Sessions 6 & 7: Rock Daddy

1. Whatever is going on or influencing us at the present time in our life, whether it be a new fad in our culture, a revival going on at our church or where we are in our walk with Jesus it is going to impact how we approach worship and how we interact with others in regards to telling them about Christ. As human beings we are easily influenced by outside stimuli. For instance, say you are sitting watching t.v. before dinner, when a commercial comes on for the local pizza place. Suddenly, you have a craving for pizza and if you are lucky and your spouse hasn't started making anything yet, you will probably end up ordering pizza. It is the same with all the other aspects of our lives.

2. The Jackson Pollock piece is very appealing to me and makes me want to look at it more closely. It causes me to think about what the artist was trying to convey in his work. I find it interesting and would be something that I would not mind hanging on my wall in my house. The art work by Andy Warhol on the other hand is merely his rendition of a common place item during his era. It neither moves me or excites me. I acknowledge the fact that it is art in that he felt some urging to paint it, however, it is not something I would hang on my wall in my house.

3. I think that the cultural mindset is on a pendulum and that modernism is merely a part of the spectrum, just as PM is. Obviously, it is the different philosophies that the pendulum moves through and not necessarily the titles (modernism, post modernism, etc.). Therefore, because the pendulum continually moves, modernism is on it way out and PM is the next philosophy. No one can tell how long the pendulum will travel through a philosophy, but you can be certain that nothing lasts forever. For people to not recognize or accept that fact and think that they can hold onto the past are only fooling themselves.

4. In this day and age of instant gratification, I think that to engage and entice the unbeliever that is out there, you need to be able to relate to them. In my opinion this means showing video clips and tailoring your sermon to what is going on today. Still convey the message but present it in such a way as to connect with your audience. I envision using video clips, songs and pictures to help the audience connect with what I am telling them.

5. I would have to say that in my church, family and local community the prominent art method is music. My church is very much about their music and how it relates or connects with the congregation, based on which service they are attending (traditional/blended/contemporary). In my family my wife is part of the praise team, all three of my kids are in the children's choir and I personally love to sing and listen to music. In our town there is always some kind of concert or program going on that has music. The method that is probably the next prevalent would be theater. My church again likes to put on both adult and children's plays, musicals and dramas. And again my children are involved in those and in our town we actually have a theater where performances are being performed weekly.

6. In my life and what I hope to be, a pastor, the value and emphasis of words is very important. To me if you can effectively and efficiently convey your message then it is just a matter of the other person responding and going from there. I'm not saying that you have to use big words and sound overly important, but I am saying that you need to be able to communicate in such a way that the person you are talking to can understand what you are saying.
Sacrament to me is the act of communion. Growing up we took communion every week, the same way. At my current church we only take communion so many times a year and we usually incorporate feet washing along with it. Rarely do we share in communion in the same way as we did the last time we came together. For me communion symbolizes the sacrifice Christ made for me and it is my way of remembering that. Therefore, I greatly value and believe that communion is important.
The arts, are an expression of our souls and therefore our inner most desires. No matter what format of art you do and no matter how well you do it you are still sharing and giving of yourself. I feel the arts are very important in that if we didn't have them, then we would be no different than a bunch of robots.

7. I define discipleship as the act of making disciples. A disciple is someone who follows a master and believes in his ideals and then spreads them. Since art can be defined as any method of expressing oneself, I would say that art definitely plays a role in discipleship. Its role is to act as common ground, upon which you meet someone else. Once you are on common ground and create a meaningful relationship then you can begin to share and exchange ideas with them. Which in turn allows you to witness to them in order to help them become a follower also.
I feel that I have died to myself. Once I committed to becoming a pastor, I feel that I gave my life over to God. That is not to say that I don't on many occasions try to hurry along or change God's timing and action plan for me, but in the end I always come back to him, humble and bowed, offering up my life yet again.
Can you kill a dead person? That question has multiple answers and also sparks multiple questions. Such as in what sense are they dead? Are they physically dead? If so, then no you can't kill them. Are they spiritually dead? Then, yes you can physically kill them which in turn causes them to live eternally, albeit in hell. Are they emotionally dead? Again, you can physically kill them, but I feel that someone who is emotionally dead is merely going through the motions and is just waiting for their bodies to give up. If someone is emotionally dead I don't think you can kill them because they are already dead.