Nathan Weselake

02 Jun

No guts, no glory?

“I’ve never done this before…have you?”

“Nope.”

And so started the conversation between a couple unlikely and somewhat uncomfortable prayer partners at last Saturday’s Pentecost Prayer, Worship, and Dessert Night.

Two guys, who are more at home farming and fixing then praying and singing got into a truck, headed to the part of Portage they had been assigned, and cruised up and down the streets praying for the people in the homes. It was the “prayer” part of the night.

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30 May

Scarred Shirtless

Spent yesterday afternoon putting together ideas for 2012-2013 sermon series for the leadership team to choose from during our staff workshop in a couple weeks. It was a productive time but there are always a couple amusing ideas which come my way which, while inappropriate as a sermon series are still work mentioning. I share my favourite idea which will sadly not be making it to a pulpit near you.

If only to make you glad it ended up on the chopping block.

“Scared Shirtless”

Basically each sermon in this series would involve a bible character who at some point either loses their garment or tears it. In an effort to connect visually and emotionally with the congregation - truly driving the point home - each sermon would climax with me slowly ripping my shirt off.

Not only would this be a solid visual for communicating content, it also is a unmissable cue for the worship team to return to the stage and the prayer team to make their way to the front.

Whether the lesson is resisting temptation with Joseph, fighting fear with Mark, or journeying through grief and hope with Mordecai all roads lead to a shirtless and memorable finale. Let revival ensue.

Who says you can’t plan for “aha” moments. Not I.

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26 May

“It feels good when the muscular guy takes you aside and shows you the skinny legs under his sweat pants” or “How to find and be a church.”

Spiritual View article from last weekend.

Some people work out at home because they would find it embarrassing to work out in a gym.

The gym has fancy equipment in it you may not know how to work.

The gym has really skinny people in lulu lemon apparel.

The gym has guys whose lift lots of weight.

The gym has way too many mirrors.

There is way too much judgement in the gym. Eventually you may get a membership but first, you need to get yourself in shape.

So you buy a treadmill or a DVD and work up a sweat in your basement - for 5 minutes. And then decide it is best to not overdo it on the first day. You are in this for the long haul and you’d hate to go so hard today you have nothing left for tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes and you realize it is hard to get yourself into shape.

There is no accountability by yourself.

There are no real life examples of transformation to motivate when you are by yourself.

It is lonely and boring by yourself.

So you are stuck. On one hand, there is too much judgement in the gym. On the other hand, it is hard to get yourself into shape.

Then you hear about this gym which is supposedly different.

The guy who started the gym has a different approach. The gym slogan is a wordy but engaging:

“We love you as you are - we love you too much to let you stay that way.”

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25 May

“Early on” and “Later on”

Had some great leadership conversations with different people over the last while about some conversations they have had with others that either went well - or not so well. As we unpacked it together, here is what we discovered. It was originally just going to be for in house use at PAC; but it might be something which helps you too.

Rule of Thumb:

Good leadership conversations use questions early on and statements later on.

Early on, statements are naive.

You can’t assert yourself right away because you don’t understand a situation. You haven’t listened enough to understand the different levels. Some of the worst guidance I’ve given, or taken, has come from a premature decisive statement. Those who have black and white personalities need to watch themselves here. You can make someone defensive and never deal with the actual issue.

Early on, statements push someone into a premature decision.

They draw a line and someone has to choose a side. Statements also push someone into a decision. Early statements sound like accusations.

Early on, statements don’t allow for self discovery.

You can’t be quickly decisive and introspective at the same time. Statements make people defensive and you can’t be defensive and introspective at the same time. Early statements are in danger of being emotional reflexes. They say more about you than the situation you are addressing.

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17 May

Maybe Ikea isn't the only Swedish import Winnipeg should take a look at (see this otherwise disturbing article about the benefit of Nordic Law in Norway and Sweden).

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08 May

How to know if you are called to “full time Christian work”. Part 2

The following is Part 2. First post is found here.

Now let me cheer loudly for an alternative but thoroughly biblical understanding of the “full time Christian work” you might be called to.

Yes, you are called to “full time Christian work” but consider it might not involve a job change. It might mean you are called to intentionally be a Christian….full time on mission….as you work. Consider the following wisdom from Eugene Peterson:

“Most of what Jesus said and did took place in a secular workplace in a farmer’s field, in a fishing boat, at a wedding feast, in a cemetery, at a public well asking a woman he didn’t know for a drink of water, on a country hillside that he turned into a huge picnic, in a court room, having supper in homes with friends. In our Gospel’s Jesus occasionally shows up in a synagogue or temple, but for the most part he spends his time in the workplace. 27 times in John’s Gospel Jesus is identified as a worker: “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (Jn 5:17). Work doesn’t take us away from God; it continues the work of God. God comes into view on the first page of our scriptures as a worker. Once we identify God in his workplace working, it isn’t long before we find ourselves in our workplaces working in the name of God”

And now consider the following summary from me:

Our Lord shows us the location most conducive to “full time Christian work” is where you are right now.

Our Lord shows us the vocation most conducive to “full time Christian work” is what you are doing right now.

If this is not helpful now, it will be helpful later. Trust me. The sexiness of a new job or location always wears off. Everyone eventually will need to be be a full time Christian worker in a place whose appeal has worn off and at a time when a job has lost its zing.

If you can bring grace, hope, love, peace, and freedom there. If you can learn to possess a bona fide midas/kingdom touch. If you can have a heart which is able to stay nourished despite the sameness. If you can develop a vision which sees and enjoys God at work in the staff room, at soccer practice, and at Sobey’s,

Well, then congratulations my friends!! And welcome to “full time Christian work”.

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07 May

How to know if you are called to “full time Christian work” Part 1.

Let me begin with a clarifying disclaimer: This post IS NOT about you and this post IS about you.

Not clear? Here is what I mean. If I sat and wrote the names of people who were wrestling with these kinds of questions in my circle of readers I’d likely end up with a long list. So yes, this post IS about all of them - the choices they are wrestling with and the passions they are sorting out. But it is not about YOU; singular. And it’s not about me telling you what I think you should do. It’s about the questions you should ask, prayers you should pray, and guidance you should seek before you do what you do.

I’m also intending to encourage many who are more or less entrenched in their current jobs and lives, and for whom massive change isn’t in the future job or location wise. I want to encourage them that what they are doing now, and how they do it is valued by God and matters. It too can be “full time Christian work”.

Got it? Here goes.

As God works in and transforms a person there is generally a desire to “do more for him” or to do “something that matters”. Sometimes we use the phrase “full time Christian work” or “full time ministry”. While these desires make me want to stand and cheer wholeheartedly, I am more ambivalent about the vocational trajectory they can take. I’m thinking here of the newly “on fire” person who is planning a major move or mission because of God’s work in their life.

Don’t hear me wrong - if God is calling you to international mission, seminary, or to change jobs you should be cheered for. Just down the hall from me sits a former restaurant owner who is now working full time as PAC’s Executive Pastor (he loves his pretentious title).

Obviously not doubting the possibility of this sort of call, but I do want to help you make sure by offering some direction for following that call (today’s post) and then offering an equally loud cheer for an alternative (I’ll post this tomorrow).