Andy Rowell

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  • Senior Christian Educational Ministries Capstone Trip to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

    I have not blogged in a while because I have been on a trip with 17 Christian Educational Ministries students from Taylor University.  We were in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia for 14 days in early January visiting churches, urban ministries, mission organizations and camps.  This was a January "Interterm" course.  I don’t have time right now to tell you about all of the great ministries and people we met but I thought I would at least post our actual schedule to give you an idea of what we did. 

    I led this trip last year as well.  You can see who we met last year at the Senior Capstone Trip category link to the right.  I want to thank JR Kerr and Amy Swaagman for planning the bulk of the Pittsburgh portion of the trip. Below is the syllabus for the course.

    Download capstone_syllabus_2007_blog.doc

    Taylor University Senior Christian Educational Ministries Capstone 2007

    Pittsburgh Part 1

    Friday, January 5 – Calling/Identity/Worldview

    8:00-11:30

    Travel from Taylor University in Upland, IN to Columbus, OH

    11:30-1:00

    Lunch at student Koon’s house plus two devotionals

    1:00-4:00

    Travel from Columbus to Union Project in Pittsburgh, PA

    5:30-6:00

    Orientation by Hillary Brown to Union Project. See Stained Glass Making Operation.

    6:00-8:30

    Union Project event: Hip Hop Bingo.

    8:30-9:30

    Dinner at Wendy’s

    9:30-10:00

    Travel to Pittsburgh Project where we sleep in Pittsburgh

    10:00-10:30

    Meet with JR Kerr, teaching pastor at North Way Christian Community and Taylor University grad, at Pittsburgh Project

    Saturday, January 6 – Calling/Identity/Worldview

    10-12

    North Way Oakland launch meeting – Mike Arnold’s House. Breakfast there.

    12-1:30

    Meet with Mike Arnold, pastor of North Way Oakland and Taylor University grad.

    1:30-2:30

    Lunch at fast food (Arby’s)

    3-5

    Free time: Grocery shopping, Barnes and Noble, Panera near North Way, Mitch run, Watch football

    5:30

    Service at North Way at 6:00 pm

    8-9

    Debrief – Dinner from NWCC – JR Kerr

    Sunday, January 7 – Theology of Church

    9:00-9:30

    Breakfast and pack dinner

    9:30-10:00

    Devos

    10:00

    Leave for Hot Metal Bridge

    9-1

    Hot Metal Bridge Community (11:00 am service with lunch afterward at HMB)

    1-5

    Free Time – “The Waterfront” Damon’s, Panera, Coldstone, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Movie Theater

    5:00-5:30

    Eat packed lunches; PULSE – meet at Union Project

    5-7

    Open Door Church (website Firefox browser only. Service 6-7:30)

    8-10

    BJ Woodworth afterward

    Monday, January 8 – Emerging Leaders

    7:30-7:55

    Breakfast and pack lunch

    8:00-10:00

    Saleem Ghubril – Pittsburgh Project

    10:00-11:30

    CCO including Wendy McConnell (Taylor grad)– at Pittsburgh Project – bagels

    12-1

    Drive to Sewickley and eat packed lunch

    1:00-2:00

    Becca Chapman/Fellows at Henning House

    2-5

    Free time in Sewickley – Coffee shop, cut hair, watch TV, nap, run, games

    5-6

    Talk with JR Kerr at his house

    6-7

    Dinner at Sandwich shop or Pizza in Sewickley

    6-10

    Ohio State vs. Florida Championship Game at Henning House at St. Stephen’s w/ Fellows including Michelle Jongsma and Amy Swaagman (Taylor grads)

    10-11

    Drive to Pittsburgh Project

    Tuesday, January 9 – Theology of Church

    7:15-7:45

    Breakfast, pack dinner

    7:45

    Leave for North Way Christian Community

    8:30-9:30

    Morning staff meetings at North Way

    9:30-11:30

    John Huber – student ministries at North Way

    11:30-1:30

    Lunch with student ministries staff at North Way (Lunch provided by North Way)

    1:30-3:00

    Lisa Slayton and Christina Shaffer from Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation

    3-5

    Emerging Leaders Panel @ North Way Christian Community

    5-7

    Dinner and Free time Options: Mall, Amy Swaagman’s house to watch movie, Homeless ministry, play games in gym at North Way

    10-11

    Singing and devos

    Wednesday, January 10 – Theology of Church

    7:45-8:15

    Breakfast and pack lunch

    8:15-9:00

    Travel to Union Project

    9-12 

    Union Project – pass out flyers for Martin Luther King Jr. Night on Monday

    12-1 

    Travel and eat packed lunch

    12:30-3

    Scott Stevens (Family) and Leah Edwards (Kidz) at North Way Christian Community

    3-4:30   

    David Watts (Worship) at NWCC

    5:00-8:00   

    Dinner at food court at mall

    8:00-9:00   

    Travel to Pittsburgh Project

    9:00-10:00

    Debrief, Singing and Devos

    Philadelphia

    Thursday, January 11– Social and Theological Justice

    10:30-10:50

    Breakfast and pack lunch

    10:45-10:50

    Pack everything

    11:00

    Drive to Philadelphia

    1:00

    Stop

    4:00 

    Arrive at CrossWorld where we sleep in Philadelphia

    5:00-5:45

    Fast food at SaladWorks, Qdoba, TacoBell, Subway

    5:45-7

    Drive to Camden

    7-9 

    Bruce Main Urban Promise – Camden

    9-10

    Return to CrossWorld

    Friday, January 12

    9:00-9:30

    Breakfast

    10-6

    Free time:   Go to Art Museum and run Rocky steps. Philly Cheesesteak. Free tour of Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

    6:30

    Dinner together. Buca di beppos.

    Saturday, January 13– Social and Theological Justice

    9:00-9:30

    Breakfast

    10-12

    Ron Sider from Evangelicals for Social Action at Palmer Theological Seminary

    12-12:30

    Eat packed lunch

    12:30-3

    Craig Keener from Palmer Theological Seminary

    3-5 

    Extra time with Keener

    5-8

    Dinner out and free time. Watch football.

    8-10

    Debrief and devos

    Sunday, January 14 – Emerging Leaders

    8:15-8:45

    Breakfast

    9:30-12

    Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church

    12-4:45

    Free time – football game

    4:45-10

    JR Briggs (teaching pastor, resonate pastor and Taylor grad) Calvary Church Resonate service at 6:00 pm. Dinner afterward with JR provided by Calvary.

    10:00-11:00

    Return to CrossWorld

    Monday, January 15 (MLK Day)

    9:00-9:30

    Breakfast

    9:30-10:30

    CrossWorld presentation

    11:00-3:00

    Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at St. Joseph’s University

    8:00-10:00

    Debrief, Lecture by Andy on Surviving After Graduating, two devos

    Tuesday, January 16 – Christian Leadership

    8:00-8:30

    Breakfast

    8:45-10:00

    Travel to Kennett Square, PA

    10-12   

    Greg Lafferty and Gretchen Buher (Taylor grad) from Willowdale Chapel

    1-3   

    Travel

    3-7   

    Hearts&Minds Bookstore and Byron Borger

    7-10   

    Travel and get groceries

    10-11

    Stay at Pittsburgh Project

    Pittsburgh Part 2

    Wednesday, January 17 – Christian Leadership

    8:15-8:45

    Breakfast and pack lunches

    10-12 

    North Way Oakland: surveying people on street

    12-1 

    Eat packed lunch and travel to World Vision

    1-4:30 

    World Vision (Gift-In-Kind) – learn and serve

    5-7 

    Get lost and terrible traffic

    7-9 

    Eat dinner at the Waterfront

    9-11 

    Debrief and sing and devo

    Thursday, January 18 – Christian Leadership

    7:15-7:45

    Breakfast and make lunch

    8-10   

    Travel to Summer’s Best 2 Weeks camp

    10-12

    SB2W

    12-3

    Travel back/Lunch

    3-4

    Treat at Panera or Icecream – 2 devos

    4-6

    Optional meetings with Scott Stevens or JR Kerr at North Way Christian Community

    6-8

    Thursday Night service

    8-9

    Pizza @ NW/Final Debrief

    Friday, January 19

    8:00

    Drive from Pittsburgh Project to Taylor in about six hours

    11:30

    Stop for Taco Bell or Subway and get gas

    2:30

    Arrive back in Upland, IN at Taylor University

  • The Heresy of Application

    See the great quote by John Beukema at Out of Ur here.

    "Ultimately, every text is about God. To focus constantly on the how can subtly influence our perspective of Scripture. For example, the awe-inspiring scene from Isaiah 6:1-4 should probably not become a sermon on ‘How to Meet with God.’"

    –John Beukema is pastor of King Street Church in Isaiah_6_1 Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

    Well said.  Is this Isaiah 6 event paradigmatic for worship?  What I mean is – should we expect Isaiah 6 everyday in quiet time?  Another example: should every worship service be just like the day of Pentecost?

    Hmm . . . yes and no.  Ah, hermeneutics.  There are principles that are constant.  But we need to recognize that some aspects of the biblical narrative were more isolated events. 

    This article reminds me of the classic Leadership Journal article by Haddon Robinson called "The Heresy of Application."  I often remembered that phrase. 

    I remember one of the examples he gives is people who use Ruth to talk about how you should treat your mother-in-law when your husband dies.  Yes, but the hermeneutics needs a bit more reflection.   

  • A pastor’s advice to Christian social workers

    Because social justice is now "cool" in churches, pastors are jumping in and starting new programs.  That is great and I don’t want to squelch that for an instant.  But I do think we should use the resources of the people in our congregation and run these programs with more wisdom.  Principal among our gifted congregation members are social workers.  I love social workers.  My dad had his Masters in Social Work and worked for the state of Illinois – Department of Children and Family Services – where he worked with cases of abuse and neglect of children.  In Vancouver, British Columbia, we had some outstanding social workers in our congregation who worked for the province, the Salvation Army, and did other social work consulting.  They were of enormous help to me as a pastor in an urban environment.   

    I recently talked with a group of Taylor University social work majors in a class taught my friend Rukshan Fernando.  I gave them these final challenges. 

    A pastor’s advice for people with passion and expertise in social work

    1. Use your expertise to help us serve people.  Because we are new at this, we are trying to reinvent the wheel.  Help us put systems in place that treat people with dignity.  Help us tear down systems that dehumanize people.  Let us disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. 
    2. Learn to think theologically.  Ask questions of your Bible in community.  Learn what these terms mean: Church, Missional, Community, Incarnation, Kingdom.
    3. Do not get caught with a cause.  Did Jesus just heal people?  Did he just do compassion?  No, he also taught and trained. 
    4. Be a prophet.  Forth-tell the truth about how people are getting hurt.  You see it.  Say it.  Admit that emperor has no clothes.   
    5. Begin to think of your social work as evangelism.  Evangelism usually means manipulation.  Shouldn’t it mean that the good news is  “is good for everyone” (John Ortberg)? 
    6. Don’t get caught without Jesus.  Traditional liberal social gospel has often dismissed the Bible and God’s active presence in the world.
    7. Study hard.  If you know something about caring for alcoholics, God will use you as a wise advisor.  You will help the church care for alcoholics more compassionately and effectively.   
    8. Learn to tell stories.  Describe the situation, retell the dialogue, and give a reason for the hope that you have. 
    9. Bring people with you as you serve.  Show us the dark alleys.  Help us to talk with the poor, the sick and the foreigner. 
    10. Continue to be renewed spiritually.  Learn what Sabbath is.  Sabbath is about not being in slavery anymore.   
    11. Understand the beauty of art.  Please don’t pinch pennies on beauty.  We need color.
    12. Do not demonize business people.
    13. Learn to eat with people.