I got home late Friday night after spending a week and a half at Nazarene General Assembly in Orlando. The highlight of General Assembly is always the opportunity to spend time with friend and catch up on life, but the business of this assembly was also quite memorable.
We got to Assembly Thursday morning (June 25) so that I could participate in three seminar sessions as part of the Sunday School and Discipleship and Missions convention.
I led a seminar with my friend Jon Middendorf (pastor at OKC First) on the relationship between the Church of the Nazarene and the emerging church dialogue. The room was packed with people in part because some folk who came to assembly to voice their strong objection to the EC were present and people came to support but also to see if there would be any fireworks. Thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of drama, and I think the seminar went well. The vast majority of the feedback immediately afterwards and throughout the rest of assembly was very positive.
I also participated on Thursday in a seminar on holiness preaching based on the book edited by Tom Nees entitled, "Dirty Hands, Clean Hearts." A new division of the Nazarene Publishing House simply called "The House" had me lead a video-taped dialogue on moving the local church from a church growth to a missional model. I had a great panel join me and the dialogue was a lot of fun. The video should be available on-line sometime in the fall. (Look for the details at www.thehousestudio.com).
Saturday we spent most of the day in our various committees. I was assigned to the Christian Action Committee which deals with many of the "Covenant of Christian Conduct" resolutions and the "Current Social Issues" found in the last section of the Manual. When I looked at the resolutions that we would have to deal with ahead of time I thought we wouldn't have any problem buzzing right through them. WRONG! Put a group that diverse together and it takes forever to get through things that seem pretty obvious (at least to me). My one disappointment with the committee was the tendency to eliminate or edit many prophetic statements out of the resolutions. We continue to have a hard time as a church speaking prophetically about many social issues - especially those that address the needs of the poor.
The services were very good. Especially on Sunday morning it was wonderful to worship with about 30,000 other Nazarenes.
The highlight of assembly was the election of Dr. Eugenio Duarte as the 37th General Superintendent. This is the first time in the church's history that we have elected an international leader who has not spent any of their ministry inside North America. Dr. Duarte was born in Cape Verde and has been serving as the director of the African region. When he was elected the African delegation went crazy! And rightfully so. What a wonderful and historical occasion. The African delegates carried him and sang all the way to the platform. There was not a dry eye in the place.
Dr. John Bowling - president of Olivet Naz Univ - was elected the 38th G.S. and Dr. David Graves - pastor of Olathe College Church - was elected 39th. But on last day of assembly (Thursday) Dr. Bowling withdrew his acceptance and so Dr. Graves became the 38th and the delegation elected Dr. Stan Toler - pastor of OKC Trinity and very recently elected DS in SW Oklahoma as the new 39th GS.
I have great admiration for Dr. Bowling for having the courage to act upon his convictions and stay at Olivet. I am also good friends with both David Graves and Stan Toler and I know they will serve and lead the church well.
The voting for GS was quite intriguing and there were many names that rose and then dropped. That wasn't unusual. Several years ago my grandfather came within a handful of votes from getting elected and then dropped after lunch. My only concern was that it seemed clear that after the election of Dr. Duarte that anyone who was perceived to have any kind of agenda could not get the 2/3 votes necessary to be elected. For example, there were two or three people I was hoping would get elected who I think would bring a very progressive vision to the church, but it was clear that some in the delegation feared that direction and so did not vote for them. On the one hand, that was disappointing to me, but on the other hand, there were several people who could have been elected whom, I think, represent a very conservative agenda who were also not "electable" (if you will).
Needless to say, it is a fascinating process when the international church gets together. There are arguments, differences, cultural misunderstandings, and political agendas, but there was also praise, worship, fellowship, grace extended, vision, passion, mission, and mutual love. That's just the nature of the church, human folk seeking divine wisdom. It was a wonderful and memorable couple of weeks. We'll do it all again in 2013.
BTW - thanks PazNaz for giving me the honor of being one of your representatives to the Assembly. It's an honor to be your pastor and it was so much fun to have person after person tell me about the "good gossip" they hear out of Pasadena and the great reports of what God is doing among us. Thanks for letting me be part of this great place.
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