Hi all!
On the 23rd of this month (Easter Sunday) I'll be doing a special class where I'll answer as many questions on the Bible, theology, the church, etc. as I have time for. All I ask is that in the next couple weeks you email me your questions (or you can send them to me on Facebook) so I can study up for them. The Q&A session is kind of a "wrap up" to my time with the DMs. That will also be my final Sunday with the class. I can't even tell you all what joys I've received from being a part of this group and ultimately leading it! There have been some struggles and pains along the way as well but I wouldn't trade any of it. I can honestly say that I'm a better man and a better minister for my time with each of you and I thank God for you all.
This coming Sunday (Palm Sunday, the 16th) I will be presented to the congregation at Flat Rock Baptist Church in Louisburg and they will vote on calling me as their youth director. Suffice it to say it's a big step in a lot of ways and God has already blessed me tremendously just in opening this door. I covet your prayers this Sunday.
Reid Powell (my co-teacher and a fine figure of a lad if ever there was one) will be taking over the reins of the DMs following my departure. He will be spliting the teaching duties with Aaron Dougherty (a stout hearted man himself). They will be assisted in leadership by a few others and I'm excited to hear how God uses the whole bunch of them in the months to come!
God bless you guys. I'm going to miss you more than you know (probably more than I know). I'll still be in the area so I'm sure we'll see each other from time to time but it is the nature of life that we move on and grow and God brings us to bigger and better things. If you think about me, it'd mean a lot if you said a little prayer as I can use all the prayers I can get (and pray for the ones who really need it--those poor kids who will be stuck with me as their youth minister!). I say it all the time but it really is true: I love you all, very much. We're family and it wouldn't have been as great as it was without a single one of you. Be blessed!
Your brother,
Barry v.
(Prov. 3:5-6/Matt. 6:33)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
As we wait even longer for part 3 of Ruth...
I thought maybe this model of courtship from the emu might help us out some.
Or maybe not.
;-)
Barry v.
Or maybe not.
;-)
Barry v.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Exciting Times
The other day Ronda said to me, "It's an exciting time." She was talking about what God is doing among us, particularly with Disciplemakers. I had to agree with her. There's been a lot of questions lately about the future of the class (prompted, and sometimes even posed, largely by myself--and btw I'll get the end of the Ruth study published one of these days, really!). Who's going to be leading the group in the near future (since most of you probably know by now that it's looking more and more like my time with the group is coming to an end)? Where are we going as a group? Should we start thinking about breaking up or merging with another class?
Those of you who have been with the group for some time know that change has always come with the territory for the DMs. That's something most Sunday school classes don't deal with quite as much as we have, although it tends to be more common in singles ministry. With the DMs, change is always such a significant thing because every person in the class contributes so much and because we've always been a pretty tight-knit group. All of us have good friends beyond the class. Many of us have our best friends outside the group but there's still something special about Disciplemakers. Something about the way the way we pray together, something about the heart for ministry that guides so many in this group, something about the way we've never fallen into cliques or "sub-groups".
We used to say that it was the fact that Disciplemakers was a group for "misfits"--that what made us unique was that we were the guys that didn't fit in with the mainstream of church so well. There was a sense of belonging with the DMs that these people just didn't find elsewhere. That's not to say that Disciplemakers was necessarily better than any other group but that the DMs had a niche that no other group seemed to meet. The DMs were (and are, I think) characterized by people that wanted to "go deep"--in the Word, in ministry, into the unsearchable richness and vastness of God and His glory. And unfortunately, those people will always be the misfits, even in the best of churches.
And when those people get a little deeper and grow a little more, what happens? God pulls them onward and upward to bigger and greater things. And so, tenures in Disciplemakers tend to be short compared to other groups. Especially when you consider that often the ones leaving are not the uncommitted but the ones that are the most plugged-in. Sometimes it's new ministries. Sometimes it's new relationships (a good young singles ministry should always be doomed to that fate to a certain extent). Sometimes it's just time. It's sad sometimes, frustrating even (especially so for the guy at the podium, believe me) but if you see it for what it really is, you start to agree that it really is exciting.
So here we are, on the verge of yet another big shakeup and I see God very clearly and deliberately raising up again the men and women who will lead this group. In the weeks and months to come, leadership is going to change and change big time. New people are coming in and a few of us who have been in leadership for a while are going out. But it's not the first time and it likely won't be the last. You'll be hearing less and less from me in the teaching spot (Yeah! Now's the time to start showing up more regularly! :-) ) and hearing more from Reid and Aaron D., who's offered to step up to fill the teaching void when it opens up. You'll likely be hearing from Austin and maybe one or two others from time-to-time as well. March 9, after the birthday lunch, leadership will meet and we'll discuss the vision of the class for 2008. Then we'll pass it on to the class at large, hopefully that next Sunday (the 16th). Our vision will be tied to the church's mission to "FIND those who need Jesus, FEED all on the Word, until we are FULLY established in Christ," and to Disciplemakers' past. And it will reflect the gifts and the talents of those in the class (this means YOU!).
So really, is it any wonder why some of us are so excited? If you can't feel that excitement yet, I pray that in the weeks to come, you will. Our God is so good and so big and so capable, and all we really have to do is be faithful to Him and seek His will and His glory and He does the rest (Reid, if this sounds like your Sunday school lesson from last week, it's because I slightly stole it from you. Thanks!). And as if He wasn't good enough for all that, He gives us brothers and sisters to share the journey with and blesses us all by giving us the opportunity to know and love and serve Him and to tell others about Him. How can you not love and trust and give your all for a God like that? So let's do it, whether together as a class or in whatever situation to which He brings us outside the group.
I love you guys, each and every one of you, DMs new and old, those still with the group and all those beloved brothers and sisters who have moved on. I can't even say how much this group and all of you have meant to me over the past two years (has it only been two years? It seems like I've lived the best years of my life with this group!). I love you from the bottom of my heart. And I pray God's blessings upon you. He is so great and we are so small and yet He loves us more than anyone else ever could. So let's keep following and praising and loving Him and trust Him for the rest.
And oh man, is it going to be a fun ride!
:-)
Those of you who have been with the group for some time know that change has always come with the territory for the DMs. That's something most Sunday school classes don't deal with quite as much as we have, although it tends to be more common in singles ministry. With the DMs, change is always such a significant thing because every person in the class contributes so much and because we've always been a pretty tight-knit group. All of us have good friends beyond the class. Many of us have our best friends outside the group but there's still something special about Disciplemakers. Something about the way the way we pray together, something about the heart for ministry that guides so many in this group, something about the way we've never fallen into cliques or "sub-groups".
We used to say that it was the fact that Disciplemakers was a group for "misfits"--that what made us unique was that we were the guys that didn't fit in with the mainstream of church so well. There was a sense of belonging with the DMs that these people just didn't find elsewhere. That's not to say that Disciplemakers was necessarily better than any other group but that the DMs had a niche that no other group seemed to meet. The DMs were (and are, I think) characterized by people that wanted to "go deep"--in the Word, in ministry, into the unsearchable richness and vastness of God and His glory. And unfortunately, those people will always be the misfits, even in the best of churches.
And when those people get a little deeper and grow a little more, what happens? God pulls them onward and upward to bigger and greater things. And so, tenures in Disciplemakers tend to be short compared to other groups. Especially when you consider that often the ones leaving are not the uncommitted but the ones that are the most plugged-in. Sometimes it's new ministries. Sometimes it's new relationships (a good young singles ministry should always be doomed to that fate to a certain extent). Sometimes it's just time. It's sad sometimes, frustrating even (especially so for the guy at the podium, believe me) but if you see it for what it really is, you start to agree that it really is exciting.
So here we are, on the verge of yet another big shakeup and I see God very clearly and deliberately raising up again the men and women who will lead this group. In the weeks and months to come, leadership is going to change and change big time. New people are coming in and a few of us who have been in leadership for a while are going out. But it's not the first time and it likely won't be the last. You'll be hearing less and less from me in the teaching spot (Yeah! Now's the time to start showing up more regularly! :-) ) and hearing more from Reid and Aaron D., who's offered to step up to fill the teaching void when it opens up. You'll likely be hearing from Austin and maybe one or two others from time-to-time as well. March 9, after the birthday lunch, leadership will meet and we'll discuss the vision of the class for 2008. Then we'll pass it on to the class at large, hopefully that next Sunday (the 16th). Our vision will be tied to the church's mission to "FIND those who need Jesus, FEED all on the Word, until we are FULLY established in Christ," and to Disciplemakers' past. And it will reflect the gifts and the talents of those in the class (this means YOU!).
So really, is it any wonder why some of us are so excited? If you can't feel that excitement yet, I pray that in the weeks to come, you will. Our God is so good and so big and so capable, and all we really have to do is be faithful to Him and seek His will and His glory and He does the rest (Reid, if this sounds like your Sunday school lesson from last week, it's because I slightly stole it from you. Thanks!). And as if He wasn't good enough for all that, He gives us brothers and sisters to share the journey with and blesses us all by giving us the opportunity to know and love and serve Him and to tell others about Him. How can you not love and trust and give your all for a God like that? So let's do it, whether together as a class or in whatever situation to which He brings us outside the group.
I love you guys, each and every one of you, DMs new and old, those still with the group and all those beloved brothers and sisters who have moved on. I can't even say how much this group and all of you have meant to me over the past two years (has it only been two years? It seems like I've lived the best years of my life with this group!). I love you from the bottom of my heart. And I pray God's blessings upon you. He is so great and we are so small and yet He loves us more than anyone else ever could. So let's keep following and praising and loving Him and trust Him for the rest.
And oh man, is it going to be a fun ride!
:-)
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