The Process

I grew up in Tuscaloosa so I'm a big Alabama football fan.  Coach Nick Saban has been the coach for over a decade and we have seen 5 football national championships.   Coach Saban is known for "THE PROCESS."  He got the process from Dr. Kevin Elko.  The process doesn't look for wins or losses but to become the best person or team you can be.  The idea is if you follow the process the wins will follow. 

I wrote yesterday about being bored vocationally.  The good news is it has given me a lot of time to work on my D.Min classes.  The other benefit is it has molded me.   I always am moving and going.  I've had to just wait.  I don't like to wait.  I like control.  There, I said it.  I like to control my own destiny.  But for the first time in my life I have no resumes out.  I am talking to no churches or organizations.  I'm just being.  I don't pretend to understand what is going on.  I guess I need to focus on being the best me I can be.   I need to work the process.

Huh?

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. To be honest, my previous stint blogging became burdensome. I was very active in my former denomination's reform efforts. In retrospect I'm not sure it was worth the effort. 

For the last 5 1/2 years I have been on mission as a workplace chaplain & manager in Birmingham, AL. We attended several churches from my former denomination and for various reasons never fit in. It was a little frustrating. Finally, to my hesitation, we visited a multiple-site non-denominational church. However, we ended up loving it & have gotten very involved.

I always thought God was calling me to lead a cutting edge church that reached the unchurched. But I don't know if I had the skill set to do it. It is so refreshing to be involved in a church that is reaching the unchurched without compromising the Bible. 

I think I finally found what I was meant to do. As a church staff member I always looked for opportunities to interact with the unchurched. I would hang out at Starbucks, go to health clubs & just try to meet my neighbors. But, the pastor tag always seemed to put up a wall between me & those I wanted to influence. But God in His wisdom gave me a new platform. Every day, I get to hang out with people who would never set foot in church. I have built relationships with these people. We are friends. I would never talk about what I have encountered because of confidentiality.  But, needless to say I get to hang out with all of the people whom I attempted to hang out with as a church staff member. This isn't a criticism of churches, but just an observation that I get to do everything that I went to Seminary to do through the workplace. 

I'm not going to make promises that I will update this every day or even every week. I really could care less about how many people read this.  I'm excited about what God is doing in my life & that I get to be a part of a great workplace mission field & a mission minded church.