The Illumination Dilemma

The End

2012-01-03T09:41:00.000-05:00

A new year and time for a new era in the life of the illumination dilemma. The ID is changing platforms and can now be read and enjoyed over at:

http://theilluminationdilemma.com/

The Old ID will remain here and always be available as an archive. I'm sure I will be linking back to it from time to time. But please make sure you update whatever it is you use to follow (browser favorites, RRS feed, etc).

Thank you so much to all my faithful followers/readers...it's been a fun 5 years with blogger, but time to move on and hopefully expand!

Top_5_Lists! (2011)

2012-01-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Here they are! (see also 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

Songs

1) Father Along: Josh Garrels
I needed this song in my life this year. 2011 was hard. This song spoke life back into my soul. Simple as that...killer lyric Still I get hard pressed on every side//Between the rock and a compromise//Like the truth and pack of lies fightin' for my soul//And I've got no place left go
2) Holocene: Bon Iver
We saw Bon Iver for the first time this year. SO good. Justin Vernon has the ability to instantly transform your mood, take you somewhere, and break your heart with the first two chords of a song...killer lyric say nothing, that's enough for me//and at once I knew that I was not magnificent
3) Poison and Wine: The Civil Wars
I remember sitting in the cafeteria at UMASS this year reading the student newspaper when I stumbled upon an article about a concert the reporter had been to doing an article on Cafe 939 (cool little spot near the hotel REUNION meets in). They had seen an "up and coming new folk duo from Nashville." I looked at the photo and said: "that sure looks like Joy Williams." Turns out it was...crazy to see this old Mount Hermon connection blow up this year: Leno, awards shows, album of the year lists, and even 2 grammy's for Joy and John Paul (and it gets bigger). This song is incredible has one of the best turns in any song you will ever here...look for it right after the first chorus...killer lyric your hands can heal, your hands can bruise//I don't have a choice, but I still choose you
4) Timestretch: Bassnectar
2011, the year of dubstep. I was introduced to the phenomenon by a Berklee student on our spring break trip and I couldn't stop listening for months. This is my favorite Bassnectar track by far...killer lyric no need for lyrics, just feel that bass!
5) One Last Thing: Angels&Airwaves
I loved this band when they started...their first album blew my mind. It's been a slow decline in quality and interest since then. They released their fourth album this year (Love, Part II) and overall it's my least favorite of the four. This song, though, sounds exactly like what it is trying to say...the world is full of stuff that kills hope and belief but hope is not impossible. And it's better. And this song sounds like hope. Can't stop listening to it...killer lyric (the whole song really) I try to rest, but it starts to hurt//Living here is a lot of work//but I found, one last thing, to believe in

Books (required reading)

1) To Change the World by James Davison Hunter
I wrote about this briefly right after I finished the book. I don't have much more to add now. One of the most thought-provoking and challenging books I have ever read. Please read it so we can chat about it!
2) One.Life by Scot McKnight
Another book I posted about upon finishing. This book has quickly elevated itself as a must read for our leaders, students, and anyone who wants a primer on the language and theology of REUNION and Sojourn. Best book on discipleship available right now.
3) The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
Any regular readers know I love Peterson. It was fun to read this memoir and see the marks of his other writings present through his life story. So many great moments, here's just one: "Story is a way of language in which everything and everyone is organically related. Story is a language that insists that persons cannot be known by reducing them to what they do, how they perform, the way they look. Story uses language in which listening has joint billing with speaking. Story is language put to the use of discovering patterns and meanings--beauty and truth and goodness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the seemingly random and disconnected pieces of experience and dreams, tasks and songs, promises and betrayals that make up daily life, words and sentences detect and reveal and fashion stories in places of hospitality." Thank you Eugene for this, for your commitment to and advocacy of the pastorate, for your writing about story, and for so much more.
4) From Wild Man to Wise Man by Richard Rohr
I appreciate a lot of what Father Richard Rohr has to say and so as I've done much reading on maleness, gender, and spirituality I was excited to check this book out. And not disappointed. His chapter on the three men in Luke 6 is worth the price of the book.
5) College Ministry in a Post-Christian Culture by Stephen Lutz
One of my staff partners read this and said, "If I didn't know better I would have thought you and Tim wrote this book." Thanks Bob, that's high praise. A big thanks to Stephen Lutz for writing this book: it describes what we do and why we do it in one handy place. We will be reading this with our student leaders this spring.
Honorable Mentions: Insurrection, The Meaning of Marriage, The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything, The King Jesus Gospel, The Faith of Leap, The Homiletical Plot, Quitter, The Great Emergence, Love Wins

Books (non-required reading)

1) Open
As far as autobiographies go this is storytelling at its finest. Andre had some help (JR Moehringer who wrote The Tender Bar), but who cares? An incredible story of redemption, marriage, and what it means to give your life away.
2) Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me
If you aren't at least a little intrigued by this title than you hate books. Good writing, funny stories, and a lot of grace through difficult experiences. Ian Cron does an incredible job unpacking some sensational stuff in a beautiful and compelling way.
3) I Am Ozzy
Quite possibly the exact opposite of Open on first glance, but extremely similar for this reason: strong second marriages saved their lives. If you don't mind f-bombs and a little craziness check out Ozzy's story. You will not forget it soon.
4) A Band of Misfits
COME ON I HAD TO PUT THIS ONE IN HERE!!!
5) The Millennium Trilogy
I finally took the plunge to see what all the hype was about. These books are crazy, violent, disturbing, but also the best page-turners I've read in a long time. Totally worth the week it will take to read through all three!
Honorable Mentions: Manning Up, Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders, How the Mighty Fall

New Feature: Top 5 Posts of 2011

1) 64659
Even though this one is recent it makes it into the top spot. We have grown a ton as a ministry this year and I think this post reflects some of that fruit. Grown not just in numbers, but in depth, clarity, and direction. I can't wait to see what 2012 holds for Sojourn.
2) 61259/61559
These were the top 2 most read posts on the Illumination Dilemma in 2011. Only serves to highlight what a big transition my family has been through this year. Once again, well done Mom and Dad...I so admire your grace and faithfulness even when it's been hard.
3) 63259
The writing in this post is my personal favorite from the year. I am learning in all kinds of new and interesting (and hard and difficult) ways what it really means to live by a "hermeneutic of sacrifice."
4) 58659/59359
A couple of reflections on getting older. 'Layers' is another reflection post that continues to be a major life theme even months later.
5) 62559
This post sums up a series I did on Sojourn: the what and why behind our ministry. Always good revisit this stuff.

The End...Happy New Year!!!

64859

2011-12-23T15:19:00.002-05:00

Merry_Christmas

Taking a cue from my sister and sending out our "christmas card" via blog post. So, Merry Christmas from the Boutry's!

Next post will be the last of 2011: Top_5_Lists will be out next Saturday.

Also, look forward to 2012! New format is coming, plus a goal of posting monday through friday. Get excited =)

64759

2011-12-19T16:36:00.000-05:00

Killer_Quote_of_the_Day

"To love is to suffer...and that's probably why we generally don't do it well. Unwillingness to venture, plus a desire to be safe, holds us back from love. To be sure, most of us do have a vision of what makes a good life, and as believers we know that it involves growing in the love of God. What we seem to lack, however, is the will to attain to this good life of love. Most of us prefer to skip over the pain and the discipline, to find some easy, off-the-shelf ways to sainthood. Christian self-help spiritualities are a classic dodge of the real issues and manifestly do not produce maturity. We do well to be reminded of the cost of shortcuts in Carl Jung's penetrating statement, 'Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.'"

- Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in

The Faith of Leap

64659

2011-12-13T12:26:00.001-05:00

Better_Stories

The past week has been spent with three of our core campus groups (Northeastern, UMASS-Boston, and Boston University), as they wrap up their semesters. What an incredible group of students we have! Diverse and eclectic in every way (personality, culture, background, etc) they have come together to tell great Jesus stories in Boston. Here's a shot of each group and the story they are telling:

Northeastern...

I think NEU is telling an "integration" story. They have a unique model where students spend at least two semesters on "co-op"...an opportunity where they get to work and learn in their field while they are undergrads. Co-ops are super important, students stress out over them, and some even find their first "real" jobs through these internships. The idea flows out of the culture of the school: learning happens been in practice. I see these students really working to integrate their studies, their work experience, and their faith in Jesus. It is a beautiful story.

UMB...

I have watched our UMB students tell a "multi-cultural" story. Multi-cultural because we quite literally have students from all over the world in our community: Brazil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and even India! We also have multi-cultural "native" students (Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, etc). That's pretty amazing all by itself, but I actually think the true multi-cultural story comes from the ways these students seamlessly flow in and out of various communities and centers on campus. We never have to encourage UMB students to get outside the Sojourn "box". They just do it. They cross all kind of boundaries and build all sorts of bridges and they do it effortlessly. This is also a beautiful story.

No other campus lives my favorite Donald Miller quote quite the way that BU does. (The quote, just in case, is We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us that life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story). BU is about as hedonistic, individualistic, and nihilistic as you can get. It takes great courage as a student to insist that life means something, that community is possible, that there are better ways to live. They are telling a story of "meaning" and it too is a beautiful thing to watch.

Well done!

64559

2011-12-03T10:43:00.001-05:00

advent_appreciation

final leadership community of the semester...an opportunity to thank and appreciate all the leaders who have worked so hard all semester. played some minute-to-win-it games, spent time celebrating stories, and had a lot of space to talk and laugh and just be together. great times! really love the students we get to work with and i'm deeply impressed with their courage as they tell great stories around out city.

64459

2011-11-28T16:00:00.001-05:00

the_team

pics from saturday night's sojourn team get-together. awesome to have the team from providence for the festivities. continue to thank God daily for this group of people, the families and couples represented, and the community they have provided for amy and i here in boston. love these men and women!

64359

2011-11-28T15:53:00.001-05:00

new_additions

amy and i have been revamping our living room. we added the chair on the left last night, so that we can have his and hers wing-back reading chairs! we also picked up the chest so that we (finally) have a coffee table type thing so folks don't have to set their glasses on the floor any more. feels a little more homey now.

64259

2011-11-24T19:14:00.001-05:00

giving_thanks

grateful for many, many things today (including but not limited to these pies). actually it's been a crazy year with many ups and downs, but in all of it so much to be grateful for. so, time to give much thanks for it all.

64159

2011-11-18T11:13:00.001-05:00

action

here are some of our UMB students in our "office" space on campus which happens to be right out in the open with all the other campus organizations. it is a great place to be and wonderful conversations and life happen right here. i appreciate our students so much for being present and for being fully "in" at school. love these kids!

64059

2011-11-15T19:36:00.001-05:00

appreciation

amy and i took andre and aleyda to providence on saturday to see rob bell. andre and aleyda have been super instrumental as student leaders for our community at umass-boston. saturday was a good time to appreciate and honor them for their hard work this semester. we had an awesome time and rob blew our minds!

63959

2011-11-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

after_sunday

what a strange weekend it's been for the boutry's. amy and i had our world's rocked on friday (perhaps more about that in a future post). bottom line: it was really unexpected and hard. and yet, life doesn't stop...we both had significant assignments: amy helped lead and teach at Sojourn's women's retreat and steve taught at REUNION on sunday morning. both went well and were really good to be invested in, even in the middle of pain.

two thoughts come out of that: one is, we are so glad for our friends and community who walked with us through this weekend. the other is that giving yourself away, even when it would be easy (and excusable) to think about yourself and your problems is helpful and healing. probably in more ways than i realize right now.

so, thank you to our friends and family for being there for us this weekend.

63859

2011-10-30T20:54:00.000-04:00

read_retreat_serve

i love our ReadRetreatServe experience. once a semester we do a mash up of the typical campus ministry retreat/service project in a way that is disruptive, refreshing, and challenging. i've written about our fall/Halloween/salem experience here and here, so i won't go in to the logistics of what we do. what i will say is this: one, it's fun to see how this experience has grown over the past three years. more importantly, we have an AWESOME group of students this year. i am continually amazed at their depth of insight, their level of maturity, and, this weekend especially, their courage, their servant posture, and their flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances (and weather). i am so proud of them and honored to work alongside them on campuses and in neighborhoods around our city.

63759

2011-10-23T18:59:00.001-04:00

open_mic

we held our first ever open mic night on friday in an event titled: perform*. there is a ridiculous amount of talent in and around our community, so it was fun to watch that blossom. the night was also a success in that it brought attention to and raised some money for Amirah House. Amirah Boston is doing some good work and i'm stoked we were able to bless them in some way.

63659

2011-10-18T17:09:00.001-04:00

fun_with_photos

some edited pics from our trip this weekend to ludington, mi and chicago, il.

enjoy!

63559

2011-10-17T16:23:00.000-04:00

leadership_network

as i said last week, sojourn was selected to join leadership network's first University Leadership Community. we gathered with 8 innovative ministries to spend three days learning from one another and moving towards some goals for the future. interesting, challenging, and affirming all at the same time. this community last 18 months so still a long time to see what comes, but a good start!

63459

2011-10-10T11:10:00.001-04:00

Quick_Hits

Just a couple of thoughts at the beginning of another full week. I have two exciting happenings to report on.

1) I am going to start shifting more of my time and attention towards Boston University. I am definitely excited to "come back" in some ways to where I started with Sojourn. I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on campus last Friday. I had lunch with some of Sojourn's students, then I spoke at InterVarsity's large group gathering that night. Both got me excited to spend more time with students on this campus which is a lot different from UMB!

2) Sojourn has been selected to take part in the Leadership Network's first University Leadership Community (scroll 2/3 of the way down to read about "University Ministry - New Approaches"). This is an affirming and humbling opportunity for us. Affirming in that we were selected as one of the most innovative collegiate ministries in the country. Humbling because we still have a ton to learn, are a young organization, and it feels like we are a long way from being "experts" on any of this. I leave Wednesday morning to be a part of the first round of conversations between ourselves and 8 other ministries. Can't wait to write more about this experience, and to see the ways God uses this to challenge, grow, and sharpen us.

63359

2011-10-01T14:59:00.001-04:00

leadership_community

first gathering of our entire leadership team (sojourn wide) to celebrate all that has happened over the first four weeks. lots of laughing, spontaneous applause, story telling, and marveling at the people God has brought our way so far this year. i am amazed at the energy, quality, and commitment of the students we have leading with us. what a great group!

63259

2011-09-26T16:47:00.000-04:00

Monday_Reflections: New_Is_Better

Amy and I enjoy the show "How I Met Your Mother". (For those not familiar with the show, it's a sort of "Friends" for millennials). One of the main characters is an extreme philanderer named Barney. Barney is prone to outlandish statements and proclamations of ridiculous rules that explain the world from his perspective. One of his favorite sayings is "new is always better." (I try to invoke this rule with my wife when I get tempted to buy some new piece of technology...it doesn't really work).

A few weeks ago someone was telling me about a situation he was dealing with. Another someone had a brand new "theological" insight regarding a controversial issue within the church.

As I was listening my intellectual side was tracking with the argument...even though it was new, it kind of made sense, and I could follow the logic (to a degree) that had led to the conclusion.

But something didn't sit well with me.

I couldn't figure it out for a while, and I felt like the only response I had was "well that's wrong," or "we don't do it that way." The issue came up again recently in a conversation about the passage in Luke on new and old wine skins.

Admittedly, I gravitate towards the new most of the time. I like new ideas, new gadgets, new books, new music, etc.

But the rhetoric that goes along with new (i.e. progressive) ideas is often one of convenience. As in: how convenient that you found this new idea that justifies your world view, that's awesome!

But convenience is never the path that Jesus took, and that is ultimately what didn't sit right with me as I listened to my friend. The new idea was cool and interesting and definitely worth a serious conversation.

But it lacked sacrifice. There was no laying down of lives or taking up of crosses. Stories of convenience lack any kind of power. Stories of sacrifice stir the soul and inspire action.

It wasn't even about whether the issue at hand was right or wrong (at least for me)...the serious point that was being missed was the exchange of sacrifice for convenience.

There is a part of me that wants to declare "new is always better," but I am learning to weigh the "new" with a lens (a hermeneutic) of sacrifice and cross bearing. Of course, on this point, I can always be accused of spiritual masochism or a joyless theology, so I will acknowledge that danger. But I will always trust "new" ideas that have passed through the crucible of suffering and sacrifice and life-laid-down-experience over a theology of convenience.

63159

2011-09-20T12:02:00.000-04:00

kickoff

another full and fun week of launching sojourn expressions all over the city. here are a few pics from a kinect event at UMASS (my favorite moment is documented here: the solo approach was rejected in favor of group participation). the rest are from our city-wide kickoff event. enjoy!

63059

2011-09-12T15:26:00.000-04:00

cruisin'

dinner/dancing cruise last night with good friends on the ship: the spirit of boston. fun time out from the hecticness of the first week of school, and some cool perspectives on the city from the harbor. also, a fun opportunity to mess around with the camera. enjoy!

62959

2011-09-10T18:40:00.000-04:00

first_week

some highlights from the first week at northeastern. our first club fair on this campus plus a kickoff picnic!

62859

2011-09-05T10:03:00.000-04:00

Last year we started at Northeastern (NEU) with a student. That was pretty much it, but that was all it took to get going and from there we were off an running.

This year we start with 2 staff, 4 student leaders, 1 alumni volunteer, a core of about 12 awesome students, and status as a recognized student organization. Who knows what might happen this year!!!

Love our leadership team (pic) and I am so impressed by this group of students: by the diversity of their backgrounds, giftedness, and passions. Can't wait to share stories of what they experience and accomplish as they go on mission together on their campus and around Boston.

62759

2011-09-02T07:25:00.001-04:00

summer_projects

I helped Reunion write our community groups curriculum this summer (which will be used in groups this year: September through June). We got them yesterday from the printer and they look pretty sweet. Can't wait to hear feedback as people immerse themselves in the story of Jesus.

In other big news, we've spent the summer revamping our web page and it's up and running now! Please go check out Sojourn's page and let us know what you think. The great Bobby VB put in a TON of work and it looks great.

62659

2011-08-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Summer_Reading

It's been a good summer for reading with traveling, vacation, and long bus rides to PT appointments providing plenty of space to plow through my stack of books. Here are some of the highlights (in chronological order)...

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me A beautiful memoir, gracefully told. Heartbreaking and hopeful Cron tells a story of family brokenness and healing. There are a lot of "evangelical" memoirs out there right now, and I have to think this is one of the best (if not the best).

The Great Emergence I have read a lot of books about the "emerging church." WAY too many. Most of them go like this: hey-there's-something-going-on-in-our-culture-and-I-think-we-should-maybe-think-of-some-ways-to-respond-to-it-so-here-are-some-ideas:story-candles-Jesus-mission-ancient-future-post-turn-down-the-lights-blah-blah-blah. Tickle stays far away from mechanics and offers one of the most interesting and compelling looks at historical trends that have shaped our current moment, not just recently but throughout the whole history of the church. Fascinating stuff.

The War of Art Pressfield's work has been around for a while now, but what a breath of fresh air this was! Not what I expected at all, it's unlike most books I read in several ways. Definitely a "this book found me at the right time" read. I especially enjoyed his section on the professional vs. the amateur. Very challenging and something I needed to hear this summer.

The Millennium Trilogy Summer is a great time to read some fiction, and though I am super late to this party, these three books about the Girl who did a bunch of crazy stuff were perfect (especially on those bus rides).

The Homiletical Plot Super helpful book on sermon prep, sermon writing, and approach to the teaching process. But also, a lot of good stuff on how story works, why we respond to it so powerfully, and how tension and arch are essential to great teaching (whether it is from the pulpit or not).

The Faith of Leap I had extremely high expectations for this book, so, honestly, I was actually a little disappointed in it. That said, I love what the authors are doing here and agree completely with their basic premise: risk and adventure are inherent in the gospel (and in mission) and should be a center holding our theology together, rather than an outlier experience we only have from time to time.

(Other summer reads: Why the Mystics Matter, How (Not) to Speak of God, Quitter, The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership, A Hidden Wholeness, For the City, My Losing Season, Falling Upward)

62559

2011-08-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

Putting_It_Together

Last week I did a three post series on Why_We_Do: Campus, Church, and Community. Today I want to tie it all together with two addendum's.

Addendum 1: Campus, Church, and Community are a convenient way of organizing and talking about what we do as an organization, but it is helpful to think of these categories using a good-old Venn Diagram. Each one speaks to the others, informs the others, and, ideally, bleed into each other. These are not siloed values. In fact, a lot of times students can hide in one of these environments and that can be detrimental to their growth and health. For example, a student with an activist bent might be drawn to our "community" programs and avoid church. Or another student might "hide" in church to avoid engaging the scary campus. We try hold all three in tension, or in conversation, allowing each environment to inform how we approach and engage the others.

Addendum 2: This is what we do as an organization, but it is not who we are. This reality is especially important when dealing with students individually. Sojourn exists to help students on their journey back to God, to call them to tell a better story with their lives. A better story is defined and shaped by Jesus, by growing into his likeness. Yes, it is important to be engaged with the church, on campus, and in the community, but busyness and activities are not how we measure growth and maturity.

I find these disclaimers, or addendum's, to be helpful reminders that we are not (organizationally and individually) defined by what we do. Church, community, and campus help us organize and know what to say "yes" to, but they are not the ends to which we aspire.

62459

2011-08-19T10:36:00.001-04:00

Why_We_Do:_Community

Social justice, justice, compassion, and mercy ministries have become a focus, and even a buzzy phenomenon, among Christians in the last 10 years. Many (if not most or all) college students want to serve tangibly in some way, want to make a difference in the world, and are incredibly aware of the imbalances and inequalities in our country and around the world.

But where do you start? When there is so much to do, and so many issues to get involved with, how do you know which one to give yourself to?

For us that began with paying attention to local needs, partnering with local organizations and churches, and learning about the neighborhood dynamics of our city. There are many stories and stats to share, but I think one line sums up the approach we have dedicated ourselves to.

John Perkins, in the book Welcoming Justice, says that "if you care about a place, you'll care about the kids in that place." And so we have chosen to involve ourselves deeply in neighborhoods and the kids in those neighborhoods.

Most of our partnerships are youth related, and more specifically focused on education. Our Quincy Street community, our partnerships with Episcopal City Tutoring, Adoption and Foster Care Mentoring, and several other youth based organizations and causes are examples of ways that we are living out that commitment to love the kids "in this place."

I could write a dissertation on why this is such a core value and why we have chosen to invest in youth, but I think this image is more powerful. A few blocks from Northeastern University is a K-8 school called Orchard Gardens. I have some experience with the school from my days with Bird Street Community Center. Three years ago it was one of the worst run schools in the city and nearly closed down. However, the city chose instead to revamp the leadership and faculty. Then they closed down a school in the Dudley St/Quincy St neighborhood and decided to bus all those students to the Orchard. The school has many issues but with a majority of the students speaking another language first, literacy is a huge challenge. Many kids will graduate and go to high school not to being able to read at grade level. And it lies in the shadow of a fantastic university. This story can be repeated all over the city.**

One of the great inequalities that exists in Boston lies in the enormous amount of resources that lie in the universities while at the same time the city's public school system is closing down schools and failing its kids. As my friend Nathan says, "brothers this should not be so!"

So our community involvement fights against this inequality while at the same time it provides an avenue for our students to see God's Kingdom play out in a tangible and real way, and it helps fire their holy imaginations for God's justice and mercy, and to experience how they can use their time, talents, and resources to further God's purposes in the world.

Again, there are a million causes to be involved in, but there is where we have committed ourselves, and this is why we do community.

**From Nathan: 55,000 students in BPS and 300,000 college students in the metro area (ration of ~6:1) and the 2010 graduation rate for BPS students to finish highschool in 4 years was about 62%.

62359

2011-08-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

Why_We_Do:_Church

Parachurch ministries, by definition, have an interesting relationship with the "church." Are we helping, supporting, and challenging, or rebelling, isolating, and criticizing? Campus ministry in particular has a historic propensity to build alternative realities disconnected from local churches.

This was driven home (for me) this spring when some of our team had the opportunity to meet with several other campus ministry leaders, many of whom have been in the city for a long time. The gathering was highly encouraging as we were able to hear about God's work all over the city, to learn from one another, and to share the ups and downs of ministering to students in an environment like Boston.

One thing stood out though as being far outside of our experience. To a person the other staffers voiced frustration in their relationship to the local church. They shared experiences of losing leaders and expressed difficulty in figuring out how to navigate any semblance of partnership.

Which are struggles we have not had due to our relationship with Reunion (and the ones we are growing with North and SouthPointe in Providence). We gain a lot from our partnership with Reunion, for sure, but ultimately the beauty of partnership is that students grow in discipleship in the context of a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, vibrant, missional-minded church environment. When(if) they leave they do so knowing how to function in a church, valuing church involvement and service within a body, and with the skills to help lead the church in significant ways. They leave knowing the church is a place for them!

I believe we are helping to grow future church leaders, and that, among many other reasons, is why we do church.

62259

2011-08-16T16:18:00.000-04:00

Why_We_Do...

I had the opportunity last week to speak with one of our supporting churches about Sojourn's progress and growth over the last couple of years. We've spent a lot of time working through our language, process, and simplifying how we talk about our work in Boston. I felt it would be helpful to share some of thoughts in this space. Over the next three days I'll explain the why behind campus, church, and community.

Why_we_do: Campus...

Over the course of the next four weeks the student population in Boston will swell to over 250,000 (some put this number much closer to 300,000 now). I don't know if this is true or not, but I do not believe that there is such a concentration of students anywhere else in the world (close to 300,000 in a 15 mile radius).

There are over 35 different campuses in the immediate Boston area (more if you go out farther). This includes Harvard, Tufts, and MIT, routinely listed in the top Universities in the country.

20% of these students are international, and the majority of them will return to their home country after their studies are completed.

25% of the major world leaders have spent time studying in Boston (including our current president).

100% of these students will spend money, go to class, read books and articles, engage in academic thought and process, and spend significant time with class mates and professors.

Most, if not all, will use social media, watch tv, date, discover passions and gifts and talents, make and lose friends, use public transportation, move several times, and make major decisions about who they will be, what they will do, and who they will do it with.

At best, 2% of them will have any significant involvement in church or a campus ministry.*

And that keeps us awake at night and energizes us when we wake up in the morning. It doesn't matter what group of people you are talking about, 5,000 of 250,000 should be incredibly unsettling and seen as a major missional opportunity. (With our expansion to Providence, where the percentages are very similar, we are able to reach another 80,000 students, and 10 more campuses including Brown University).

That need, coupled with the tremendous potential for influence represented by the type of student Boston attracts, is why we care about Campus.

*stats are pooled from various campus ministry reports.

62159

2011-08-11T17:09:00.000-04:00

some_things

- flowers i bought for amy.

- medal won for finishing the providence half-marathon.

- trip to rockingham, nh to talk with a supporting church about sojourn's work in boston (and now providence).

62059

2011-08-01T09:32:00.000-04:00

new_week_new_month

august is upon us which means we are a month away from the madness of a new school year! there is still a ton to do in the meantime...here's what august looks like:

half-marathon in providence next sunday (check out the progress in the running journal)
amy starts a new schedule at work which gives her more time in the middle of the week (and more time for students)
fundraising/networking: lots of phone calls and letter writing
staff disc retreat, should be super interesting
reading as many books as possible

Good things but I can't wait for September!

61959

2011-07-22T10:31:00.000-04:00

a_post_about_blogs (friday_reflections)

despite being a frequent blogger for almost 5 years now, i've never really spent a lot of time reading other blogs. to be more specific, i've never spent much time reading "christian" blogs. i read a lot of giants/baseball blogs, a few political blogs if something really interesting is going on, and my friend's blogs, but not much else.

when rob bell's controversial book, love wins, came out i will admit that i got sucked in to a world that i never knew existed (and sometimes wish i still didn't). turns out there is an endless number of christian folks out there with all kinds of blogs. its quite startling. maybe even more startling is the number of people who comment on these blogs. this past week another mars hill lead pastor (mark driscoll, different mars hill) got himself in hot water in the blogosphere for a comment he made on facebook.

my point here is not to argue in favor of bell or against driscoll (or vice versa) but to say that i think christians use the internet poorly.

here are a few conclusions i've come to. first, i have nothing against technology and the internet. in my opinion, while there are numerous changes in technology these days none of them are inherently bad...they can all be abused, of course, but i am not an anti-technology advocate. i have a mac, i tweet, i'm on facebook, and i have a blog, so it would be pretty hypocritical to try to present myself otherwise. that said, we might be wise to do some fasting from certain technologies (myself included).

second, i think most christians are doing blogging the wrong way. now, i don't do this for a living, so i understand that the way to make money as a blogger is to get people to your site and the best way to do that is to make strong, critical points. the problem is this: the beauty of our technology (especially blogging) is that we can now share information and life like never before, but most christian blogs are the equivalent of yelling at each other. or worse, just yelling and hoping someone will comment on it.

i love blogging (and all of the blogs on my blogroll) because they are forums for people to share the great stories they are telling with their local communities. there is a big difference between ripping bell for being a liberal (or driscoll for being a homophobe), and describing how God is at work in your life, community, and ministry.

i do not think the internet is the place to do theological discussion (or pastoral correction for that matter). most of the folks yelling at each are not what i would call theologians (sorry if that is a bit judgmental). theology is done best in local communities of people who are committed to each other and the place they live in.

so, for those of you who are doing blogging well, please keep it up, you are a breath of fresh air. and for those of you who are yelling, consider the proverb: creation is the best critique.

61859

2011-07-16T16:41:00.000-04:00

community_groups

some pics from the board after last night's training. getting read to talk a lot about Jesus this year. (primarily from John and a little Luke for good measure).

61759

2011-07-12T14:33:00.000-04:00

i_made_something_awesome

for amy's birthday. strawberry shortcake from scratch!

61659

2011-07-07T20:49:00.000-04:00

a_new_year

spent the day with the sojourn team working on the calendar for the 11-12 year. good stuff. can't wait for the semester to start and super grateful for the people i work with!

61559

2011-07-05T12:02:00.000-04:00

27_years

every time you sign in to facebook it asks "what is on your mind?" i wrote a little tribute to my dad a few weeks ago and as I process the last month and this past weekend (my parent's final Sunday at SVCC) one thing (among others) i've been fixating on is 27 years.

i just finished a book on the plane called Quitter. the author argues against our culture of quitting and tells many stories of the numerous jobs he's quit and the lessons he's learned along the way. it was a good book that reflects many patterns in my own story. next summer will mark 10 years since i graduated from pacific (undergrad). since that time i have had 4 different ministry roles, lived in 3 different states, moved six times, and held five different part time jobs. i haven't stayed in any of the places, roles, or jobs for more than 4 years.

my dad was the pastor of SVCC for 27 years. that's 8 to 9 times longer than anything I've done in my entire life. now that I am into my thirties I suddenly crave and value stability. i yearn to be somewhere doing the same thing for 10 years. and that's still just over a third of the time my parent's dedicated to salinas valley.

when i think about my parents there is a lot i admire: their integrity, character, marriage, passion, faithfulness...i could go on. but their commitment to a place and a community for 27 years is remarkable in this day and age.

i had a chance once to have breakfast with shane claiborne. the thing i will never forget from that experience was shane sharing with us a conversation he had with the great john m. perkins. shane recalls asking dr. perkins when he first saw progress and change in the community john served in. perkins replied "oh, after about the first ten years." whoa!!! his point: commit and stay in a place if you want to be radical and change the world.

again, i could on and on about things i admire in mom and dad. choosing full-time ministry is radical. taking a two year old to india for a year is radical. moving somewhere new and planting a church is radical. but staying there for 27 years is maybe the most radical thing a person can do in modern america. and to do it all with dignity and character is even more compelling and challenging.

so, today, i'm thinking about 27 years.

61459

2011-06-26T16:06:00.000-04:00

back_in_boston

back home after two great weeks in california with both sides of our families. lots of laughing, crying, fun, relaxing, visiting favorite spots, and eating really great food!

61359

2011-06-10T12:48:00.003-04:00

Vacation

time to go to california...to rest and relax after a crazy busy year...to spend some sweet quality time with the fams...to go to a giants game...and, of course, to read some books.

see you in two weeks boston!

61259

2011-06-06T19:50:00.000-04:00

in_honor_of_dad

yesterday my dad preached his last sermon at salinas valley community church, the church he helped to found and to flourish for 27 years. as usual i find other's words more adequate to the task on this occasion. when i think of my dad, these are some of the things i think about:

from II Timothy: "preach the word. be prepared in season and out of season: correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. but you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, discharge all the duties of your ministry...

"...i am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. i have fought the good fight, i have finished the race, i have kept the faith." (4:1-7)

and from eugene peterson: "the norm for pastoral work is stability. twenty-, thirty-, and forty-year-long pastorates should be typical among us (as they once were) and not exceptional. far too many pastors change parishes out of adolescent boredom, not as a consequence of mature wisdom. when this happens, neither pastors nor congregations have access to the conditions that are hospitable to maturity in the faith...

"...it is interesting to listen to the comments that outsiders, particularly those from third world countries, make on the religion they observe in north america. what they notice mostly is the greed, the silliness, the narcissism. they appreciate the size and the prosperity of our churches, they energy and the technology, but they wonder at the conspicuous absence of the cross, the phobic avoidance of suffering, the puzzling indifference to community and relationships of intimacy...

"...what i object to most is the appalling and systematic trivializing of the pastoral office. it is part of a larger trivialization...there are other days, though, when we catch a glimpse of glory--a man here, a woman there determined to live nobly: singing a song, telling a story, working honestly, loving chastely." (from under the unpredictable plant)

determined to live nobly...that pretty much sums it up perfectly. that example is a good, good gift. thank you, dad!

61159

2011-05-31T12:09:00.000-04:00

one.life

highly recommend scot mcknight's book One.Life for anyone working with students or needing a resource for a basic discipleship conversation. i feel like a lot of these types of books are pretty boring, corny, or out of date (at best). so i appreciate Scot's work in presenting a "classic" conversation in a fresh way with language that is helpful for emerging generations. plus scot is a wicked smart dude and you can tell he has thought deeply about each of the topics he hits. good stuff!

61059

2011-05-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

the_hiddenness_of_ministry (friday_reflections)

we recently walked through an exercise called the 360 review with the sojourn and reunion staffs. the process was fun, interesting, challenging, and affirming as we got feedback on our strengths and weaknesses from those we lead, work alongside of, and who lead us.

a couple of things struck me, not the least is that even among those we work with the closest, ministry (what we actually do on a day to day basis) can be hard to define and even harder to see. i grew up in the church, and as a pastors kid, i've heard all the jokes about how great it must be to be a pastor (because you only have to work on sundays!).

that of course is not true (or at least it better not be), but it can be really easy to mistake our public work for our only work. even for the teachingest of teaching pastors, the majority of the work we do is listening, learning from from people, serving alongside others, and being attentive to the needs of our community. it is not glamorous and the majority never get to see it. and it can be hard to talk about if we are honest.

we share "wins" at the beginning of each staff meeting and this is really great as it helps us "see" what is happening all across the ministry, but there is so much that gets left out too. not every interaction, every cup of coffee, every challenging conversation, every "get it" moment gets to be shared. not even our co-workers get to see all that we do. and sometimes that can be frustrating.

the reality is a good portion of what pastors do never gets noticed. we can begrudgingly acknowledge it and probably feel a little cynical about this reality, or we can joyfully accept the mystery of the hidden work we do and see it as an opportunity for growth in humility that is built in to our vocation.

the other side of this is that "hiddenness" protects our vocation and leaves us with something authentic to offer others. no one has said this better than henri nouwen, so i'll end this post with his thoughts from reaching out:

"there is a false form of honesty that suggests that nothing should remain hidden and that everything should be said, expressed and communicated. this honesty can be very harmful, and if it does not harm, it at least makes the relationship flat, superficial, empty, and often very boring. when we try to shake off our loneliness by creating a milieu without limiting boundaries, we may become entangled in a stagnating closeness.

"it is our vocation to prevent the harmful exposure of our inner sanctuary, not only for our own protection but also as a service to our fellow human beings with whom we want to enter in a creative communion. just as words lose their power when they are not born out of silence, so openness loses its meaning when there is no ability to be closed."

60959

2011-05-24T11:54:00.000-04:00

new_england_and_the_church

here's a link to an interesting article on church planting in new england. it asks some good questions and highlights the continual need for a missional presence in our area of the country. good to be reminded why we are here!

60859

2011-05-23T08:50:00.000-04:00

summer

on friday the umb leadership crew went on a boston adventure that ended with brazilian barbecue being consumed. a bittersweet moment as it means the semester is finally over and we are now in "summer mode." there is still plenty of work to do for us during the summer, but the rhythms and schedule change and take on a different feel. i can't stop marveling about what a great semester it has been and i really can't wait for september to come around so we can get back in to it!

60759

2011-05-14T17:55:00.000-04:00

5K

this pic is from the start of the first annual marathon physical therapy 5K. if you look closely you can find me, and if you look really closely you can see the swagger and sneer of a man who has run a 10 miler and thinks 5Ks are for weenies. that swagger was long gone after the large hill during the first half of mile three. anyway, fun race, good times, great to support amy's company and a good cause, and inspiration for more races to come!

60659

2011-05-09T08:28:00.001-04:00

big vs. small (friday_reflections)

i am, by nature, suspicious of big things. big corporations, big cars, big houses, even big churches.

i love the "small" moments of life and ministry. one on one's with people at pavement, taking the time to listen to stories. sitting around a table at umass with some of our students, eating lunch and having conversations about everything under the sun. wednesday nights with our community group, reading the stories of scripture together and sharing life.

i also love (and am appreciating more and more) big moments too, getting caught up in a crowd. you haven't lived until you've sung "take me out to the ball game" and "sweet caroline" with 37,000 people at Fenway. i get emotional every time we sing "how he loves" at Reunion (with 200 others), but i wept when we sang it with David Crowder and 2000 others. Jesus attracted crowds. there's energy and momentum and life in large crowds of people.*

in the last two weeks amy and i have been to two concerts: tyrone wells at cafe 939 and bruno mars at agganis arena. two extremely different experiences. and yet both were amazing. i love tyrone and admire what he does. it takes guts to sing your heart out for 100 people, and it's fantastic to watch and even better to be able to talk to him about it afterwards. i'm never going to be able to grab a beer with bruno mars after a show, but there is also something fantastically compelling about watching such a talented dude enthrall 5000 people for an hour and a half.

i am probably always going to error on the side of small. but, if i am being honest, i am growing in appreciation for the big, and maybe, more pertinently, i am interested by what makes big things compelling. why does a shaking stadium after a home run feel so good? why does the sound of 5000 people singing the lyrics to "just the way you are" at the top of their lungs give us goose-bumps?

fascinating.

*the critic will point out that the crowd also killed Jesus, and that is true. but not every crowd killed Jesus. also, there seem to be a lot of people involved in what happens in heaven.

60559

2011-05-06T17:08:00.000-04:00

endings...

we are coming in a for a landing on the semester and school year. enjoy some pics from our umass leadership celebration...

our NEU leadership celebration:

and our incredible staff:

what an amazing year it's been. i'll be blogging a bit more over the next couple of weeks with reflections on the year, but for now its enough to say that it has truly been awesome!

60459

2011-04-25T19:04:00.000-04:00

man_up

Where have the good men gone? This is the pulsating heartbeat of Kay Hymowitz's writing in Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men in to Boys.

Long on critical analysis and short on answers, Hymowitz examines how "girl empowerment", the knowledge economy, and the extended state of "preadulthood" has shaped gender dynamics in the 21st century. The results (far from being anti-feminist) are fascinating, and hold tremendous implications for ministry and the church.

Consider:

"The child-man (think of any Adam Sandler/Will Ferrell comedy and you have the 'child-man') is the lost son of a host of economic and cultural changes: the demographic shift I call preadulthood, the Playboy philosophy, feminism, the wild west of our new media, and a shrugging iffiness on the subject of husbands and fathers. He has no life script, no special reason to grow up.

"Why should he grow up? No one needs him anyway."

You can read the introduction to the book (and the gist of her argument and most of the killer quotes) by clicking on this link.

There's much to said and debated about her writing, but it holds up in church too, I think. Last year we had 250 new students come to Reunion and fill out welcome cards. 185 of those were female. Tim, Sojourn's Director, spent some time recently with other campus ministry leaders and one of the hot topics of conversation was the lack of male leadership on campus. They asked the same questions: Where have the guys gone?

There are a lot of ways to go with this, so whatever I write here can only be the beginning of an ongoing conversation, but here are two thoughts I have at the moment. These thoughts, interestingly enough, come from another book I read recently: Open the autobiography of Andre Agassi.

1) Agassi repeats over and over: "God wants us to grow up." If anyone has actually led the child-man lifestyle it's been this guy. He describes it at great length in his book. However, when he "grows up" (i.e. starts focusing on tennis, gets married, has kids, starts a charitable foundation) he finds some level of peace in his life. He has a story to live. We need to recapture and recast things like marriage, fatherhood, generosity, and work in masculine terms. We need men to do these things and do them well. God wants us to grow up.

2) Along those same lines one of the most moving passages of the book occurs when Andre describes introducing his wife (Stefi Graf, the greatest women's tennis player of all time) at her Hall of Fame induction. He says: "Every man should have the chance to introduce his wife at her Hall of Fame induction ceremony." I agree! I think marriage is a particularly crucial aspect of recapturing a sense of manhood.

Older married men: tell younger men how great it is to be married, and tell them often.

I could go on and on with ideas that this book has generated. But I think those are two big starting points. Grow up and love your wife. We might have less books like one if more dudes did this.

60359

2011-04-18T21:34:00.000-04:00

road_trip

on sunday about 25 staff, spouses, and students headed up to Nashua, NH to help one of our biggest supporting churches with their Palm Sunday celebration. these experiences are great for several reasons, not the least of which is serving a church community that has been such a great partner, but one of the biggest is seeing our students out of their comfort zones in a completely different way. good times!!!

60259

2011-04-15T10:02:00.001-04:00

the_jugular (friday_reflections)

"pastoring is not managing a religious business but a spiritual quest." --eugene peterson

i recently re-read peterson's under the unpredictable plant. i read it in college and i didn't really get it back then. i have a present context (campus minister...which will be synonymous with pastor for the purposes of this post) that has brought his words to life in a new and fresh way.

the thrust of the book is to remind pastors (campus ministers) of their vocation: this is not just a religious job. peterson, perhaps better than any one else, 'gets' the trials and tribulations and temptations of pastors...to become a manager, to be a program director, to blame the congregation (or the students), to build something flashy and shiny and awesome (idols?) but avoid God at the same time.

i need that reminder and i need this (read pastor/campus minister where it says "he"): "God and passion. he spurned the fads and went for the jugular. he created. he lived immersed in passion. he lived expectant of God. and he did this vocationally, making a calling out of passion and God."

i love that. that makes my heart beat fast. pastors (campus ministers) live under an incredible burden of expectations: be nice, be loving, be wise, be there for me, be good, be a listener, be a doer, accomplish things, lead, manage, don't judge, don't screw up, don't be wrong, don't be late. i have rarely heard people say i want my pastor to be rooted in passion and God.

that makes me sad.

we need workers and producers of goods, we need healers and teachers. counselors, bankers, bakers, doctors, lawyers, street cleaners, bus drivers, engineers, business entrepreneurs. needed. necessary. all naming and ruling and co-creating with God. Genesis 1 and 2 type activities.

we also need pastors. campus ministers to confront us with Jesus, scripture, the cross, God.

pastors are wading in treacherous waters: the deepest, most primal, fundamental, wild realities of the universe. and it is easy to settle for less than God, to settle for god.

maybe we are afraid of passion and we are afraid of God. if our students (congregants) see nothing else (and it can be hard to see...so much of ministry is hidden)...i hope they see God and passion. i hope they see us going for the jugular. i hope they pray that for us.

i hope we pray that for all of us.

60159

2011-04-11T13:37:00.000-04:00

leadership

super excited about our leadership team for next year. spent some time yesterday (sunday) reviewing this year and dreaming about the fall. we should have around 20 leaders invested in Sojourn to kick things off in September. that is amazing and a huge step forward from where we were at this time last year. proud of these students, and stoked to see where they take us!

60059

2011-04-10T09:04:00.000-04:00

sunsets

views of the sunset last night from piers park in east boston.

59959

2011-04-05T13:17:00.001-04:00

student_lunch

amy and i (with a lot of help from our community group in eastie) hosted Sojourn's Student Lunch for April this past Sunday. with our current schedules it is not often that we get to serve together for extended periods of time, so this weekend was a lot of fun! we spent most of saturday shopping, cooking, planning, and prepping enchiladas, rice, and beans for sunday.

then sunday morning we set up, cooked, and served together all day. it was awesome! i love getting to work alongside amy, especially when we get to "parent" college students. here are more pics:

59859

2011-03-29T13:31:00.001-04:00

updates_and_thoughts

in no particular order:

1) on thursday Northeastern goes before the Student Government for our final approval to become an RSO (registered student organization) at that campus. pray for us!

2) finished A Band of MiSFits...thoroughly enjoyed reliving the Giants' run to the World Series title last year.

3) speaking of baseball, check out BaseballMonk whenever you get a chance...our "viewership" is ever increasing over there and it continues to be a fun outlet. btw: 2 days until the season starts!

4) amy and i are now both back in boston, together, for the indefinite future. the last two weeks saw us traveling apart from each other (i went to KY with students and she went to NC for a PT conference). both trips were good but it is GREAT to be back together. this has been the most time we've spent apart since we were married. funny story: i used to think one of the hardest parts about being married would be sleeping in the same bed (i am a sprawler =), but i do not sleep as well by myself now which is an interesting discovery.

5) also finished Love Wins...i defer to Eugene Peterson' comment on the book: it's about elevating our conversation and expanding our imagination.

6) much time is being spent towards ending the semester well with students and setting ourselves up for what should be an incredible fall!

7) very much looking forward to the weather warming up.

8) should have a post up by the end of the week on Manning Up and its implications for the church and collegiate ministry.

that's it for now...

59759

2011-03-25T15:04:00.001-04:00

tutoring

this completely hilarious picture was taken last night at our first "real" gathering of students and tutors at St. Mary's in Dorchester (St. Mary's is where we had our recent ReadRetreatServe and with whom Sojourn has been developing a partnership over the last year). St. Mary's has been a focal launch point for Episcopal City Tutoring. our students at UMASS-Boston have jumped on this program and are helping run a supplemental aspect of the tutoring curriculum over the next ten weeks.

this has been a long time coming for us and it is encouraging to see these UMASS students stick around long enough to see their faithfulness and hard work rewarded. i am also really impressed with the high school students we get to work with (two of whom you can see on the right...the others bailed on the picture!). these are some driven, hard working, ambitious young people!!

it's going to be exciting to watch this develop and I am eager to see this great group of people work together (although it is pretty clear we struggle to make a good picture happen).

59659

2011-03-22T14:32:00.000-04:00

storytelling

last week 11 staff and students spent the week in lexington, ky, working alongside the Fuller Center for Housing. we helped rehab two homes on the boston court (nice!) block of the shawnee neighborhood.

aside from the work done on houses the week served as an experiment in telling better stories for our students. i loved watching them jump into this experience completely and was blown away by their enthusiasm for each other and for better stories.

there are so many things i could share, but i will narrow it down to two: first, i have never seen a more mature group of students on a trip of this nature. i was continually humbled by the grace they extended to us (as staff), each other, and in the midst of difficult circumstances (we had some bad weather and some REALLY hard work). no trip is conflict free, and that is not the goal, but the way in which these students responded to each challenge demonstrated a maturity beyond their years. and i am super impressed by each one of them.

second, i have never seen a group of students so genuinely interested in each other. no one turned the tv on all week. no one got lost on their computer or their phone. even on the long ride home, when it would have made total sense to sleep or put the headphones in and tune out, they continued to ask each other questions and engage one another with genuine curiosity. they loved each other well and respected each other, and as a result there was a lot of space to explore relationships and God's movement through each other. truly amazing to watch.

thank you to those who were praying for us during the week. here are a few more pics:

59559

2011-03-11T14:46:00.002-05:00

what_i'm_doing_this_week

spring break = road trip! this week (tomorrow through next saturday) i'll be down with some of our students in Louisville, KY on the Fuller Center's Derby City Build. Pray that this would be a formative moment for our students, for me, and for our ministry. pics and updates when i return!

59459

2011-03-07T08:49:00.000-05:00

pics from umass-boston this week.

59359

2011-03-04T17:17:00.002-05:00

layers (friday_reflections)

i think that if you do life right you spend your first 25 years accumulating layers, the next 25 peeling those layers away, and the last however many years you live just letting it all hang out.

this is a gross oversimplification, but i do think the central idea is true: maturity is all about delayering, if you will.

maybe another way of putting it is this. i think we equate maturity with more: more patience, more kindness, more joy, more love.

but i would argue maturity is about less busyness, less attatchment to things, less clutter (physically and spiritually).

i can sense already some push back to this "negative" stance (sounds too buddhist!). but i think scripture supports this (for example and for another) and i know my experience certainly does.

the delayering for me began with marriage (in my humble opinion it has to start here, if it hasn't already, or you are in for a short marriage). then it became vocational. then it started to affect the way i dress, which is pretty superficial...

...but i can feel it getting deeper and deeper. soul delayering. i know that i am in the middle of a moment of significance in my story but i can't put my finger on what that means quite yet. i do know that it feels like getting rid of layers. that i am identifying less and less with external sub-cultures and other markers, and more and more with inner convictions.

so there's that. more later.

59259

2011-02-27T17:33:00.001-05:00

something_i_learned_from_opera (friday_reflections)

i have friend who is a grad student at the Boston Conservatory. he is studying opera. as in, he is a real life opera singer. (we have the privilege of knowing some crazy talented people here in boston). i was asking him about grad school and his program and he was telling me how long it takes to hone this particular craft.

then he said this: "i hope to be able to make it as a singer, but a lot depends on how my voice ages."

"what does that mean?" i asked.

and he went on to explain that the voice changes as we age and this can have a dramatic impact on the career of opera singers and the types of roles they can perform. he told me that for most tenors they can only take on the most prestigious and dramatic roles as they get older because as the voice ages it becomes more heroic!

how about that. a 25 year old opera stud can have all the talent in the world, work harder than anyone else, train like crazy, and still be years away from being able to fully embody certain roles in the opera canon.

fascinating.

a lot of these friday reflections have focused on aging. i guess turning 30 does that to you? anyway, i'm sure there are many facets of this idea that i could play out, i mean there's a sermon in this metaphor is there not? i'm sure a true opera aficionado* would take issue with how i am interpreting this information, but the idea of the heroic voice gives me hope and offers a challenge.

is my "voice" becoming more heroic as i age?

*according to dan there are two general types of tenor voices: lyric and dramatic (neither is considered to be better than the other). the dramatic tenor can age in to the heroic roles. here are a couple of great examples of a heroic/dramatic tenor (schicoff and domingo). for comparison here's an example of a lyric tenor.

59159

2011-02-20T20:53:00.004-05:00

stuff_that_happened_this_weekend

we held our fourth ReadRetreatServe event with sojourn on saturday. 25 students, staff, and volunteers joined together for an immersion experience with one of our neighborhood initiative partnerships. i am particularly excited about some of the conversations coming out of the weekend as there is a new wave of students involved with sojourn who, before yesterday, weren't familiar at all with this aspect of who we are and what we do.

we spent the morning reading and talking about God's justice and his heart for the oppressed at St. Mary's (where our UMASS students tutor high school kids). we heard some stories of folks who have intentionally moved to the upham's corner/quincy street/dudley street sub-neighborhood of dorchester to live this out. we ended the day with an interactive tour of the neighborhood and some practical next steps for students to take. i thought the day turned out great and each element brought a particular aspect of the conversation to life for our students. i am stoked to see what happens next! check out the slide show:

oh, and then today amy and i participated in foxborough's old fashioned ten miler (amy as an employee of marathon physical therapy and me as a runner). if you've been following me for a while you will remember that i ran in a trail race circuit in durango. a couple of thoughts...one, those were trail races and at high elevation so i actually thought they were all harder than this run even though it was a couple miles longer than i've ever run before...two, there were a LOT more people in this race than any i ran in CO...three, i actually surprised myself considering my running has been very spotty in january and february with the snow (i was hoping for a 10 minute mile pace and i actually beat 9!). ps. if you check out the results you will notice that the winner was from dorchester!

59059

2011-02-16T16:15:00.000-05:00

books

finished this book today. absolutely amazing. i experienced a wide range of reactions to his ideas: everything from wanting to throw the book out the window to standing up and cheering. in the next 2-3 years someone (rob bell?) will write the popular version of this thesis and everyone will be talking about it. important stuff...challenging stuff. his conclusion is very close to mcknight's in a community called atonement, but he comes at it from a different academic discipline. a must read for anyone who is in any type of position of influence.

58959

2011-02-14T15:59:00.002-05:00

seasons (friday_reflections)

**some friday thoughts on seasons (on a monday to boot). another disclaimer: i don't usually like cheesy metaphors, but hang with me, this is real!**

this is my fifth winter of snow, my fifth calendar year with four distinct seasons. winter is hard...especially now that we are getting in to what i call "dirty winter." (dirty winter is when you have a nasty mixture of brown/black snow and ice along with trash, debris, salt, and a bunch of other junk..it's gross).

winter is hard, but i love living with seasons. just when you think you can't handle any more snow, spring comes and the cycle continues. here in new england i think we all wish spring and fall lasted a little longer, but there is something comforting and even spiritual about the natural rhythm produced by the changing seasons.

i kind of like that winter is hard. not to over spiritualize things but we go through difficult seasons...we have seasons of "dirty winter" that are just gross...or we go through times that are just challenging...we long for spring...for something new...for rebirth. this is not a new metaphor.

i have almost been on staff with Sojourn for two years. so far, it's been a great time, but a lot of it could be characterized as a winter season. we've spent a lot of time doing "winter" things...hidden things...under the radar things. things like simplifying and clarifying our language and process. and things like getting organized. and things like investing in a smaller number of leaders and students. frustrating things. things that don't always fit with the ideal of "growth."

but now we are in a spring season...lots of growth, energy, excitement, etc. and this is great. in fact, this semester has been the most fun for me so far.

as we continue to grow and work through the implications of "more" and the tension of remaining organic and relational, i know that there will be even harder "falls" and "winters" ahead. new challenges and new ways to experience the seasonal cycle.

but that's what seasons are all about: growth, life, enjoyment, struggle, death, rebirth. repeat. and repeat. and repeat again. success isn't about extending a spring or a summer indefinitely but about being faithful in each of the seasons with what each one requires.

and i like that. i like seasons.

58859

2011-02-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

kinect

*my apologies to youth pastors*

one aspect of collegiate ministry (that i enjoy) is that it is not youth ministry. again, no offense to youth ministers, but ym always fights a battle with entertainment (the best youth pastors take this battle head on and do a great job with a huge challenge). but, campus ministers don't have to do battle with entertainment the way youth ministry does. college students have a million things to entertain them...they get involved with campus ministry because they have questions, they are seeking something, they are looking for purpose, etc, etc. that gets me excited in ways that wacky games and cool videos don't.

when we decided to do an event at UMASS-Boston this semester called Kinect with Sojourn I cringed a little. pizza, xbox kinect, dancing...sounded a lot like a youth ministry cliche to me. this probably says more about me than anything else.

nonetheless, we knew we needed to do something as a "middle step" event for all the people we've connected with who wouldn't jump right in to our weekly conversation (which is more of a bible-study type gathering).

in the end, the event was a great success...we had over 50 students show up, we have a ton of people to follow up with, and our core students were super stoked with the energy and excitement of the day. UMASS is longing for anything that brings students together and creates a sense of community on campus. i think we accomplished that.

and i think i learned a lot (again) about how often i can get in the way of what God is doing with my preconceptions and prejudices. God is definitely moving at UMASS-Boston. it is a diverse campus in every sense of the word, and it is the school where the kids who grow up in this city go to get a college education.

i am humbled and honored to be a part of this work and to help UMASS students on their journey back to God.

58759

2011-01-24T16:23:00.001-05:00

leaders

so good to have our student leadership team together for the first time this semester! as i've said a few times, i am super excited about this semester and what lies ahead (big things in my opinion).

58659

2011-01-21T06:30:00.007-05:00

older (friday_reflections)

i'm 30 and i still quote from dumb and dumber quite often. but i work with a population that was not even in grade school when this movie was in theaters!

they say you are most effective, in ministry, with those ten year older and younger than you. i think about that from time to time, especially when kids are talking about some youtube video, or a new gadget that i have never heard of and for sure will not know how to use.

i also grow weary with some of the drama that comes with the territory. whether you take bio 102a or 103b, or whether or not so and so dropped you as a facebook friend, is not always the most interesting conversation for me. however, at one point, i was that student, consumed by what i was supposed to be doing with my life and all emo-ed out with girl problems and the weight of the world.

i find myself wanting to tell students all the time: "it's ok, this is the easy part, enjoy it, everything is going to be fine." that's me at 30: mr. cliche.

but i don't want to be mr. cliche. for the second reflection in a row, i find myself circling back to the wise words of henri nouwen. in his excellent book, In the Name of Jesus, nouwen tackles some of the common temptations of leaders. one of them is the temptation to be relevant.

consider this: "The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows them to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success, and to bring the light of Jesus there."

i love the line "the anguish underlying all the glitter of success," because that describes the condition of the modern college student so well. nouwen prescribes contemplative prayer as the antidote to the temptation of relevance. it is in listening to "the voice of love" again and again and that we find the answers to the issues of the day, to the underlying anguish, to the pain.

the coolest thing about getting old, at least so far, is that you realize that what you have offer the next generation is not coolness (you will never out cool them), is not stuff, is not even life lessons, but hopefully love. nothing that i do or create or think up will be as cool as what they can find on tv but who will love them well?

as i get older that's the question that keeps me up at night.

58559

2011-01-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

more_NEU!

northeastern's weekly gathering is back in the flow. good group this week...three new people with more on the way! i can't stop saying how excited i am about this semester...it is going to be the best ever.

58459

2011-01-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

snow_day

aftermath of the storm yesterday (not the kind of pics we use to recruit to people to boston =)

also, amy posted yesterday...check it out

58359

2011-01-11T23:23:00.000-05:00

Northeastern!

great time tonight dreaming and scheming with the northeastern crew (and team building...check out the pics!). this group is gearing up for the process of becoming a Registered Student Organization. i am inspired and humbled by their drive to make this happen, by the ways they "get it" and see this as important step, and their desire to see more students find their way back to God. way to go guys!

58259

2011-01-10T18:58:00.001-05:00

goals

amy and i just got back from kelly's in eastie where we spent some time working on our goals for 2011. goals about our careers and neighborhood involvement, personal/individual projects and things we want to accomplish together.

one of my personal goals is to try to find more ways to channel my passions into productive and creative endeavors. i love baseball, but a lot of the time that passion dissipates into time wasting efforts like fantasy baseball or clicking on endless links. this year, though, i am trying to be more intentional about these kinds of things.

so, i am helping launch a new blog. it's called "baseball monk" and we can be found at baseball-monk.com.

i say "we "because (and this is my favorite part of the whole project) i get to do this with some of the dudes i grew up with. we all have moved from the Bay Area for one reason or another, yet retain our passion for baseball generally and for the Giants specifically. so doing this "in community" is especially fun. jon huckins, josh stover, and tim spier will be joining me on this endeavor.

so, for those of you who enjoy baseball, or you just like passionate people writing about one of their favorite topics, go check it out!

tim's first article is up today. josh wrote our most popular piece to date. and i recently posted a three part series over the break that you can read here, here, and here.

enjoy!

58159

2011-01-07T12:52:00.000-05:00

others

one of my goals for 2011 with this blog is to get back to using it for more reflection on my/our experiences and the things we are learning. hopefully, 3 fridays a month will be "reflection" posts, and then the rest will be the typical pictures and updates. here then is my first installment!

as i head in to my third new year in Boston (and Amy in to her fourth!), we find the question, do you feel Boston is home now, being asked of us a lot. What a fascinating question! on the one hand, of course it's home: Boston is where we live and work and do life and that's home no matter where you are from. on the other hand, i find myself telling people (and i really believe this) that we could live in Boston for 25 years and we will still be Californians.

living in Boston has been an interesting experience for both us. speaking for myself, i have never lived anywhere else where I have so strongly felt "alien" or "other" (of course i've lived in California for 83% of my life...the time we spent in India as a family i was only 1-2 years old, i looked "other"...anyway, i do have to admit there is a not a lot of experience to draw from). this is a hard phenomenon to explain to people mainly because it's just a feeling, a prevailing awareness, that i "from" somewhere else. there are superficial differences like dress and accent, and challenges that are inherent in moving from coast to coast (like navigating a new city, weather, etc). but the best way i can describe this is just that there is a deep, underlying, consistent awareness that this is not "home".

now, we both love Boston. it is a great city (the second best in the country: i have scientific proof that SF is the best), and we love all that it has to offer. we have great jobs, strong community, a fantastic neighborhood, a wonderful apartment...we've been blessed over and over again in our married life here. there is a lot to be grateful for and a lot to enjoy.

but when i get stressed out and tired i find myself fantasizing about In-N-Out Burger and highway 17 and real beaches and some KNBR (the Sports Leader) and Los Gallos Taqueria and being closer to family and northern california lakes and weather that fluctuates between 55 and 75 and not having to pay to drive on the freeway because it is actually free and this:

during our recent holiday visit amy and i spent the last 24 hours exploring San Francisco. we grew up in the area but never lived in SF, so to call us locals would be a stretch. but i've been there enough times to still have a deeply ingrained mental map of the city. while we were there we never got lost, instinctively found free parking all day, and tracked down many of our favorite spots (i even found a Boutry family favorite restaurant in Chinatown). there was something profoundly familiar about the whole experience. i still struggle with that sense here. it can be quite easy for me to get lost in Boston (it doesn't help that i will never shake seeing the ocean as my western reference point).

i hope this isn't taken as complaining, we do like it here! but, it is VERY different and that feeling of being "other" hasn't dissipated in three years, if anything it has grown.

the question, is Boston home, is a tricky one. yes, we make our home here, but it is not home if you get what i mean.

and, in many ways, this is a beautiful thing. as a church we've been exploring the Exodus narrative on sunday mornings and other OT stories in community groups. much of the OT contains the stories of displaced people, people far from home, people feeling distinctly "other" and "alien".

our neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of recent immigrants of any in the city. as much as i feel like a fish-out-of-water, imagine what it must be like to grow up in Brazil or Colombia and then find yourself trying to make it in Boston in January with language and distinct cultural differences and barriers on top of all the other adjustments.

henri nouwen, in his book Reaching Out, discusses what healthy spirituality looks like and concludes that hospitality is part of the key. he writes "when we are willing to detach ourselves from making our own limited experience the criterion for our approach to others, we may be able to see that life is greater than our life, history is greater than our history, experience greater than our experience, and God greater than our god. that is the poverty of the heart that makes a good host. with poverty of the heart we can receive the experience of others as a gift to us."

i think that displacement, the awareness of being other, can be transformed in to this poverty of the heart. and as we love and lead students from all over the world and our neighbors here in eastie, openness to others is vital. maybe the best people to help integrate outsiders are outsiders.

will i still fantasize about California? probably...i mean look at that picture up there! but i am learning to embrace my "otherness" as a window to experiencing God's heart and the stories of others in a more meaningful way. and that is pretty exciting to me.