ITLOTC 9-12-14

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Ordinary Time

There's Room in my Theology for Fireworks 

In our worship planning meetings we've been talking about communion for the last few weeks.  Consequently I've been forced to revisit, yet again, what I believe is happening in that moment.  We are University Baptist Church.  That word Baptist necessitates that we are a particular theological something.

... a brief interlude occurs as I search through mothballs in the credenza of my bookshelf to find this book from my Baptist Identity class ...

In the book that I've just taken a picture of, you will find the Baptist distinctives.  The set of ecclesiological supposition that make us who we are.  Baptist celebrate two of the Catholic Church's seven sacraments.  We don't usually call them sacraments we call them ordinances, but we do take communion and  baptize believers.  I am told by my book that we have a symbolic understanding of baptism and the Lord's supper.

Confession, I agree that these are symbols and I agree with those that would tell me these are more than symbols.  Right around the time of the Reformation everyone was revisiting what it meant to participate in the Lord's Supper.  Two five dollar words worth learning are transubstantiation and consubstantiation.  I don't want to seem flippant, but I really don't care what truth is about about the ontological nature of the bread and wine juice we ingest.  I care about, in God's grace, how He uses that moment in our worship to form us despite our imperfect understanding.

My "what Baptists believe book" I was reminded that Baptist also believe in the autonomy of the local congregation.  Perhaps this is a bit licentious, but I take that to mean a bit of theological autonomy.  I give that qualifier, to suggest I don't feel bad about believing that our communion moment is symbol AND more than symbol.  One of my baptist professors reminded our class that the word "ordinance" means "means of grace."  That language was forged by Cathlolics and hung unto by Protestant during the reformation even though they narrowed the scope of sacraments and nuanced the definition.  I'm glad they kept the language, I think it is helpful and theologically true.

My journey in understanding what happens when we take communion evolved over the years in conversing with friends and professors.  I'd like to share a few of those moments.

Moment 1: Lembas Bread 

In college I took a class on JRR Tolkien (imagine that).  I had the privilege of taking the class with a thoughtful friend who was Catholic.  If you don't know the story of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo, one of the main characters, is gifted with Lembas Bread, given to him by the elves of Lothlorien.  Frodo sets out on a perilous journey.  Very often Frodo is sustained and refreshed by eating small bits of the Lembas bread.  It seems obvious now, but my friend pointed out that was Tolkein's obvious nod to Tolkein's Catholic understanding of the eucharist.

Moment 2: The Community

A couple of years ago UBC celebrated an evening service in which we took communion.  Might have been Maunday Thursday.  After the service was over and we were in the cleaning up phase my then 5 year old son snatched some of the excess communion bread and ate it.  On the way home was talking to his little sister and asked her if "she got some of the community?"  Confused, my wife and I talked him through what he meant.  Through conversation we discerned he was talking about the communion bread.  After we established that was what was being addressed he replied, "yes the community."  Later I posted that conversation on Facebook with the suggestion, "that'll preach."

Moment 3: The Fireworks 

Sometime in these last few years I was eating lunch with my mentor.  On this particular day we were chatting about communion and how it functions in our Baptist life.  He essentially affirmed the standard line about baptist communion and then said, "but i've got room in my theology for there to be fireworks in that moment."

It seems to me that the Spirit has subtly and graciously invited me to understand that God does something special when we take communion.  I think about all the critical moments in my journey ... in our journey ...  when the act of taking communion together preached a louder and better sermon than ever could have.  That communion seems to aid us as we journey together.  It gives life in way that eating a sandwich at home by myself doesn't.  It's a means of grace, inching me along closer to Jesus.  I think about what I'm ingesting, namely the body of Christ, and that we are his body and somehow as we drown in the mysteries of God we really take the community further within ourselves.  And I think about how the fireworks just might go off.  God used a donkey to talk, a post-menopausal grandma to start a nation, and a few fish sandwiches to feed 9,000 people.  He can certainly use communion to set the fireworks off.

This Sunday we will celebrate communion together.  I'd like to ask that you use these 48 hours to prepare for that moment.

Meet Our Newest UBCer

Name: Zaid Xavier Ganaway

Birthday: 08/14/14

Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz

Height: 20 in

Enneagram Number: 3

UBC 2014-2015 Community Ministry Partners

(This Sunday Toph will be making an announcement about our 2014-15 community ministry partnerships, but here some additional information for your refrigerator)

Cesar Chavez Middle School

Cesar Chavez Middle School (CCMS) is our oldest community partner, in fact, back in 2008-2009 we won the “Golden Apple Award.” Through the years we have provided mentors, helped with tutoring, held soccer camps, and led in teacher in encouragement. Currently the school has asked us to focus on reading comprehension and mentoring, and we will also continue teacher encouragement. If you would like to be involved with our with CCMS, please email toph@ubcwaco.org . South Waco Community Center The South Waco Community Center is a newly renovated facility that offers recreation opportunities and community activities for all ages. Throughout the year the SWCC offers a variety of programs: GED and ESL classes, tax help, after school tutoring, Parent’s Night Out, SAT prep, etc… The community center also hosts big events for our neighborhood. UBC is committed to support the center in whatever ways are needed, and we have become a key partner in helping with community events. The Halloween Festival in 2013 had close to 1500 people from the community, and over 50 UBC volunteers. If you are interested in helping our neighbors, or just playing ball during open gym and building relationships, contact toph@ubcwaco.org for more information.

Jesus Said Love

Jesus Said Love is our newest partner and they exists to share the revolutionary love of Christ with women in the commercial sex industry to awaken hope and empower change. In the Fall of 2014, UBC will become one of their church partners. We will be a part of the LOVE team, and we will sponsor at least one outreach a year. The LOVE Team is a group of men and women who are the hands and feet of Jesus Said Love. Within the LOVE Team there are teams of people who help put gift bags together for club outreaches, gather for times of prayer on outreach nights, assist with JSL events such as dancer baby showers, and help accomplish many other opportunities that may arise. If you would like to be on the LOVE team at UBC, or you have any questions please email toph@ubcwaco.org

UBCKids Volunteer Training

Volunteer training time has arrived! On September 21st, we will be talking about The Nurture Room (0-Walkers) and the Sprout Room (Walkers-Young 2's). These rooms don't have curriculum, but there are still sign-in, play-time, diapering and general-care procedures that we need to cover! On September 28th, we will be training those who want to work in either the Bloom Room (Older 2's-Young 4's), the Branch Room (Older 4's-Kindergarten) or the Root Room (1st Grade-4th Grade). These rooms have curriculum, so we will be talking about their formats, helpful hints for each age group and other procedures. In each of these trainings we will be putting teams together. Each room has four teams of 2 or 3 people who rotate on a 4 week cycle. If you have someone you'd like to work with, make sure that they are at the training, too! Afterwards, I will send out the new dates and a calendar link for reminders! We will be holding the trainings RIGHT AFTER CHURCH and I'm hoping to keep them under 30 minutes so that we can all enjoy lunch with our friends, so please make your way to the BACKSIDE quickly so that we can get started!

Satan Slayers

The UBC Satan Slayers snagged a pair of victories on Monday night.  Highlights include three time Waco Church League Softball Cy Young Winner Byron Roldon who threw 4 frames giving up just three hits.  On the other side of the plate the offensive efforts were led Kelsey "lay down the" Lawson who hit for a cycle.  In the post game press conference coach Dani Miller said, "this was a great start. these kids left it all on the field tonight."  When asked about Roldon performance she replied, "that's the sort of thing we expect from Byron.  He just keeps getting better."  After hearing chatter about a possible championship trophy Miller was quick to reply stating, "we're not worried about championships ... we're worried about tomorrow.  Right now it's our job to get mentally prepared for a really great 7th and James squad and that's what were going to do."  You can catch the Satan Slayers in action again this next Monday night as they take the field for another double header.

nUBC’ers Lunch

** there was a misunderstanding between me and toph this last week.  I listed this in the newsletter last week, but the correct date for this, is this coming Sunday the 14th.  Our apologies. **

We are going to start a new tradition this semester as way to get to know more people at UBC and make friends that are friends forever. If you are new to UBC, or if you have been here a while and just want to meet some new folks, we would love for you to join us for lunch. After church this Sunday, we will have several UBC’ers (Kaley Eggers, Byron Roldan, and Teri Walter) in the coffee room who have a crew they eat lunch with after church, and they would love for you to join. If you would like to go to lunch, just make your way to the coffee room and find out where everyone is going. We will plan on doing these informal lunches a couple of times a semester. If you have any questions, please email or ask Toph (toph@ubcwaco.org).

Work is Worship 9-14-14

Coffee Makers: Chad & Joel

Mug Cleaners: Sara Joyave & Vince Cooley

Greeters: Paul & Linda Taft

Shut Down Team: Blue Flames

Announcements

• Sermon Text: Matthew 16:19 & 18:18
• Fall Sunday School options and other opportunities found here
• Sunday, September 21st Family Breakfast in the backside of UBC at 9:30 AM
• Sunday, October 5th, Jesus Said Love with join UBC for an announcement and a Q/A lunch after church
• Friday, October 10th, Guys Night at Michael Heins' lease on the Brazos River (men of all ages including dads and little boys are welcome/encouraged to come)
• Wednesday, October 29th, UBC partners with South Waco Community Center for Halloween Festival.  Those interested in volunteering should contact toph@ubcwaco
• Friday, October 31st Jesus Said Love Outreach ... more information to come
• MADE in Waco will be Saturday, November 15th more information to come!

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC 9-5-14

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Ordinary Time

Inerrancy: What do I believe about the Bible?

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

This Sunday I'm going to talk about the bible and its relationship to the Holy Spirit.  In preparing my sermon I jotted down a statement about inerrancy, that to be honest, is a peripheral issue.  I didn't want to chase a rabbit trail in the sermon, so I'm using this writing moment to address the issue should some concerns arise.

Defining inerrancy is difficult.

Here is a definition from Wikipedia that is a construction of the thoughts of two theologians: Wayne Grudem and Norman Geisler.  "Biblical inerrancy, as formulated in the "Chicago Statement On Biblical Inerrancy", is the doctrine that the Bible "is without error or fault in all its teaching"; or, at least, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".

Sounds good, right?  So why, then, do I not affirm Biblical inerrancy?  Truett professor Roger Olson has written a blog that will explain how I feel better than I can.  Lest you don't click on that link, let me a share a few reasons.  In the Chicago Statement, inerrancy receives about 100 different qualifications.  So many qualifications, that some have said that the actual word "inerrancy" dies a death of a 1,000 qualifications.  Here's one example Olson gives in the blog post:

"The biggest qualification is that only the original autographs were inerrant. Think about this. The claim made by most conservative evangelicals (and, of course fundamentalists) is that biblical authority stands or falls with inerrancy. If the Bible contains any real errors it cannot be trusted. Then they admit every Bible that exists probably contains errors. Only the original manuscripts on which the inspired authors wrote can be considered perfectly inerrant."

But at the end of the day, it's not even really the theological nuance in the definition of inerrancy that makes me feel the need to distance myself from the word.  When I first came to UBC I think the thing I loved most about it was not necessarily what I perceived was UBC's belief it was her attitude towards her belief. It was a humility that understood that we are a depraved people and that depravity effects even our ability to know, even with the gracious help of the holy spirit.

It's dangerous to make blanket statements and so I say with a slight hesitation, but very consistently I find that those for whom the word "inerrancy" is important also have an attitude towards that view that strikes me as incredibly unhealthy and unChristlike.  Very often inerrancy is used not as theological tool safeguarding the edification of the church, but rather as divisive litmus test which has an aim of pushing others out.  It's the attitude towards the belief which bothers me.

Because I've been pushing us as community lately to not just be deconstructive, but also reconstructive let me take a minute to address the question: How do I read my Bible? As with any issue there seems to be range of approaches.

I begin with Barbara Brown Taylor whose voice will appear again in my posts over the next few days. In her memoir Leaving Church she writes:

"I do not pretend to read the Bible any more objectively than those who wrote it for me. To read it literally strikes me as a terrible refusal of their literary gifts.  I will keep the Bible, which remains the Word of God for me, but always the Word as heard by generations of human beings as flawed as I. As beautifully as these witnesses write, their divine inspiration can never be separated from their ardent desires; their genuine wish to serve God cannot be divorced from their self-interest. That God should use such blemished creatures to communicate God’s reality so well makes the Bible its own kind of miracle, but I hope I never put the book ahead of the people whom the book calls me to love and serve."[1]

Some of you may find Taylor's statement a little frightening, and some of you liberating.  I understand both of those emotions.  If Taylor represents a middle ground then there's certainly extremes on both sides of her.   A step further would be to stand behind Gordan Kaufman’s theological statement that scripture is special because it “contains glorious literature, important historical documents, exalted ethical teachings.”[2] In my opinion Kaufman does not say enough. But on the other end of the spectrum we find an equally problematic approach. John R. Rice, a fundamentalist evangelist and publisher, argued for inspiration of the Bible as “dictation” and treated the human authors as mere penmen of the Holy Spirit.[3] Claims like this substantiate Emil Brunner’s criticism that Protestants are often guilty of creating a “paper pope.”

Though I find affinities in Taylor’s thoughtful observation, I find that I can in good conscience latch onto Karl Barth’s approach wholeheartedly. Barth develops a threefold understanding of God’s Word:

1. Jesus Christ
2. Scripture
3. The churches’ proclamation of the gospel.

Barth argues that God’s Word always has the character of event. Thus we find the primary mode of God’s revelation in the second person of the Trinity … not on paper. Of the Bible itself Barth says, “[it] is God’s Word to the extent that God causes it to be His Word, to the extent that He speaks through it.”[4]  Barth’s contribution, which is bolstered by John Calvin who acknowledged that apart from the Holy Spirit the Bible would be to a sinner a dead book, is important for this reason.

So what I do I believe about the Bible?  I believe the Bible is a gift from God.  I believe it is essential the life of the believer.  But I also believe that truth is a person, Jesus Christ, and the bible testifies to that truth and that as amazing as the bible is, without the Holy Spirit it is useless.  And lastly I believe about the bible what the bible believes about itself.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

[1] Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 216.

[2] Gordan Kaufman, “What Shall We Do with the Bible?” Interpretation 25 no. 1 (1971): 96.

[3] Donald K. McKim, What Christians Believe About the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985) 57.

[4] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I/1, The Doctrine of the Word of God, Part 1 trans. G. W. Bromiley (Deinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975), 222.

Sunday School & other Fall Opportunities 

... starts this Sunday.  In case you missed it, here is a link Craig posted earlier this week that describes what's happening this fall.

Love Feast!!!

UBC first love feast of the Fall will be Sunday night at 6:00 PM.  Please bring a side or main dish to share.

nUBC’ers Lunch

We are going to start a new tradition this semester as way to get to know more people at UBC and make friends that are friends forever. If you are new to UBC, or if you have been here a while and just want to meet some new folks, we would love for you to join us for lunch. After church this Sunday, we will have several UBC’ers (Kaley Eggers, Byron Roldan, and Teri Walter) in the coffee room who have a crew they eat lunch with after church, and they would love for you to join. If you would like to go to lunch, just make your way to the coffee room and find out where everyone is going. We will plan on doing these informal lunches a couple of times a semester. If you have any questions, please email or ask Toph (toph@ubcwaco.org).

UBC Ladies Night

Well, ladies- it looks like Galentine’s Day is coming early this year!

This Thursday (September 11th), UBC women are gathering to get to know one another over some incredible deep-dish pizza. We’re meeting in the back room of Rosati’s (824 Hewitt Dr, Woodway, TX 76712) at 7PM, and we would love for you to be there! Who knows? You may find the Amy Poehler to your Tina Fey, the Gayle to your Oprah, the Thelma to your Louise, or even a whole sisterhood with whom you can share a pair of traveling pants. We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate friendship, womanhood, and Chicago-style pizza!

(If you have any questions, feel free to email Kaley.Eggers@gmail.com.)

Work is Worship: 9-7-14

Mug Cleaners: Paul & Linda Taft

Coffee Makers: Emmy Edwards & Stephen Adkison

Greeters: Ryan Graf & Joy Wineman

Shutdown Team: The Cavemen

Announcements:

Sermon Text: John 16:12-16

Love Feast: Love Feast Tonight @ 6:00 PM.  Don't miss it!

Emerging Parents: Our first emerging parents class was this last Wednesday night.  The emerging parents meet the first wednesday of each month.  if you'd like more information contact josh@ubcwaco.org

HR and Finance Teams

We are approaching that time of year when some of our faithful members of both the human resources and finance teams are due to rotate off. As such we are looking for capable and willing UBCers to step and replace those people.

We are looking for 1-2 new human resource team members and 1-2 new finance team members.

Interested persons in either serving or nominating another UBCer should email josh@ubcwaco.org

A description of each role and the qualifications for each have been copied form our bylaws and pasted below.

Human Resources

The Human Resources/Staff Support Team shall exist for the following purposes:

To establish procedures for the hiring of ministerial and non-ministerial staff, and to enact those procedures when advised by Leadership Team to do so. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on issues regarding long-term staff needs. To create and implement staff review procedures. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on matters regarding staff compensation, benefits, grievances and termination. To be a liaison between the congregation and staff during times of conflict after all attempts at personal, one-on-one resolution has been made. HR/Staff Support Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for no less than one year, have received a bachelor’s degree (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in personnel management, ministry, or other related field,) and have a demonstrable understanding of organizational management.

Finance

Purpose. The Finance Team shall exist for the following purposes:

To serve as the primary advisory group for the Leadership Team in all budgetary and financial aspects of the church. To oversee, in coordination with the ministerial staff, yearly budgetary processes, working to create a financial ministry plan in alignment with the ethos, mission and values of UBC. To advise the staff and Leadership Team on any emergency financial matters that may arise with regards to the physical infrastructure of the church building, as well as those matters pertaining to compensation and benefits of personnel. To assess the current financial status of the church on a monthly basis and advise the staff and Leadership Team on matters concerning changes in planned ministry expenses. To advise the Human Resources/Staff Support team on all financial matters regarding new and existing personnel, including available resources concerning salaries, salary increases, insurance, taxes, etc. To advise the church body on all matters relating to stewardship, financial integrity, etc. Qualifications. Finance Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for at least a year, have received at least a bachelors degree level of education (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in business or finance,) and have at least a basic understanding of financial reports and budgets.

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

Fall 2014: Weekly Opportunities @UBC...

Looking to get more connected to the life of UBC? Check out the following opportunities!

Unless noted or clearly implied (i.e., "Freshmen Sunday School Class,") all of our groups are open to EVERYONE regardless of age, gender or life situation.

---

Sunday School

9:30 a.m.

 Each of our Sunday School classes are open-ended. You can join them at any time during the semester.

Revelation: Faithfulness in the Midst of Empire

When John received his apocalyptic Revelation, he was living in a time not unlike ours. In fact, he was living in a time not unlike all times—Where powerful people and systems seek to rule, while believers in the resurrected Christ claim only one ruler. This class will study the book of Revelation with an eye toward being faithful to the reign of Jesus in our lives.

Led by: Mathew Crawford

Location: Red Room

The Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament

In the midst of the history, poetry and prophecy of the Old Testament is a group of books that stands apart, employing an ancient form of literature known as “Wisdom.” Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon are not only some of the greatest works of literature history has ever known, they help guide us to deeper levels of discipleship and formation, which is what our goal is for this class.

Led by: Arna Hemenway and BJ Parker

Location: Piano Room

The Upside: "Life Together"

“Life Together” Class

New to Waco? been here for years? looking to build community?  This class is a place for people who – for however long – have chosen to “do life” here.  We are professionals, married couples, adults of undisclosed ages, all the way to empty nesters.  This semester we will go through different scripture passages that teach us how to do “Life Together.”  Our guide will be the writings of Dietrich Bonheoffer, who wrestled with his Christian identity during Nazi Germany (although there’s no assigned reading or homework).  We hope to learn from the scriptures about how to embody faith in our homes, with friends, and in our community.

Led by: The Walters and Wilhites

Location: The Brown Room

 Freshmen

If you are in your first year of college, this is the group for you! This semester, in addition to getting to know each other and learning about UBC, we will be going through the book of Luke.

Led by Toph Whisnant, Bonney Dennis and Sean Delbecarro

Location: Rock and Roll Room

---

OPPORTUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK

Post-graduate Women’s group - Monday nights at 8:00

Meet other women at UBC- that are in the “real” world, a time to fellowship, build relationships and learn together. This semester we are diving into the book  7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker.

Contact Lindsay Carney at : lindsay.r.carney@gmail.com if you are interested!

Pub Group-- Wednesday nights at 8:00

Let's face it-- Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Our Pub Group meets once a week and hangs out, talks about whatever the hot topic of the week is, and is a great chance to connect with people in a relaxed atmosphere. For more information, email will.ray.knight@gmail.com.

Location: Dancing Bear Pub

Mi Casas-- Various nights throughout the week

Throughout the week small groups meet at the homes of UBC'ers to share a meal, talk about their weeks and form community in meaningful ways. Each group has its own "feel" and personality. If you are interested, please email craig@ubcwaco.org and set up a time to visit with me so we can determine the best way to get you connected. Space is limited and fluctuates throughout the year.

Other Groups

In addition to our already established groups, if there is an opportunity you would like to be involved in that does not currently exist, and you are willing to provide leadership for it and recruit participants, please let us know and we will help you get it started. Email craig@ubcwaco.org

ITLOTC 8-29-14

ITLOTC

(In The Life Of The Church)

Ordinary Time

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Culture of Honor

Last week my Facebook page with filled with ALS Icebucket challenge videos.  This week, those have been replaced by pictures of McLane Stadium.  It's exciting isn't it?  I don't know if you feel this way, but to me it feels like a gem on Waco's crown.  It's not just a football stadium, it's a symbol of what Waco is becoming (thanks in large part to winning football games).  Now everyone traveling from Austin to Dallas and back again has to reckon with the fact that Waco is about more than David Koresh.  Waco is becoming a place to be.

All that to say I get why people post pictures of the stadium.  I had an interesting conversation about pictures this summer.  When I was about to snap a photo of a famous European landmark my friend asked me if I wanted her to take it.  Grateful for the offer, I told her no.  "Why do you want the picture then?" she asked.  Her point was that you can get a picture of anything off of the internet.  Probably a better one than the one you take.  The reason to get a picture, she explained, was to put yourself in the moment, otherwise it's just another picture.

I disagreed.  I took pictures from my vantage point to help me remember what I saw and how saw it.  Sure my iPhone 4 is a little old and I'm admittedly a poor photographer, but I take pictures to celebrate the experiences I had.

Last Friday a friend asked if I could go to lunch on Monday.  I replied, "Yes, please. Time and place?"  The reply, "1130 McLane Stadium."  Wait did I read that right?  That weekend I went out and bought a pair of khaki pants.  On Monday I joined a select group of people who had lunch in a fantasy part of the stadium that I'll most likely never get into again.  We were the trial group for lunch buffet.  It was thrilling.  After the lunch my friend took me and another guy all around the stadium.  I'm not sure how rare my experience was.  Maybe you've done the same thing, but to me if felt like a big deal.

(A shot of the presidents suite)

Later that day as I was flipping through my photos admiring the stadium I thought not about the stadium itself, but about my friend who invited me--that he had thought of me.  I don't have a ton to offer Baylor, especially fiscally, but this didn't discount him from inviting me.

----------------

Bill Shakespeare said that brevity is the soul of wit.  There are few things that I enjoy more than a thoughtful, humorous and subtly placed comment.  It's the stuff of America's best comedy.  It's Jim from The Office, Michael from Arrested Development & Chandler from Friends (just in case you're an older reader).  I also think it is from these grounds of wit that the sarcasm that characterizes so much of American discourse grows.  And while I also enjoy (and participate in) the entertaining value of sarcasm, I sometimes wonder if we are losing the ability to offer a well placed and meaningful exchange.  I'm talking about sincere encouragement.

I entitled this entry "culture of honor" because what I'm really after is about more than encouraging words.  I'm thinking of any action, encouragement, or sentiment that is about the edification or building up of a friend.  A saying, note, action or email that's sole purpose is to communicate to another human being, "hey, you matter and I'm glad to share this moment with you."

I looked up the definition of "honor" expecting the verbal tense to describe what I was meaning, but somehow those definitions seemed inadequate.  I felt honored by my friend.

Last week I preached from Romans 1:11-12 "for I long to see you that I may part some spiritual gift to you, that it may establish you ... that is that I may be mutually encouraged by the faith of both you and me," (my paraphrase).  I think Paul is calling us to do something with gift of language.  That he's calling us to be a part of a culture, that even if ever so subtly, is always aware that we are speaking to another who is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).   That reminds me of this quote I saw on twitter this week:

It takes work to keep that perspective--to live in a culture of honoring people.  But I think it's a worthwhile endeavor.  My prayer is that UBC would move this way in our discipleship.  That we would continue to be a people who are smart and intelligent in the we consume and critique culture, but also that we'd be a people who create our own in response.  I pray that we would speak meaningful and deep words full of wisdom and care.  I pray that we encourage one another and build each other up.

Meet Our Newest UBCers

Name: Charles Martin Davis

Birthday: August 7th 4:16am

Weight: 5lb 0oz

Height: 19in

Enneagram Number: 1

Name: Harrison Bradley Davis

Birthday: August 7th 4:22am

Weight: 6lb 0oz

Height: 18.5in

Enneagram Number: 7

 UBC Kids Ministry Update from Pastor Emily

This week is a busy one for UBCKids! First, we will have Kindergarten Commission this Sunday! This is a chance for us to celebrate this BIG moment in the lives of these kids when they begin their journey towards being Baylor alumni! (Because...they KNOW where they're going!) But it also gives us a church community a chance to pray for these kids and commit ourselves to taking this journey with them as their brothers and sisters in Christ! We also will be unveiling some of the WONDERFUL works of art our kids created this summer while we learned about our creative God and what it REALLY means to worship! Check out our Create! art gallery after church in the game room to see how our kids were inspired by God's Creation!

Here's what's coming this fall! Sunday School: For our smaller UBCKids (0-Kindergarten) we will have fun and fellowship in the Branch Room! We will have all of these guys playing and loving life together in the Branch Room while the adults talk about boring "adult" stuff! If you are one of the many who consider goodbyes a little tough, no need to fret! We will make sure that your little one ends up where they need to be for the service! Also, color sheets, good times and friends are provided, but it is BYO-Donut from the coffee room! For those UBCKids who are too sophisticated for color sheets (1st grade and up) we have a class to suit their big kid taste! As we all know, God is EVERYWHERE...even in Legos! This year, we will be learning about God one Lego at a time in our "Faith-Builders" class! Each week we will build together and learn about what Faith in God really means! Join us as we explore our creativity and bring Biblical lessons to life in a geometric way!

During the service: We have a perfect place for every UBCer...even the tiny ones! Our Nurture Room is a safe and loving place for babies 0-Walkers! Sprout is fun place of exploration for the horizontally mobile-upper 2's! The Bloom Room teaches the fundamentals with the ABC's Of God's Love to those UBCKids who are from 2- younger 4! In the Branch Room, the older 4's-Kindergarteners begin our "big kid" curriculum by following the lectionary with the adults! The Root Kids (1st grade-4th grade) get to worship during the music but will get their own version of the sermon in the "Red Room" (first room on the left)! For more information, see the UBCKids board or email Emily at emily@ubcwaco.org.

During the week: For our more mature UBCKids, we have the new weekday classes, Venture! These are, actually, two new classes during the week for 4th-8th graders! Our girls will be exploring what the Bible says about all things girl, while our boys are doing their guy thing! Each week, we will have fun with JUST girls or JUST boys as we learn a new skill (that is essential for being an awesome girl or boy!) and explore what the Bible says about it! Think, "The Dangerous Book For Boys and The Daring Book For Girls meets The Amazing Story Of God's Love!" For more info, please contact Emily at emily@ubcwaco.org!

We are beginning our search for new UBCKids Volunteers! We will be holding trainings on the 21st and 28th of September, so if you are interested in helping out, EMAIL ME! I'd love to get to know you and find a place for you to serve with our amazing kids!

Sunday's Music

Jameson McGregor will be leading the music on Sunday. Jamie is a Truett student and is a member of the leadership team here at Ubc. Here are a few other things we think you should know about him.

1. Jamie always wears black clothes. 2. Yes, he does use beard oil. 3. He and his wife Adair have two cats and one very cool dog named Duncan.

HR and Finance Teams

We are approaching that time of year when some of our faithful members of both the human resources and finance teams are due to rotate off. As such we are looking for capable and willing UBCers to step and replace those people.

We are looking for 1-2 new human resource team members and 1-2 new finance team members.

Interested persons in either serving or nominating another UBCer should email josh@ubcwaco.org

A description of each role and the qualifications for each have been copied form our bylaws and pasted below.

Human Resources

The Human Resources/Staff Support Team shall exist for the following purposes:

To establish procedures for the hiring of ministerial and non-ministerial staff, and to enact those procedures when advised by Leadership Team to do so. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on issues regarding long-term staff needs. To create and implement staff review procedures. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on matters regarding staff compensation, benefits, grievances and termination. To be a liaison between the congregation and staff during times of conflict after all attempts at personal, one-on-one resolution has been made. HR/Staff Support Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for no less than one year, have received a bachelor’s degree (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in personnel management, ministry, or other related field,) and have a demonstrable understanding of organizational management.

Finance

Purpose. The Finance Team shall exist for the following purposes:

To serve as the primary advisory group for the Leadership Team in all budgetary and financial aspects of the church. To oversee, in coordination with the ministerial staff, yearly budgetary processes, working to create a financial ministry plan in alignment with the ethos, mission and values of UBC. To advise the staff and Leadership Team on any emergency financial matters that may arise with regards to the physical infrastructure of the church building, as well as those matters pertaining to compensation and benefits of personnel. To assess the current financial status of the church on a monthly basis and advise the staff and Leadership Team on matters concerning changes in planned ministry expenses. To advise the Human Resources/Staff Support team on all financial matters regarding new and existing personnel, including available resources concerning salaries, salary increases, insurance, taxes, etc. To advise the church body on all matters relating to stewardship, financial integrity, etc. Qualifications. Finance Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for at least a year, have received at least a bachelors degree level of education (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in business or finance,) and have at least a basic understanding of financial reports and budgets.

Work is Worship: 8-31-14

Mug Cleaners: Chris & Hannah Kuhl

Coffee Makers: Hannah Boman & Byron Roldon

Greeters: Graham Dodd & Joy Weinmann

Announcements: 

Sermon Text: "1 Thessalonians 5:19-21"

Love Feast: UBCs first love feast is coming up on Sunday, September 7th!

Sunday School: Craig will be giving an introduction to Sunday School classes for the fall, this Sunday August 31st at 9:30 AM in the backside.  A small breakfast will be provided.  The following Sunday, September 7th, both adult and children sunday school classes will begin.

Emerging Parents: Our first emerging parents class will be this Wednesday, September 3rd at 5:30 PM.  If you have any questions or would like more information please email josh@ubcwaco.org

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC 8-22-14

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

(I would like to say a word of thanks to Craig for writing this blog with care and passion while I have been gone.)

Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown

Philippians 4:1

My latest Netflix has splurge has been The Wonder Years.  I remember watching it as a kid, then again my senior year of high school when I'd come home from Lindsay's house in the evenings and now I'm watching it again.  Each time it seems to teach me something new, undoubtedly true because I've changed, not the show.  The Wonder Years most notable character is Fred Savage, but I think that the show is consistently stolen by a face we never see.  Daniel Stern is character you probably best know as Marv Merchants, one of two burglars who was twice warded off by the defensive prowess of Macaulay Culkin in the Home Alone films.  But Stern is also the narrator in The Wonder Years.  He is the voice inside Kevin Arnold's head.

One reason I find Stern's role so vital to the show is because he helps see the world of Kevin vividly.  When Stern speaks, we listen.  The pitch of his voice teaches us to tune in.  When he interrupts the dialogue we know to listen closely because there's usually some kind of life lesson about to unfold.

I don't think it was intentional but at some point in my own journey I let Stern's voice become my narrator as well. Like Kevin I would rehearse life's lessons in my head and often I heard Stern making sense of things for me.  It'd be his voice that sealed the most important truths in my mind.

One of those timeless truths I learned from my father.  He used to consistently tell me that "people are your treasures."  Whenever I would be tempted to lose sight of the fact that people were what mattered most, Stern's voice would interrupt my thought pattern and remind me that "people are your treasures."

This summer I was given an incredible gift by this community.  A chance to rest.  When you rest, great things can happen.  You have time to pay attention to yourself.  You begin see more clearly.  Anxiety begins to fall away. Wounds become exposed... it's a chance to get healthier.  You see your failures more clearly... you see your successes more clearly... you are given a chance to be more honest about yourself.  You get time to see what matters.  You are given a chance to hear Stern's voice remind you that "people are your treasures."

I got to do and see so many thing this summer.  I could probably write about those experiences for a year.  I went to  Montana, Yellowstone, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Ireland and so many places in between.  I got to see old friends.  I got to remember, process, forgive, move on, recharge, rest and renew.

Interestingly before this summer I had only ever been out of United States once.  A fishing trip to Ontario before 9-11.  It barely felt like I left the country.  Because of this I think my expectations for the places I was going were very large ... maybe even bit unrealistic.

I want to tell you about a Stern moment I had on my Europe trip.  About half way through I was in London.  By this point I had seen the best Italy had to offer including St. Pete's, Vatican City, the splendor of Rome, vast portions of the country side, Lake Como, and the southern foothills of the Alps.  I had seen most of Switzerland with it's sleek cities and breathtaking glacial lakes fixed in the Alps.  I had seen about half of London including Parliament, Westminster Cathedral and Abbey, the Shard, and St. John's Cathedral.  Towards the end of my second day in London I made my way to Buckingham palace.  It was nice.  The guards were entertaining, but to be honest it just looked like another building.  I don't blame Buckingham Palace.  I was tired, hungry and beginning to miss my family acutely.

Buckingham Palace is nestled between two beautiful municipal parks.  My exhaustion was an excuse to make my way across the street to St. James Park Lake.  There I found an interesting piece of architecture that can best be described as a fountain of sorts.  It looked like a half diamond sticking out of the ground with a thin layer of water running across it.  A few tourists had taken of their sandals to rest their feet in the fountain.  I joined them.

I was there for about 20 minutes when I noticed a little girl who began to play in the water.  And in that moment something happened to my heart.  Perhaps it was because I was missing my two little girls thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, but in that moment the truth of Genesis 1:27 was confirmed.  It was Stern who whispered it my head "in His image he created them."

I think it is a special grace when we further understand one of God's truths.  As I watched that little girl play I realized that she had done more for my heart than any building and landscape that I had seen in Europe.  People are your treasures.

Scholars guess that Paul wrote Philippians while sitting on the floor of Roman prison cell awaiting a verdict.  We hear it in his uncertainty in chapter 1.  "I don't know if it's better to be here with you or with Jesus."  Both real possibilities for Paul.  But it is from there that he affectionately calls his community "my joy and my crown."

I never had paid much attention to Paul's salutations, but as I was away from our community with time to reflect on all of you and be thankful for you, Paul's pining began to make more sense to me and take on new life.

The people of UBC are it's greatest treasures, and I am so excited to be back with you.  See you Sunday!

This Sunday 

As our veterans know this Sunday is the first Sunday back with Baylor students.  Please be generous and eager help those who may need it.

HR and Finance Teams

We are approaching that time of year when some of our faithful members of both the human resources and finance teams are due to rotate off.  As such we are looking for capable and willing UBCers to step and replace those people.

We are looking for 1-2 new human resource team members and 1-2 new finance team members.

Interested persons in either serving or nominating another UBCer should email josh@ubcwaco.org

A description of each role and the qualifications for each have been copied form our bylaws and pasted below.

Human Resources

The Human Resources/Staff Support Team shall exist for the following purposes:

1. To establish procedures for the hiring of ministerial and non-ministerial staff, and to enact those procedures when advised by Leadership Team to do so.
2. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on issues regarding long-term staff needs.
3. To create and implement staff review procedures.
4. To advise Leadership and Finance teams on matters regarding staff compensation, benefits, grievances and termination.
5. To be a liaison between the congregation and staff during times of conflict after all attempts at personal, one-on-one resolution has been made.

• HR/Staff Support Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for no less than one year, have received a bachelor’s degree (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in personnel management, ministry, or other related field,) and have a demonstrable understanding of organizational management.

Finance 

Purpose. The Finance Team shall exist for the following purposes:

1. To serve as the primary advisory group for the Leadership Team in all budgetary and financial aspects of the church.
2. To oversee, in coordination with the ministerial staff, yearly budgetary processes, working to create a financial ministry plan in alignment with the ethos, mission and values of UBC.
3. To advise the staff and Leadership Team on any emergency financial matters that may arise with regards to the physical infrastructure of the church building, as well as those matters pertaining to compensation and benefits of personnel.
4. To assess the current financial status of the church on a monthly basis and advise the staff and Leadership Team on matters concerning changes in planned ministry expenses.
5. To advise the Human Resources/Staff Support team on all financial matters regarding new and existing personnel, including available resources concerning salaries, salary increases, insurance, taxes, etc.
6. To advise the church body on all matters relating to stewardship, financial integrity, etc.

• Qualifications.  Finance Team members shall have been an active participant in the life of UBC for at least a year, have received at least a bachelors degree level of education (or roughly an equivalent amount of experience in business or finance,) and have at least a basic understanding of financial reports and budgets.

Work is Worship 8-24-14

Mug Cleaners: Kayla Larvins & Michael Scott

Greeters: Paul & Linda Taft

Coffee Makers: Logan & Allyson Bayer

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. August 15, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

--

Secrets

When I was younger, I loved the story of God choosing Samuel. Not because I had any particular desire of being like Samuel, or even knew much about his story. But what I did know was that within this call narrative was the statement that "man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7.)  This is clearly a verse that appeals more to younger people, whose hearts haven't had much time to become cluttered and dark. For the rest of us, we can at least take comfort in knowing that God doesn't take outward appearances too much into account. (Unless you are Evangeline Lilly or Brad Pitt, in which case you should probably be a little frustrated.)

Earlier this summer I spent a few days with my friend Mark from Baltimore, who was on sabbatical from his pastoral role at his church. We went on a "Beer and BBQ Tour" of Central Texas, talking shop in the car along the way. We both spoke fondly of our churches, as well as being candid about those things we are not too fond of. We talked about the treasure of being in a position unique to all professions-- where we are invited into the most sacred moments of people's lives, from when they enter this world to when they enter the next. Their baptisms, graduations, marriages and the birth of their own children. But we also remembered that we are thankful for being invited into the dark moments as well-- the sickness, abuse, marital strife, secret sins and struggles, the anger. In fact, these can seem more special than the others, because we are sometimes the only people invited into these moments.

And we both laughed at this experience, common to pastors: We see someone at church who acts more strange around us than they did the week before, and we can't quite put our finger on why this is so. We go home and wonder, what was up with that person today? It was as if he/she was embarrassed to be around us. And then we remember: Between those Sundays that person told us of some secret they have, or we mediated a conflict between them and their spouse or roommate, or we found out that they fell into the trap of (whatever) again, for the thousandth time. And then we get it: They think that when we are looking at them, we are seeing those things, the things that are on the inside, not the outward appearances.

Mark joked that "If, when I looked out on my congregation, all I saw were the secrets I knew about each of them, I'd be running out of the building like it was on fire, screaming and pulling my hair out." (Imagine if we were Catholic priests, who congregants are required to go to and share all their secrets.)

We know too many secrets, and have enough of our own, for them to be what we think about when we see you on a Sunday morning.

This is why, aside from professional counselors, the people probably least surprised by the tragic death of Robin Williams this week were pastors. Because, in addition to what we know by experience about the unseen parts of people lives, we also know from experience that those with the most crippling insides are often those that bring the most joy and happiness to people on the outside. 

Which brings me to this-- You should know that whatever you are dealing with, those feelings on the inside, are, in the words of the Mr. Rogers video we watch every year, mentionable. In the "old days," mental illness and other hidden issues almost always a death sentence. Lon Williams, the Father of Hank Williams Sr., was a perfect example. After returning from WWI with PTSD symptoms (known then simply as "shellshock,") his wife couldn't handle the burden so she sent him away to a veteran's hospital to live out the rest of his days, and she told anyone who asked that he had died.

(Whew! On my last day of writing the newsletter, I finally found a place to work in a Hank Williams reference.)

You may feel like what you are dealing with is reason to be sent away, or to spend your days in seclusion. If that is the case, know that you are not alone. Aside from asking people where they see God at work in their situation, this is my favorite thing to tell people who are struggling-- That they are not the only ones dealing with whatever they are dealing with. In fact, they are not the only ones at UBC, dealing with it, and are probably not the only ones in their circle of friends who are dealing with it either. This knowledge often brings slivers of hope that were not present before.

So, if you are dealing with depression and can't see any way out;

If you can't get along with your spouse and think this may be the end;

If you've clicked that website or thought that thought a thousand times too many;

If you are struggling with homosexuality, or if you are struggling with following Jesus in the midst of a community that labels your sexuality a "struggle;"

If breaking cycles set in place decades ago seems futile;

If you are crippled by jealousy, envy or hate...

Know this-- We are a community that values honesty, truth and authenticity. So find someone here you trust, and let it all out. And hear these words from pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber:

“...God's grace to me is that my brokenness is not the final word ... it's that God makes beautiful things out of even my own crap." (not the actual word she used.) "Grace isn't about God creating humans and then acting all hurt when we inevitably fail and then stepping in like the hero to grant us grace - like saying, "Oh, it's OK, I'll be the good guy and forgive you." It's God saying, "I love the world too much to let your sin" (or secrets, I would add) "define you and be the final word. I am a God who makes all things new.”

--

HELP NEEDED-- TODAY

We are in the final stages of garage sale prep, and could use a LOT of hands helping us sort and price today. I (Craig) will probably be here until later this evening. If you have any amount of time to give, we have plenty of ways to help you spend it.

--

Garage Sale-- TOMORROW

Because of Baylor students moving back to town and parents doing school-shopping, this garage sale is turning out to be a HUGE deal. If you haven't already signed up for a slot to work, PLEASE email craig@ubcwaco.org and let me know he hours you can give. As I said last week in the announcements, because many of our congregants are folks with little to no (to negative) income, the Garage Sale is the single most important fundraising activity we do every year, and we need all hands on deck.

--

Work is Worship: August 17th

Betsy and Jana will be cleaning up coffee mugs after the service, but we need folks to make coffee beforehand and to greet.

--

For Parents

Emily would like for you to keep the art projects your kids have been working on this summer at church and bring them back by AUGUST 24TH. On August 31st we will have an Art Gallery featuring these masterpieces. If you have any questions, email emily@ubcwaco.org.

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

ITLOTC. August 8, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

---

Diversity and Disagreement

I could be accused, probably fairly, of writing about UBC's diversity in an amount that is disproportionate to other distinctive aspects of our congregation. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of the things I love the most about our community. Conventional wisdom assumes that in order for a church (or any group, for that matter,) to thrive, there needs to be singular vision and belief. The largest, most "successful" (see what I did there?) churches are usually those whose preacher stands up to the pulpit and says "This is what the Bible means. This is what God wants. There is no other way you can see this." He promises either a life of prosperity or pain (which is followed by an eternity of prosperity) if only you will understand and apply all this.

This is not us.

Second, I believe it is only fair for us all to know that there is a wide range of belief on important matters at the FRONT END of our engagement, so that when disagreements arise, we are not shell-shocked. I don't want someone to jump into the life of UBC because they think they know what we all believe, and then some time later hear something and say, dismayed, "Wait, someone here believes THAT?!" It is only fair to make it known at the beginning that yes, whatever "that" is, there is probably at least a few people at UBC, some in leadership, who believes it.

After BJ Parker's sermon on Sunday, our congregation participated in the exercise of theological diversity. Several asked themselves and each other some version of "Wait, someone here believes That?!" There was great conversation being held on many levels around town. One such conversation partner was David Wilhite, who has written the following response to the close of BJ's sermon...

UBC is a place that cherishes diversity and community. On Monday, I sat down with BJ, and – with Craig moderating – we talked through the conclusion of this past Sunday’s sermon.   We needed to talk because the summative statement of a provocative (and up to this point, excellent!) sermon on God’s radical love left many ubc-ers with the impression that apostasy – denying Christ – is acceptable, justifiable, and maybe even the best option under certain circumstances. I absolutely defend BJ’s right to explore the radical love of God, a love so audacious that God will forgive even apostasy. However, the church throughout the last two thousand years has sent – with no equivocation – her children forward as martyrs and never approved apostasy in any form. I was concerned about our community condoning a sermon about apostasy as an acceptable option for Christians enduring persecution and torture. So, BJ and I sat down and discussed these issues both in the historical church and today.

 At the end of it all, we still disagreed. I don’t think any form of apostasy should be condoned; BJ thinks a sermon should proclaim God’s unending love in a way that challenges all preconceptions about forgiveness and salvation. Even though we still disagreed, we prayed, we hugged (bro-hug, with the back-pats), and we left as closer friends than when we started. ubc remains a community: diverse, flawed people united in Christ.

 But now, “What then shall we say to these things?” (Rom. 8:31a). In our meeting, it was BJ who suggested that I write a response for the ubc blog, and so he is to be credited with having such confidence and such humility.   I will endeavor here to present the case for proclaiming, not denying Christ, even when undergoing torture or persecution.

 I begin with an example:

 Sitting in a dungeon in the year 203, Felicity, a slave from North Africa, listened to her tormenters. They insulted her weakness as a woman (she was giving birth to her daughter in the cell), and they laughed at the agony she would have to face the next day when fed to the beasts in the Roman arena. Felicity answered, “Now, I alone suffer what I am suffering, but then there will be Another inside me, who will suffer for me.” Felicity and her fellow martyrs belong to a long line of Christians who believe that following Christ means being a faithful witness, even unto death. Even under horrific torture, any form of denying Christ – even stepping on an image of Christ, as in the example from BJ’s sermon - results in Christ denying you before his Father in heaven (Matt. 10:33). Jesus calls his disciples to “take up their cross” (Matt. 16:24), and “persevere to the end” (Matt. 24:13).

 Now, to clarify the question, somewhat… instead of asking, “Is it okay to deny Christ?” (to which obviously, the answer is no), or “Can God forgive apostates?”(to which obviously, the answer is yes), let’s simply remember that Christians should strive to persevere -to the end- in a faithful witness to Christ.

 Similarly, some may ask, “What would you do, David?” Or, “What if your family was being tortured?” “What if…?” I can’t say with 100% certainty what I would do. Let’s again change that to “What should I do?” and “What I hope to do,” if ever placed in such a situation: stand faithful to follow Christ as a “witness” (the Greek word for witness gives us our word martyr).

 Here is an even more important question: “What will God do?” As BJ contends, God may forgive even the apostate. Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure until the eschaton (the end of the current order and the beginning of the permanent order of things.) The Swiss Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar, in his book, Dare We ‘Hope That All Men be Saved’?, boldly concluded that the Christian could hope for and even pray for such things; but he was just as adamant that we can not preach it as certain. What we do know for sure is this: we are called to persevere, even in the most dire and grave of circumstances.

 Even more to the point about “What will God do?” is the central message of the church: the Gospel, the Good News, has stipulated that it’s not our works, our ability to endure, our…, well, our anything. The Good News is that God has done the work for us in his Son, and the Spirit of God has been placed in us, who enables us to persevere. We even, according to the martyr Paul, “rejoice…in tribulation [!], knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character hope, and hope does not fail, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit has been given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5).

 This is the promise we have as Christians: it’s not up to us (Matthew 10:19); instead, it will be the Spirit of God at work through us (Matthew 10:20). The Spirit of Jesus, who faithfully endured his cross, is at work in the believer, the same Spirit that was in Paul, the same that was in Felicity, who – we are told – entered the arena “rejoicing.” This is the same Spirit that was in Stephen, James, Peter, Blandina, Cyprian, Patrick Hamilton, May Hayman, Bill Wallace, Janani Luwum, Romulo Sauñe, Haik Hovsepianmehr, and countless other martyrs throughout the church’s history. And it is the same Spirit who is at work in our hearts today.

 Although it is not from scripture, I think the closing prayer from the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity is appropriate here: “For these new deeds of courage may also witness that one and the same Holy Spirit is always working among us even now, along with God, the Father almighty, and his Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ to whom is glory and endless power for ever and ever. Amen.”...

This, my friends, is church.

--

LOST and FOUND

This was found after church on Sunday. Did you lose them? If so, email michelle@ubcwaco.org ...  (or is it "These were found?" Who knows?)

--

For Parents

Emily would like for you to keep the art projects your kids have been working on this summer at church and bring them back by AUGUST 24TH. On August 31st we will have an Art Gallery featuring these masterpieces. If you have any questions, email emily@ubcwaco.org.

--

August

For the next three Sundays, we will have an informal Sunday School group meet in the Rock-n-Roll room. This will primarily be so visitors who do not know that Sunday School is on hiatus will have a place to go and get to know people. We'd love to have as many of you as possible join us for that!

--

Garage Sale next week!

Monday-Thursday (Friday if needed): 4:00pm-7:00pm, sorting. We need TONS of help!

Saturday: Garage Sale! We've had a decent number of folks sign up to help, but still have a little more than half of the slots to fill.  Please sign up for a spot on Sunday!

Monday (the 18th): Garage Sale! Here's how I'm approaching this-- We are going to treat Saturday like it is the ONLY DAY we are hosting the garage sale. Monday, hopefully, will be a much smaller day. We will assess things and let you know next Sunday at church the details of the Monday garage sale.

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

This Week-- Garage Sale Help...

This week is the first of two intensive weeks of garage sale sorting! And by "intensive," I (of course) mean FUN! Between now (Monday afternoon) and Wednesday at 6:30pm, our #1 goal will be to get all the CLOTHES from the storage rooms to the stage in the backside...

Then, on Wednesday evening at 6:30 (bring your dinner at 6:00!) we will begin moving clothes to racks and tables. Once this is done, we will spend NEXT week moving all non-clothes related items into the sanctuary.

If you can come in and give ANY amount of time we would appreciate it! The building will be open until 5:00pm this evening, from 9:30-5:00pm on Tuesday (excluding the noon hour for lunch.) If you want to come up Wednesday or Thursday, please email craig@ubcwaco.org to organize a time.

ITLOTC. August 1, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

–

Christian

What does it mean to be a Christian? (Or a "Christ Follower," "Believer," or whatever your preferred term is for this particular faith we find ourselves in.)

A pastor friend of mine posed this question to his staff a few months ago. He asked them to describe in one sentence what exactly it is that they are calling the people in their church to be and to do.  Being the thoughtful group of ministers they are, most said that the answer is too complicated and multifaceted to sum up in one sentence. My friend said he agreed with them, but for the sake of conversation, understanding all the nuances of what it means to be a Christian, what would they lead with if asked to describe the Christian life.

The minister of music said he would lead with something like this: "Being a Christian is primarily about being a member of a community that worships the one true God."

The Associate Pastor for Missions and Community Care: "Being a Christian is about uncovering the redemptive reign of Christ in the world and calling others to participate in God's church."

The Associate Pastor for Students and Spiritual formation: "Being a Christian is about being formed into the people God is calling us to be, using Christ as our guide."

What about you?  How would you answer that question?  What would you lead with?

I'm sure your answers would be varied, including such phrases as-- "Being saved from your sins," "Reflecting the glory of God," "Seeking to make Jesus famous," "Reflecting and seeking to establish God's justice in the world," "Being a person led by Christ's love," just to name a few. And just as the answers from my friend's co-pastors reflected the things they spend most of their time working on and thinking about, our answers would also likely very closely reflect our personalities, dispositions and upbringing.

Though there would certainly be a number of people who would disagree with me, (in fact, probably a large majority of people,) I don't believe there is one single answer that would reflect completely what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Certainly Jesus called his disciples to "Follow Me," but that following included myriad actions, attitudes and conversations. There are numerous instances of the phrase "God's glory" in Scripture, but I believe it is a little silly and myopic  to believe that following Jesus can be summed up only in giving God glory, or "bringing fame to his name," as is preached in some circles. Mercy and Justice are clearly at the heart of the biblical witness, but so is worship, formation and redemption.

I believe this is an important exercise to do within a community, especially one as diverse as ours is at UBC, if for no other reason than this: Most of the conflict I have seen at churches have these two things in common-- 1. A multiplicity of beliefs about what it means to be a Christian (and, by extension, what it means to be the Church,) and 2. A vast majority of people in the church not seeing this multiplicity, assuming that everyone is, more or less, all on the same page, leading with the same things. This causes tensions about structure, decisions, worship styles and methods, not because of a disagreement about structure, decisions, worship styles and methods, but because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what other people within the community leads with in their understanding of Christianity and the church. All this leads to the proverbial "talking past each other," without anyone really knowing this is what is happening, assuming that the people with whom we disagree just doesn't "get it."

Take some time this week to think about this question. And if you care to take the risk, ask someone you know in our community how they would answer it. Are we on the same page? Probably not.  But don't lose heart. Scripture is chock full of believers and followers of the risen Christ who have different conclusions, different nuances about their faith, all who live together and love each other, not in unison, but in harmony.

_______

Final Summer Week

We had our last Wednesday night dinner and Enneagram conversation for the summer this week, and Sunday will be our last Summer Sunday school meeting time. On August 10th, 17th and 24th, I (Craig) will be in the Rock-n-Roll room from 9:30-10:15 for an informal Sunday School time, so that new visitors will not have that awkward hour wait before worship.

________

Fall Sunday School Kickoff

On Sunday, August 31st (a date most of us have etched in our brains for other reasons,) we will have an all-church Sunday School brunch at 9:30 in the backside. This will be a time to hang out, catch up, and for our fall Sunday School teachers to give a description of their classes, which will begin the next week on September 7th.

_________

For Parents

Emily would like for you to keep the art projects your kids have been working on this summer at church and bring them back by AUGUST 24TH. On August 31st we will have an Art Gallery featuring these masterpieces. If you have any questions, email emily@ubcwaco.org.

__________

Garage Sale Sorting

On Monday we will begin IN ERNEST sorting for the Garage Sale. Next week's project is primarily going to be centered on sorting clothes and getting them on racks, and then the next week we will work on all other items. If you have any amount of time during the day to give, we would love your help! And on Wednesday, continue to bring your dinner to eat at 6:00 an we will spent the hour from 6:30-7:30 sorting.

Garage Sale Workers

In order to make this a success, we need all hands on deck for the garage sale dates, which are August 16th and 18th. We need at least 40 slots filled on each day. There are sign up sheets in the foyer.

__________

 Work is Worship. Sunday August 3, 2014...

Coffee Makers: Sara Joyave and Vince Cooley

Cleaning Mugs: The Haines Family

Greeters: The Taft Family

___________

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. July 25, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

--

Rhythms

This summer has been slow. REAL slow.

Our summer Sunday School and Wednesday night dinner/enneagram workshops have been great.  They have been marked by meaningful conversations about discipleship and Spiritual Formation. Michael Laminack (Sunday School) and Wade Mackey (Wednesday nights) have done a phenomenal job at leading us and sharing their wisdom. (And if you need numbers to gauge success, we've had good, consistent attendance.)

But in the office, during the week, crickets.

This is a change from previous years. In the past, the summer office atmosphere was hopping. People would stop by randomly, play a game of chess or Mario Kaart, talk about a book they are reading, have lunch, joke around or sit around.

Obviously Josh being gone on sabbatical and Tye leading camps have something to do with this. They bring an energy that is hard to replace.

I also think our changing demographics have contributed to this change of atmosphere. Ten years ago our Sunday Morning summer attendance was drastically smaller than it is now. But those who were around were undergrads taking classes or working part time jobs, so they had a lot of expendable time during the week. Now, though our Sunday attendance is larger, those who are here are, for the most part, people for whom "summer" means nothing more than hotter temperatures.

And so, in the office, I've been left reading, studying for groups I'm leading in the fall, planning, praying and resting. I am someone who tries to value rest, seeing it as a spiritual discipline. But even so, it is easy to fall into the cultural expectation of busy-ness that looks with disdain upon people who are trying to grow the margins of their lives. I was beginning to fall prey to this guilt when an acquaintance posted this on Facebook:

Rhythms matter. For instance: I know that I usually have an energy slump in the late afternoon, and that summer is my toughest season. The ongoing project is to work with my rhythms, not act as though they aren't real. I am not a machine.

"I am not a machine." I believe this is something that must be internalized in order for discipleship to happen. I often find it interesting the phrases we use to describe periods of rest and rejuvenation, as well as periods of activity. When we are resting we say we are "recharging." When we are getting active in a project, a community, a movement, we say we are "plugging in."

Recharging.

Plugging in.

Like machines.

Robots.

But we are not machines. God has created us to experience rhythms of life that exist on different levels from the sheer mechanics of working and efficiency.

God leads us beside still waters. (Psalm 23)

Jesus tells his disciples "come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." (Mark 6:31)

"Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently..." (Psalm 37) is a command. Obey it. We are not machines.

--

Josh's Sabbatical Support

UBC responded very well to our request to help Josh out financially with his sabbatical. If you have pledged to help, or even if you haven't and would like to, you can donate via paypal. Even though we are about 2/3 through the summer, he will still have financial needs that have not yet been covered. If you write a check or give cash, please mark it somewhere with "Josh's Sabbatical." If you give money online via paypal (at ubcwaco.org, click the "$" icon on the top right of the page,) email our office administrator, michelle@ubcwaco.org, to let her know that your donation is to be designated for Josh's sabbatical.

--

For Parents

Emily would like for you to keep the art projects your kids have been working on this summer at church and bring them back by AUGUST 24TH. On August 31st we will have an Art Gallery featuring these masterpieces. If you have any questions, email emily@ubcwaco.org.

--

Garage Sale Info

Two things about the Garage Sale:

1. This Sunday, be on the lookout for a sign-up sheet in the foyer for work times.

2. The originally scheduled work day this Sunday has been cancelled due to a building rental.

--

Enneagram

This coming Wednesday,  July 30th, will be our last Wednesday night dinner and Enneagram conversation. If you haven't been able to attend, but are still interested, this would be a good one-time event to show up to. We'll be wrapping up our time together with questions, concerns and stories about the enneagram and how it has been helpful for us. Bring your dinner at 6:00. We'll start talking enneagram at 6:30.

--

Work is Worship: Sunday, July 27th...

Coffee Makers: Austin and Marshall

Coffee Cleaners: Kaley & Company

Greeters: Jana and Betsy

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. July 18th, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

—

Unique Challenges of Being Church in Waco

(The thoughts expressed in the following post were inspired by conversations I've been having with Michael Laminack, a Truett student doing his mentoring at UBC this summer. And before I even begin writing, I'm guessing that by the end of the post I will need to have this disclaimer, which I'll go ahead and write at the outset: The opinions expressed in this section of the newsletter are those of its author, Craig Nash, and may not reflect those of others within the leadership of UBC.) 

In the beginning, there were those who walked with Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who went out into the world proclaiming a message of hope, redemption and transformation. Wherever communities accepted this message and chose to follow the resurrected Christ, they began meeting regularly. They prayed, shared the Holy Meal together, heard words of edification from their Scriptures and sang a hymn or two. As these communities grew and endeavored to be the body of Christ in the world, they would occasionally receive instruction, guidance, and, sometimes, correction from the apostles scattered throughout the Middle East and Europe. (Later, bishops would take the place of the apostles.) But for the most part, Christian formation was fleshed out primarily within the context of the local community.

Fast forward to, say, "Little House on the Prairie" days, and things looked much the same. Walnut Grove had their own church and minister, located in the center of town. Christian life and formation of individuals happened primarily among those who worshiped with each other on Sundays. Even in urban areas that had more denominational options, people had "their" church, located in close geographic proximity to them, and this was the context from which they became disciples.

Then the automobile came along and changed everything. Individuals seeking Christian community could now not only choose from a particular denomination of church, they were no longer bound by geography and could drive across or out of town to be part of a particular church.

But through all this, one thing remained constant: Christian formation occurred mostly within the context of one local church body for each individual believer. Like minded churches may have formed (or were formed by) larger bodies to help facilitate their "like-mindedness" and to work together on endeavors that would be difficult to do alone. And certainly those who could read and had access to the writings of other Christians could learn new things from books. But still, individuals fleshed out what it means to follow Jesus primarily within a local church.

I believe that for the majority of the Christian world, this still is how people receive Christian formation. But, as in many other areas, Waco, TX is not like the rest of the world.

In most of the rest of the world, Sundays are when Christians gather in their local expressions of "church" for worship and times of formation. Throughout the week they may meet on another night for prayer, or in someone else's home for a meal or Bible Study. These times with the "church family" are small islands of proclamation and formation in a sea of living out faith through careers, hobbies, families, etc. Life is a weekly series of ebbs and flows between being sent out into the world and gathering together as the church.

In Waco, especially if you are a Baylor student (the dominant demographic of our church,) these ebbs and flows are often reversed. Opportunities for proclamation and formation between Sundays are legion. To be sure, this brings about many advantages, but there are challenges. I don't have space to go into each in depth, but I'll touch on two of these challenges in hope that it will invite thought and conversation.

1. In our particular context, the lines surrounding what is considered "my" church are blurred. It is not uncommon in our city for someone to attend services at one church on Sunday morning, a Bible Study with another church on Sunday night, participate in an on-campus worship service on Monday night, and attend a small group for a third church somewhere else during the week. Throw in a Wednesday night service here and a public prayer session at a coffee shop there, and you've got a lot of devotion, but little identification with one distinct group of people that helps shape your faith.

Some may say this is a good thing, and it certainly can be in many ways. But it begs several questions: Which community am I going to be most shaped by? When I need guidance, which church or ministry am I going to go to? If I go to more than one, and they provide me with different answers (or a whole new set of questions) from each other, which will I defer to?

From the church's perspective, it begs other questions: When we seek the "voice of the people" on a particular matter, who do we give our ears to? Those who tithe? Those who attend somewhat regularly? Someone who visited us a couple of times when they first moved to Waco, decided they like us, never came back but still call us "their" church when asked?

2. Among pretty much all the churches and ministries in Waco, there is at the very least a spirit of cordiality and, sometimes even, of cooperation. We are all trying to figure out how to best be transformed by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But having the same goal does not mean we have come to the same conclusions on important matters of faith.

For many years UBC was accused of being defined more by what (and who) we are against than what (and who) we are for. This accusation was fair and accurate, and I am thankful we have taken positive steps in eliminating the snark and negativity that we were known for. With that said, in a town such as ours it can sometimes be necessary to point out our differences with how others approach faith. Because while those differences are often important, they are rarely immediately evident. It is only fair to those who have a sea of options of how they will be formed to know the distinctives (i.e., what sets it apart) of a given faith community. The challenge is figuring out how to do this clearly and deliberately, while also retaining the cordiality and cooperation with other churches and ministries in town who are also ministering to people-- sometimes the same people we are also ministering to.

--

Sundays and Wednesdays

Things around the church have been especially slow this summer. One exception, however, has been our summer Sunday School and Wednesday night enneagram conversation. We've engaged in very meaningful conversations about formation, discipleship, and understanding ourselves in light of how God has created us each individually. We've had great response to both of these times of formation. There's only a few weeks left in the summer, but it isn't too late to join us! Sunday School is on Sunday (of course) at 9:30am. For Wednesdays we meet at 6:00pm for dinner and begin talking about the enneagram at 6:30.

--

Garage Sale Sorting

The next Garage Sale Sorting day will be Sunday, July 27th after church. Put it on your calendar!

--

Work is Worship, July 20

Coffee Makers: Sarah Joyave and Vince Cooley

Mug Cleaners: Crystal and Dylan Adams

Greeters: Still needed

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. July 11, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

---

Bible Quiz

A couple of years I ago I was given a sneak peak into the culture of "Bible Quiz" through an invitation of a family member to visit them at a competition taking place at a Nazarene church here in town. Though some may be surprised that there is such a thing as Bible Quiz, I imagine most of you will have some vague idea of what it is because of experience you may have had as a child with "sword drills." (Bible Quiz is not the same thing, and is much more intense, than sword drills.) But what may come as a shock is that there is an entire culture surrounding Bible Quiz.

At the end of this experience I told my friend Britt that if I were ever to get into the documentary-producing business, my first subject would be the world of Bible Quizzing. It is that fascinating. Well, apparently someone beat me to the punch. While scanning through the Netflix documentaries I found this little gem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPyVBpX4Ew

The film is well done. It is neither a cynical "expose'" nor a propaganda piece for a unique evangelical  practice. It simply follows one team and its members through the upper echelons of Bible Quiz competition, and gives a sneak peak into the personal life of one of its students.

Though mostly endearing, there are some moments in the documentary that were extremely cringe-inducing. Chief among them was an exchange between a group of Bible Quizzers and a street musician in Seattle's Pike place Market. The teenagers were talking to the musicians and they mention something about their faith. The musician rebuts what they say with something along the lines of "God doesn't exist." In that moment, you could feel the tension arising within the group of students. For those of us who grew up in the world of evangelicalism, the feeling is clear: This is our moment, the one the camp pastor told us about. The moment when we would have to defend our faith against the pagans of the world.

One of the girls decided to meet the moment head on. After a little hesitation, she walked toward the musician, snapped her head quickly, sideways in both directions, and gave it her best shot: "Uh, I beg to differ! God is real!" (I'm paraphrasing here, as I don't have the film at my disposal right now.)

It was a very uncomfortable moment.

To be fair, the interaction was stacked against the girl. It was on the busker's home turf. He was clearly the aggressor and had a good 10-15 years on the girl. But at the same time, you could see the look of shell-shock on the faces of the Bible Quizzers. They had probably heard that there were those who didn't share their beliefs, but you sensed that they were just now experiencing the truth in that. And they had no clue how to interact with this strange alien person who didn't believe in God.

I believe evangelism is something that many of us have deconstructed, and for good reasons. But it is probably about time we begin the reconstruction process. This will be a monumental undertaking that will take more than a blog or a couple of sermons to complete. But I'd like to offer as a starting place a couple of the Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians: Love. Kindness. Gentleness.

Sharing our faith with others must begin with a firm belief that I am standing on the same ground as the person I am sharing with. I have the same limitations, the same tendency toward bias and the same sin that bends all our lives into dark directions. Only an attitude of love, kindness and gentleness can effectively communicate that with "the other" in my midst.

---

Garage Sale Sorting

This Sunday after church will be our next Garage Sale sorting time. We had a GREAT turn out last time we did this. If we have a similar turnout, we will continue to transfer items from the storage building the church and have another group begin sorting out clothes. Go grab lunch after church then meet us back at the building at 1:00!

---

Garage Sale Help

The actual garage sale will be on Saturday, August 16th, Monday August 17th and (if needed) Tuesday the 18th. This year we will be dividing up duties for each day. Here are the needs we will have for each day--

15 people to help move large items from storage building to parking lot from 6:00am-7:00am

10 workers from 7-11. (3 cashiers, three inside helpers, three outside helpers, 1 building monitor.)

10 workers from 11-3. (see above.)

12 people to help move items back into storage building after 3:00pm.

Be on the lookout for me to ASK you if you would like to take one of these shifts, as well as for a sign up sheet.

---

Work is Worship for Sunday, July 13th

Making Coffee: Jeff Latham

Cleaning up Mugs: Crystal and Dylan Adams

Greeters: Still Needed!

---

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC, July 4, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

--

Jamie

Last week I wrote about Austin Tiffany and his time on UBC's Leadership Team. Members of our Leadership Team serve in that capacity for up to three years. As Austin rotated off the group last week, Jamie McGregor takes his place as a member this week.

Jamie is from Clarksville, Tennessee and a graduate of Carson Newman University. He is married to Adair. Many of you will know him as the bearded guitar player who sings next to Tye on Sunday mornings. He is an incredible musician and songwriter. Jamie has released a couple of EP's, one of which is often on constant repeat in my car. It is titled "Never Get Gone" and you can download it here.

I asked Jamie a little about himself...

Age? 25

What do you do? I go to seminary and play in a rock band.

How long have you been at UBC? 3 years exactly

What do you love most about our church? Authenticity and liturgical effort

What would you like to see different about our church? More attention to newcomers

Favorite restaurant in Waco? Taqueria No. 9

Please be in prayer for Jamie as he takes on this important role.

--

Independence Day

If you've been around UBC for very long, you know that many of us are leery of mixing nationalism/patriotism with our lives as followers of Jesus. A thought provoking blog about this can be found here.

However, with that said, this creates a tension when it comes to recognizing and blessing those who serve in the armed forces. Regardless of your politics or theology with regards to this, I believe that at the very least we can acknowledge that anyone who voluntarily gives their lives in service to their fellow humans are worthy of our thanks and prayers.

Over the past few years we have had several soldiers from Ft. Hood worship with us. A couple of them have stuck around and have been a part of our community through Sunday School, worship and a Mi Casa that meets in the Temple/Belton area. They are Ryan Spangler and Ben Speckhart. Ryan has recently finished his tenure with the Army and has moved to Longview with his wife Lisa (who is great with child at this present moment.) Ben is still hanging around.  Please take a moment this week to pray for both of them and, if you see them, to let them know you appreciate what they do.

--

CBF

Last week I had the pleasure of representing UBC at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's annual General Assembly in Atlanta. A story about the closing night can be found here. Next year's General Assembly will be in Dallas and I would love to take a contingency of UBC'ers to find out about the good work that we support through the CBF. Be on the lookout early next year for information on this.

--

No Sunday School

As a reminder, there will be no Sunday School on July 6th. We will resume all our Summer Activities on Wednesday, July 9th.

--

Garage Sale

This year's Garage Sale will be August 16th, 18th and (if we have anything left,) 19th. Because we had such a great response to sorting time this past Sunday, we will be using every other Sunday as sorting times. On July 13th, 27th and August 10th we will meet after church to work on sorting. The week of August 10th we will be sorting all through the week.  Please put these dates on your calendars!

--

Work is Worship

 Our new "Work is Worship" board for July-September is up and located next to Josh's office. It would be great if we could have that whole thing filled up by the end of Sunday!

For this Sunday...

Making Coffee-- Marygayle Martin

Greeting People-- Haylee.  (We could use one or two more for this!)

Cleaning Coffee Mugs-- Haines'

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson: kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers: kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite: david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Jamie McGregor: jameson.mcgregor@gmail.com

Byron Roldan: Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter: terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. June 27, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

—

Austin

Late last spring UBC went through a massive transition in our leadership structure, and it wasn't easy.  The meetings that ushered in the change were emotionally draining and contentious. Just about everyone had a strong opinion about the direction we should go. Many of us believed that if "the other side" "won," then the church was doomed for a split, and if "our side" "won," then church utopia was upon us.  It was, frankly, pretty ugly.  (There's probably some principle of leadership that says I shouldn't be telling you these things. If so, I'm ignoring it and will repent later.)

In the midst of a particularly heated moment a voice came from the corner, "I think we need to pray."  The voice belonged to the youngest person in the room, Austin Tiffany.

It may surprise you to hear that interrupting a church leadership meeting with prayer is worthy of note.  Isn't this what we are supposed to be doing?  In a way, yes.  We do seek God's guidance in all the affairs of the church, but at UBC we believe that an invitation to God doesn't need to be  continuously extended and renewed in order for God to be with us and to lead us. However, there are times when we need to be reminded that we are not our best guides, God is.

In that moment, Austin provided the tap on the shoulder that we needed.  It was "leadership" in its truest, and best form. In my almost forty years among people who pray, there are only a handful of times when someone has led me to God in a way that was authentic, unforced, and necessary.  This moment is at the top of that list.

It is often said that the transitory nature of UBC is one of our weaknesses.  For the most part, I agree.  When about half your church is completely turning over every four years or so, it presents many challenges. But it also presents many gifts as well. College Freshmen stream in here every fall looking for something.  Some of them find it immediately and determine that we are the place for them, but most of them go looking elsewhere.  Some return, some don't.  Of those that end up calling UBC home, many leave their mark on us in memorable and vital ways. We aren't a church that has thousands of people in worship every Sunday.  (I, for one, am thankful for this.) But we are a church that has been impacted by thousands of students who have come, placed their stamp on us, and left.

And out of those, a small handful do more than impact us. They form us, leading us to places we couldn't have gone otherwise. If there were a UBC Mt. Rushmore, they would be on it. And if I have a vote for who goes up there, Austin would get it. (This is also probably something I shouldn't be saying, adding to the things I will need to repent from later.)

This is Austin's last week as a member of Leadership Team.  As he rotates off he is also in his last few weeks at UBC.  In the fall he will be studying interfaith dialogue at the University of Cambridge. If you see him around, please make a point to thank him for his contribution to the life of our church.  He will be missed greatly.

---

Garage Sale

As you may have heard, we have had a couple of break-ins at our garage sale storage building.  Because of this we are working hard to get all the smaller items out of that building and into Sunday School rooms in the main church building.  We will be having a special time of sorting THIS Sunday at 1:00pm.  Go grab lunch after church, bring it back and we'll hang out in the backside.

If you are able to help with this at other times and in other ways, please email Michael_Laminack@baylor.edu.

---

Holiday Break

We typically take the days around Independence Day off from our weekly events.  There will be no Enneagram Conversation on Wednesday the 2nd, and no Summer Sunday School on the 6th.

---

Waco Dive

The Waco Dive for Wednesday July 2nd will be at Baris.  Join us there at noon!

--

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu

Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. June 20, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

—

Empathy

I have lived a relatively pain-free life, as far as my body goes.  When I was two I broke my arm.  I was in the bathtub, according to eyewitnesses, but upon hearing the Happy Days theme song blaring from the television set (that's what we called it in those days,) I decided that I needed to immediately run to the living room in my birthday suit and dance on the coffee table.  Apparently there was a mishap and I didn't quite stick the landing.

As a child I had recurring ear infections that lasted well into adolescence and caused some issues about 10 years ago that required surgery.  And I broke my foot in a 2011.

Yet aside from all this, I have not really known chronic pain until recently.  A couple of months ago I woke up with what I could only interpret as a pulled hamstring.  I had never had one of these, but I have heard them described as extremely painful, which is what I was feeling in my hamstring area.  Over time the pain spread to my...uh...butt, then began emanating further down my leg.  After too long avoiding a doctor, I made an appointment and was diagnosed with Sciatica, likely caused by a herniated disc in my lower back.  Since then I've been in physical therapy and on pain killers, with varying degrees of success.  (I actually feel better today than I have in a long time.)  The days in between the good days are spent lying on the floor, as sitting down feels like a scalpel is cutting through my leg.  I think I've developed a permanent grimace.

Before all this, I heard words and phrases like "inflammation" and "chronic pain," and thought they were made-up ailments, like ADD and gluten intolerance.  (Just kidding!  Everyone knows ADD is a real thing.*) In my relative health, it was difficult for me to understand that such a thing as "persistent pain" could exist, much less put myself in the shoes of those who dealt with it.  But now I understand a small sliver of the reality that many people have lived their whole lives.  I get why they don't go out much and how physical pain can evolve into emotional pain.  I understand, just a little, their prayers of desperation and why they sometimes stop praying, or find new ways to pray.  I've received an initiation into their "club," hoping there is an expiration date.

I believe a similar thing is going on with all the conversations about the enneagram that are happening around UBC these days.  I know many people are leery of this, and for good reason:  Models of human behavior and motivation are often used as either trivial parlor games, or as ways to marginalize and dismiss "the other."  In the early days of UBC'ers becoming interested in the enneagram, it often got used as a way to label each other.  But something very special has been happening in our Wednesday night conversations led by Wade Mackey.  People are eager to learn about enneagram as a way of understanding others and, ultimately, as a way to love and respect each other.  We are seeing how everyone's reality and perception can be light year's away from our own.  And, in some ways, we are being exposed, for the first time, with the pain of others. We are receiving an orientation into each others lives.

In seminary we learned about a movement known as Liberation Theology.  Among the many complexities of liberation theology, one tenet is that if you want to really understand the Bible more fully, you need to be able to read it through the eyes of (and, preferably, from the lips of) the marginalized and poor.  Regardless of what you believe about this, I think one thing is clear-- We are to be compassionate, tenderhearted and loving to each other. (1 Peter 3:8.)  The only way to pull this off is to be able, as much as possible, to see life through each other's eyes.

This is something I am a novice at.  Perhaps you are as well.  May we have the grace to grow in empathy and tenderheartedness, and that we will be known for these.

---

*I also know gluten intolerance is a real thing, but wanted some of you to sweat it out a few paragraphs more.

---

UBC Kids

We are in need of FOUR more volunteers this summer to help with our children during their 10:30a.m. formation time!  Two of you will work in the "Sprout" room, which consists of walkers through early 2's.  Preparation for leading this group includes knowing how to sit on the floor, giving high-5's and kissing boo-boos. (They basically just play.)  The other two will be with the "Bloom" class, which are the older 2's through the younger 4's.  The Bloomers this summer are going through their "Gone Fishin'" unit, which is looking at the fish and fishing related stories in the Bible.

If you are new and looking for a way to get connected, this is an EXCELLENT opportunity. (It's also an excellent opportunity if you aren't new.) If you are interested, email emily@ubcwaco.org.

---

Love Feast

Our summer Love Feast will be this coming Sunday (June 22nd) at 6:00pm.  Bring a summer side or main dish.  We have the desserts covered!

---

Work is Worship

We need coffee makers, mug cleaners, and greeters for this coming Sunday.  If you can help, email craig@ubcwaco.org.

---

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu

Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC. June 15, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

June 15, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

---

(Yesterday was Friday, the day I usually write the newsletter.  Instead of writing the newsletter, I was having a great time with a group of guys from UBC waiting in line for Franklin BBQ.  We had a wonderful time, a "thin veil" moment as Marshall noted.  But since the veil was especially thin, I didn't write the newsletter.  Instead of forcing something on you this Saturday morning, I've decided to share with you a blog post I wrote in the summer of 2010, shortly after I came on staff at UBC.)

This Place

On July 1, 2000 I packed my little red car with all my belongings and drove from Marshall, TX to Waco, TX, passing through most of the East Texas towns that I had become familiar with over the previous 25 years. The thing I remember most about that day is that it was hot. An interesting thing about Texans is that we rarely pretend it isn't hot when it is. Go to Alaska when it is 20 degrees outside and the Alaskans will try to convince you that it is not really that cold. Go to Texas in 100 degree heat and we will tell you-- It is hot.

On that day, it was hot.I suppose I had no reason to believe a move to Waco would be any different than the moves I had made during the previous years. After college I made it a habit to move to a new place about once a year, with every intention of that new place becoming a permanent home. But none of them ever stuck, so I moved on to "greener pastures."

After a few short weeks in Waco I had the distinct impression that I would continue to be on the move. People here were strange. The job I was in was vastly different than the exact same position I held previously at another place. Friends who had come here at the same time, but for different reasons, began to separate and make lives for themselves in their respective corners of this medium-sized city. That summer was more than just hot. It was miserable.

Then in August of that year things were put into motion that would prove to be watershed moments in my life. A friend found a particular church and told me about it. I remember the moment he brought a sheet of paper with the church's values and mission statement on it to my apartment to show me. He said he really thought I should check it out. So I did, and I am glad I did. Later that week I met the pastor of the church who quickly became one of my closest friends.

This city, however, remained strange. I bounced around between jobs and seminary and short-but-excruciating stints of unemployment. Were it not for my burgeoning love for, and involvement in, that church over on Dutton Avenue, I probably would have bolted. But I stayed. The gravitational pull of this place pulled me in and held me close. The odd things about this city ceased to be odd to me. Or perhaps the oddness began to seep into my pores until I no longer saw it as odd. Quirky became normal.

Of course there was an elderly black man who may or may not think he is the president who walks down the street waving at everyone he sees.

Of course North means East and South means West.

Of course there are Mexican/Chinese restaurants, as well as dives called "Health Camp" that have absolutely nothing healthy on their menu.

Duh.

I ended up at a job that was sometimes meaningful, even joyful, other times a living-hell. Yet all the time it was a hub of the city that brought people from all geographic, social, and economic corners of Waco to one place, around books. I met JoAnn, who probably lived life a little too fully in the 1960's, and Dorothy, the widow of a missionary from Japan who expected me to hug her when she expressed anger at her husband leaving so early. I became good friends with Rodeo Steve, so named because of his past as a cowboy. Steve is approaching 70 and doesn't look a day over 45, and is deeply in love with Mickey. I was the officiant at their wedding. Then there was the cranky old lawyer who had an insatiable appetite for very specific types of erotica, as well as the old Baylor professor who died of lung cancer and would break out into poetry whenever she pleased. The broken people who fill the pages of Chekhov and O'Connor began to fill the pages of my own life.

These people became my home.

Then those of us who had come here together, yet had grown apart, began to find each other again. It was as if we had been separated, on our own journeys of discovery, and had returned to tell about what we had found, and also about how much we missed each other.

And that church continued to wedge its way into my life as I wedged my way into it. Life was lived, energy was created, and tragedy hit, leaving us without the pastor and friend who I had become so close to years before. But we continued to find each other in many ways-- through conflict, tears, beer, the Bible, and the general passing of time.

I returned to school and began to feel young again. New possibilities emerged. New friendships developed. A sense of calm slowly returned after years of grieving the loss of my friend. The hole was still there, but it became less raw, easier to navigate around. What seemed inevitable was that my time in this city I had grown to love was slowly coming to an end, as it isn't wise to spend time and money on a seminary degree if you aren't prepared to explore your calling wherever it may lead.

But the calling was closer than I suspected. That church that I had walked alongside for years asked me to be with them a little longer, and I accepted. And I sit here now, on the eve of my tenth year in this place, thankful. It's really all I can be. Ten years is a long time, and yet I still feel so young. There are corners of this city, people in these neighborhoods, who are yet to be discovered. I've got time.

When you go looking for community, be careful. It may find you.

---

SUMMER LOVE FEAST!

 June 22-- 6:00pm.

Bring your favorite summer side dish or main dish

We have drinks covered, and we only need six people to sign up for desserts.  If you want to bring a dessert, sign up in the foyer.

---

WACO DIVES

Waco Dive for Wednesday, June 18th will be at Crucero.  2505 Robinson Drive.  (Take the circle and get off on the Robinson exit.  Crucero is past the new Stripes gas station on the right.

---

Enneagram Conversation

We have had a great and informative time the past couple of weeks talking to Wade Mackey about the Enneagram.  There is a real sense of people understanding more about those in their lives than they did before.  You are welcome to step in and join us at any time!  We meet in the Backside at 6:00 on Wednesdays to eat dinner (bring your own,) and begin the conversation at 6:30.  Hope you can join us!

---

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu

Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC, June 6, 2014...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

May 30, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

- - -

The "B" Word

If you'll forgive me, I've got a little bit of a Baptist chip on my shoulder.

Almost all the pastors of UBC, past and present, who have seminary educations have received them from Baptist seminaries.

We give money annually (albeit a very small amount) to the Waco Regional Baptist Network, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Every year in the spring we spend a significant amount of time signing church certification forms for Truett and undergraduate ministry students to verify that they attend a Baptist church so that they can receive scholarship funds from Baptists who are committed the furthering theological education.

When we started as a church in 1995, we did so with the blessing and financial backing of area Baptists who fell in love with the dream of reaching students who were not attending church anywhere.

Oh, and by the way, we are University Baptist Church.

Yet I often here this from people when describing UBC, "Oh, it's not really a Baptist church."

I never really know if this sentiment is misunderstanding or wishful thinking.  It's probably a little of both.

I can think of a couple of reasons people make this mistake.  For one, even though we are Baptist, we are not Southern Baptist.  The Southern Baptist Convention is not only the largest Baptist group in the country, it's also the largest Protestant denomination.  It's so big and such a significant presence in the landscape of our country that it is easy to assume that if you do not associate with it, then you aren't really Baptist.

Also, Baptist churches are so incredibly diverse that if your experience with a Baptist church is limited then you may not be aware of the vast array of different kinds of Baptist churches out there.  If you grew up at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, and attended there every Sunday of your life, then visited Dayspring Baptist in Waco one Sunday, it will definitely be an exercise in "one of these is not like the other."

In Baptist life there is a phrase that makes possible this diversity.  It's called "The Autonomy of the Local Church."  It means that every local congregation, made of of people who have equal access to the wisdom of God, makes its own decisions, chooses how it will govern its affairs, what it teaches, who can participate, etc.  None of this is determined by an institution outside of the individual church.  In associating with larger Baptist bodies (denominations, associations, fellowships,) we are agreeing to partner with other churches in endeavors such as missions and social justice issues.  However, those institutions do not then have the ability to dictate in any way what our church will look like.  Because of this, every Baptist church has the potential to be EXTREMELY different from every other Baptist church.

(This isn't to say that a larger Baptist group can't disassociate with an individual Baptist congregation, or vice versa, because they disagree with the other on something.  But in the disassociation, the congregation is free to continue to use the term "Baptist," something that would not be allowed with other denominations.)

But I think there's something larger at work in the feeling that UBC isn't "really" a Baptist church.  There is a general sense of antipathy that has grown in our culture for labels.  The feeling is that once we place a label on who we are then we have robbed ourselves of the ability to be unique and to write our own narrative outside the lines of the label.  Many Christians have even shed the term "Christian" as a self-descriptor because of all the baggage that term carries, opting instead for the more active term "Christ Follower."

I understand the desire not to be boxed in or limited.  But unless we all decide to stop using language altogether, or to describe everything with the excessively annoying "it is what it is," then we can't really get away from labels.  "Christ Followers" begin to fit a certain mold with specific characteristics (one of them being an aversion to labels,) and like "nondenominational churches" start to be every bit as distinct as the labels they are reacting against.

Among the many great things about being Baptist, one of them is the freedom to create and to recreate what a Baptist church looks like, being the presence of Christ in our community in a way that fits us and that makes sense within our unique context.  And it is something I'm proud to call myself.

I'm proud that we are associated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship who, among other things, works in the poorest of communities in the country to effect lasting change through the Together for Hope Program.

As a Texas Baptist, we are connected with an organization that is at the forefront of disaster relief. (Chances are if you are watching a disaster on the news such as the West Explosion or a tornado rip through a community, there is a disaster relief crew on their way to the site, often arriving long before anyone else, including the U.S. Government.)

By associating with the Waco Regional Baptist Association, we partner with churches passionate about restorative justice, hunger and collegiate ministries.

For me, being Baptist is not a straitjacket that limits our ability to be ourselves.  Rather, it is a term that allows us to be ourselves while recognizing that there is work to do in the world that we can't do on our own.  It doesn't define us, but it does connect us to a long line of witnesses that have been faithful to the gospel in particular ways throughout history.

---

Work is Worship for June

This Sunday Sarah Joyave and Vince Cooley will be making coffee.  Aside from that, we have no slots filled for the rest of June to clean up coffee mugs and to greet people as they come in.  If you are around we would LOVE your help.  Please email craig@ubcwaco.org if you want to sign up for any of these tasks.

---

UBC Guys Trip to Franklin BBQ

The big day is upon us!  On Friday, June 13th the guys of UBC will head down to Austin to experience the goodness that is Franklin BBQ.  We will leave from UBC at 6:30, hoping to arrive there at 8:00.  (There will already be people waiting in line at this time.)  Bring a lawn chair and your beverage of choice.  And sunscreen.  There will be a sign-up in the foyer this coming Sunday.

(Don't believe me about the line?  The following picture was tweeted at 8:54 this morning...)

---

Waco Dives Returns!

We will be resuming Waco Dives this Summer!  Toph is dubbing it #wacoclassics.  This is open to EVERYONE. Our first lunch will be this Wednesday, June 11, at Dubl-R at noon.

---

Leadership Team If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members. Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com   UBC Finance Team Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members. Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com   UBC HR Team If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members. Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

ITLOTC, May 30...

ITLOTC

(In the Life of the Church)

May 30, 2014

(While Josh is away on sabbatical, Craig will be writing the newsletter.  Which means you should expect less Harry Potter and more Hank Williams.)

---

Lost in Translation

Several years ago I ran into an acquaintance in town.  We'll call her "Dawn," since that is her real name. Dawn is a self-proclaimed Jesus Freak.  She moved to East Texas in the late 1970's as folks from the "Jesus People Movement" began to retreat from southern California and purchase land for their ministries in the Piney Woods between Dallas and Shreveport.  Because this is where I grew up, we had a natural connection.

I met Dawn while working at Barnes and Noble. She was a customer.  I found out  quickly that she loves Jesus, cigarettes, and feeding feral cats around town.  "Hey, they're God's creation too!" she would say.  Dawn is a little strange, but very easy to be around, like the one who is the life of your family reunion, but no one can quite figure out how this person is related or who invited them.

When we see each other our conversation usually turns to church.  She makes the rounds of various charismatic and pentecostal congregations around town.  There are a few small churches in Waco made up of people who came to faith through the Jesus People movement.  They don't advertise this, but they seem to find each other the way expats do in a foreign country.  Many of them lean charismatic, as this was the dominant expression of faith for many Jesus Freaks.

Toward the end of this particular conversation, in the produce section of HEB, she asked me, knowing a little about the musical DNA of our church, "At UBC , do y'all have some amazing times of intense worship?"  I thought about this for a second, scrunched my face, shrugged my shoulder and said, matter-of-factly, "No, not really."

Since we had a history of frank conversations, and because she had been around the "church block" a time or two, Dawn wasn't as offended at my frank reply as you may be right now.  She knew that what we were dealing with was a problem of translation.  SHE knew that I knew what she meant, and that I was answering "No, not really" to what she meant, not what she said.  Because the truth is, I do believe we have some "amazing times of intense worship."  Any time people gather with their doubts, baggage and quirky theologies and proclaim in unison that "Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again," I believe is an "amazing time of intense worship."  Intense worship, for me, is when someone goes weeks, months, years without seeing evidence of God in their lives, but still manages to get out of bed on a Sunday morning because they refuse to let their feelings drown out their "Hallelujahs."  Worship doesn't get more intense than standing next to someone you don't particularly know or like while you both share in the sacred meal that makes us one and makes us whole.

But this wasn't exactly what Dawn meant.  In fairness, she would probably include everything I have included in her understanding of "intense worship," but she would add more.  What Dawn wanted to know was this: Does our music sometimes last longer than intended?  Are there extended periods of spontaneous prayer as the instruments play quietly in the background?  Do a lot of us close our eyes really tight, trying hard to see something we can't see with them open?

And while all these are certainly valid expressions of worship, they just simply haven't been the dominant identifying markers of worship at UBC.

My interaction with Dawn highlights a challenge that most churches, especially evangelical Protestant ones, face-- the challenge of translation.  We all draw from the same pool of language to convey meaning, but sometimes we choose words and attach meaning to them that is different from the meaning others may attach them to.

Someone asks us if we are a "Gospel Centered" or "Spirit Filled" or "Welcoming" church and we reply "Of course!," not knowing that what we believe those words mean and what the asker of the question believes about them may be worlds apart.

Or, we throw around words and phrases like "Spiritual Formation" and "Sacred Text," assuming this is the language used universally by people to describe discipleship and the Bible.

This is why dialogue is so vital and a cornerstone of what UBC has always been about.  Without it we begin to speak a sort of insider language that sounds an awful lot like the insider language of other communities, even if the lexicon is different.  And what happens is that people become a part of us (or any other church for that matter,) and months or years down the road those who have "worshipped intensely" with each other sit down over coffee to talk about their lives and beliefs and passions and things start to click and one or both conversation partners has one of those moments when the record scratches to a halt and they say, "Wait, you believe THAT?! I thought you believe THIS?!"

So be wary of assuming that we are all speaking the same language. And don't be afraid to ask, "What exactly do you mean when you say what you are saying?" The conversation that ensues may open your eyes to the rich tapestry of faith, and expand your vision of what following Jesus can be.  We all have a lot to learn from each other.

---

Work is Worship for June 1, 2014

Washing Coffee Mugs After the Service: Stan and Lisa Denmon

We still need greeters and coffee makers!  If you can help, email craig@ubcwaco.org.

--

This Sunday

Adam Winn will be preaching this Sunday.

As you may know, Adam, Molly and Brennan have been a vital part of our community for several years.  They will be moving this summer to California where Adam will be working at Azusa Pacific University.  While we firmly believe that Adam is acting in direct disobedience to the will of God for his life by leaving Waco*, we also believe that God can make "beauty from ashes" and are excited for that to happen with the Winns.

(*if there were a sarcasm font, it would be used here.)

---

Summer Sunday School

We will begin Summer Sunday School this Sunday.  Michael Laminack will be leading us in a discussion about Spiritual Formation and following Jesus, relying heavily on the works of Dallas Willard as a guide.

---

Do you have an Emergency? Do you Need to talk to a Pastor?

254 366 9779

(please do not send texts to this number)

---

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu

Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com

Garage Sale Sorting Times...

Since our garage sale is later in the summer this year, we will have more time to sort/price items at a slower, more relaxed pace than before.  We are blocking out two hour-and-a-half times during the summer weeks for you to come and help out.  (These would also be GREAT times for you to bring your items to us.)  The times are as following...

TUESDAYS from 5:30-7:00 (beginning June 3)

THURSDAYS from 1-2:30 (beginning May 29)

These would be great opportunities for you both to serve the church in this very important activity to the financial life of our congregation, all while getting to know new people and having fun trying on all the crazy things people donate!

________

ITLOTC. May 23, 2014...

IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE PEOPLE OF UBC, WACO, TX.

(During the summer months, while Josh is away on vacation, Craig will be responsible for the newsletter.  If you have anything you would like to include, please email craig@ubcwaco.org by Thursday morning. )

__________________

SUMMERS AT UBC

In the spring of 2001 I had been at UBC for almost a year and wanted to know how to get more involved in the life of the church. I was on the "Clean Team" which came to consist of one member-- me, but I didn't really have another way to make any meaningful connections with people from the church. Part of this was due to demographics. At the time UBC was roughly 98% college students. Most of the other 2% were Baylor grads who had been at UBC during their undergrad years and were sticking around for various reasons. I was neither.

What I did have was a lifetime of experience in "putting myself out there," inserting myself naturally into a community that wasn't trying to keep me out, but hadn't quite learned how to make newcomers feel welcome either.

The small community I grew up in began its slow, three decade transition from "rural town" to "bedroom community" in the mid 1970's. My parents were, back then, what has now become a cliche'-- those who wanted to raise their children in a community that had a small town feel, good schools, and was safe enough for a young child to roam freely throughout town. (Well, 2 out of 3 has now become cliche, as the stereotype has become small town, good schools, and well-lit back yards with privacy fences.)

What they may not have thought of, however, was that towns like this, at the time, were NOT made of "Johnny-Come-Latelies" who were looking for these things. They were made up of families whose ancestors had established the town, and whose descendants had become rooted into its soil and into its life. It was a "family town" in the sense that everyone in the town was family, in one way or another, with each other.

The parents of my classmates had been classmates with each other. I may have lived in the house I grew up in from the age of 2, but many of my friends lived on land purchased by their forefathers over a hundred years ago. I had free reign to roam the streets all over town with friends who shared last names with the names of the streets we were roaming.

Some of the children in my boat saw this reality as an injustice, regardless of how benevolent the citizens of the town tried to be toward newcomers. These children became the "I've got to get out of this one stoplight town as soon as I graduate" teenagers. They threw around the phrases "small town politics" and "hick town" like weapons.

Others, like me, took another tact-- We acted as if OUR grandparents built the town, and the streets we were roaming were named after US. Those who know me well will say this was probably an early sign of my enneagram "6ness" coming out, latching on to a place I could be loyal to. Perhaps this is true. Or perhaps my childhood naiveté helped me figure out instinctively what adults forget over time-- EVERYONE is looking for connection of some kind, even the descendants of the town's founders.

Which brings me back to the Spring of 2001.

I asked our pastor, Kyle Lake, what I could do to get more connected. He told me we were having a garage sale to help us stay afloat financially during the summer, and that it would be good if I could help out with that. I said yes, and began helping Kevin and Julie Morris sort the garage sale items that were crammed in the garage sale closet. (Back then this was the closet next to what used to be our food pantry. The amount of items we now collect would fill that room up five times over.)

Through working the garage sale I met others in the church-- Kris Freeman, Tracy Kelley, Wesley Carlin, John and Darby Perkins, Blair and Jordan Browning, to name a few. These were people who had arrived at UBC long before I had and who had, literally and figuratively, built the church. (Heresy hunters relax, I know God builds the church. But about ten times out of ten God uses humans to help the process along.) They also had already established relationships with each other. These UBC'ers were the equivalent of my friends back home who were the "legacy" of our town and what I discovered about both groups was similar. They wanted to "belong" as much as I wanted to.

So what am I saying? That if you want to get involved in the life of UBC then the only foolproof way to do so is to sign up to help with the garage sale?

ABSOLUTELY!

But not really. The truth is there is no guaranteed way to ensure that you feel like you belong here. In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret: UBC can be a hard place to feel like you belong. Another secret I have found is that some of the people MOST connected to the life of the church are those who feel that they are not no the "inside." These are all complicated realities that we are working hard to address and remedy.

But I do know this: A large number of UBC'ers who have found meaningful connections here have done so over the summer. And so I would encourage you to get involved in one way or the other. If you see people on the fringes, invite them out for sno-cones. If you are on the fringes, invite someone you don't know to a movie. For some of you this may feel like a risk. Well, it is. But I think it is a risk worth taking.

In addition to helping with garage sale (which you can sign up for in the foyer) here is a little about a couple of other opportunities... http://ubcwaco.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/summer-formation-opportunities/

----

UBC Camp In

Attention all UBCkids who are entering 1st grade! Congrats! You have dominated your first official year of school and to reward you, UBC is granting you entrance into the exclusive Root Class! As a celebration of this momentous event, we will be hosting our second annual UBCKids Camp-In for current and incoming members! On Sunday, May 25th at 6:00 PM, we will gather at Camp YooBeeCeeKinakaah (UBC) to have a night of campfire meals, obstacle courses, crafting, community-building and sleeping under the stars (***these will be artificial, as we will be indoors!***), all with the purpose of welcoming you into our fold! Your parents can pick you up on Monday, May 26th at 10:00 AM *sharp* (for the sake of our Camp Counselors!!!)

Here is the link for the evite.

Work is Worship 5-24-14

Coffee Makers:

Coffee Cleaner Upers:

Greeters:

Shut Down Team: Boys

Announcements

Sermon: Michael Laminack There will be no sunday school the weeks of May 18th & 25th. Sunday school will resume in the first week of June. More information to come. In case you missed it, Craig posted about the UBC summer opportunities on Friday.  You can view those here. Do you have an Emergency? Do you Need to talk to a Pastor?

254 366 9779

(please do not send texts to this number)

Leadership Team

If you have a concern or an idea for UBC that you’d like to share with someone that is not on staff, feel free to contact one of our leadership team members.

Chair: Jana Parker jparkerslp@gmail.com

Kristin Dodson kschwebke@prodigy.net

Kaley Eggers kaley.eggers@gmail.com

David Wilhite david_wilhite@baylor.edu

Austin Tiffany Austin_Tiffany@baylor.edu

Byron Roldan Byron_Roldan@baylor.edu

Teri Walter terijan@gmail.com

UBC Finance Team

Do you have a question about UBC’s financial affairs? Please feel free to contact any of your finance team members.

Tom Haines: thomas_haines@baylor.edu

Paul Taft: ptaft@extracobanks.com

Josh McCormick: Josh.McCormick@dwyergroup.com

Chris Kim: chris_kim@alumni.baylor.edu

Tom McCarty: tomjmccarty@gmail.com

UBC HR Team

If you have concerns about staff and would like contact our human resources team, please feel free to email any of the following members.

Lacy McNamee: Lacy_McNamee@baylor.edu

Callie Schrank: Callie_Schrank@baylor.edu

Jeff Walter: jeff_walter@baylor.edu

Michael Heins: mheins@hot.rr.com