Diary of a Young Pastor

For anyone who didn’t already know, the pastorate is a desk job (for the most part).

This reality has not boded well for my body. I’ve been wanting to loose some of the weight I’ve put on over the past few years, and I’ve been quite unsuccessful in my attempts.

So, I decided that I would have better follow through if I joined a gym. My reasoning was that I would be paying money to be a part of the gym, so I’d probably be more motivated to use it and not “waste” my money. I also have a friend in the church who has gotten in a really good habit of going every week - and I knew I could count on him for encouragement.

So, I’m two weeks in, and wow. I didn’t know if I would survive the first week. My body was screaming for mercy. But now, after going 6 times, I’m starting to adapt. My workout thus far has been 20 minutes of weight lifting using some pretty amazing machines (they automatically set up the right amount of weight for you based on what you can lift during a “test mode”), and 30 straight minutes of jogging on a treadmill (cardio workout that gets my heart rate up to about 152).

I am beginning to see a difference in myself, and that gets me excited!

~pastormatt

I’ve been reading Wade Rodger’s posts this evening, and boy can I identify with what he has written.  I wonder if all pastors trying to bring change and growth in small, rural, “stuck-in-the-1800’s” churches would be able to identify too.

Read Wade’s blog “Questions” and “Clarification“, and be sure to check out my comment here.

~pastormatt

Every year, pastors in the Wesleyan church are asked to fill out a minister’s report.  One question that always gets me is, “How do you rate your loyalty to your district?”  Many of you already know, I’m a pastor in the NC West District, and for the past 3-6 years, I have not felt very loyal to my district.  I addressed this with the following remarks.  For some of you, this may not be very interesting, but I want to post it anyways.

Last year (2006-07 district year) I stated in my Minister’s Report that it was frightening to be a pastor in this district because this district is quite unsupportive to its pastors.  I was somewhat encouraged last year when I received a call from the District Superintendent who, during the phone conversation, addressed this remark.  He reassured me that, indeed, the district was supportive of its pastors, but as the 2007-2008 church year has come and gone, I have continued to see my fellow pastors treated wrongly by this district and its leadership.

I’ve seen the people of some congregations become hostile towards their pastor and force him out the doors with many months of the church year left.  In doing so, this church (and it isn’t limited to one) has left not just the pastor, but the pastor’s spouse and even his children without a place to go, a place to live, or any means of support.  And meanwhile, our leadership seems to throw up their clean hands - much like Pontius Pilate - unwilling to step in and defend their pastors because of the risk of becoming unpopular among the people.

This criticism may sound harsh - and, I do realize that I don’t know every intricate detail of every situation in the district - but when my criticisms are confirmed year after year, I feel I have the responsibility to answer the question of district loyalty as honestly as possible.  And, honestly, I am not comfortable being a married pastor in a district were I risk my (and my family’s) safety and livelihood at the drop of my congregation’s proverbial “hat”.

I think that this could, one day, be a great district in which to be a pastor, but until there is leadership that refuses to sit at the sidelines while its pastors are fighting a battle - it is a frightening place for me to be.

I had the pleasure of going to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspain with my brothers today, and I want to share my thoughts on the movie by sharing my likes and dislikes.

Likes:

• First, I liked the fact that this film was quite a bit more gritty and dark than the first.  This, in my opinion, made the story seem more “real”.
• I liked the fact that this movie dealt with the nature of humanity and incorporated fantasy, instead of dealing with fantasy and incorporating humanity.  Does that make sense?  It could just be the differences in the subject matter of the books.
• I liked the fact that this movie is based on one of the “non-defining” books.  Meaning, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the defining classic of all things Narnia.  Fans of the series (me) know that book from front to back.  Its story is legendary in our minds - and as a result, you are not allowed (in the minds of the fans) to mess with it.  During L,W&W, I cringed every time the story deviated from the story line in the book.  But in Caspian, I was much more tolerant and forgiving of the liberties taken in the story.  I can only assume that this is because the story is not as cemented in my brain.  It was enjoyable to be able to think, “Well, that wasn’t in the book….but I can see why they put it in the movie,” instead of, “WHY DID THEY DO THAT!!”
• The three older Pevensie’s were allowed to act more grown up.  In L,W&W, Skandar Keynes grew up a lot from the beginning of production to the end, but his character (Edmund) wasn’t allowed to.  There were some scenes where it was obvious that we were watching an older Keynes playing a younger Edmund.  In Caspian, his character was allowed to be older, which made the acting much more believable.
• I applaud Andrew Adamson’s decision to give Susan a much more active role in the movie.  Her character was tough, and to re-use some adjectives, gritty and “real”.  This may be my “Wesleyan-ness” coming out.

Dislikes:

• Caspian’s character development could have been better.  This is a Disney movie, after all, and don’t they like to play up characters whose parents have died (see: Cinderella, Bambi, Nemo & every other movie…).
• The “Lucy sees Aslan” scenario was always vital for me in the book.  I feel like they severely underplayed that part.
• William Moseley looks freakishly like Keira Knightley.  That was a bit of a distraction.

Conclusion:

In my opinion, the likes dramatically outweighed the dislikes.  I really, really enjoyed Caspian and left with a completely different feeling than when I left L,W&W.

Your thoughts?

~Pastor Matt

Staples Envelopes, originally uploaded by crashingtothesea.

I noticed this the other day at Staples. When buying envelopes in bulk, you would expect to spend less money than buying a small box. Right?

Not Staples Security Envelopes.