10.24.2004

Reflections on a Willow Creek Conference

First, I should note that, contrary to some rumors that have been circulating, I am neither dead nor apathetic toward my beloved blog; I have merely been working like a legalist to get caught up from having taken pretty much four days off of any homework to go to the preaching/teaching conference at Willow Creek Community Church.

Second, I want to answer a few of the comments posted where I announced that I was going on the conference:

  • Yes, I want to become a pastor of some sort; I feel extremely led to preach (and have been blessed to have been given opportunities to do it a couple times at my college ministry).
  • What I think about Willow Creek is something that I may take up in a future post. My impression was largely favorable, but I feel I need more time to reflect on the church as a whole before I write something one way or another.

Those things taken care of, I mainly want to write about something that has seemingly been coming up in various aspects of my life, and was one of the main ideas of the conference: the idea of striving for excellence in what we are called to do.

I personally have been a little hesitant to want to be a great preacher because there seems to be something egocentric about that. I now have a slightly different approach to this idea: a desire for people to think that I am a great preacher is egocentric; a desire to be the preacher God wants me to be (which entails my striving for the upper boundaries of the abilities He has given me) is not egocentric, but fulfilling my calling. In the Bible, Paul exhorts Timothy to be devoted to growing in his preaching because the salvation of people is at stake therein, for preaching is proclaiming the Word of God.

Also, I have been starting to read Rick Howard's and Jamie Lash's This was your Life, which deals with the Judgment Seat of Christ (see also Hebrews 6 on this subject), where believers will be asked to give an account of what they have built on the foundation of their salvation through Christ. The book challenges Christians to bust their butts for Christ here on earth--not for salvation (that is completely accomplished through faith in Jesus Christ by grace), but to accomplish the work for which God saved us to enable us to do.

So, what have I learned? First of all, I really see the great need in my life to be disciplined. I have struggled this entire semester with procrastination. Although I have finished all the work I needed to, I have been crippled from accomplishing more than the bare minimum to do well in my classes, which barely covers the sort of ministry God has called me to right now. Thus, I am shortchanging myself, those with whom I interact, and God (although I'm not quite sure if it is possible to shortchange the self-sustaining God of the universe, but I'm sure that you know what I mean). So, without becoming a workaholic, I am trying to manage my time a little bit better (which has gone pretty well this week--we'll see about next week).

Second, I have had to repent of a certain fatalistic outlook where I have not worked as hard as I could, thinking that God will still accomplish what He wants to accomplish no matter what I do, which coincidentally (or is it?) is a point about which D.A. Carson wrote in today's reading in For the Love of God, Vol. 2 in regard to Daniel 9:

When Daniel becomes aware from Scripture just when the close of the exile would take place, far from resting and waiting for the promises to come true, he prays for such fulfillment. The peculiar dynamic between God's sovereignty and human responsibility in the Bible never retreats to fatalism. The promises of God are incentives to intercession.

That's probably enough for now, but I'll keep you posted on what God is teaching me about all of this.

4 comments:

Lindsey said...

Well Jacob, if it encourages you at all, I think many of the great preachers wore knickers (Jonathan Edwards and John Bunyan come to mind).

Second, how is it that you feel "led" to preach? I understand the phrasing in theory and as our Christian culture would define being led to do something, and I'm not trying to disagree with you. But I'm always curious what people mean behind the phrase "being led" which could be said to be a catchphrase of churchspeak that keeps people from questioning motives.

andrew said...

Jacob,
The clarity with which you write is mind-boggling (yes, I'm aware of the irony of that statement.) Keep it coming (when you have time of course.)

Jacob said...

Lindsey--
First, I probably won't wear knickers while I'm preaching--at least, not often. I suppose that it wouldn't hurt every once in a while.

Second, by feeling "led" I mean that I sense that this is where God is guiding me; I can't justify in my mind doing anything else (i.e., I think that I would feel guilty if I did something else), I can see that God has given me certain abilities that would be conducive to being a pastor, and because of these and a lot of other reasons, I don't think that I particularly want to do something else.

I wasn't always like this. I never considered being a pastor, but God changed my desires away from the myriad of other careers I considered.

On whether "led" is a figure of churchspeak, I suppose that it is. Still, so are the words "justification," "sanctification," and "glorification"--all words that are nuanced in an important way, and all words for which there is no "worldspeak" word. I don't really know another way to communicate the unique and supernatural way that God guides Christians through their lives.

I do see the danger in trying to quelch disagreement by using Christian words finished in a God-told-me-this-and-you-can't-say-anything-differently sentiment. Although I understand that you weren't trying to challenge what I was saying, I hope that you would challenge anything that I say that doesn't square with something in Scripture, even if I claim that it came from God. Actually, even after I first sensed that I was going to end up as some form of pastor, I have tried to decide that I would do lots of other things (computer programmer, politician, pundit, parliamentarian), and God always convicted my heart of its rebellion against what He has given me to do and brought me back to the idea. I can't say that God works the same in everyone else's life, but that's how it has worked for me.

(I hope that everything I wrote made sense!)

Lindsey said...

Yes it did, and thank you for taking the time to answer my queries. As Andrew said, you have a way of writing/speaking with great clarity which can only be a boost to any pastoral career you consider (and if you check Bethany's website, you'll see that you needn't attend seminary for ordination, you can get it right now!) I was pleased to see that you weren't defensive as many have been when I've asked similar questions of "and how did the Spirit tell you this ...?" and that might as well be chalked up to maturity and vast intellect. And usually, behind every great pastor is a great woman, so now is your opportunity to find one (they can generally be found at the casserole/crockpot table at the next church potluck). All humor aside, pursuing the pastorate is very serious business with very serious ramifications, so best of luck to you. Giving your life to church ministry is something I wouldn't wish upon everybody, as it is a high price to pay, though I think it is well worth it.