DarenWride.com

Ministry Amnesty: Your Window Is Closing

October 26, 2020October 21, 2020 by Admin

It is time to get back to business. We figured out how to do ministry online and offline and with various restrictions. We figured out new systems and new tactics, and we’re looking at new software, new hardware, cameras and all kinds of things. But I need to tell you that the amnesty period is pretty much over.

We’ve had this window of time to figure it all out. It is now time to get back to business and revisit our reason for existence. Revisit our purpose and move beyond maintenance mode and move beyond learning new software, new toys, and those kinds of things.

Memo to a New Pastor

October 13, 2020 by Admin

Today I’ve got a short memo to a new pastor. I’m in a transitional role right now as a transitional pastor and we’ve had a successful candidating event, and have a called pastor who is starting in just a few weeks. As we typically do in a transitional role, I will overlap with him for about a month, although it’s not a full time month. Usually it works out to about a week of work handing off documents, having meetings, and giving him a heads up about all the crazy people in the neighborhood, that kind of thing.

I’m thinking of this incoming pastor, and there’s something I often tell young leaders which I think will be relevant for new pastors as well as us older pastors. I want you to think of three different ways of approaching challenges and problems in the church. I want to think in terms of teaching and leading and praying. Teaching, leading and praying. I realize this is a simplification, but just bear with me and you’ll get the point.

Navigating Big Change

October 5, 2020 by Admin

Today we did something that always marks a change of season for us here in the beginning of October. Today we put the canoe away. Typically when canoeing season starts in the spring, we bring the canoe out from wherever it’s stored, usually in the backyard somewhere, and we put it on the vehicle where it stays on the vehicle all summer.

If we go on some highway trip or whatever that we’re not using the canoe, we’ll take it off and put it in the front yard and lock it down. It’s a beautiful 17.5 foot, Kevlar Clipper Tripper, which people in the know realize they can steal it and sell it really quickly, so we lock her up and the canoe stays there to make it really easy to go canoeing. We love it on the vehicle, so if we have the thought after dinner, we might only have an hour, we can drive down to the lake or the river and jump in and go for a paddle.

The Stress Is Real

September 22, 2020 by Admin

There’s been a lot going on, not just in the world, but in our lives and our roles. I’m involved in the search process, transitional process, for two churches. One has now called the candidate, which we are very excited about. Their start date is November, so we’re in the wind down stage here.

Typically we have an overlap of about a month, especially if I’m living in the same community at the time, which we will be, where I’m basically on call for the pastor. We meet formally, typically once a week, handover documents, and talk about the life of the church and get all the logistics laid out.

My Covid 15 Pounds

August 25, 2020August 21, 2020 by Admin

I’ve been hearing a lot about the whole COVID 15 thing, which is not about the virus itself, but about the weight gain that a lot of people are having during the slowdown. I think summer has helped a lot. My own COVID 15 story has to do with a loss of 15+ pounds which is a sustained loss on the calendar year so far. A few things have contributed to that and have really saved my bacon when it comes to living healthily in this disrupted season.

March 15th was our last day of cross country skiing this year. That’s when the conditions in our area started getting bad. There’s usually a gap between when skiing ends and when canoeing starts, depending where we’re living. If you’re living in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, you can go skiing in the morning and paddling in the afternoon. If you like you can paddle all year if you can handle the temperature. Around here where we are right now in the East Kootenays of British Columbia, there’s a bit of a gap.