Is it Trendy or is it Conviction?

Yesterday as some of you might know I was in Cincinnati for Warped tour, now I've been going to Warped tour for about three years now and it's always one of the highlights of my summer.  First of all you get to see over 40 amazing bands for less than 40 bucks, you get to be a part of a community that at least as a pastor you don't really get to meet otherwise it's absolutely great.  Every year there is a huge area of booths most of them are to sell band merch but others are there too for instance, invisible children was there, there is always an Environmental awarness booth as well and TWLOHA is always there making a difference in students lives.  If that weren't enough there is always the cause that a Band is behind that they preach from the stage, some might talk about the War others will support some sort of orphanage, and still others a group like TWLOHA.  Now here is what I love and what I'm concerned about when it comes to this wave that I'm seeing.

When I found out about 9 years ago about what Bono was doing for AIDS relief in Africa and world poverty I thought it was great, I said now here's a guy who truly gets what being a Christian is all about for he his a brother in Christ to me.  He takes the passage of the least of these to heart he notices the fact that Jesus spends more time talking about the poor than almost anything else in scripture, you would think that this is an important and very central part of the Biblical narrative.  What you began to see after Bono and Mother Teresa was this, every celebrity and in turn many members of a young generation begin to get behind cause after cause after cause.  I love seeing this, I love seeing people get passionate about wanting a greener earth, I love seeing the fact that God does not want war and murder in any context is not human, I love seeing them get behind helping out girls who have been trafficked in other country's, I love seeing them help girls who have become addicted to self injury, I love them being concerned for the poor, the widow, the Orphan just like Christ called us too.  But here's what has begun to concern me about this and it's one word Genuine.

Are they genuinely concerned or is it popular, let's say that Bono never took a stance on world poverty that there was no oprah or any other celebrity saying that this is wrong and we must do something about it?  Would we still be bothered by these social issues?  I hope so but I don't know if we would, this concerns me cause the Gospel without conviction is heresy!  I believe that Bono is convicted, I believe a lot of the people I saw yesterday are convicted, I believe my friend Tyler with Love can't be BAHT is convicted, I believe my uncle Rick with IDES is convicted in fact I know those people are convicted but what about you?  Are you convicted, this is what I want to know cause this is important, if you think that Christianity is all about going to Church and Bible study and Small group but you have no concern for the poor, the Widow, or the Orphan then I question if you got the message in the first place.  All I want to address here is a bringing back to the drawing page, where we begin to be concerned about the things of Christ not because of Bono, not because of some other band but because Christ commands and invites us into a life that can change the World.  GOD BELIEVES WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!

So may God convict you out of his word to look after the Widow, the Poor, and the Orphan and may we embrace a Life that changes this world through the Gospel that we claim.

Grace and Peace,

C-DUB

An update for Florida.

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize it's been a really busy summer and I'm just now beginning to catch my breath, for those Youth Pastors out there you know what I'm saying here. Anyway this past week I was called out on not posting by a dear friend of mine and decided it was time to post something new, in particularly to those of you down in Florida who have been asking me questions about how the internship is going. So I thought I'd use this post to just share some about my life up here, how it's going, and to share some of what I've been learning these past few months.

When I got here I didn't know how I'd adjust or what life would look like, the biggest question I had was who would I live with and would we mesh well or not. All of that was put aside when I met Judy and Justin who have become like Parents to me, They are both locals who have pretty much lived here there whole lives. Justin owns a plumbing business in town and was an elder here at Northview until about a year and a half ago, he loves to play Church softball, loves to hunt, and loves a good evangelistical sermon. Judy is your classic house wife who takes care of things on the home front, she is also very out spoken in other words your not gonna run all over her at all she can hold her own, I really loves this about them. Needless to say I live in an upstairs room in there home and interact with there family whenever I can, 2 of there three kids live here in town which means the house is joyful with the sounds of anywhere from 7 to 10 grandkids at a time, it's great I absolutely love seeing good family's interact with each other.

People ask me if I miss Florida at all, now usually I don't know how to answer that so I'll say this. I miss certain people but to be honest I've been to busy to really dwell on that, plus too many people have made this place feel like home for me to really miss it. Not a day goes by however that I don't think of most of you, every morning I wake up and I look forward to what I get to do, I really love my job and I love those I get to work with both staff and volunteers. What's weird is here I am doing ministry full time and no longer in the class room for the moment, the thing I fear most is struggling back into the last year of classes, I really love doing ministry everyday full time. I get to preach, I get to disciple, and I get to interact with fellow pastors in the area I love it. I will miss not doing ministry full time when I return, so in this I ask for accountability and encouragement to finish, it's important and I know for a fact that I still have more studying to do in order to be as effective as I need to be in the local Church. Terry Allcorn says that there is something to be said about finishing a degree, Terry is correct, Mike Baker told me that it's important to be able to show churches that I did the work and I have a Bible College degree. But let me tell you something there is a different type of education out here than there is in the classroom, it's just as important but different so I encourage all of you to be aware of this. Don't expect Bible College to prepare you for everything, the best education out there for someone who wants to be in ministry full time is this, learn to fail try things and find out if you like it or not and when you fail try try again, please don't fear this practice. Also learn from those who are older than you, those who have been there before and know what's it's like to be fresh out of school, I have about 10 of these type of influences in my life that I can go to at any given time this is important!

Now being in ministry full time I was asked about a week ago by a dear friend in Tennessee about what my week looks like, now I don't know why but we in ministry are obsessed with Pastors and how they function throughout the week, I do it too I was listening to a Mark Driscoll interview once when he was asked about his average week, I was glued to my computer listening to him talk about each day and what he does, so here you go this is my average week.

Sunday: This is usually a 10 hour day for me, it starts at me arriving at the church around 7 in the morning, for one hour I look over my sermon to the middle schoolers and get the room set up, from 8 to 9 I interact with people and just be available and visible. From 9 to 10:15 I'm in Middle School X teaching and hanging with Middle School students and sponsors, it's a great time and my favorite part of Sunday morning, at night I do the X High School and afterword usually go get coffee or food with some students. On Monday I come and detox from the long day before with some coffee, this is my heavy devotional day, I listen to sermons read and start studying for my lesson the coming Sunday, I also do production for the up coming Sunday. Tuesday I do all the Discipleship stuff for the coming Sunday, small group questions if it calls for a game then I prepare a Game. On Wed I finish my sermon and send out emails to my sponsors about what they need to know for that Sunday, Thursday is my day off which means I rest, read, study, and Golf whenever I can. Friday is my errand day and my detail day for Sunday. Saturday is a day of study and rest in preparation for Sunday. I try to work about 50 hours a week, this is because I have sponsors who work at least 40 hours if not more a week and then I expect them to come and volunteer for an extra 3 to 4 hours on a weekend. Now if I expect them to put in the time then I should lead by example my self so I've arrived to the 50 hour work week.

I hope this email wasn't boring but informative, I thank all of you for your prayers and look forward to seeing you all before too long.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler.