Attending Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection

Last week eight of us attended Leadership Institute in Kansas City. Leadership Institute is put on by Church of the Resurrection (COR). This is a leadership conference aimed for mainline pastors and lay leaders. Through lectures by well-known church leaders & smaller workshops led by staff and volunteers of COR, participants can learn about what has worked there. Participants can then consider how those ideas might work in their particular context.  

Church of the Resurrection is the largest Methodist Church in the United States. Started from virtually scratch in 1990 by Adam Hamilton, the congregation has over 20,000 members and nine campuses. Despite its size the congregation has a beautiful sense of humility. They are willing to share all that they are doing for virtually FREE with people who are interested. And they are willing to share what hasn’t worked. It’s amazing what has been accomplished at Church of the Resurrection, but pride and ego are not part of their DNA.

I’ve attended Leadership Institute many times—probably close to twenty. I started attending at the last congregation I served. When I came to Chain of Lakes I made a commitment that I would always attend with other lay leaders. When I attended by myself I would come back very excited about some new ideas that I learned; but because others hadn’t gone to the conference they were sometimes reluctant to implement the new ideas. Going with others has been a much better strategy of implementing what I’ve learn at Leadership Institute.

This year we had eight from Chain of Lakes attend—the highest number our congregation has ever had.

This year instead of staying at a hotel our group rented an AirBnb near downtown Kansas City. This was a terrific way for the eight of us to share with each other what we learned during the day.

One of my favorite workshops was called, “Digital Ministry on a Budget” led by Matt Williams, who is Director of the Digital Engagement Team at CIR. In this workshop he shared the basic principles and checklists that COR uses for their web sites, Social Media, email, and Artificial Intelligence. He also shared how the church uses email and shared that “email is not dead.” He said that ninety percent of people look at their email daily and across age groups people actively use email. He cited a statistic that said email is forty percent more effective than social media. At the end of the workshop he shared how Artificial Intelligence can be used. I admittedly don’t know a lot about AI, but after this workshop I’m very intrigued about taking next steps.  

 Chain of Lakes has spent much of 2024 looking at our own digital ministry. A Task Force recently completed a report on digital ministry. As I’ve worked with the task force this year, I’ve come to believe that digital ministry will be another determination of whether congregations are successful or not. The ones who do well with digital ministry will be successful; the ones who do not do well with digital ministry will not.

 

I very much enjoyed hearing Kara Powell speak. She is Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute. In her talk she made the case for the importance of youth ministry. In their research they discovered that size, location of the church, having a church app, and denomination do not make a significant difference in whether a church is vital. However a vibrant youth ministry almost always ensures that a congregation will be vital. A successful youth ministry is most important for congregational vibrancy.

IN her talk she talked about the importance of intergenerational ministry. She encouraged congregations to have five adults connected to every youth. This connection can come through serving together, talking at worship, doing fellowship activities together, or something else. She encouraged congregations not to silo away their youth ministry from the congregation. She came back to the idea of purposeful mentoring. Congregations that go out of their way to encourage adults and youth to be in relationship will be successful. 

On Thursday night, participants had the opportunity to watch the movie, “Holy Frit.” This is the story of the creation of the stained glass window in the sanctuary of Resurrection's Leawood campus. The storyline had one compelling question that drove the plot. Would Judson studio be able to complete the stained glass window by the church's deadline. The movie shared the story and even drama of the artists at Judson Studio and in particular Tim Carey to finish the project on time.  The movie is being shown as one of the movies offered on Delta airline flights.

Adam Hamilton gave two talks during Leadership Institute—the opening and closing presentation. They were both excellent. I especially appreciated that he highlighted other Methodist congregations who have experienced growth during the year. 

Kayla Flanagan saw Adam between session and was able to get a picture.

It’s my experience of being at Leadership Institute many times that the leaders of COR are very passionate about the development of the Methodist movement. I think this is wonderful. And sometimes as a Presbyterian I wish that this focus was not as apparent. I would love for the leaders of COR to identity more with the development of Protestant churches—Methodists, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Lutheran and other mainline denominations. The more unity between mainline denominations the better. 

Even though I’ve attended Leadership Institute for close to two decades, I still enjoy the experience. I love learning from a vital, mainline congregation on what is working. I highly recommend this conference.

Taking the Friendship Pledge

For the last two Sundays I’ve preached a sermon series called, “Welcoming Spiritual Refugees.” In the sermon I talked about a new reality in the wider culture. In the last twenty-five years, forty million people who used to attend worship at least once a month, now attend worship less than once a year. Chain of Lakes has had people attend our congregation who have had a bad experience in another church. Fortunately they’ve found a community here that will welcome and accept them no matter what their views.

I’m describing these people as “spiritual refugees” taking the term from Randy Dean who talks about this often. Check out his Facebook page to participate in his Sunday evening gathering.

As part of this sermon series I asked people at Chain of Lakes to take what I called, “the friendship pledge.” I wrote the friendship pledge. It is this:

“I will be friends with you no matter what your race, gender, sexual orientation political or religious beliefs. My agape love for you will transcend our differences.”

On two consecutive Sundays I asked people to take the pledge during worship. That worked well. 

You can watch the sermons by accessing the link to worship at colpres.org. 

I put the pledge on my Facebook page and encouraged people to take it. In the comments to my post, some in the comments had no problem taking the friendship pledge. Others reacted very strongly against it. I have no interest in misunderstanding their resistance. In general it seems that people would not be a friend with a racist or misogynist, that loving one’s enemy is different than being a friend with your enemy, that it wasn’t possible to be a friend with someone who doesn’t recognize the imago dei; that it wasn’t possible to be a friend with someone who is ignorant; that being friends with our enemies makes the church acquiescent to the established order; that being friends with a Trump supporter is not possible. And if I missed a comment, put your comment in the comments section to this blog.

I have more thoughts about this than can go into one blog.

Two significant people who have influenced the way I look at the word are Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr. I believe Jesus would support the friendship pledge. Jesus was willing to forgive the people who murdered him; he encouraged people to love their enemies; he was willing to confront people in power with the power of agape love. I believe Dr. King would support the friendship pledge. Dr. King’s teaching of agape love was a significant factor in the success of ending racial discrimination in the south. Certainly racial discrimination didn’t end when Dr. King was murdered and still exists today. But Dr. King’s success comes back to his teaching on agape love. His idea of appealing to people’s heart in resisting their policies through non-violent resistance is something our country still needs today.

Can I be friends with someone who is racist and misogynist? Yes. This doesn’t mean I tolerate their behaviors and keep my mouth shut when they spew hate. I'm not going to put myself in physical danger, but I’m willing to be a friend.

If we only love people who look like us, act like us, vote like us, behave like us, then we’re going to accentuate the tribalism that is harming our culture.

Does living by agape love make me vanilla nice, that is do I acquiesce to values that are unacceptable. No. Because Dr. King and Jesus never acquiesced to values that they found unacceptable. I doubt that anyone would say that either was vanilla nice.

Can I be a friend with someone who spews hate or has acted out hate? Yes. I would never visit a prison if I couldn't be a friend with someone who has acted out in hate. 

Is loving our enemy different than being a friend? First I have a hard time thinking that someone who votes or behaves differently than me is my enemy. I don’t have enemies. No one is trying to harm me or overpower me. I am not trying to defeat anyone. When Jesus taught in the sermon on the Mount to love one’s enemies the English word love comes from a form of the Greek word, agape.   Jesus called his followers to share agape love with those who are enemies. I believed he did this because he wanted his followers to appeal out of love to their enemy's heart. 

Martin Luther King Jr. understood this. His method of non-violent resistance was not weak or vanilla. It changed the world. I think he would have been willing to be friends with Bull Conner or George Wallace. Being a friend would not have meant he would have accepted their racism. But he was willing to be in relationship with them.

In a speech to the National Council of Churches Dr. King shared five facts about the power of agape love. The entire speech is here: The Christian Way of Life in Human Relations, Address Delivered at the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (stanford.edu). In the second point he shared this.

“The second basic fact about this method [of agape love] is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often voice his protest through non-cooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that non-cooperation and boycotts are not ends within themselves, they are merely means to awaken the sense of moral shame within the opponent. But the end is redemption. The end is reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.”

I’m not willing to put myself in a tribe, lock the door, and say that anyone not in my tribe cannot be my friend. For the most part litmus tests lead to further division.  

Do I think that being a friend with a racist, misogynist, homophone is easy? Of course not. Is the purpose of my friendship to change the other person’s views? I would hope the person would change their views, but ultimately such change can only happen through the work of the Holy Spirit. And perhaps I could be an instrument of the Holy Spirit.

So, no, I’m not backing down from the Friendship Pledge. I encourage everyone to take it. I’m not bothered when people disagree with the ideas behind it. I’ll always side with the ways of Dr. King.

Completing the circle in Los Angeles

Last week I had the privilege of spending time in Los Angeles—connecting with old friends, exploring the City, and being with Carleton football alums and parents as we watched the team play Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday night. 

This is more than a “this is what happened on my trip” blog. Going back to LA was significant to me as the place has a very important place in my journey. I lived there from August 1987 to August 1988 and then January 1990 to August 1990 when I worked as a full-time volunteer for the United Farm Workers. I’ve only been back once since I left.

Tom Journell, the outstanding coach of the Carleton football team, scheduled a game against Pomona Pitzer in Pomona this last Saturday, September 7. Many football alumni wanted to go. I talked the trip through with Amy as her birthday is September 7. She was fine with me going, so last Wednesday I boarded a Delta flight for LAX airport.

As soon as I got my car I wanted to see the home where I used to live. When I lived in Los Angeles the home was called the Harvard House. The house is on 1741 South Harvard Blvd. It’s etched into my brain. It’s a home with three bedrooms upstairs and a significant stairway that goes upstairs. We worked downstairs and shared the kitchen. I lived in community with anywhere from five to seven other people. The Harvard House has a special place in my heart. So I wanted to see it.

 

The next day I had the privilege of seeing Irv Hershenbaum and Jocelyn Sherman who still work for the farm workers. I worked with both of them during my second stint in Los Angeles. Irv and I worked on my campaigns together and Jocelyn did media work. I hadn’t seen him since Amy & my wedding in 2000 and Jocelyn since the early 90’s. Seeing them was a highlight.

 

Friday the focus of the trip turned to Carleton football. Steve Huffer was an All-American player for Carleton. I’ve gotten to know him in my work with the Carleton football alumni. We share an Airbnb with another football alum. Steve wanted to greet the team when they flew into LAX, so we drove from Pomona to the airport. The team had left the Twin Cities airport at around 3am that morning. They were glad to see us. 

The rest of the day was hanging out with football alums. I’ve shared often that Carleton football alums are some of the most interesting people to meet. They are intelligent and athletic, though they knew that they would never play football professionally. The ones I know are very committed (just like me) to the success of the program.

We’re still making the case to the Carleton administration about the importance of football to the school. To have intelligent people be successful in athletics is a combination that will make the school even more well known. A successful football program at Carleton will show that the school can be successful in both academics and athletics. This will help the school immensely. Not everyone believes this in the Carleton administration. No matter. We’ll keep making the case.

A large number of football alums and parents made the trip. We all had a tailgating party before the game on Saturday night where over a hundred fifty people came. The Carleton side of the field had twice as many fans as Pomona.

Unfortunately the team didn’t play well and Pomona beat Carleton 28-12. I was surprised. Carleton beat Pomona last year, and the team has 21 of 22 starters back. I figured if we won last year and the players are even better that we would win again. I was wrong.  

On Sunday I had the privilege of attending Brentwood Presbyterian church located near the UCLA campus. (bpcusa.org) The music was outstanding, and the preaching was very good. Unfortunately my mind was focused on getting to the airport as attending worship cut down on the time I had to make the gate. My anxiety was fueled when I couldn’t find the Budget rental car parking lot. The address was wrong on the information I was given from Budget. I ended up stopping the car and calling Budget.

“Making a flight” anxiety is the worst. 

But I made the flight and traveled back to Minnesota.

One more story will stay with me from the trip. As we landed a man shared with the flight attendant that he needed to use the restroom. His seat was directly behind the restroom and the flight attendant was facing him as she sat down. The flight attendant told the man that if he used the restroom while the plane was taxiing, the pilot would stop the plane. He used the restroom, the pilot stopped the plane. Many people on the flight had little time to make their connecting flights. The collective anxiety of the people on the plane increased. Someone banged loudly on the door of the restroom. For a short time I thought we might have a fight o the plane. He finally came out. The woman (not related) sitting next to him chewed him. He scurried off the plane quickly. 

Being in Los Angeles last week completed a circle that had been open for over thirty years. I don’t have a need now to go back. Seeing places and people who were important on my journey was very special.