have four buckets of berries in your church.

1. The Older Former Berries (those who are older than the pastor and were there when he arrived).
2. The Younger Former Berries (those who are younger than the pastor and were there when he came).
3. The Older New Berries (those older than the pastor but came since the pastor).
4. The Younger New Berries (those younger than the pastor and have come since the pastor).

The Older Former Berries usually want the pastor to be a chaplain. The Younger Former Berries are mostly related to the Older Former Berries and are the “yes but” people. The Older New Berries are on board with the direction of the pastor and they bring some wisdom to the discussion. The Younger New Berries are the “Let’s Go” people.

The former berries can never get heavier. So a great deal of the pastor’s time is reaching and training new berries. And the closer you get to equilibrium, where the new berries equal in number the former berries, the level of conflict increases. You must count all four groups and help them know each other. And there should be a time in one’s ministry where the new berries outweigh the old berries. That, of course, requires reaching new people for Christ.

I found this very helpful when trying to transition Mainsteet Church to be an outward -ocused church whose purpose was to “See Everyone Become a Fully Devoted Follower of Jesus Christ.” How you treat each group is extremely important to the health of the church in transition.

If there are just a few new berries, it’s more difficult to make a significant transition. Some former berries may get on board with transition, but the greatest momentum in the transition will come when there are new berries. Hopefully a good percentage of new berries are people who have recently come to Christ and are being discipled.

04 Mar When Relationships Trump Spiritual Health

Two days ago, I mentioned some things Bishop Ron Ramsey and I have learned during the past four years. Here is one more: People value historic relationships over spiritual health.

In a number of churches, one or two individuals or families use gossip, slander, or position to either attack the leadership or cause division in the church. Rather than stand up and address the sinful actions of these folks, the people tolerate the sin and watch to see how long the pastor can survive it.

My question is, “Why do you tolerate this?”

The church is unhealthy because cancer is ignored or tolerated. The Body, not just the pastor, must be willing to stand up.

Jesus’ desires for his Church should take precedence over how long someone has been in a church or what your personal relationship has been with them if they are acting ungodly. Scripture says to warn a divisive person once, warn them a second time, and then have nothing to do with them (Titus 3:10). Where people have stopped tolerating such actions, freedom and blessing have come.