Here We Go Again

Richard’s Systematic Theology class, “Transforming Theology”, begins again on Monday. As if I wasn’t busy enough…

This will be our third run at the class. I have been Richard’s assistant since he first taught the class in the spring of 2006.

This semester, Richard will actually have three assistants. One is working with him with the goal of eventually becoming a teacher for the school. Another needed a tuition break. And then there’s me… the girl who has become so invested in the class that it would be really difficult to step out now.

Watching Richard’s class develop over the last couple of years has been amazing. I cannot adequately express how excellent this class truly is. Richard has poured a lot of time and energy into this thing. Being a part of the class (and having that material set before me again and again) has certainly changed my life. And I have watched it change other lives, as well.

The last printout Richard gave me of his notes was at 460 pages. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they had exceeded 500 pages since then. In essence, Richard is in the very early stages of writing a book. A very long book.

My primary role in the class is helping Richard prepare his notes and helping him develop the class for future semesters. It’s like I have become his personal editor and critic. I give him feedback on the things that are strong and the areas that can be improved. We seem to work well together in this way.

Recently, Richard tried to pin a critique that his mother had given of his EGS message on me. (She was communicating an observed weakness to him over the phone… after we had just watched him speak together.) When I asked him, “Am I really that critical of you?”, his response was an unhesitating yes. But he qualified it: ”In the most delightful way.”

I guess I can accept that.

I am really excited about the class. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and wish that I could put a few other things on pause just so that I could give myself more fully to this… but we can’t always do everything that we want to do… even if they are good things.

So… if I don’t blog much in the next month… that’s at least one reason why.

It’s All Changing

My life is undeniably in a place of change right now. First, my mom’s unexpected death in February changed everything. And then there were all sorts of transitions related to the people in my life… people leaving the team, joining the team, two of my good friends actually venturing into the realm of dating each other. And, I was in the middle of moving into a new apartment when all of this other stuff happened.

And then came the changes that I actually chose…

I jumped onto Ron Downing’s Saturday and Sunday 6am sets doing screens. Why? I love those sets and I was looking for an excuse to stay up. Why not do screens? It’s kind of weird, though, having this whole other team of people who kind of know who I am now.

And then I emailed Anne House about changing my service hours and not working for her anymore. I have been working for Anne since I moved to Kansas City. That’s a huge change for me! Anne agree, though, and said that it was probably time for a change. Perhaps we could again work together in the near future.

At first, I had planned on using screens as my service hours. I usually count those sets as prayer room time, as they really help me engage in the set (and reserve my favorite seat in the prayer room–the sound booth). But if I turned them into service hours, everything but my 6 weekly hours of team building would then be in the prayer room.

At first, the plan seemed glorious. 42 weekly hours in the prayer room. Beautiful! That is, until I started to try to work out my sacred trust. There are some sets that I love… but to put 21 of them on my sacred trust… that’s A LOT of commitment to be sitting in that room.

On Monday, a friend randomly asked if my service hours were filled. I informed her that I was kind of in transition with all of that. She mentioned that my name had come up as someone who might be great at the bookstore. And I said that I would probably think about it some.

Well, the next day (Tuesday)  is when I heard from Anne. So I told the friend (Alicia) that I was interested and she sent off an email. And I started to get REALLY excited about the possibilities. The following day (Wednesday), I awoke to find out that I had essentially been hired. No application. No interview. Just a “We love you, you’re in.”

So… it looks like I will now be working for IHOP’s Forerunner Bookstore. I have a pseudo-interview Monday with one of my favorite people in the world, David Scoggan. We’ll talk about availability and all of that good stuff.

I am absurdly excited about this. I am not even entirely certain why I want to work for the bookstore. I think it’s just the kind of job I love. I love books. And, when someone asked if I would be in town the week of inventory, my response was something along the lines of a nearly chirped, “Oooh! Inventory!” (Yeah, she laughed at me a lot.)

So, that’s my latest update. Change is happening. All sorts of change.

Did I really just get fired?

Well, that was a new experience…

For the first time in my life, I have officially been fired. Yes… I shall explain.

Richard’s Class

Perhaps I can blame my lack of email updates in the last few weeks on Richard’s Systematic Theology class. We had class 3 hours per day, 4 days per week, for all of the last month. It was intense. Especially since Richard and I were constantly working up until the last minute to get his notes ready. In the end, the notes were about 400 pages long. There was NOTHING else happening in my life during the weeks that we had class. It was kind of sad. But I am done now. All that remains is the final exam and I am unlikely to attend, as I don’t really have any purpose in being there.

I am both relieved and sad that the class is over. I enjoyed the challenge of it, Richard is an excellent teacher, and I was learning and growing a lot through the experience. The class content is still going deeper in my heart and becoming clearer in my understanding. I am frequently impacted by something I come across in the notes (for the first time or for the fifteenth time) as I am editing them.

The primary source of growth, however, came through the simple challenges of working with Richard like that, given the somewhat wounded state of our relationship. Just sitting in the room and listening to him teach did funny things to my heart. And I would have some new frustration with Richard about five times every day (sometimes legitimate frustrations… sometimes just plain silly). I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to bail out, how frequently it seemed like far more than I could handle. But the Lord gave me the strength (and vision) that I needed, and I learned a great deal about love.