As followers of this blog know, I am just getting back after a few weeks vacation. It was a good couple of weeks. It is rare for me to truly unplug while on holidays, and I feel I did that. Along with building a new deck, I enjoyed a few days of riding with Heather. And, I managed to read a couple of books. As I pointed out on Twitter and Facebook, it was great knowing I have an awesome staff surrounding me these days who are more than capable of taking care of things while I’m away.
Another thing I found myself doing during my break was reading my Bible and spending time in prayer. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “You’re a Pastor. I’m sure you already spend hours every day reading your Bible and praying.” Yeah … ummm … right. What I’m talking about was spending time just letting God work on my heart. You see, I still have a lot of things God needs to work on. Far too many things.
As a result, I’m in a period of transformation. God is definitely doing something in me. He’s changing my view on a number of things. He’s even tweaking how I view pastoring and how I think church should happen. To be honest, it’s both exciting and a little scary.
It’s scary because as God changes my view on these things, it inevitably changes how we do church. And change is never easy. The last time I felt strongly that change needed to happen was while I was on my Sabbatical. I believed we needed a stronger emphasis on worship in the church. Cam was brought on board, and I believe the change was instrumental in the growth of Bikers Church. Still, it was a challenge for some at the time.
So, it can be scary to bring change to a congregation. These days, it means bringing change to two churches. I’m not ready to explain what changes I think need to happen because I’m still processing things internally, but I do believe we need to continually mature.
In that way, transformation is exciting. Living organisms are in a constant state of change. Dare I use the word evolve? Physically, mentally, emotionally, and even socially, we are different today than we were a few years ago. Some of the changes are good. Some, not so good. For example, physically, I am in worse shape today than I was five years ago. That’s not good. So, I’m in the process of changing that. I’m working out, riding my mountain bike, and getting back into shape.
If you are not transforming in some way, then you are likely dead. Read that sentence again. If you are alive, you are changing.
That’s exciting.
I’ve seen a lot of tweaking in my spirituality over the past twenty years of pastoring. I’ve “tested” a lot of theories. Lately, I find myself going back to my early spirituality. I’m becoming more convinced that the greatest way we can touch the lives of others is by first engaging fully with God in our own life. Loving God with “all your heart, soul, strength, and mind” brings incredible transformation.
And so, let the transformation happen. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
What about you? How have you changed over the past few years?
