So far….

Well it has been over two months since starting at Starbucks. It is a fun job in the long run because I get to meet people, which was part of the plan. But, it is hard mental work to remember drinks, and people’s names and their drinks. I have done a pretty good job so far. The job is physically demanding because of being on my feet for 8 hours at time, so I have started losing weight.

Back in 1999 I did my Clinical Pastoral Education at a hospital in Lexington KY. It was 400 hours of hell as I ministered to the sick, the dying and their families. I remember every Friday we would have this Inter-Personal Relations time, where we would psychoanalyze our emotions and our motivations for what happened in our daily interactions.

All that is to say that Inter-Personal Relations (IPR) was the worse time for everyone but also the best time. I would come home crying as I had to really listen to my motivations for doing ministry. Did I have a Messiah Complex, where I thought I could do a better job than Jesus or I at least was Jesus in the situation. There are many books on that topic! Or, did I project my personal experiences onto the situation at hand. E.g. when ministering to a family whose 10-month old son was having seizures from almost drowning in a tub–was I helping them or was I feeling the pain from losing a child when we had a miscarriage (I say “we” because it was my child as well, it doesn’t mean I wasn’t spiritually or emotionally connected to my lost child or to my hurting wife). It was tough.

Now I find that I give myself IPR time once in awhile. As I turn 43 this Sunday, I have to admit my career choice to do this missionary approach to ministry doesn’t make sense to most. I have an M Div. from a pretty good Seminary, I have 17 years experience in youth ministry, I even have had success as a teacher to students. I created a successful ministry in Durham UK that is still going to this day. Why walk away from all that? That is in my face as I tell people I work at Starbucks.

I have not been successful when I have done the popular thing. I have been more successful doing the RIGHT thing. I feel in my bones that this approach is going to pay out in the lives of Canton.

I have already made connections with staff people as well as the customers. I have had youth pastors in the area see me working here and they come here to ask my questions about how to approach a certain Bible study or how to approach a way of doing ministry or how to handle a conflict.

I am personally excited to see what happens between Starbucks and LoveCanton (more on that later).

I will say that I am going to ask you to pray for me as I continue down this path. I am not totally at my goal financially for the year. I still need to raise additional salary and funds for expenses for the ministry; in total, I am hoping to raise another $17,000. I greatly appreciate all the support so many of you have already offered, both financially and through your prayers and other encouragement.

God bless you all as you read my rants on this missional highway.

Transition into the working world

This past summer was very crazy.  For some reason God told me I would have a job by end of August. Poof! It happen.  I have been working at Starbucks on Washington Square in Canton since the end of August.  It has been my goal to work here for about 2 years now.  I have had this vision of working at a Starbucks as part of my missional approach.  That is, I wanted to meet people in their comfortable environments instead of trying to attract them first to the church building, then have discussions about God.

Observations:

• This job is hard!  There are over 8,000 drink combinations and that doesn’t include the crazy drinks the regulars want like a “yada yada” or a “nano nano.”
• I meet a lot of different people here. This store is the crossroads for 2 universities, 2 high schools, the parents of those high school kids, judges and lawyers, business owners, and various grumpy unhappy people.
• I made three women cry in the drive through becauase I asked if they were okay.  One just started to work at a inner city school as a counselor and found it rough.  The next she was losing her house and her boyfriend dumped her.  The last was a person who is very grumpy but cried because her father died.  I listened to them all.
• Did i say this is hard work?  My body is getting used to constantly being on the go.

I switched to WordPress

I finally did it. I switched to WordPress. Its within my goals to expand my web development skills and reacquaint myself with my old skills of computer geekness.

It is said that a disciple looks like their menter after a while…well I gave haircuts to joey and cory so they look like me now

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Missonal is not in my MS Word Spellchecker

I was typing up a document in my MS Word the other day and I was using the word missional as a word, and my spell checker does not understand it.  I am trying to do ministry in Canton that is missional in approach versus attractional.  Attractional approach is when ministries try to make people attracted to them.  I find it too neurotic to be an attractional ministry.  I think we are called to go to other peoples comfort zones and become missional in how we relate Jesus.  If we are proud of our relationship with a loved one shouldn't we be comfortable to discuss it outside with others.  Church relationships seem to be only talked about inside the four walls of the church building.  Its like either we are embarrasse to discuss our relationships or its more of a secret club and to mention it outside the four walls would cause God to be mad at us. 

–
Lee Nicholson
www.leenicholsonblog.com

MLK qoute

All life is interrelated in today's world.  I can't be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be; and you can't be what you ought to be 'till I am what I ought to be

–
Lee Nicholson
www.leenicholsonblog.com

Bling bling girl

The dog that visited my mom in hospital and made her smile and cheer up

I don’t write goodly…but

I don’t write goodly…but

I never thought of myself as a writer because my brain thinks more in images than words.  My wife is the writer, while I am a jabber box as my children call me on Sunday morning as they try to get me out of the church after its ended.  But, I have this manifesto of post Christian missional thought in my head, and its raddlying around too much.  So, please be patient with me as I write my thoughts about this and do not focus on the grammatical errors.  That will be my wife’s job. I think the problem has been since I started doing mindmaps 8 years ago in seminary.  Because the thoughts are going so fast and I put short snippets on paper, it loses something in translation when I try to share it with others.  So here we guy.

Snow!