All posts by mjfelker1980

Ministry, Sabbath, Unchained from my Desk

My Day Off

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While my friend Zac likes to believe that ministers only work on Sundays, my week can fill up at a moment’s notice and very quickly get out of hand. That’s why I love my Tuesdays.

Most ministers will choose one of two days for their day off: Mondays or Fridays. Usually senior ministers choose Mondays and youth ministers chose Fridays. This is understandable. Most youth ministers want to rest going into the weekend which is often times filled with lock-ins, serice projects, evening devotionals, and all manner of things that tend to go later than planned. Fridays can seem like the calm before the storm. It’s best to rest before tahn play catch up afterward. Senior ministers often take some breathing room on Mondays because “it’s the longest possible time before more church.”

I take off on Tuesdays. I like coming in on Mondays to evaluate the weekend and to make plans for the coming week. Fridays are out of the question because some much of my ministry to students happens on Fridays. Tuesdays are perfect!

So, what do I do on my days off? Whatever I want! (I’m kidding)

Sadly that isn’t quite true. I usually do a couple of things that just need to get done. Today I spent some time with my financial planner changing some things around in my IRA. It doesn’t get more fun than that, huh? Fortunately today, that was the most boring thing I did.

I don’t check out on my days off. I usually eat out for lunch and spend a good deal of time reading or doing some sort of personal development. Today I did both. I continued reading in The Forgotten Ways and I spent some time listening to some great teaching on some podcasts that I’ve been saving. Today was a good day.

Onther thing I like to do on Tuesdays is walk the bookstores and dip my toes into some of my hobbies. Today my hobby of choice was Photoshop. I love design and I really want to get a better handle on Photoshop so that I don’t have to rely on other companies to create and design posters, t-shirts and banners for my ministry. I loke doing stuff “in house.” With that in mind I’m hoping to roll out a new blog for my youth ministry this summer. My desire is that it will be highly functional and “really, really good looking.” So today I worked on creating a web logo. I used my last name for the image and I think it turned out pretty cool. It is pretty basic but I learned a ton about how things like gradiant overlays work. I have thankfully moved beyond “Drop Shadow!” Hopefully, I’ll be able to use what I learned today to churn out a cool looking design that my teenagers will be proud of. What do you think of the Felker logo? felkerlogosm.jpg

Tomorrow it’s back to the grindstone but today is my day off.

Hell's Frozen Over, Music

“Brrrrrrrr! It’s Cold In Here.” – Satan

From FoxNews.com:

It’s looking more certain than ever that Sting is about to reunite with his original band, The Police.

The signs are strong, with enough clues available so that even Colonel Mustard could figure it out. Here’s one: Yesterday, former Policemen Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland were guests, with their families, at a Malibu birthday party for Sting’s better half, Trudie Styler. Their appearance caused quite a stir.

And on Thursday night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Sting dedicated a lute version of “Message in a Bottle” to the pair of former comrades who happened to be seated in the auditorium.

Further investigation: Although Sting and his camp remain mum on the subject, sources do tell me that the Police will reunite this summer to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

I truly thought that I’d never see the day that The Police would reunite. Back in high school I listened to U2, Zeppelin, and the Police almost exculsively. I’m still not holding my breat though. Sting and Copeland are pretty volatile when they are together so the tour could save some money on pyrotechnics. I hope that the powers that be can make this happen.

link

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action, Leadership, Ministry, Religion, Theology

Great Reminder From a Great Man

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority. If the church does not participate actively in the struggle for peace and for economic and racial justice, it will forfeit the loyalty of millions and cause men everywhere to say that it has atrophied its will. But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace. Men far and near will know the church as a great fellowship of love that provides light and bread for lonely travellers at midnight.”

-Dr. Martin Juthur King, Jr.

Cinema, Guilty Pleasure, My Wife Rules

Chili, A Roaring Fire, and A Good Movie

With the threat of ice and freezing rain tonight, we decided to spend the evening at home curled up on the couch in front of a nice, warm fire. Sandy cooked some awesome chili and we watched possibly the best movie I’ve seen in a long while.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was on TCM tonight and we loved every minute of it. Bogart was perfect as Fred C Dobbs, a would be gold prospector who slowly decends into greed and madness. Not only was it a great movie but I also found out where the famous “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” comes from. What a great movie.

I would love to host a Film and Theology at our church geared toward 20-30 somethings. Watching films and discussing them through a theological lense could be a great way to spend an evening. Sierra Madre and Citizen Kane are two classic films that you could start with. Pair them with a study of Ecclesiasties and you’ve got yourself a lot to think about.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

If you’ve seen either one of these films you can see how Solomon’s words could easiy be spoken by a number of different characters in Kane or Sierra Madre. I think “chasing after the wind” still goes on today. It is almost as if there is nothing new under sun!?!?! Almost. Just some thoughts for this cold, wet Saturday night.

Stay warm out there everybody. Peace.

General

Thursday Thoughts

1) I’m Tired. On Tuesday/Wednesday my insomnia was in full effect. I got a good sleep last night but had to get up at 5:30am for a youth ministry meeting at my least favorite resturant, Cracker Barrel. I need a good snow owrkout like the guys in the picture below to help wake me up a little more!

Members of the Special Warfare Command participate in an annual severe winter season drill in Pyongchang, about 180km (113 miles) east of Seoul January 10, 2007. The special forces carry out the training course every year to improve their member’s combat abilities in cold weather and heavy snowfall.
2) The Office: Heroes doesn’t return for another 2 weeks but there is a new episode of The Office on tonight. Yahoo has posted some great clips from tonight’s episode. It looks like the employees so Dunder Mifflin Scranton are going out on some sales calls. Should be a lot of fun. There isn’t a funnier show on television. I heard a guy on the radio yesterday say that if you don’t get The Office you just don’t get it.

3) Sending Out An SOS: It is so easy to feel isolated and alone in this world. A couple of conversations that have happend this week have served as great reminders at how hurt, frustrated, and lonely people can be. I think about the song Message in a Bottle by the Police quite often. The song tells the story of a castaway lost at sea on an unihabited island. He decides that he is going to send the world a message in a bottle in hopes that someone will come to resque him. He waits for a year lamenting his loneliness until one day he walks down to the shore. He is astonished by what he finds there.

Walked out this morning, don’t believe what I saw
Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore
Seems I’m not alone at being alone
Hundred billion castaways, looking for a home

Like I said, I think about this song an awful lot. As a minister, I see broken people all the time. Sting is right. Countless broken and hurting people out there. This song helps remind me to look for those messages of desperation that people are sending out.

4) Senior on Staff: I am currently the senior guy on staff at my church. Pray for not only my church but for Christianity as a whole! Maybe we could get a documentary crew in here to film a new version of “Who’s Minding the Store?” 🙂
I get to preach in a couple of weeks so I’m trying up all the lose ends on my “The Gospel According to Starbucks” message. It is progressing very nicely I must say. Can’t wait to share it with you all. Maybe I’ll do a podcast.

5) Samuel L Jackson is God: No, not a god but YHWH. Well, at least his voice is. Prominent African-American actors and actresses have lent their talents and voices to an audio Bible project called, The Bible Experience. I have the New Testament already and Old Testament drops later this year. The production value is top notch and the acting is superb. It is the best audio Bible I have ever bought. I bought the MP3 discs because they were a tad cheaper and eaiser to rip onto my computer. I’m planning on using some of the segments in a worship service soon. At least check it out. It is a great way to supplement your Bible reading and a way to hear scripture in a totally new way.

6) Have a Great Day Yeah, have a great day everyone.

Music

Last One

Ok. This is the last post about the iPhone and it isn’t even about the phone. It is about something that happened during the phone’s demonstration during the MacWorld Expo this morning.

As Jobs was demonstrating how to switch from phone mode into iPod mode something piqued my imagination. Jobs purposefully chose some great music to use during the demo.

Thanks to iLounge.com for the picture.

“Tap here and uh… ‘a Little Help From My Friends.” Could this mean the the Fab Four will be coming to the iTunes store? A Beatles Digital Box Set would get me more excited than that little phone anyday.

Nice move Steve. Nice move.

You can watch the Keynote address and see it for yourself. (Starting at about 42:40)