K.C. Wahe - Follower of Jesus, Husband, Father, Pastor, Student, Blogger

A quick nap… 

I was cruising some recent blogs and came upon Michael Walker’s Blog. Walker is the Executive Director of Presbyterians for Renewal. I really appreciate his work and effort in trying to define what it truly means to be an “evangilical.” One comment he makes is that he considers himself “Confessionally Reformed.” You will find the article interesting and helpful.

How fast I forget that the essence of my ministry as a young pastor centers on my willingness to learn the hard stuff. The hard stuff about being in ministry. Like the willingness to say, “I don’t know.” “I don’t have all the answers.” The willingness to say, “lets find out together. ” What would we pastors and youth pastors look like if we swallowed our pride and said, “I don’t know?” I also learned that I need to become a pastor who lives and breathes God’s Word. A pastor who is in constant study. More to come.

(Mark’s new book)
Retreats are great! I love time away. Here’s my problem. I miss my family, I feel guilty for relaxing when my family is back home, and I freak out that five days of being away only puts me behind five days from all of the stuff I left unfinished prior to leaving in a rush on the first day. What did happen though while I was away was the realization once again that I am called to be a husband and father first. I am called to be a pastor second. On retreats that I’ve been on I’m also reminded of my need to be in prayer and in study of God’s Word daily. As I write this I’m also reminded that I fall short in these areas as a pastor. While relaxing in the book store at Mt. Hermon I found a book by an old pastor friend written by Dr. Mark Roberts. The book is called “No Holds Barred.” Marks book deals with what it means to be in deep prayer with the Lord and he uses the Psalms as a means for developing a prayer life with “No Holds Barred.” What would the church look like if it wrestled with the Lord in prayer and what would we as pastors look like to those we serve if we were people of prayer?

Wittingshire: Sunday Morning

What would the church look like if worship was treated as an act of surrender to God weekly in our services? The song that we’ve sung for years in this large community of faith we call church I learned sometime in Jr. High school was called “Come Let Us Worship and Bow Down and makes me think about what worship as surrender would like in the church…

“Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:6-7a

I would love to hear in our churches from those in worship leadership teach on worship. To teach what it would truly look like if we modeled a theology of surrender in worship. I would love to hear in our churches what it means to truly come together as one church in worship and in surrender to our Lord. As a young pastor who’s been kicked in and out of my box of “naivete” I still like my box. I still like and love being an evangelical not ashamed of the gospel. I still desire for the church to be a church who truly worships the Lord in total and complete surrender. I also know that there are those who believe the same, call themselves liberal, and don’t realize that they are just as much an evangelical as I am when it comes to our theology of worship in the church. I guess I’m hitting on several topics I know I will never have time to comepletly disect. I believe I’ve touched on this in a previous post but why are people ashamed to call themselves an evangelical Jesus loving follower of Christ? I will be away this week on a retreat. I am looking forward to the chance to be a person in the pews. It’s been a long time where I’ve felt the freedom to surrender.

The world mourns today the loss of the leader of the Catholic church. A man whose ministry is being honored today. A man who was obviously led by God. I’ve learned more about this mans ministry in the last several hours then I did in my church history classes in seminary. What blows me away is that this man truly modeled what it means to be a follower of Christ and an evangelical. Pope John Paul II truly was a model for what it means to surrender ones life to the Lord.

One of my favorite lines in “Spiderman” the movie is when Spidermans uncle says to the masked spider dude, “with great power, comes great responsibility.” As a young naive pastor in my first year of ordained ministry I am learning that my life is one in which I need to learn how to surrender everything I do as a husband, father, and pastor to the Lord. Although I have no power in the literal superhero sense, my life is being watched daily by my family and those in the church which scares the scooby doo out of me. This a great deal of responsibility for those in the church including myself who are in positions of leadership. As I prepare for a weekend of opening day little league baseball games, attempts at cleaning the house while my wife vacations with a bunch of women from our church, and finishing my sermon, I can’t help but think that I need to be one who sings aloud, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give.”

This Sunday I’m preaching on 1 Corinthians 11:23-34. My sermon title is “Do you remember?” Here is the passage from the “Message” paraphrase by Eugene Peterson…

23 Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. 24 Having given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me. 25 After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me. 26 What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt. 27 Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? 28 Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe. 29 If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. 30 That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. 31 If we get this straight now, we won’t have to be straightened out later on. 32 Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later. 33 So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord’s Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. 34 If you’re so hungry that you can’t wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal - a love feast. The other things you asked about, I’ll respond to in person when I make my next visit.

Thought for the day…In the midst of the worlds complete and utter brokenness…Don’t forget what happened last week during holy week and then on that Easter morning.