If you look on any good map of the universe, in the very center you will find Wharton, Ohio, a sleepy village with only a post office and a pop machine, and a really great church—twice removed from the beaten path, populated by 412 souls. It lies nestled between bean or corn fields throughout the muggy summers and houses the families of farmers and factory workers year-round. This is the field of my campaign. I pastor that church.
Today, I lay down my pen for Worldview Warriors; this is my last post. I am leaving the trench. Worldview Warriors has a vision to empower students to stand up for their faith and offers answers to some of the intellectual and cultural assumptions which students have been taught. It seeks to answer those questions which evolutionary theory and postmodernity poses for Christian thinkers such as yourself, constant reader. I believe in the battle.
As passionate as I am to see young people develop and maintain a Christian viewpoint, I find that the field of my campaign does not overlap with Worldview Warriors in the same way that it has in the past. This is not due to any disagreement, but rather the recognition that I need a healthier distribution of labor for myself. I love writing for Worldview Warriors, but the demands of my own field require me to focus on it.
For me, this blog has only ever been the branch, never the vine itself. So, when the prunin’ time comes, it goes first.
The metaphor of war is a Biblical one and useful for us to understand the demands and complexity of our Christian lives which are lived out between the tension of this present darkness and the Kingdom of God. These two exist in conflict until Jesus returns. Our conflict is not with human beings, though, but rather the spiritual forces behind the present darkness. I feel that the persons that I want to reach with the Good News about Jesus are missing that point. I get the impression that they think I am warring against them. I am not.
Rather, I feel like I am a guy who displays a treasure so beautiful that people desperately want it. They would reach out and take it, but their idols, the silly lover-gods, hold them back. I fight the idols—not the captives. Not that I feel that Worldview Warriors is fighting captives—they are doing the same thing as I am, but I simply must trim some things from my own docket.
The church in Wharton is growing, we are in a building program, and I am currently slogging through my doctoral studies (half-way through). I have six children, a lovely wife, and a hobby farm where we grow our much of our own food. Obviously, constant reader, I have my own trenches to tend.
Of course, if you really miss me, I am pounding away at the pulpit in Wharton First Church of God. We are praying and preaching and loving and waiting on the Lord every day in an exciting ministry context. Perhaps you would like to jump in the trenches with us. We are here.
God bless you,
Pastor Dave Odegard
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