December 4, 2015
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My Only Expertise
We aren't invited to enforce our 'rightness' on others. We are invited to submit. To humble ourselves. When we become experts at that, the Kingdom advances.
Participant
Rod Hugen
Church:
Website:
About Me:
Pastor, The Village, Tucson, AZ
Tucson Cluster Leader
I am a husband, father, commissioned pastor, writer, poet, amateur cook, Scrabble player, and lover of the game of basketball. I have some weird spiritual gifts, a longing for shalom, and a deep desire to serve the God who never lets me go. Most of all I have a deep love for the gospel in all of its aspects and beauty simply and clearly presented to people desperate to hear it.
November 11, 2015
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Facebook's Easy Outrage: What's Your Experience?
Words have power. Just because they come to us electronically doesn't lessen their power. What would happen if we had to take responsibility for the damage we cause with our words?
November 13, 2014
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Name Three Things
Some recent conversations got me thinking about some things that God does in and through the Village that are really, really good. I reflected on this because it is easy for me to see darkness rather than light...
December 24, 2013
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Picking Up a Calendar
I spent a couple of days in Phoenix visiting Mom. This past year we agreed that she shouldn’t drive anymore. She had been getting lost and confused and had difficulty seeing. It was traumatic for her, but she handed us the keys...
December 3, 2013
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Fallow Month
December is ‘Fallow Month’ — or at least it is at the Village Church in Tucson — because we sensed that the stresses of the season had worn our people to a frazzle and that, instead of being a time of joy and grace, it had become something to get through and survive.
November 5, 2013
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No Janitor
Our church doesn’t have a paid janitor. Instead, we consider ourselves a church of janitors. People take turns mopping, vacuuming, and cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen in preparation for our worship gathering on Sunday.
October 1, 2013
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On Discipleship
We have discipleship classes where we teach people the basics of the Christian faith. We have new member classes that teach the fundamentals of faith. However, the more I study the art of discipleship the more I realize that formal education is just a part of what we are called to do when Jesus tells us to make disciples...
March 20, 2013
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Bucket List Prayers
Been there, done that. In a world where we often have a particular life experience and then scratch it off our bucket list, it is always powerful to discover things you would do again and again. Things so wonderful that you would keep repeating them. Last year’s Prayer Summit was like that for me. It was a rich time...
October 10, 2012
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Is Commissioned Pastor a separate office?
When I was originally ordained as an Evangelist I was told I held a fourth office in the church, along with Elder, Deacon, and Minister of the Word. Through the title changes we seem to have lost that concept. I am wondering why we don't have a section under the Network for Commissioned Pastors that would provide training and helps to us much as we have sections for the other offices? It would seem that those charged with planting new churches and serving as evangelists in established churches would benefit from such help. I recognize that we have a place in the Discussion Forums that most...
April 23, 2012
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Prayer Summit Reflections
When I was a kid in Sunday school, I earned a little plastic plaque that read, "Prayer changes things." It glowed a sort of neon green in the dark and I remember waking up in the night and thinking it was cool. It took me a while longer to think that praying was even more cool then glowing in the dark. I have been slow in coming to love to pray.
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The Village Church meets on Sunday evenings at 5:00 and we serve a complete buffet dinner immediately after the worship time. People sign up to cook and are given a budget and our expectations...
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The Village declares December to be 'Fallow Month' and it is when we close down all meetings and gatherings except for Sunday worship services which we also scale back. We invite people to use the...
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How are we together now that what held us together no longer holds?
posted on: Let’s Play “Banner Editor for a Day” -
We use it throughout the year to take candid shots of various events, worship services, and other activities and then compile them into a video that we show at our annual 'Belonging Service' where...
posted on: Does Your Church Instagram? -
Thanks Elly,
I appreciate the reminder to do what is best for Mom even though that may not be her wish. As siblings we recognize that we can't guarantee to meet her longing to die in her...
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Thanks Mark. This was helpful. We have not hired a professional to assist us but my three siblings and I have worked through many of the items on your list as we care for our mother. A couple...
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I have wondered how many of our churches are started by Evangelists/Ministry Associates/Commissioned Pastors vis a vis Ministers of the Word. I have never gotten the data, but I think it might be...
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I so appreciate this conversation. I have gotten hooked by my own sinful demand for honor and respect and it is helpful to be reminded who we serve and to whom all honor and glory should go. As a...
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Thanks for this. I also wonder how many of the elder delegates are Ministry Associates? I come to Synod as an elder delegate, but the truth is that I have planted and pastored a church for ten...
posted on: Where Have Some of the Delegates Gone? -
Thanks Jay,
I appreciate your response. I agree that the church has the ability to do far more for this woman than we think given the resources God has poured out on us. Since she was gone...
posted on: Letter to a Job Seeker