Officiating My First Funeral...

Hello, friends! 

I often get asked if I ever think I'll become a pastor. I'm pretty sure that comes from the fact that I have been preaching at church more often, and the role of pastor and preacher are often intertwined. I always tell folk the same thing, "I already have a job." =0). 

The truth is that being a pastor doesn't really appeal to me all that much. I love preaching and I believe that I have a gift of preaching but I know that being a pastor is more than just preaching on Sundays. There's the day to day care for the congregation and the constant need to show care and compassion that sounds super exhausting. I've seen it up close with our wonderful pastors, especially this past year or so as Megan and I have served as elders. 

However, I did get to fill a pastoral role this week: officiating a funeral. Here's what happened. 

A man from our church's father died just this past week. Our head pastor is out of the country and our associate pastor was out of town, so, as one of the Elders for our church, I got the call. 

Friends, can I tell you how stressful an experience it is preparing for a funeral? I didn't have to worry about any of the funeral preparations themselves, and all I had to do was a few prayers and a quick eulogy, but the weight of the moment is certainly significant. Compounding the situation was that I didn't know the deceased. It was a high stress situation. 

Praise the LORD, things ended up just fine. I was able to have a few quick conversations with family members, enough to give me a sense of who this man was (BTW, he seemed like a spectacular man!), which allowed me to put together a eulogy that worked well. The most important thing is that the family was blessed, which is all I can hope to do. I was honored to be a part of the service and glad that the family felt blessed by my presence. 

Fun eulogy story: I had made a mental note that I wanted everyone to silence their phones before the service started but forgot to write it in my notes, and subsequently forgot to say it. While I was giving the eulogy, there was a line where I was going to be talking about the deceased watching basketball. Right before I said the words "watching basketball," someone's phone went off with the ESPN SportsCenter notification noise "Da-da-Da, Da-da-Da!" The timing was absolutely perfect and we all got a kick out of that. 

So, I've now done a funeral. I have a whole new respect for this aspect of the job for pastors and while it was definitely a fulfilling and worthwhile experience, I'll be OK if I don't need to do one for a while. After all, I already have a job, and it ain't pastor. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Leader Launch Recap!

Hello, friends! 

I know I'm a few weeks late but I wanted to give you an update on Leader Launch. 

TL;DR - It was pretty great! 

We started on Friday night with about a dozen or so students coming together for dinner, games, and some bible study. It was so great to see students connect with one another and start to build relationships. We played some pretty great games too. The passage Megan led with for the reflection time was John 1, when Jesus calls the disciples to "come and see." Talking to students, it really struck them how a transformative experience with God leads to transformative experiences with God for others too. 

Saturday morning, our Regional Director Kathy led the group in a bible study. Confession: I wasn't actually there for that. I was with our kids at the local high school wood shop, working on pinewood derby cars with the rest of our Scout Pack. =0). 

For lunch, I was able to join the crew as we made our way to Metro Community College (MCC) for a prayer walk. MCC has 2 campuses, North and South, so we split into 2 groups. I was with the North crew. We didn't have a lot of time to prayer walk but God still moved. Tom, a Korean graduate student at UNL, and I were walking when we saw someone heading to their car from class. Tom asked if we should go talk to them. I said, "sure!" so we made our way over to talk to the student and pray for her. Tom said that was the first time he'd done something like that but was amazed at how willing she was to talk. It was pretty great! 

Our final section was at a local church and we did some training time. I led the group in planning communal rhythms and outreach events for their groups then Megan trained them on winsome inviting (she's very good at those). We had dinner and then said goodbye. 

Leader Launch was a whirlwind of a time but it was really so good. It was great to be with students who want to see their friends come to know Jesus. There were a few students who couldn't make it (one had to work, 3 were out of town, and 1 was sick) but we still had a great time with the students who were there.

I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight a few all-stars from Leader Launch:

- Megan did an amazing job coordinating and leading the whole thing. It's always so great watching her walk. 

- Megan's parents came into town to watch the kids while we were at Leader Launch. It was a huge blessing knowing that the kids were in good hands.

- We had a few high school students show up and they were really well engaged and connected. It's always good to start 'em young. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam