Runaway Pastor: Newest version of Chapters 1-7

Here is the latest edition of the first seven chapters of The Runaway Pastor.

It has been a fun journey to date. Thanks for all of the nice things you are saying. I still welcome comments. I'm doing quite a bit of shifting around with the Parable of the Gym. You may not see much more of that until publication.

Of course, no new Runaway publication would be complete without a reminder that I am sitting in my cabin with my wife of 29 years, and completely happy in my marriage. And, I love the people of the church I pastor. I am not Trent Atkins, he is fiction. But, he is indeed representative of so many people, not pastors alone, who struggle with the current business model adopted by so much of Christendom in the west.

Grace and peace to you.

Parable of the Gym: Parts 1-4

Several of you have requested that I link all four parts of The Parable of the Gym together. You can click on the title and read them. By the way, there is more to this parable than I have published. And I am preparing to do an edit of these, so your remarks via comment or email are welcomed.

I really hesitated to post this. The parable is a stinging rebuke of the church from Trent, the main character in my novel. He is hurting deeply, and as people who hurt often do, he writes in a stream of conscientiousness that leaves no room for editing. So perhaps it is unfair. However, the parable was written after many conversations with hurting pastors and faithful church people. And, I wrote in the midst of my own dark days of burnout.

I publish the parable here not as a declaration against any church or denomination. I love mine. Rather, it is a starting place for discussion, and I believe holds many painful truths about how the church presents herself to a world that needs her message. Even if spiritually seeking people are wrong about how they perceive their treatment at the hands of the church, to them their perception is--well--their perception.

Wherever Jesus ministered, he was most often loved and admired by those outside of his religious circles. And those inside of it? Not so much. Does today's church find itself being the person and presence of Jesus to the world? Or are we playing the role of those to whom Jesus issued his most stern of warnings?

Grace and peace to you as you seek to be the person and presence of Jesus.

Part IV: Parable of the Gym

I have made a drastic update to the first paragraph in part four of The Parable of the Gym. Thank you for the comment and collaboration, Rich! The change has to do with the motivation for beginning new church work. The first edition was a bit more cynical than Rich and I have experienced in our own realities.

So give it another read, and see what you think of the changes as well as the overall feel. Click below to tie-in.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhdr3wvs_14dprvxtcr

I will be posting some updates about hopes for publishing soon.

If you haven't read parts 1-3 of the Parable of the Gym, poke around the site and check them out. They are one piece in the novel.

David

Runaway Pastor: Just for fun--Who is reading?

Just for fun! In the spirit of the NFL Play-Offs and the BCS bowl games, I thought it might be fun, (or at least interesting) to post the current standings on various states visiting this website over the past month. (OK, this is goofy!)

Most visitors are reading the front page, and then chapters 1-7 and The Parable of the Gym entries.

First, for the national standings:
1st place: The United States of America
2nd place: Ukraine
3rd place: Israel

Next, for the state standings:
1st: Indiana
2nd: California
3rd: New York
4th: Michigan
5th: Tennessee
6th: Texas
7th: Utah
8th: Arkansas
9th: Kansas
10th: Georgia

So in the spirit of competition, let's talk it up, and I'll keep you posting on how your state is doing. (There are ten other states close to making the top ten.)

And, since Ukraine is doing such a stellar job (with Zena our most courageous and prolific commentator) and the Eastern Christmas is upon us, С РОЖДЕСТВОМ!!

More of The Runaway Pastor: Part Four--Parable of the Gym

Well, here is another section of Trent's parable. Thanks for the comments on the last one. This one is a little more edgy than the last, yet, I think it has a lot of truth in it. Trent was hurting when he wrote this, so I guess we can expect him to be a bit to-the-point.

So let me know what you think.

Peace.

Sparks Flying

I remember when I was a kid, scooting my feet across carpet, and chasing my older sisters at the same time, in order to experience the joy of "shocking" them with the spark that would fly off of my finger, and into them. Flash! Out of no where, I was a source of light creating, electricity transferring energy!

During Advent, in these dark days, our church has been reading the longing scriptures of the season. "O that you would make the earth tremble." O how we want to see God do something, and when we are honest, there are at least days when we doubt his moving amongst us. Yet, week after week, as we read from Isaiah and the Psalms, from the Gospel and an epistle--we see that God is up to something.

It seems sad that those who received the assurances of God's coming in the prophets, never saw Jesus. In fact their great great grandchildren's great great grandchildren didn't see him! Think of it! All of their longing, and all of God's promising, did not enter their own reality?!

Must I always see the answers to my prayers in order to believe God is up to something? I want to pray--like so much scooting of my feet over carpet--and then see God at work. O God, give me faith to understand that I may not enjoy the answers to my prayers. That some future generation may reap blessings from my prayers, and not me. But in all things, keep my feet scooting across the carpets and my heart convinced that in some miraculous way, you are sending a shock-wave into some tomorrow.

Somehow I see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel masterpiece showing God's finger and Adam's. Reaching, aren't we?...ever longing and reaching. As is God.

Well, I plan to post another section of the >Parable of the Gym this Saturday sometime. We have had some good conversations. Thanks to those bold enough to converse on-line. This next entry is a tough questioning of a lot I've given my life to.

Grace and peace to you, and keep the sparks flying!!