Church Visit - North Goshen Mennonite Church

For the last couple of years I have served the North Goshen Mennonite Church as an Overseer - a title which will likely be changing soon, but a role which hopefully is retained within the conference.  It has been important to me to be a resource to the congregation's leadership in times of leadership review and transition, but the most rewarding aspect of this ministry for me has been walking with the pastoral leadership of the congregation.  Specifically, my connection with Dean Linsenmeyer, NGMC's Lead Pastor, has been a rich blessing for me (hopefully, it has been for Dean as well).

It is with some anxiety that I began my sabbatical knowing that Dean is preparing for retirement from pastoral ministry at the end of this year.  Still, I am on sabbatical from my pastoral ministry at East Goshen Mennonite, not North Goshen, and so it seemed important to stop in this past Sunday at North Goshen.

Dean is a sincere and committed pastor who has been a very good pastor for NGMC.  His sermon on Sunday was clear and thoughtful as I expected.  Because NGMC's worship is bi-lingual (Spanish translation for everything) Dean uses video projection in English and Spanish which must take a lot of preparation. I noticed many people around me, both English and Spanish speakers, who were writing notes and nodding in affirmation to Dean's sermon.

As I observed the congregation in worship and Dean in leadership I wondered how he (and his wife Bek) would discover their next calling as they move from congregational ministry.  Likewise, what does their stepping away from North Goshen mean for the congregation?

It was a pleasure for me to see the diversity of people of NGMC engaged in worship from longtime "ethnic mennonite" members, to my good Brazilian friend Josede who along with her family are relatively new to the congregation.  When people come together before Christ as sisters and brothers unified as one family, it is a most beautiful thing.

May the grace of Christ lead Dean and Bek in their ministering future.
May the grace of Christ continue to shine through the people of North Goshen Mennonite Church.

Formative Church Visit: Shore Mennonite

On our way from Goshen, to Shipshewana to join in worship at Shore Mennonite Church last Sunday, BJ and I were reflecting on how unknowing we were when we drove there 22 years ago for me to interview for a youth ministry position.  I was coming away from a very rewarding experience working as an Adventure Guide with Christian Adventures, and was interested in any kind of ministry that did not entail my serving as a "pastor."  However, I needed work with a baby on the way and college debts piling up.

Something we discovered over two decades ago was still clear in our visit last Sunday; with this congregation an undeniable hospitality is extended.  In fact, it was this congregation's warm acceptance of my family and me in ministry which clarified my sense of call to pastoral ministry - a ministry which found expression among these people.

BJ and I stepped into the church building to be so warmly welcomed that it was clear in a certain inexplicable way to Shore Mennonite Church, we are still as much a part of them as they are of us.  What a joy it was to see these people again - from some of my former youth group (like Stephanie and Sharon), to those who went out of their way 20 years ago to help us find a home, start our family life and earn a living.  Still, even more rewarding than this personal nostalgia was seeing many people who I do not know integrally connected to life with the Shore Mennonite Church.

The worship atmosphere was traditionally familiar, although somewhat more informal than I remember with much of worship being led from floor level rather than the platform and many congregational songs not from the song book.  This is a congregation with clear, if unstated, expectations for community, and this was actually the focus of "Pastor Carl's" sermon (the community coming together to rebuild the temple walls in Nehemiah chapter 4).  Carl's sermon was very well spoken and drew on a number of essential understandings from Nehemiah for the life of the Shore community.

Thank you, Shore Mennonite Church, for your accepting me as a pastor (even before I realized I was one) in 1989 and for continuing to be a hospitable community for BJ and me.

Let me share a blessing I have been reading every day from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals:

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with you; wherever he may send you; 

may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;

may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

Formative Church Visit: Midland Mennonite

On Sunday, August 7, BJ and I attended worship with the congregation I call my "home church," having spent the majority of my childhood Sunday mornings, Sunday and Wednesday evenings in this little rural church building.  Well, and there were the years when my family also cleaned the building (which meant two days of wiping down benches and emptying trash cans each week), and the years when my mother was the church secretary and I was privileged  to help with turning the crank on the messy blue inked mimeograph machine.  This was my church and I was intimately connected to every steel folding chair in the basement and every person who attended.  So the Midland Mennonite Church was my place where my people gathered.  It was also the place where I met BJ, my life-partner.  It was to me the second most influential entity in my life (after familiy /home and before neighborhood and school).

My mom and dad attended with BJ and I on August 7, which was important to me since they have for many years been involved with another congregation.  This was a sweet memory experience for me.  There were many comforts, including aspects of the church which have not changed in the 25 years since it was my church.  We arrived about 10 minutes before worship and were about 10 minutes earlier than the majority of the congregation.  "Pastor Don" in his usual warmth (I have gotten to know him at Conference events) met us at the door and exclaimed his surprised pleasure in seeing us.

While the worship feel was nostalgically familiar, it is clear that this is a different congregation than the one I knew so well as a child.  I counted about 11 people who I knew from childhood, and felt encouraged to see there had been many "new" faces in a congregation which has experienced many waves of membership loss.  The worship itself was inviting and informal, to the point of "folksy" and theologically fixed on a gospel of personal salvation as an escape from hell's fires.  In all of this, I knew I was back home with the congregation which gave me my first understanding of the gospel, and I did find myself musing at how the congregation could still be at this point.

It was a wonderful joy to talk to old brothers and sisters including one woman who I believe was instrumental in my later hearing God's call to ministry.  When I was about 16 years old she spoke to me after a youth led worship service to tell me that I would someday be a "preacher," a notion which I scorned for a many years.  So last Sunday, after almost 40 years, I thanked her for speaking this holy word to me.  And I thank God for the Midland Mennonite Church for providing me my first place and people whereby Christ could begin the call in my life.

Sabbatical Week 2 / August 1-7

Monday

Following the Lake Superior Cirlcle Tour route we crossed from Ontario, Canada to Minnesota's Split Rock State Park.  We tented on a cliff facing the majestic Split Rock Lighthouse. My mind is playing with an analogy of the lighthouse with the church as we see and visit the lighthouses along our trip.  These remote beacons were placed to provide shipping traffic with safety by warning of hazards and being on the ready in case of disaster.  Whimsically, I realize this is how many consider the church (as gospel beacons, calling others to safe passage).  Further, the church's pastors have been expected by many to cover the same responsibilities as a lighthouse keeper: the attend to maintenance, to brace the elements in order to maintain the systems of a safe harbor.  Well, enough of my unenlightened meandering.

Tuesday

The Circle Tour into Wisconsin brought us through Duluth to Copper Falls State Park.  

Wednesday

Back into Michigan's Upper Penninsula, we drove by the Porcupine Mountains and up the Keweenaw Penninsula to Copper Harbor.  I have now gone all the way around Isle Royale, an Island reachable only by ferry or sea plane.  It renews my life-long desire to backpack the Island.  Anyone wish to join me?

Thursday 

The Circle Tour then led us on through Grand Marais to the Muskalunge State Park.

Friday and Saturday

We drove to Mom Campbell's cabin in Brimley, then on to Traverse City for BJ's neice's wedding.

Sabbatical Week 1 / July 25-July 31

Monday

BJ and I enjoyed the day kayaking through most of Chain-O-Lakes State Park in Albion, IN.  What a great way to begin a sabbatical!  Thank you Ritch (and Char) for the loan of your boats.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

…breakfast and spiritual reflection time

…noon-time basketball

…planning for camping next week with BJ on our Lake Superior Trip

…preparing to begin church visits (the first of which is with Mom and Dad at Midland Mennonite)

…and selecting some reading material:  Love Wins,  by Rob Bell; The Jesus Driven Life, by Michael Hardin; and The Un-necessary Pastor, by Eugene Peterson.

Friday

BJ and I stopped by Carrie’s new house in Kalamazoo and took her to lunch on our way to Mom Campbell’s cabin in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  It was good for us to see where Carrie is living, spend some time with her and see Eric, her fiancé (wedding is being planned for sometime in the Spring).

Saturday

BJ and I crossed the International Bridge into Sault Ste. Marie, Canada early in the morning an boarded the Algoma Canyon train.  We then spent the whole day on the tracks to and from the wilderness canyon through beautifully scenic rolling mountains and along remote picturesque lakes.

Sunday

King’s highway 17, Pancake Bay to Rainbows falls is very likely the most incredibly glorious road I have ever driven - majestic mountain roads winding along the northern expanse Lake Superior.  At almost ever turn and rise comes the word, “wow.”