What is the Wiki in WikiWorship?

I know that many people will probably be checking this blog in the next few days so I wanted to say a little something about Wikipedia before proceeding on with posts of questions. The main reason that I decided to call WikiWorship, WikiWorship, is based on the Wikipedia. Just in case you don't know how Wikipedia works let me give you a little background. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which allows anyone to edit the content of entries. For instance, if there was an entry about a dog and in the encyclopedia entry it was to say a dog is a four-legged furry animal that barks. Well, if you wanted to, you could go in and change that and say a dog has five legs and is a bald reptile who meows. This is the trick to Wikipedia --- Wikipedia acknowledges that all encyclopedias are biased in some form or another --- so they open it up for anyone to edit, rather than just a select few people. It is acknowledging the post-modern belief that all truth is relative --- even truth that is surrounded by "facts."
The reason I used the word Wiki, in WikiWorship, was to show that we could edit the content of a worship service --- how we are going to do that is to edit it with the questions that we gather. This blog is one way that we are gathering questions --- and as you can see we have had some hard hitting questions. Other ways are through on the street interviews, door-to-door interactions, gathering the questions in the Warren's Grove congregation and through mailings. When we get these questions we will try to answer them during worship services at Warren's Grove in Roxboro, NC. We hope that all of you will help us gather those questions. How you do that is through emailing them to me and I can post them for discussion. Here is my email: philipchryst@gmail.com

Once I get the questions I am forming a big list and then we will try to answer those in a Christian community. The dates that we will do this are July 20, 27; August 3, 10, 17, 24. This will all be done at 11am at Warren's Grove United Methodist Church. I am really excited about this and I am also excited about how many people have viewed this blog. I am going to try to periodically continue to tell about this project. If you would like to read the paper I wrote on this --- please email me. God bless you. But all of you are invited to this event. We welcome visitors, and we will feed you lunch on those above dates as well. Keep checking the blog and you will learn more about WikiWorship.

Computers

I would have never thought that I would be considered a computer person --- but yesterday I went to the Christian Help Center [in uptown Roxboro] to volunteer my time and I spent my entire day helping people with their computers. A woman named Barbara I helped start up her own email account. She had never had email before and we immediately emailed her daughter --- and when her daughter got the message she wrote back immediately this: "I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!" To me it seems like less and less people are turning away from computers. I don't think computers are like the answer to all of our problems --- but I got to admit --- when my computer was out for about 5 days I was having a hard time. I have so much enjoyed my time a the Christian Help Center and I am proud to say that I can be a small part of such a wonderful organization. Even if it is being the computer techy guy.

Questions

The WikiWorship Team [the above picture is not the team, but I did think these people really look professional] has now officially gathered all of the questions that we are looking for. This was a wonderful process and I could tell that we all were affected by the questions that came in for the group. This last Monday night we went through the questions trying to find themes --- and we were somewhat successful --- we ended up finding about 11 themes and we were hoping for 6. So we are going to have one more meeting to see if there is any discernible way to form some of the themes together. Thank you all for all of your work at getting questions to us. Remember --- our kick-off event for WikiWorship is going to be Sunday, July 20th at 11am at Warren's Grove United Methodist Church. You can find a link to this over on the right hand side of your screen --- so that you can get directions. After the 11 o'clock worship service we will be continuing our discussions over lunch in the fellowship hall. This lunch will be free of charge. So, invite your friends and put it on your calendar for July 20th. This is a wonderful opportunity to grow deeper in our faith and I invite you to be a part of this.

Sunday, June 22nd

So, this last Sunday I ventured out once more into the neighborhoods surrounding Warren's Grove. At one point I ended up talking with a father and son --- and before I knew it we had been talking for an hour. I ended up having some wonderful conversations and I urged many people to persevere in their faith. One very insightful young lady asked this question: What are better ways to help spread the Gospel? Because so many people do not know the good news. Obviously, this woman has a heart for people to know the good news of Jesus Christ, but at the same time is seeing that the standard ways of sharing this good news are not working. What do you all think? How could Churches reach out in creative and different ways? The amazing thing is this, we have the best news in the world to share with anyone --- and oftentimes we end up not sharing it with anyone.

Second coming of Christ

I received a great question yesterday and it is really a toughy --- I would love to hear what you all think. Here it is: When a person dies, we believe their soul goes to heaven. What happens on the second coming of Christ? I think this question brings up some very thought provoking points. If our soul goes to heaven when we die, then when Christ comes back what happens to our soul then. For if there is a general bodily resurrection then what happens to our soul? Or will our soul be with Jesus in the air when all the believers are brought out of the earth? Tell me what you think by posting a comment below.

How did God get here?

The other day when I was out in the neighborhood by the Church, I noticed that there were two little girls in 4th grade running up to me. They had found out that I am a Pastor and they had some questions to ask me. So here it is: How did God get here? This is a great question --- while at the same time a very complex question and I am not going to go into all the complexity at this point. Please post a comment because I gave the young lady a response --- the same response I always give, but she still just looked at me like: "He didn't really answer my question." Please, give it a try.

The Christian Help Center

I wanted to share with all of you this wonderful organization. During the summer I have time to do things other than school work so I have begun volunteering at the Christian Help Center. This is an organization that really reaches people with the tangible good news of Jesus Christ. And I want to invite all of you to consider volunteering or giving money to this worthy organization. They always need help doing a variety of things. Today I stocked shelves and gave computer tutorials. But they also accept canned goods and clothing. They are in need of things like canned meat and dry goods. If you have any questions or you would like to know more please email me or post a comment with a way to get back to you. Thank you for considering this worthy organization that is doing great things in our community for Jesus Christ.

Door-To-Door cont.

So, last Sunday I ventured out again. This time I think I made it to only 6 houses in an hour and a half. I met some wonderful people --- and the surprising thing was, the first house that I came to, the woman who came to the door said that they had just been discussing something like what I was talking about the other day. She said that her neighbors and her had a discussion about what is Church. Here is the question: Is there something in the Bible that gives a definition of what a Church is? Like if we gathered and had a Bible Study --- without being in a "Church" building --- is that still considered a Church? I am just amazed at what God is doing in the midst of our community around Warren's Grove. There was a discussion going on just days before I came to the door to ask if they had any questions. This is another beautiful question that we are going to try to answer during WikiWorship. This will be beginning on July 20, 2008 at Warren's Grove. Please, if you have questions or if you want to respond to this question then please click the comment link below and post. This is a very exciting time and thank you for being a part of it.

Leonard Sweet

I wanted to share with all of you this talk given by Dr. Leonard Sweet. This talk that he gave has so much to do with what we are doing with WikiWorship. That is why I thought I would share this with all of you. It definitely is worth your time to watch this.

Caswell Shaw

This is my friend Rev. Caswell Shaw. Caswell was the District Superintendent of the New Bern District when God called me into vocational ministry. He thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of both us --- especially in light of the fact that we are here at the end of Annual Conference. He wanted everyone to know that we stayed the entire time. Thanks again Caswell for all you do to build up the Kingdom of God.

License to Preach

 

I wanted to share with all of you two friends of mine from License to Preach School. On the right you will see Rev. Park Hunter --- he is the Student-Pastor at the New Hope - Purley Charge in Caswell County. In the middle you will see Rev. Mary Frances McClure --- she is the Associate Pastor at Salem United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, NC. We went through License to Preach School together 2 years ago. I am going to be heading back to Roxboro on Saturday. I am looking forward to seeing my wonderful family.

Ron Snider

 

This is Rev. Ron Snider. Ron served Warren's Grove from 1988 - 1991. Ron served Warren's Grove while it was a two-point charge with Lea's Chapel UMC. Ron is serving Glendale Heights United Methodist Church in Durham, NC. Ron is entering his second year of service at Glendale Heights. His wife Katie is working at Duke University Medical Center. They have two children: Emily - 15 (who is pictured with Ron) and Greg - 19. Ron wanted to say hello to everyone at Warren's Grove.

Chuck Plowman

 

This is Rev. Chuck Plowman. He served at Warren's Grove from 1992 - 1996. Chuck was the first Pastor to serve Warren's Grove while it was it's own charge. Chuck is serving Carthage United Methodist Church in Carthage, NC. His wife is the Rev. Sally Plowman and she is serving at Ether United Methodist Church in Montgomery County, NC. Chuck is enjoying his appointment at Carthage UMC and he wanted to say thank you again, to all of Warren's Grove, for the invitation to come and preach Homecoming last fall. He also wanted to say that he misses everyone at Warren's Grove and if Tim Horton will come down to Carthage Chuck will fix him brisket.

Tom Holtsclaw

 

This is the Rev. Tom Holtsclaw. He served Warren's Grove from 1967-1971. At that time Warren's Grove was part of a two point charge with Lea's Chapel. Tom was a Student-Pastor while serving at Warren's Grove and Lea's Chapel. Tom is retired in the North Carolina Annual Conference and at this time he has come out of retirement and is serving as the Senior-Pastor at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Durham, NC. Tom's wife is Jan and they live in Roxboro, NC. Jan is continuing to volunteer her time at the Person County Museum and with the Person County School system. Tom has accepted an appointment to serve for another year at Aldersgate UMC.

David Blackman

 

This is the Rev. David Blackman. He served at Warren's Grove from 2002 - 2006. His wife is Jackie and they have two children --- Jacob and Joshua. David is serving the Currituck Charge and the Blackman's are living in Grandy, NC. David has been at the Currituck Charge for 2 years and will continue this appointment in July. David is really excited about what God is doing at this appointment. Jackie is now teaching geometry in High School, Jacob is 10 and Joshua is 8. They boys are very involved in sports and are keeping David and Jackie very busy.

Annual Conference

 

Well we got here safe and sound. This is the first day of annual conference and in the picture you can see Martha Caves (left), Virginia Wrenn (center) and Philip Chryst (right). Hopefully I will be running into some previous Warren's Grove Pastors and I will update for you.

The Shack

I just had to share with you all a book I am reading called The Shack. It is a book about a guy who tragically lost his young daughter and then meets God in a very unlikely place and situation. I highly recommend this book to all of you.

Being Saved

The other night I received a great question from a young lady who attends Warren's Grove. She asked me: "What does it mean to be saved?" I thought I would pose that to all of you in the blogosphere. This is the kind of questions that we are looking to gather at WikiWorship. And if this question causes you to think of questions of your own please pose them in the comment section. So, I would like to hear from you on what does it mean to be saved. What do you all think? And, I am on my way to a thing called Annual Conference next week. This is where all kinds of Methodists get together and conference about the business of our Churches. But, I wanted to tell you that I am going to try to get pictures of former Warren's Grove pastors and find out a little information about where their ministry is now. And I will try to post those as I get them. So keep updated next week. Annual Conference begins on Wednesday, June 11th.

What we are doing

Okay, so this is where we are really going to need your help. What we are starting to do is gather questions. Now what I need from you is to click on the word comments below and that will allow you to leave a question. If you see there is already a post there --- that is okay --- you can also post a comment. The kind of questions we are looking for are these: have you ever had a question about life, or for God, or for the Church that you have felt like you haven't received a good answer or you haven't been able to say it out loud? Then what we want to do is hear from you. Because Warren's Grove is trying to find out the questions that real people are asking. And then we are going to gather all the questions that we get and attempt (I emphasize attempt) to answer those questions. But not in some flippant and arrogant way --- we will try to answer them where all of you help us to answer them prayerfully, biblically and in a caring and loving way --- while at the same time speaking truth in love. I am very excited, especially after this last Sunday where I gathered all of those questions from wonderful people that live really close to the Church. You do not have to attach your name to the questions --- so you can be anonymous --- or please attach your name and that will help us when trying to answer your question and praying for you. Thank you for your help.

We did it!

Yesterday I hit the road with WikiWorship. And I would say it was extremely successful. I would say it was so successful that I should have done this a long time ago. I went to about 18 houses and I think I talked to about 10 people. The conversations lasted anywhere from 3 minutes to about 25 minutes. If you haven't figured me out yet --- I like to talk --- so I found it very easy to have conversations with people and I remember one conversation where a person told me they could not believe that a Church was willing to go out like that. I got a whole bunch of questions and I will post them in the days to come, but I wanted to let all of you share in this awesome first endeavor. I am looking forward to the next times that I go out.