Nazarene General Assembly 2013 - Recap

Dramatic blessings.  Quiet blessings.  God gave both as Nazarenes gathered in Indianapolis for our once-in-4-years celebration and governing session we call General Assembly.

On the side of quiet blessings, three stand out to me.

• We refused to step backward into fundamentalism.  Several resolutions were proposed that would have pulled us toward the radical right.  However, our leaders wisely chose to maintain the center ground.
• We did lots and lots of healthy networking and meeting.  Getting loads of leaders together in the same place at the same time allows for all kinds of discussion and planning that isn't normally possible.  On my last day, for example, I talked with leaders from Bangladesh and Mozambique about the possibility of partnering with our church in our work with www.freethegirls.org.  Both groups were very positive.  They are going to do some research and get back to us.
• We approved simultaneous multi-site general assemblies.  This will probably be the last general assembly with only one site.  In the future, we'll have once central site and extension sites all around the world.  This will save millions in travel costs and will enable the vast majority of our international delegates to participate (many of whom are denied visas to the USA).  Most likely, North American delegates will never be in the majority again (and rightly so).  This resolution passed without much discussion or fanfare, but it is the most significant change for the Church of the Nazarene in my memory.

Nazarene General Assembly - Day 5

Sunday was the traditional celebration of holy communion during the morning worship service.  Jesse Middendorf preached the promise of Pentecost and told the moving story of when he lost his 5 year old son in an overcrowded amusement park on the 4th of July.  His family and park security looked for little Jim for 3 hours.  Finally, when they found him, they discovered that Jim had been blissfully skipping to the front of the lines and riding every ride in the park.
This story drives home three truths into our lives.
1) At no point did Jess say to his wife, "Well, we have 2 out of the 3 kids we came with, that's pretty good.  Let's just go home."  Every single child of God is immensely important.
2) Some people are out there riding all the rides of life, and they don't even know that they are lost.  But God still loves them and desperately longs for their restoration to his family.

Nazarene General Assembly - Day 3

More workshops and more networking and of course more worship.
The day started for me with a workshop called, "Holiness in the 21st Century," with Dr. Carl Leth of Olivet Nazarene University.  A few highlights:

• In recent years, unfortunately, the doctrine of holiness has more often been a place of controversy and struggle rather than proclamation and blessing.
• The process and crisis debate has immobilized us unreasonably.  Process people believe in crisis, and crisis people believe in process.  A difference in emphasis shouldn't either freeze us or turn us against each other.  
• We need to recapture the scope of holiness as involving the whole mission of God, redeeming and reordering our broken world.
• Holiness is good news.  God can break in, ANYWHERE ANYTIME TO DO ANYTHING FOR ANYBODY.

Nazarene General Assembly - Day 1

Every four years Nazarenes from around the world - 159 nations to meet in one place to celebrate, to learn, to worship, and to govern the church (through elections and policy decisions).  This is General Assembly.  I'll be here for 8 days, and I'll be blogging every day.

Registration of delegates began yesterday (Tuesday, June 18).  Today was the first official day of business, seminars, and meetings.  General Assembly always begins with the meetings of the auxiliary institutions (Nazarene Youth International, Sunday School & Discipleship Ministries, and Nazarene Missions International).
These first days are a mixture of dozens of workshops, regional caucuses, and legislative meetings.  Today's menu included:

• Loads of Youth Ministry Workshops (e.g. Intergenerational Youth Ministry, Building God-centered Self-Esteem, Vision Casting, and Engaging Youth in Compassion, Sexual Purity)
• Committee meetings for NMI delegates
• International Board of Education Nominations
• Global Consortium for Graduate Theological Schools
• Regional Caucuses for NYI delegates

Also, a little known but very important element of General Assembly is side meetings.  Simply having a huge number of decision makers in one place at the same time is a huge strategic opportunity.  Under normal circumstances, the only options for good group discussion are confusing email chains, phone or video conferencing (fraught with technical and schedule based difficulties), or extremely expensive and time-consuming travel.  It's hard to get important things accomplished like this.

Valparaiso Never Tasted So Good

Tri Kappa welcomed more than a thousand guests Thursday night into a taste bud extravaganza to raise funds for college scholarships. Forty-one area restaurants put their best quiche and panini forward for Taste of Valparaiso in the Porter County Expo Center.

Taste of Valparaiso also features a silent auction of everything from sports tickets to original art to a ready made “date night basket.” New this year were the central red tables for sponsors, the private dining in the Red Ticket Lounge, and the Wine Pull with a wide range of wines.

Tri Kappa is a philanthropic organization made up entirely of Indiana women. The Valparaiso chapter started in 1906 and exists solely to support the community. Last year they gave away $16,000 in scholarships, in addition to giving sizable donations to the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and several other groups.

To continue reading, go to the NWI Times.