Old School Networking...


I love old school networking.  There is nothing like shaking the hand physically rather than virtually.  There is nothing like listening to the voice of another with the acoustics of the room rather than through a computer with its unpredictable cut outs due to bandwidth.  Yesterday morning was another day of networking for me.

It meant getting up at 2:30 a.m. to be out of the house by 3 a.m. and driving 255 miles one way to be in a room of others who care about what I care about.  One thing I care about is local pastors getting together with local pastors for greater fellowship between them and the local church of God in that community.  I have seen this happen in our local community but I didn't know there was an organization that focused on this happening nationally and internationally.  Through some old-fashion networking I found out about Barnabas Ministries, Inc.  

What an experience to be in a little chapel with others who are doing the same thing and hearing their stories that resonated with mine.  Tools were given to me that I will put into practice because they are battle tested and also because they are grounded in Scripture.  I walked away with much more than a slick binded notebook.  I drove away with 255 miles ahead of me, 4 hours plus, and the trip around the south side of Chicago during rush hour, with a head full of hope and direction.

The organization, Barnabas Ministries, INC provides groups called John 17:23 Pastoral Support Groups.  I think these will be listed on my links page of this blog also.  I am doing that because wherever I go across the United States with Interim Pastor Ministries, if there is a John 17:23 group I can be a part of I hope I can join it for the time I am there and if there is not, I want to see if there can be one started for the pastors of that community.  I encourage you to check out the links and find out what they are all about and pray for this ministry to grow.

One of the benefits of pastors getting to know each other is that we are showing our own congregations that we serve the bigger picture of God's great family.  So, yesterday and a 13+ hour day with 510+ miles on the car was so worth it as I seek an afternoon nap today after I have done some old school networking with those I want to put in touch with the mission and vision of this ministry.  

At one point, someone crossed the room to find out who I was and showed me the value of walking across the room to find out who someone else is.  The connection of dots start and your life in enriched as you rub actual shoulders with those who love the God that you love.  I am thankful for my computer and the internet that affords me such information at my fingertips but I will take the actual hand of a brother in Christ anytime over my screen time.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

  1. Ron ManginNovember 8, 2018 at 9:59 AM

    And I'll take your handshake, and even a brotherly hug, from you anytime, my friend. Thanks for being a "Barnabas" to me!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more