Structural Changes at New Hope

Why is New Hope changing its church structure? For the same reason that growing children get new clothes. As a group grows it needs to change how it operates. What works for a group of 100 people does not work for a group of 700 people. For example, Loma Linda University Church has almost 300 people on it’s church board. So it changed its structure to vote an executive committee of the church board, a smaller group that can actually function.
At New Hope we are attempting to give more power to church members by empowering more boards to make decisions for the church. Instead of everything funneling through the church board most decisions will come through the Finance, Lay Pastors, Ministries, and Volunteer Boards. We will communicate all decisions that affect the church through our web site. If the new structure is voted look for a page listing board decisions.
Please read the responsibilities of the new boards carefully. Click on http://account.churchwebworks.com/acct/12535-3933/resources/Combined_boards_March_2007.pdf

You can make comments and ask questions right here on this blog. And then plan to attend either of two town hall meetings on March 24 and April 14 where you can clarify and give input to these projected changes. The first one on March 24 will be held at Glen Gibb's home, 3812 Dustin Rd., Burtonsville, MD 20866.

Evolution and Creation

There is an ongoining debate in our society over whether the world was created in seven days or whether it took millions of years to occur.

Why don't we hear more about the assumption of uniformity as a way to understand dating issues?

It seems obvious that the laws of this earth have changed since Eden . Laws today revolve around death and the cycle from decay to life. In Eden there was no decay, no death. There was no rain until the flood. The Bible indicates that the earth is suffering under three curses, which I interpret as three times God changed fundamental laws. If that is the case there is no way that we can extrapolate back to origins with any certainty. Given today's laws millions of years are probably accurage. But if we grant that the fundamental laws have changed this would throw in question the results from today's research.

So why do we argue and try and resolve the difficulties that science brings to the debate? Let's just agree with them given their assumptions but at the same time say, "We come with a different set of assumptions therefore we will come to a different set of conclusions." It is on the level of assumptions that we should begin the debate. What do you think?

Irresistible Influence

The vision statement of New Hope says that we will be an Irresistible Influence in our community. So what does that mean. It is a great slogan but what does it mean in practice? Please give me examples, specifics, examples. I want this to be more than a slogan but an actuality.

Remember that we exist on two levels: Indifividual and Corporate. As an individual you have an influence in the market place. As a community of believers we have an influence in the community where we worship.

Inclusivness of New Hope--How Far?

Jon Paulien, the new dean of religion at Loma Linda University, published two provocative articles in Ministry magazine last year on the relevance of Adventism in this post modern world. In his ninth point he says, “I have felt for more than a decade that the Seventh-day Adventist Church faces a crisis of identity. On the one hand, we desire a relatively small, focused, doctrinally pure church with consistent standards of lifestyle. On the other hand, we believe that God wants us to go into all the world and reach out to all kinds of people. But reaching out to all kinds of people will require a flexibility and an inclusiveness that will make the first goal rather difficult to attain.
“We face a tension between exclusiveness and inclusiveness, between a focus on pure teaching and the openness of grace. If we concentrate on purity, we will become smaller and more idiosyncratic. At its extreme, such an approach would result in a community more like the Amish than the mainstream culture. But if we concentrate on ‘becoming all things to all people’ (12 Cor. 9:22,23) we may become a ‘great multitude’ that exhibits a wide variety of worship styles and standards.
“It seems to me that we have, as a group, tried to run a route down the middle, thus losing the potential benefits of either approach. Perhaps it is God’s ideal to pursue both sides of this seeming dilemma (and the Hebrew mind often said Yes to such dilemmas). But with God’s hand truly involved in the emerging postmodern condition . . . we will need to become more inclusive and open in the way that we deal with others. We may need to give greater attention to the statement of Jesus, ‘He that is not against us is for us’ (Luke 9:50; cf. Mark 9:40)” April 2006 issue of Ministry.
I think that you can tell that I lean more toward the second option than the first but what about you? Of course you have not read the two articles and they are not yet available on line although I could get them scanned in if you are interested.
How far do you see New Hope go in being inclusive and yet still Adventist?
Let me hear from you.

Young Adult Mission Trip

I just came back from Andrews University and the Center for Youth Ministry gave me a bunch of flyers regarding a fellowship-mission cruise for young adults 18-35. You may obtain all the details at www.cruisewithamission.org . Here is a summary of what it is about.

Cruise with a Mission is a one of a kind experience. Imagine the combination of an exciting vacation, a fulfilling service project, and a meaningful spiritual retreat. Cruise with a Mission is all three rolled into one amazing journey for young adults ages 18 to 35. This is the perfect opportunity to get away from the noise and confusion of everyday life and step out into a encounter with God, service, and other people.

Every part of this project is aiming for excellence - from the hundreds of cabins reserved aboard the lovely Holland America cruise ship to the growing list of service projects awaiting in Belize City, Costa Maya, and Santo Tomas De Castilla. Behind the gloss of these tourist filled cities are deep and lingering needs. Our mission is to engage those needs in a wave of service involving dozens of organizations at locations throughout the cities.

The Cruise with a Mission team is putting together a dynamite group of speakers, musicians, worship leaders, event planners, and programming experts. This is going to be a time of awsome spiritual renewal and fellowship. Young adults from all over the world are excited and getting involved.

Cruise with a Mission is a project of the Center for Youth Evangelism in cooperation with the North American Division Youth Ministries Department of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Friday Night Exploration

As well as being the senior pastor of New Hope I am also the pastor for young adults. On the second Friday of January I hosted a group of young adults (10 of them) at my house for a light supper and a time of questions, sharing, and biblical exploration. We met at 7 p.m. and discussed non- stop until 9:30 p.m. The issues at this session centered around salvation, its assurance, and how it relates to last day events.
This is a regular feature on the second Friday of each month. The purpose is to give young adults opportunity to ask any questions they like about the Bible, life, culture, Adventism, and so on.
Our next time together is Friday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. I will be out of town but Pastor Kumar has agreed to host the discussion at my house: 1717 Priscilla Dr., Silver Spring, MD 20904. Phyllis will again host a light supper.
If there are subjects you want to talk about it would be helpful to let me know in advance so I can do some advance study. You can list the subjects here as part of this blog or just email me at jdavidnewman@gmail.com.
Come and try this out for yourself

Preaching topics

Glen has suggested the following topics worthy of discussion:
1. Handling difficult Bible passages
2. How to read and study your Bible
3. Modern Bible Translations and the KJV
4. What is the Born Again experience?
5. Exploring the SDA 28 Fundamentals (or one of them)
6. Theology 101: What is Arminian-Weslyan Theology and What is Reformed-Calvinism Theology
7. How does the General Conference work and how do we effect decisions and policies of the world church?

Some topics are best left for a small group study and others for a large group such as in the worship service.

Here is my first question: What subjects would you like me to preach on? They could be as narrow as one specific topic such as What happens when you die to broader topics such as Living free from Anxiety or How can I know the future? or How do I know when God is speaking to me? Remember it is hard to go into depth in a sermon because worship is basically for praising God and being inspired to go back to the work place all pumped up, hence the need for stories in the sermons. But I could run a week night series that focused more on teaching certain things such as some of the items of Glen's list.

Please let me know.

New Hope Classes

This post is for members and attenders at New Hope. Each month I offer Entrance to New Hope which is for people wanting to join New Hope. This class is mandatory even for transfer members so it is always well attended. However, we offer three other classes onece a quarter on Sabbath afternoon and these are not well attended. In fact, we haven not offered them in almost six months because we get no takers. These classes are 1. Grwoing your devotional life, 2. Discovering your spiritual gifts, 3. Witnessing effectively for Jesus. One would think that people would be beating down the doors to grow in these areas but that is not so.

What are we doing wrong? How can we change things? How do we get people to take these very important classes?

Newman Interview

Check out the interview that was conducted by Dr. Julius Nam, asst. professor of religion at Loma Linda University on myself. http://www.progressiveadventism.com/

Movies you like

Last night Phyllis and I went to see the movie Freedom Writers. What an inspiring film of a young teacher wanting to make a difference in her kid's lives. Everyone should see this movie. I am planning a series on a week night which centers around inspirational movies about people who came out of great adversity and made a difference in their life or someone elses. Homeless to Harvard; October Sky; Johnny Lingo, are just three that come to mind.

What recommendations do you have for a series like this? I would show the film and then enter into a discussion afterwards about its relevance and the viewers could do differently to make adifference. I was just reading about Mr Holland's Opus but I have never seen that film. Please give me your suggestions.

Young Adult Service

Our second worship service at 12:15 pm is composed largely of young adults. There has been some discussion about making it more young adult friendly, such as edgier music, sermons topics more diretly related to young adults, video taping the service, streaming video the service. And so on. I need to hear from the young adults. What do you think? And more important how many of you would be willing to help plan and direct that kind of service in music, singing, drama, making of of video clips, ushering, and so on? Let's see how many people are reading this blog.

Bible--Casebook or Codebook?

When you read the Bible how do you approach it? How do you decide what to practice and what to discard? Take the following quiz and see how you come out. Look at what to do next at end of the 20 commands.
Write a "T" (today) beside each of the following statements that you believe should still apply to Seventh-day Adventists today.
Place a "NT" (not today) beside each statement that you believe no longer applies today. Do not answer according to what is practiced today but what you think the practice should be.

1. Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death (Exodus 21:17).
2. You may eat all you want from your neighbor's vineyard [garden] as long as you don't carry any produce away in a container (Deut. 23:24).
3. If a woman bear a male she shall be unclean seven days, but if a female she shall be unclean two weeks. If she bears a male she must wait 33 days to be purified from her bleeding but if a female 66 days (Lev.12:1-5).
4. He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:1, NIV).
5. Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it (Lev. 19:26).
6. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard (Lev. 19:27).
7. Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute (Lev. 19:29).
8. Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God (Lev. 19:32).
9. When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married (Deut. 24:5).
10. If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity (Deut. 25:11, 12, NIV).
11. "But the priests (ministers) . . . are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment . . . they must not wear anything that makes them perspire" (Ezek. 44:15, 17, 18).
12. When you fast put oil on your head and wash your face (Matt. 6:17).
13. Men everywhere should raise their hands in prayer (1 Tim. 2:8).
14. Women should dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes (1 Tim. 2:9).
15. A woman must not teach or have authority over a man; she must be silent (1 Tim. 2:12).
16. The church elder must not be given to much wine (1 Tim. 3:2).
17. Provide for widows over sixty who have been faithful to their husbands but do not help those under sixty (1 Tim. 5:9-11).
18. Greet everyone with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14).
19. Women must cover their heads when they pray (1 Cor. 11:5, 13, 15).
20. If your right hand causes you to sin cut it off (Matt. 5:30).

How many of you will practice all 20 today? If you do not, how did you decide? Does anything go when using the Bible or are there some core principles to guide us? What principles do you use that help you decide?