Parting Ways

I grew up in my faith in many ways in the Calvary Chapel movement. I have served as a volunteer and minister, and most recently as a lead pastor within the movement since about 1997. It has been a wonderful environment to learn in. I learned that “you’re qualified because you’re called, not called because you’re qualified.” I found inspiration to step out in faith and see what God may want to do. I learned that structure and plans are good, but many times, God may want to deviate from those plans… and that’s OK. Pastor Chuck Smith has been a huge inspiration in this regard, saying many times, “blessed are the flexible for they will not be broken.”

There are soooo many wonderful memories and lessons that I have had the privilege of looking back on since being a part of the Calvary Chapel movement. Yet, as amazing as it has been, I feel the leading and inspiration to step out in a new venture of faith. This means I will be moving away from the Calvary Chapel movement as a pastor and ministry. There are many reasons to stay and also many reasons to leave, so I’d like to share a couple of the latter with you.

Goodbye SMP!

As some of you know (or don’t know) I have had the amazing privilege of posting and participating on a blog called Simplemindedpreacher. I discovered this blog while feeling utterly disconnected and alone in ministry and in my movement, Calvary Chapel. I was 6 months or so into pastoring our church and it was a rude awakening on may levels. I began to see things that I had never seen while in the movement for 10+ years. I started worrying and looking for answers or others who may feel similar to me… Alone, confused, concerned and very disconnected from anyone else. Enter the SMP…

Transition Announcecment…

Hi Everyone… To all those masses that read this blog (OK, no need for sarcasm). I have been thinking about the direction of this blog and feel that it’s time for a change. I am thinking that it is just too close to what Chad is doing over at SMP (www.simplemindedpreacher.com) and considering that I participate a lot over there I just don’t see why I would want to duplicate the effort. So…

This will be transitioning into a place for community to take place surrounding the different topics we cover each week at the church I pastor. I will also post different “news and reviews” on things that I come across like articles or books and various other items of conversation.

The hope is that it acts as a place to really get to provide feedback and discussion around these things, as well as offering information that may (or may not) be appreciated. All in all, I hope it’s place that encourages making connections.

The Race… (Part 1)

O.K. here’s the deal… I am a huge race fan. My favorites are Formula 1, IndyCar/Champ Car, American LeMans and sometimes GrandAm. Sorry to all of the NASCAR fans, I just can’t get into it. But here’s the scoop…

I am always amazed when watching a race at how many variables go into whether someone will even finish, let alone take the prize. There are so many things that go into it that it requires a whole team of people countless hours of thinking and preparing for the 2 or 3 hours of actual race time. Sure some things “just happen,” call it bad luck or divine intervention. But when I look at some of the variables that are controllable I am immediately reminded of the race that I am in. The Apostle Paul put it this way…

What is a Movement?

Calvary Chapel is not a denomination. In fact, our Statement of Faith reads, “We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only to their over-emphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the Body of Christ.” To better describe what we are about as a whole we have decided to refer to ourselves as a movement. But what is a movement? What does it mean to be a movement? I found this definition on the web through Google:

A group of people with a common ideology who try together to achieve certain general goals.

While it may not instantaneously settle in your head exactly what that means in the context of Calvary Chapel, it certainly starts leading us in the right direction. Instead of “a common ideology“ we might choose to say a common theology. And while this may be somewhat oversimplifying I think it touches on the main point. Our Statement of Faith then goes on to describe what that theology looks like in the context of every day application at the local church.