Desperately Seeking Ordination

There's something about aligning myself with a group, any group, that I find... distasteful.

Why then am I desperately seeking ordination? I need a job! I have been putting off joining a denomination because of this history of disgust with groups but now I must suck it up. In particular, aligning myself based on my beliefs is quite difficult for me. I was called a heretic at Biola, I was called a heretic at Talbot, too conservative for some of the other chaplains, something about how people want to place themselves within the bounds of a group is confusing to me.

So I applied for a per diem chaplain position with San Diego Hospice last month. Requirements: MDiv... check, 1 unit of CPE... check, endorsement of a denomination.... ugh. They would not pass on my resume because I didn't have my ordination/endorsement. Since that time I have diligently been working toward making it happen.

Normally a minister seeking ordination would simply work through their current church, however our current church is not formerly affiliated with a denomination. Our previous church in LA, Whittier Area Community Church, was awesome and part of the Baptist General Conference. Pastor Bill said that he would write a letter on my behalf to any church I became affiliated with, which is extremely helpful. The only other church I know in San Diego is also BGC and came highly recommended is Flood. I met briefly after a service with the lead pastor and he seemed to think that I would be able to work with them toward my ordination. I left there encouraged and I'm hoping to meet with him again and talk about how this might work.

So it's in process. I'm sort of waiting for the leaders of Flood to make the next move though. I already sent them an email, I'm trying to be patient. Never have I been so close to being able to do what I want to do for a career.

Lowered Expectations = Crap

I have been having to give some warnings before my posts as of late and this one is no different. Many people see the church or church leaders and to say anything negative is unwanted. I understand why. However I am very critical of church leaders, just as critical as I am of myself. I put them up to a standard I set for myself and it's high, especially youth pastors.

The youth pastor of our church spoke on Sunday in "Big Church" while Pastor Tim is away. It was not good. My actual words to Rachelle as we left were: "That was painful... painful". You know you are in for a treat when the first words to hear are: "Websters Dictionary defines...". Oh wait, not treat, I meant mediocre High School essay. He went on to teach a topical sermon on "bad habits" where he essentially said alcoholism, depression, etc. are the same as biting your nails, not putting your dirty socks in the laundry basket, etc. and all were solved by simply thinking of God more. It was obvious that he had never been through any of the things he talked about. Also obvious was that he had never gotten out of a Christian culture, telling us we shouldn't watch certain movies while he was up there. It was a "weaker brother" placed in a leadership position that is most likely beyond him.

He was up there and pretty much everyone knew it was bad but is there any repercussion for it? The response of the churchgoers for the most part was the normal: "I need to be positive and get something out of this!". The other response and by far the most dangerous was: "Well, he's just the youth pastor... sooo yea". It is the fact that we are ok with crap that really bothers me. We make excuses for crap, when what we should be saying is: "This crap is unacceptable". If anything we ought to expect more from our youth leaders than we do from those speaking to adults. When parents are going to work do they have pressures everyday to cheat, lie, steal, are they encouraged to have promiscuous sexual relationships, to drink, do drugs, hitting the depths of depression and suicide with no one to talk to? Think I'm wrong? Think it isn't your teen? That's where many of our youth are. Have a conversation with a teen who is choking themselves in order to stop feeling... anything... and they think it isn't a big deal, and let me know how big a deal it is that they have good teachers. Have a conversation with a student with cancer, a girl whose been raped, clinically diagnosed as bipolar, likes to cut themselves, thinks meth is "no big deal". Are we ok teaching them crap as long as they are out of our hair? Do we as parents/guardians value our time over our children? You may say no but what do our actions say?

Lowering our expectations of the church and her leaders is a sure way to destroy any hope we have in helping people and especially youth. Most parents I worked with were interested in a babysitter for their kids which meant more events. Never mind if the events had any lasting spiritual significance, nor if they made outsiders welcome. I can't tell you how angry and frustrating it all is.

Ain't No Michael Jackson

We had an event tonight where we introduce incoming Freshman to the High School Ministry. It works like a progressive dinner with each class being represented at a different house. I was manning the Junior house. The new Freshman came, we beat on some pinatas, and then they took off for the next house and left us to clean up the paper mache entrails. Then we went inside and played Super Smash Bros. Brawl until nearly 11pm.

Here's the question: When does it get weird? I am a decade older than these guys. Under normal circumstances, if a 26 year old man was hanging out until late into the night playing video games with High Schoolers... most definitely sketchy. But due to my work and relationship with these guys, it makes it acceptable. But for how long? I have always thought this comparing my age to the students, but thinking about it now it seems better to compare my age to the parents. I guess when you start creeping up on the same age as the parents, you're treading on some fairly weird ground.

Blitzfest Malawi

I've been working on a poster for our upcoming "Blitzfest Malawi" event for a while now and I'm finally fairly satisfied with it. Here it is:

For those who don't know, Blitzfest is a one of the largest events we at the High School Ministry put on each year. We pretty much take the entire month of September to get it all together while still doing the day to day stuff. Last year we had a student art show, an xbox tournament, rides, and 5 hardcore bands of which the headliner was A Static Lullaby. We usually get around 1,000 students at the event, many who have never stepped foot on the grounds of a church; which is the whole point of the night. This year though we have a bit different purpose.


All the proceeds of this years Blitzfest will be used to bring clean water to the people of Malawi, Africa. In developing countries around the world getting water is a daily struggle. Women and children spend 2/3 of their day walking miles to wells that dispense dirty, contaminated water and then walk the long road home with 40 pound jugs. Blitzfest is part of a larger project in which we will be raising $10,000 to build four wells for needy communities. These wells will serve hundreds of people a day with clean water and allow women/children to go to school rather than fetching water.

We're excited about the months ahead.

Hume Lake

I will be heading off to Hume Lake in a few hours with the High School group. This summer the theme is based around the Book of Daniel.... only with Vikings instead of Babylonians.

YAAAARAGGGHHHH!!! VIKINGS!!!

Wait, do Vikings say, "YAAAARAGGGHHHH!!!" or is that only Pirates? Whatever the case, Pirates, Ninjas, and Vikings agree... Cowboys suck.

See you in a week.

Now Is the Winter Of My Discontent

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be going away this weekend to help out with the high school winter camp. Yes, I get to leave our nice weather for a place far more snow-filled. I've never been a huge fan of snow, or cold places in general. The fact that I don't really have any clothing appropriate for snow doesn't help much either. Anyway, I have work to do before we leave at 4pm, so I bid you adieu.

A Pox On Both Your Houses

A pox update for everyone who wants a peek at my hideously disfigured visage. The pictures really don't do it justice, but here they are. The first picture below is from yesterday and the latter is from today.Yesterday

Today

I made this comment on Eric's blog today and considering it was long enough to be its own blog, I thought I'd toss it in down here:

Ok, I can't really go to a movie right now being sick and all. I must admit though, I have been sorely tempted to go to "The Crappiest Place On Earth", Disneyland, and infect as many unsuspecting children as I can with the plague I carry. Oh, so you thought it would be a good idea to take your newborn to Disneyland before its had its 1 year vaccinations.... you chose poorly.

This may stem from a long held desire to be the first to bear a virus that would annihilate the population of the Earth as we know it and they name it after me. News Reporter says, "Sey is killing thousands of people by the day, and there looks to be no end in sight for Sey's rampage". Yea, that would be cool.

But I'm sure a more fitting disease would be some bacteria/virus that was persistent, annoying, and popped up when you least expected it... like an STD. "Oh man, Sey is making me all itchy and red spots are appearing! And I have an appointment with the Bobs' in 20 minutes... what do I do?" I would only ruin their social life and make them feel inadequate, sounds about right.

Viruela De Pollo

So the results of my Mexico trip just keep getting better. The last day we were in Mexico, as we embarked on our long trip home, I began to feel sick. I was sure it was a cold, from all the freezing nights, early mornings, and non-stop activities. But when I got home I didn't feel congested, instead I felt achy, feverish, and had a headache. Great, I'm getting the flu; but it wasn't like any flu I had ever had. The symptoms came on gradually over days rather than hours and I didn't feel nauseated. I knew something was wrong with me but I had no idea what it was. Well, I found out today that I have Chicken pox. We were joking that I had some crazy form of Mexican Pollo Pox. Whatever the case, I was never infected with it as a child and now I'm going to pay for it.

Mexico: And All Things South Of The Border

It would take too long to describe all that happened in during my week in Mexico, so here are the highlights:

5 minutes into Tijuana I get pulled over by the Federales who try to shake me down for money, $125 to be exact. I was accused of going 100km/h when I was in fact going 60 km/h, the officers let me go shortly after they discovered I had a grand total of $15.

Driving through a muddy, rain soaked field on the way from the beach I hydroplane the rental car into a barbed wire fence.

Feliz ano nuevo! For New Years we went to "El Pollo Loco" (not the same one you're thinking of on the corner). It is a taco shack around Vincente Guerrero in which the 47 of us made the place burst at the seams. While there one of our students inadvertantly made friends with an old drunk man that wandered up. The man belligerently waved his left hand ordering tacos for the student while he squeezed him close with his right.

A fellow driver takes a bump too fast and rips the entire rear bumper off his rental car. We left the bumper in Mexico.

Getting chewed out by a Mormon missionary who said we were driving too fast through a neighborhood.

Driving through a military checkpoint on the way home I, of 8 cars, am the only one in which the driver is questioned and asked to get out of the car while the guard proceeds to knock on the plastic doors looking for contraband.

Taking 1 shower.