Post Sem

Question: Mark, What are you doing with your life post-seminary?

Answer: Nothing. Well, nothing right yet.

I thought today since I have been repeating myself many times lately on what is happening in my life, I would let you know.

Probably the last thing anyone heard about me was Kansas City. I was talking to Kevin Cawley and Kris McGee about joining his church plant Redeemer Fellowship as an intern. After much prayer, we decided that it would be best for us not to pursue working together. (To be clear, there are no hard feelings or anything of that matter. If you're in KC, I would highly recommend joining them.)

In March or April, my pastor at Grace Chicago, Bob Reid, and I started talking. He introduced me to a few people in the Reformed Church in America (RCA). In May, I met a couple men that are in charge of church revitalization in the Chicago classis. We started talking about two churches in the Chicago area that need revitalization. These conversations were extremely excited. We planned to have everything tied up by the end of June.

But the situation has proven more difficult than expected. The classis had to meet last week to be able to vote on taking over the church, which sounds extreme, until you find out the worship attendance has shrunk from 80 in May to 32 at last count. However, they were one person shy of a corum and nothing has happened.

Now the next meeting has been scheduled for the 21st of July, which right now is three weeks out. This has changed a bunch of my summer plans. I'm not going to Costa Rica like I had planned or hoped. I may be able to go back to Tulsa though for the third time in three months.

Everyone's frustrated by this, not just me. And we're not completely sure what God is doing in this time, or with the church, but we are trusting that we are doing his will. So be praying that God would move his hand, before I have to move!

Ephesians & Revelation

Words play an interesting place in our language as we use them to communicate and miscommunicate with those around us. Klyne always said that words are verbal symbols that have meaning made out of their relation to one another. One way of exegeting passages of Scripture is by counting how often specific words are used. Wordle does that for us now and presents it in an eye-pleasing way. The first picture above is Ephesians and the second is Revelation.

Go check out Wordle if you haven't already.

Friday Photo

red barn, originally uploaded by notashamed.

While at home in Tulsa this past weekend, my sister and I took a day trip down to Pops in Arcadia, OK. They have several hundred varieties of pop in glass bottles. Further, they have Dublin Dr Pepper. The famed DP that still uses real sugar and not High Fructose Corn Syrup. It's dang good.

Photo Friday

I haven't posted in a while, so it seems apt that I restart with Photo Friday. I took this boy's photo last Friday for some friends of mine. This is my favorite.

I'm Done

I graduate tomorrow and today was spent finishing up the loose ends. Here are the first words of the last paper I wrote during my seminary career:

There have been many “F” words in the English language.Without going through specific examples, the thrusting of air between the lower curled lip in contact with the back of one’s upper teeth usually precedes the influx of air into the listener’s lungs. Perhaps no such word has caused as much damage in Christian circles as the following “f” word: Fundamentalist.

Now go read Marsden's Fundamentalism and American Culture.