Planning for PDAS

PDAS-- Project Destiny After School.

We've had an after-school program at our church for a few years now. The idea was that we could provide a few resources, program a few activities, and share the gospel with the kids who came. Over the past few months, while directing Project Destiny Summer Camp, I've been thinking a lot about the year-round After-School component. There's no official title yet, especially since the former paid-staff position was eliminated from the church budget this year, but I'm planning on coordinating and directing PDAS this school year on a part-time basis while attending seminary part-time.

There are several changes I'm excited about implementing:
1. We've reduced the cost by 100%. This seems more radical than it should-- churches have giving free services to their neighbors for millennia; but economic times are tough. I'm excited for a chance for our church to be generous with its time and finances.

2. We've moved to a drop-in model. There are a lot of negative associations with the term "drop-in" in after-school care; but drop-in is a great way to meet the individual needs of families and students. They can come when they have nothing else to do or when they need help with a particular assignment. This just means we're going to have to really amp up quality of care to keep kids coming.

3. We're open to high-schoolers. We used to only take middle-school to correspond to our summer camp, but older teenagers are more likely to come to a drop-in program and invite their friends to come hang out. More than that, being open to high-schoolers means having a chance for our church to build a longer-term relationship with teenagers.

We're starting next Monday. There are about 30 students registered. It's all so new and I'm not sure what to expect. I'm sure there will be challenges and mistakes along the way. We'll have less control and so many more variables to anticipate. Please join me in praying for God to provide the right staff and wisdom for the planning team. Pray also for me as I take on this new ministry role in Chinatown while continuing my studies.

Open...Shut... Open...

I'm sure it's frustrating for parents that we are open and shut and open again, but for the time being, camp is open again! We passed all three inspections: building, fire, and health; and we got our camp permit yesterday-- praise God!

So we opened camp yesterday in the Josiah Quincy Upper School. Students gathered into the cafeteria and we had a re-cap trivia quiz for chapel time. The kids had fun with it. Then we got on buses and shipped off to Providence, RI to visit the Roger Williams Park Zoo. It was nice to see counselors hanging out with the kids again, reading signs to them and admiring God's creatures together.

For the present, we are open and will be open on Monday. We still need to secure a long term solution for camp site-- either by repairing the church quickly or staying longer at a temporary site. JQUS is a costly facility for us to rent, and it may not be sustainable to remain there for more than a few days. Please pray for God to provide a solution.

He Has Made Me Sing

One of the things that first captivated my attention at church was the music. You might say that God put the language of song in me from an early age-- from singing along with vinyl records of Winnie the Pooh in the shaggy carpeted playroom of my childhood home, to singing all the time in pre-school and joining choir in Catholic school. But the grandeur and majesty of God first struck me through music when I was a choir boy at the choir school St. Paul's in Cambridge.  Every morning, we would process into the cold marble church and kneel at the altar, opening with the same a cappella chant each time:

"Repleatur os meum laude tua ut possim cantare; gaudebunt labia mea dum cantavero tibi. (Fill me with praise that I might sing. My lips rejoice when I sing to You.) O Lord our God, through the intercession of the saints, Pius, Gregory, and Cecilia, grant us in thy mercy that through the praises we offer thee during our pilgrimage here on Earth, we may be found worthy to sing to Thee forever in heaven. In Christ our Lord, Amen"

Then the organ would burst forth and we would start the mass. We poked fun at the passionate headmaster and music director and of the songs that we sang; but while nobody would talk about it or admit it, when we sang mass, or liturgical music in a concert, we felt not just a thrill of music, but the majesty of God, if he was indeed real.

As my commitments and ties to the Catholic Church grew more distant when I began high school, I began attending youth group at the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church: a far cry from organs, stone church, and white-surpliced choir boys! But here, it was guitar or piano-led ballads which said something quieter and more personal:

"In the stars his handiwork I see; on wind he speaks with majesty. Though he ruleth over land and sea, what is that to me?... Until one day I met him face to face and felt the wonder of his grace, then I knew that He was more than just a God who didn't care, who lived away up there! Now He walks beside me day by day ever watching o'er me lest I stray, helping me to find the narrow way. He's everything to me!"

And while sometimes I felt like I hated the other kids who were more confident or popular than me, every time we had "Singspiration", my heart was thrilled with how it felt like God was speaking to me. That was before I understood the gospel, but somehow, I knew that what they were singing about was important and intensely valuable. It was songs that framed and taught me how to feel about God; and when I finally became aware of God's call on me to trust and follow Jesus, it was the songs I sang in my head in the hallways at school or while enduring the boredom of taking the train home which trained me to believe I was a new person in Christ.

It made sense then, for me to pick up the guitar. I didn't want to learn to impress people or to play for others. I just wanted to be able to play along while singing on my own at home. For the longest time, it seemed, I couldn't figure out the guitar. I spent money on books and tried to practice, but it was nothing but painful fingers and ugly sounding dead strings forced to plunk aloud by my clumsy strums. I asked the most talented peer I knew to help, but I was too difficult to teach. Then a patient counselor taught me three simple chords: D A G, so that I could play along with "Lord You are more Precious than Diamonds." I practiced it all night, and soon, after many obsessed all-night practice sessions, I could strum along to anything! Before long, singing and making music to the Lord were back as a big part of my life-- but this time, I knew what the words meant. That has continued with me from high school, through several worship teams, into college, into a tiny Vermont church, into a small urban church, and now into my youth ministry.

Worship leading is one of the parts of my current church ministry I enjoy most. As a youth group counselor, I get to work with teens, training and practicing with them to give their ears, hands, voices, and hearts to the Lord-- to show God's grandeur and majesty to others so that they could worship him. This past month, I've assembled a bunch of juniors and seniors from three churches to lead worship for our upcoming Winter Teen Conference, a joint retreat of about 200 kids. It has been a blast: there are moments when you hit a musical groove as a team-- and you're not trying to make something happen musically anymore because suddenly you realize that you're there. Then, the truth of what you're saying about God finds itself to the front of your mind and you look around and see that other folks on the team are in the same place, too; and that becomes a feedback loop of joy and awe, grounded firmly in the one whom you are singing about, but somehow also intimately connected with seeing other people worship God. Then every strum, every movement, every note sung seems to resonate with something greater-- echoes from the praises of the throngs and multitudes that will some day shout aloud in the very presence of God enthroned. It is what I was made for-- and it's that awareness that I hope to instill in this group of seven students this month.

Thank you, God, for your gift of music that speaks your holiness and love to me in a language that I could understand, even before I knew what it meant in words. Teach us to live in harmony with the song that we can glimpse only fleetingly through certain windows, which we try to sing with words and song and instruments, but ultimately must be lived. Make our lives and songs, thoughts and affections point to Christ, through whom you have counted us worthy to sing to you forever in heaven!

Ministry Position

One thing further-- I've been tentatively offered a part-time ministry position at a church in Boston! It is not my first ministry position offer ever, but it is exciting. I am prayerfully considering the implications of this and would appreciate you praying for me as well. I don't know how God is leading. A few concerns I have are: busy schedule, study time, proximity to friends, and money. These all play into my decision making in one way or another. I'd be happy to talk about it if you want to know more...

Canobie Lake Park!

Yesterday, our middle school youth group counselors and I took 6 students to Canobie Lake Park. We had a great time going on rides, like the X-treme, DaVinci's Dream, the Corkscrew, and the Yankee Cannonball. I've often wished I had more time to just hang out with the youth group kids. With applying to seminary, writing Friday night messages, planning Project Destiny, and grading papers, that kind of fun time with youth group kids is too rare. Two of our kids were from PDAS, our weekday after-school program. Four of our kids were not regular youth group attendees. Praise God for a fun day and a chance to build relationships with a handful of youths!

Serving Communion

I felt chills today while serving communion. BCEC serves communion on the first Sunday of each month. On those weeks, I usually take my communion first, after the sermon, and head to the back of the room with the bread to serve the rest of the congregation. When people come up, I'm supposed to address them, saying, "Victor, this is the Body of Christ broken for you." And then they move on to the cup, where Calvin is supposed to say, "Victor, this is the Blood of Christ shed for you."

Usually, it's a sort of mundane service to perform. I make it more exciting for myself by seeing how many names I can recall. As a matter of fact, I used to try to avoid it when the old pastor asked me to serve because I had a hard time remembering people's names on the spot.

But today, after about the 15th recipient, I started getting a sense of the enormity of what we were saying: "This is the Body of Christ broken for you! This is the Blood of Christ shed for you!" Look what you have done: you are a sinner so wretched that the Son of God had to die for you! Look how much you're worth: God sent his son to die for you!

And the one-two combination of Calvin and I greeting the recipients became a rolling chant, proclaiming the gospel over and over again while strains of "Amazing Grace" sang in the background. So, I remembered once again what an amazing thing it is to have your life saved by somebody who died doing it. What a privilege-- I was allowed to preach the gospel to about forty people today, one person at a time! Praise God for his reminders of what Grace is.

Vacation, Executive Directorship, Scholarship

April Vacation is just about over-- and it was a pretty good one. I visited good friends in Vermont, hung out with my girlfriend, saw a Sox game, fished, skied in 70 degree weather, and had a $200 dinner date at a fancy French restaurant called Aujourd'hui (I didn't pay-- she had a gift-certificate from work!) During these last days of rest, I'm mentally preparing for the storm that will be May, June, July, and August. My series at VAC got postponed, but I still have 2 sermons to prep over this next week.

By now, most of you who read this know that Project Destiny (a summer urban youth camp ministry) is a big part of what I pray for, think about, and do. Over the past few years, I've been helping to run it as a part of a director board. During our last meeting, we finalized a decision to name me Executive Director over Project Destiny. I've been involved in the camp for more than 10 years and I my heart still flutters when I think of what good God will do in and through the staff team that he assembles. It will be a challenging summer. My pastor recently asked me how I felt about this. My answer: "I trust God." In the end, that's all I can say-- I have no real reason to believe that I am the perfect candidate or that I won't fail miserably. If I say, "I can do it," it is a lie because that's honestly not how I feel. But I can trust God to lead me to glorify him in success or in failure... "as it is my earnest expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but that now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death." As before, I will try to post updates here throughout the summer and I appreciate your prayers.

On the seminary front, I am indeed going to Gordon-Conwell next year. On top of that, I am receiving a significant scholarship that will cover a third of my projected costs for next year. I am exceedingly grateful to see how God is encouraging me by removing obstacles and opening doors. This scholarship, called the Partnership Program requires me to build a support team and to fund raise. I will, at some point, post more about the program; but if you would like to be a support partner for me to attend seminary, please contact me by comment or the usual channels. Thanks!

Winter Teen Conference and March

March promises an imminent end to winter. It has been a relatively milder one in Boston, with some days like today, when it has felt more like spring than winter. This past month has been eventful on different fronts

1) I am still awaiting word from Gordon-Conwell, though I have finished filing for scholarships. I will begin writing letters requesting prayer and assistance once I find out if I've been accepted. Also, there is the real possibility of taking on a structured apprenticeship a church I'm connected with, which would help both in terms of experience and finances-- I'm pretty excited about that possibility.

2) During Presidents' Day Weekend, I led a small group for 8 ninth grade boys during Winter Teen Conference, our church's youth retreat. I got to live in a cabin, hold discussions, have one-on-one talks, and hang out with them all weekend long. The speaker sessions, by Pastor Joseph Tsang from Vision Church in NYC, focused on lessons from Jonah-- God using broken people to bring about repentance and reconciliation for his glory, the misguided human obsession with "justice," the lengths God goes through to chase people down, and the need to descend when the world tells us to go up on the ladders of status and comfort. Most memorable for me were the one-on-one talks I had with my boys this weekend. It is humbling to try to see ninth graders through God's eyes as opposed to your own-- it reminded me how far apart my heart is from that of Jesus.

3) I had conversations with folks from Vietnamese Alliance Church this past weekend. It is hard for me to convey to people how much I miss serving there and being caught up in the lives of friends in that small church. If the same thing remains on your heart for a long time, does it mean God is nudging you there? There are still imprints on me left over after 2 years, like the places on rugs where old furniture used to be. I'm praying about whether or not-- or when-- to renew some sort of involvement-- whether it be preaching on Sundays, leading a small group, mentoring individuals, or just visiting more often. I wonder if Apostle Paul's experiences were personally conflicting and torn like this-- wanting to be in more than one place at once. Pray for VAC, as they continue to search for an English pastoral staff-person.

4) Vacation was very restful, although I was sick for most of it. At least half of our entire Winter Teen Conference staff came down with flu-like symptoms after the retreat. We canceled youth groups the following Friday, but if we had gone ahead, more than half of the youth workers would have been sick! Thank God for the snow=).

5) At school, this has been a much more difficult year than years past. One big reason is not having as many opportunities to build relationships with my students. We haven't had many field trips, and I only see them during the mornings (I teach in another site in the afternoons). At recent meetings, we decided to have more field trips in the months of March and April. I'm looking forward to those. Now if only we could skip the MCAS at the end of this month...

6) The Chinatown Library Advisory Council concluded its work in February. We've been working for around a year to design a Boston Public Library branch in Chinatown. During those meetings, I've gotten to learn more about how different agencies and groups compete for land in a dense city neighborhood and the issues involved in community action efforts. I've consistently attempted to represent the needs of schools, community youths, and reluctant students in Chinatown in our discussions. We've narrowed the possibilities down to three more likely sites: 1) Parcel P12 next to the DoubleTree, 2) BCEC's current site, 3) and a site adjacent to the Chinatown Gateway. There will be a public presentation on our work, along with models of what each site's library might look like and what the next steps forward are on March 18, 6-8PM, at the Quincy School cafeteria. Come, you are invited!

Pod-Casts and links

I've been listening to pod-casts for a few weeks now. Mostly, I'm listening to sermons on topics I'm interested in or teaching. Now I'm on one! How humiliating. So, here are three links:

1) Pastor Enoch Liao on "Good Suffering"-- I'm listening to this now. This is the pastor of my congregation in Chinatown with a reminder of how you apply the gospel in your life to times when you suffer so that you can do anything as you follow Jesus, even if it's hard. I have the blessing of hearing good preaching almost every week.

2) Me on Project Destiny-- a presentation on the community directed ministry I'll be helping to lead this summer. This is more of an advertisement for prospective counselors, but it sort of gives an idea of the burdens behind the program that consumes my life and the lives of my co-laborers almost every summer.

3) www.project-destiny.com -- the web site for PD that includes information and recruiting materials. If you are interested in serving as a counselor for Boston's Chinatown youth and sharing Christ with them, look here.

Roles of Clergy and Laity

This is probably too theoretical for most people's interest, but I have been thinking and journaling about the role of the lay leaders in the church for the past few days. Part of it comes out of wondering if I might ever be called to full-time ministry; but even if that is not the case, serving as a lay person eventually will require a correct understanding of the distinctions between ordained and lay functions. In attempt to sketch out a correct and useful understanding, I will reference 1) the recent history of the Catholic church-- where distinctions between lay and clergy have been spelled out and taught, 2) the relatively recent trend, especially in Protestant churches, to employ non-ordained ministers, and 3) also Biblical teachings on the subject of roles in the church.

In the Vatican II Council of 1962, the Catholic Church spelled out two of the ways that lay ministers can serve: the Apostolate of Evangelization and Sanctification, and Charitable Works and Social aid. In effect, these are the areas of teaching, evangelizing, witnessing, volunteering, community activism, and mercy ministries. This opened a way for non-clerical faithful could participate in the mission of the church in a way that was not possible in a pre-Vatican II church. However, a clause that made provision for lay-ministers to administer Eucharist (communion) and lead Mass in certain circumstances (persecution of the church, incapacitation of the only available priest, etc.) also opened a way for these two complementary roles to be blurred. As a result, many parishes began to allow lay people to take on roles that were part of the ordained vocation. Pope John Paul II, in May 2002, responded to this error by issuing a clarification. In it, he affirmed the unique and seperate role of ordained ministers: "sacramental," "liturgical," and "pastoral governing." The laity can assist in many ways, but its main duty is "in the world of economic, social, political and cultural realities," as a "Gospel Witness." In effect, the clergy should lead spiritually in worship and in matters of decision-making, morality, theology, vision, and liturgical rituals. Lay people can help, but should find their place in ministering to the world as witnesses.

Protestant Churches, in the mean time, often do not have a clear demarcation between lay and ordained leaders. Many churches employ ministers that are not ordained, but who are supported by the congregation nonetheless. Non-ordained ministers perform many of the same duties of ordained ministers and lead ministries-- often youth ministries or other specific "departments" of the larger church ministry. They are, however, not free to perform matrimony, to baptize, lead a worship service, or other liturgical rites. Nevertheless, they are expected to exercise spiritual authority within their departmentalized spheres. These ministers are supported by the congregation because their entire work is for the welfare of the flock, despite the fact that they are not ordained-- though in many cases these ministers are on the path towards ordination.

It is interesting that neither Catholics nor Protestants relegate preaching and teaching to the exclusive domains of the ordained minister. Lay leaders are excluded only from areas of spiritual governance and sacred rites.

1 Corinthians 12 is a scriptural basis for the claim that both laity and clergy have distinct, complementary, and essential callings. Paul speaks of the "body" of Christ. "For the body does not consist of one member but of many... there are many parts, but one body." In other words, there are different equally necessary roles for members of the church to fulfill. Paul goes on, in vs. 27-30 to list different roles: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healers, helpers, administrators, and tongues.

1 Timothy, on the other hand, spells out specific titles of servant-leadership positions. Paul himself is an apostle and oversees several churches that he planted. Timothy is a pastor, who is given authority to tell teachers what not to teach (and presumably what to teach, as well). Meanwhile, two roles appear for non-pastoral duties: overseers (in Titus, called Elders) and deacons. Overseers must be "able to teach" while deacons need not. In Titus, the overseer's teaching authority is relegated to what was taught to him-- presumably by Paul and Titus, the pastor. It is not clear whether Elders qualify for being "shared" with through financial support, as commanded by Paul in Galatians 6:6 for the sake of teachers. One could argue that since they are commanded only to teach what their pastors have taught them, they do no qualify.

The following is a list of what I currently see as Ordained functions and Lay functions. You can see that there are shared functions and also unique functions (italics):

What an Ordained Pastor Does
-Shepherd each Sheep—the Shepherd’s Burden*
-Set Vision and Direction*
-Command Congregation*
-Oversee Ministries*
-Minister Communion*
-Holy Matrimony*
-Visitation*
-Funerals*
-Baptize*
-Lead Worship*

-Preach and Teach
-Lead by Example
-Counsel Members
-Study the Word
-Support Lay Ministers
-Disciple
-Administration of Church Ministries
-Serve as Elder
-Pray for Congregation Members

What a Lay Leader Does

-Use Gifts to Edify the Body*
-Salt and Light of the Earth—point others to Christ *
-Submit to Clergy*
-Oversee Non-Teaching Ministries*
-Serve on Ministries under Pastoral or Lay Leadership*
-Support Ordained Pastors through Prayer and Finance*
-Financially Support Church Ministries*
-Serve as Deacon*

-Preach and Teach
-Lead by Example
-Counsel Brothers and Sisters
-Study the Word
-Support Co-laborers
-Disciple Younger Christians
-Administration of Church Ministries
-Serve as Elder
-Pray for those Under Your Care and for Brothers and Sisters
-Lead Worship in Auxiliary Role

These lists are not definitive and I welcome correction or disagreement. (Just Comment)

Perhaps the easiest way to draw a distinction is that the Clergy's role is to shepherd the flock in the church and tend to the spiritual growth of the church body. The Laity's role is to support and submit to pastors, help teach and to fully live out being Salt and Light witnesses in ways that pastoral ministers cannot. In the end, I suppose, both are servants to all, as Christ showed us, and are called to submit, one to the other. The Clergy submits to the congregation in sacrificing for its welfare. The Laity submits to the pastor in entrusting him with authority. They are complementary roles-- not necessarily hierarchical-- parts of the same body.