Author: Scott Carnes

The Church Is In Trouble!

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
The Church Is In Trouble!
The United Methodist Church is heading for trouble.  In discussions with other seminarians, and through my own personal observations I see a deep lack of effective leadership.  District Committees on Ordained Ministry and Conference boards are supposed to be the gatekeepers, but our church feels so desperate for pastors and in many places those boards are so clogged up with mediocre leadership (I am TOTALLY not talking about my BOM, by the way!) that we just allow people through.  The church has developed a STANDARDIZED SYSTEM of tests to ‘weed out’ the bad apples.  I guess these boards must think that if people can get through the rigorous (ridiculous) process then they must be okay.
This is not working!  We can not assume that just because people get through the tests that they will be good pastors, and YES we need to qualitatively and, often, subjectively evaluate our candidates for ministry to make sure they are good!  You see, high quality leadership tends to cultivate more people who have the skill sets needed for ministry with the ability for high quality leadership.  Mediocrity only breeds mediocrity.  The members of these boards of ordained ministry need to take a personal interest in the candidates for ministry.  They need to visit them and really get to know their ministry styles, abilities and gifts.  They need to REALLY know who they are approving as certified candidates and take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for them!
As a church we must stop accepting mediocrity.  We should not be scared to stand up and demand ONLY THE BEST leadership.  We should not be so wimpy as to not ask the hard questions and turn down the wrong people.

The ordained ministry is a sacred trust.  We have already sacrificed that trust, now we must repair the damage the best we can.

A Birthday Gone Bad!

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
A Birthday Gone Bad!

I can’t exactly sleep.  I have just had the best and worst day ever.  I enjoyed church this morning.  It was nice to hang out in the High School sunday school room and it was great to sit in church with my mother and my grandmother.
I read all afternoon to catch up on my Old Testament course reading and then mom had a Birthday party for me.  The Phillips family and my grandparents on the Carnes side all came up to the house and shared in a potluck and cake.  My cousin Marc and his friend was even able to make it for a while.  I enjoyed being with my family.
Unfortunately, I just can’t seem to get along with my father.  After our guests left, the night did not go so well.  I am no longer speaking to my father and I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to comfortably spend time in Pittsfield from now on.
It seems like we should just automatically love our parents.  I don’t know how two related people allow themselves to come to such a point that they can not stand to be around one another.  At first glance, God does not seem to like this, but, on the other hand, some of the greatest sagas of the Bible are about family members who have grievances with one another.  I have struggled to forgive my father for my childhood all of my adult life, I really thought that I could.  I thought I did, even, but I also know that I can’t forget what I went through growing up.

All I can hope for, now, is to find some peace through distance and hope that he can, as well.

Googlesnarks and the Hayride

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Googlesnarks and the Hayride
What a great night we just had.  I went home to see my parents for my birthday.  They had already scheduled a Sunday School wiener roast and hay ride at the house, and somehow I managed to convince my mother that it was okay to do something on my birthday besides ‘dote on Scott’.  I prefer it, in fact.
I didn’t know most of the people who came very well.  Some I remembered from when I lived in Pittsfield before, but I quickly got to know all of them.  What a great bunch of people.  There were five elementary / middle school aged children that came with their parents, otherwise it was all adults.  While we were out on the hay ride there was little girl sitting next to me who (you could tell) wanted to get the other littler kids to be scared.  I turned her game around on her.  I started talking to the woman next to me about the googelsnarks that live in the trees and grab little girls off of hay-rack rides…  It was sooo funny.  I laughed enough that she couldn’t quite tell if I was serious or not and then she would try to scare me.

It was such a relaxing fun night.  I hope I have a chance to do more activities with the Pittsfield church.

A Twitch

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
A Twitch
 
This week I have had a twitch in my eye and a very sore neck.  Hmmm…  Wonder if it had anything to do with the Research Report due last night and the fact that I felt as though I was behind in my reading?
Stress has a different effect on all of us.  If you had asked me whether or not I was stressed this week, I would have denied it.  That isn’t just me *trying* to be modest.  No.  The truth is that we all find ourselves in self-denial sometimes.  For me, this week it was the stress of school that I ignored until my body finally said, “HEY!  Scott!  Pay attention to your stress!”
Sometimes our self-denial manifests in our spiritual lives. There are times that I ignore my spiritual needs.  Do you ever do that?  Who really ever thinks, “Oh, yeah…I think I’m spiritually unhealthy this week?”  There is a question that is very important, especially as United Methodists: “How is it with your soul?”  The guy upstairs (not God, but literally the guy who lives in the dorm above me), often asks me, “How is it with your soul.  I seldom respond with a very straight answer (sorry, Tim), but having that question asked of me on a regular basis has made me think more about my spiritual health.

This is a question that I ask us all to ponder.  “How is it with your soul?”  Take a dry erase marker and write it on your bathroom mirror or put this question up on your refrigerator door.  Take moments throughout your week (or day) to think about how it is with your soul: looking beyond the everyday and looking to “the heart of the matter.”

The Research Report

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
The Research Report
Ugh!  I am printing out the final copy of my research report for class tonight.  What a relief!  Last night was a long night as a finished the report which I had been putting off!
Procrastination is definitely one of my sins.  I think my classmates and I are pretty well united in being pleased that our teacher, Mr. Lester has these smaller papers due throughout the semester in leading up to our exegesis paper.  This research report is not technically for a grade, but we are reporting on our progress in our research for the exegesis paper.  The main thing that I learned was that I didn’t have nearly enough material!  My research has only begun!
I went to the community meal, late tonight and was still trying to eat when worship began, so here I am writing on my blog instead of in worship, but I think that is okay for tonight.  I’d better get this report into its cover and head off to class!

Give Me the Technology, Please!

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Give Me the Technology, Please!
I’m doing laundry again today!  Every week, it seems, I am right back where I started.  It is a never-ending cycle.  We are in the 21st century.  By now, George Jetson had a machine that just created clothes each day for him, didn’t he?  Why isn’t technology working for me, like that????
You know, for the people of the third world, our technology in the United States is a futuristic wish!  I felt so stupid when I spent a month in Cuba.  A brought many clothes with me, but I just assumed there would be a washing machine and dryer at some point.  My roommate from Bangladesh would wash one of this two pairs of underwear in the sink each night and hang them up to dry so that he could alternate.
During our second week I finally need to clean my clothes (because I had more clothes on this trip than many of these people had in the homes).  We all went to the courtyard and turned on running water that was completely red with rust and washed our clothes.  I had no soap because I had not even conceived of such a thing as a “bar of laundry soap”.  How stupid could I have been back then?!?
So far as the third world goes, running water for clothes washing is a luxury.  How is it that I have become so spoiled?  I gripe about having to take my clothes to a machine, dump in liquid soap and wait for it to finish cleaning my clothes for me!!!
I see now, these amazing new washer and dryer systems that cost thousands of dollars.  How is it that we have come to this?  Is work really that revolting?  Can we no longer take care of ourselves?
Why is it that we can purchase new computers, laundry machines, flat screen televisions, fancy new cars…and yet we have a hard time putting money in the offering plate?  Have we really become so lazy and self-centered?  I have been guilty of this!
I think that God sometimes calls us to make adjustments in our lives.  I am now living at school with no money.  It is a weird feeling after several years in the work force, but I find that I am content living in this dorm room.  Every time I think of something I want – I remind myself of the bigger picture of what I need and what I wish to accomplish with my life.

I hope that we can all find ways to live more simply and give more richly.  I believe that is what God is calling us to!

Falling Behind

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Falling Behind
I have already fallen behind, it seems.  I have reading to catch up on and I feel exhausted.  The truth is that I don’t DO ANYTHING!  I don’t have a job, that is.  My life is exercising, reading and writing for school, walking, hanging out with other seminarians and sleeping!  This is a schedule that most people would love to have.  The problem is that, up until last week, I had not made school my vocation.  I need to be reading about 4 hours or more a day to keep up with the coursework and I have been slacking off.  I got caught up this weekend with my Old Testament class and I think I have found my new ‘rhythm of life’ as I start this new week.
That is what I have been missing – a rhythm.  I found the beat that I need to keep!  What about you?  Do you have a rhythm in your life?
No matter what we do:  working, riding our bicycles, walking, sitting in the car waiting for the kids, studying… the list goes on…  Everything is better with really great music that fits the occasion.  Our lives need music as well.  God gives us the right rhythm, we only need to listen for it and pattern our lives upon it!
I hope that you will spend some time contemplating God’s rhythm for your life.  Turn off your music and be in prayer with God.  Listen for a new and better pattern to emerge from the stillness of prayer!

Northwestern Is Trashy!

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Northwestern Is Trashy!

The photo above is DISGUSTING!  It is not disgusting to me because of the trash.  It is disgusting because there is so much in that can that is not trash!  I can not believe the amount of recyclable material that gets trashed on Northwestern’s campus. As I look around campus I wonder where all of the recycling bins are!?!  Maybe you need a secret password to use them or maybe they are invisible…because I can’t imagine that a university this size would not have the resources to maintain nice looking recycling receptacles around campus if they really cared.
To be fair there is recycling available on campus, but Northwestern needs to do two things:
1.•Put outdoor recycling for cans and bottles along Sheridan Road and other main arteries of campus
2.•Initiate recycling and environmental education programs around Northwestern and the greater Evanston community.

As an on-campus faith community, I believe that Garrett-Evangelical could be a part of the solution.  Just about every night I have been walking my 10,000 steps and along the way I find myself picking up trash off of the ground.  As we care for our bodies and walk around campus, why not pick up trash and grab recyclables that are right on top of the trash can to keep our environment in shape, as well?!?

The Dean’s Challenge

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
The Dean’s Challenge

Tonight during worship Dean Lightsey made a challenge to us that we keep our bodies as healthy as our minds and our spirits while in seminary.  Firstly, she walks every morning at 5:30 a.m. and invited all of us to join her.  No way that will happen, but she (G-ETS) purchased pedometers for all of the students and she has further challenged us to at least 10,000 steps per day.

As I finish the night and head off to bed, I have only gotten 2,706 steps completed… but we only got the pedometer at 6:30 p.m. tonight and then I had class all evening….  There I go making excuses for exercise already!  I am going to get serious about this.  I will try to remember to tell you all how I’m doing with this!

Going To Church

Scott Carnes Finding My Way
Going To Church
Well this was my second week to worship with First United Methodist Church in Evanston.  The young adults were invited to a cookout that evening at the pastor’s house.  I got a ride and really enjoyed myself.  It was a great way to get to know others my age in the church and there were about 21 people who showed.  I thought that was pretty good.
The church is about half the size of Green Bay, but otherwise very similar in size, atmosphere, etc.  I asked about volunteering in the Sunday School and I’ve been told that there is a six month waiting period before new people are allowed to work with youth.  That’s cool, but I just want to get involved in the church and I really miss being around youth all of the time.  I can’t believe how much I miss it, in fact.  After six years of youth ministry I realize how much the youth have had an impact on me.  You all have kept me young and, from time-to-time you’ve even inspired me!  😮

In the mean time, I think I will continue meeting with this young adult group.  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoy all of the people I met.