It's Alive!!

The new website is up and running. I have quite a bit of work to do on it still, but for now you can reach the Teamnet Ministries page by going to www.akrana.com and clicking on the Teamnet Ministries tab at the top of the page. While you are there, you might want to take a look at some of the other pages i.e. Akrana Music.

I'm really pleased with the progress at this point. Hope to see the site develop as time goes on.

New Website -- Almost ready to go live

Getting a LOT closer. Stay posted!

New Website Coming

I'm working on some new things for the Teamnet Ministries website. Lot's to learn yet, but eventually I'm sure it will all get put together.

Discipleship of New Members Through Teamnet Ministries Teams

During the calendar year 2009 Canyonville Church plans to conduct a minimum of two full-message evangelistic series. These meetings will be conducted by our Evangelism Team leaders and members. Canyonville Church is organized as a networking system of individual teams focused on various aspects of church life.
The team responsibilities relating to discipleship of new members are as follows:

• The Evangelism Team will lead out in continuing personal Bible studies with the new members, utilizing the Good News for Today Bible study guides and the gift NKJV Bibles.

• Discipleship Team will encourage new members to active participation in the Pastor’s Bible Class during Sabbath School time.

• Ministry Team will give support to health education, lifestyle changes, and group clinics for victory over destructive habits and addictions as may be needed.

• Fellowship Team will foster integration of the new members into the fabric of the church family by providing safe and wholesome social events and encouraging healthy relationships.

• Worship Team will encourage worship leaders and “up-front” participants to always be sensitive to the needs of new members and guests who may not be familiar with in-house “Churchese.”

• New members will be immediately included in one of the 12 Pastoral Care Parishes led the church elders, deacons, and deaconesses.
It should be noted that although the organizational structure is in place, the responsibilities and relationships outlined above are still somewhat formative. We are growing in our understanding of these ministries, but we believe that by God’s grace we can truly make a kingdom difference in the lives of people in our communities who are hungering and thirsting for the gospel.

SGST Yahoo! Group -- New!

I've just created a new group on Yahoo! Groups for discussion of spiritual gifts. It is primarily for members of the Spiritual Gifts Support Team at the Canyonville Adventist Church, but we will gladly allow others join in the discussion. Our motto in Teamnet Ministries is "None of us is as smart as all of us!"

You can visit the Yahoo! group by clicking HERE

I've also posted a link on the left in the "Related Links" box.

"Brave New World"
Loren L. Fenton

The following is a description of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel Brave New World taken from the online information source Wikipedia.

"The world the novel describes is a dystopia, presented satirically: humanity lives in a carefree, healthy, and technologically advanced society; however, art, science, religion, and all other forms of human expression have been sacrificed to create this 'Brave New World'. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is permanently happy due to government-provided conditioning and drugs. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things that humans consider to be central to their identity – family, culture, art, literature, science, religion (other than idolization of 'our Ford', Henry Ford, who is seen as the father of their society, and ritualized orgies), and philosophy. It is also a hedonistic society, deriving pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use, in the form of soma, a powerful psychotropic rationed by the government that is taken to escape pain and bad memories through hallucinatory fantasies, referred to as 'Holidays'. Additionally, social stability has been achieved and is maintained via deliberately engineered and rigidly enforced social stratification."

I asked a small group of people recently, "Is this the kind of world you want to live in?" Their response was predictable:

"Hardly!"

"No way!"

"Absolutely not!"

I think most of us would agree with these sentiments.

Now, with the foregoing in mind, consider three items to cross my path within the last couple of days:

1. A report on a major news network of a new "bionic arm." This is an amazing prosthetic arm and hand that has been developed for amputees. The report showed a young woman who had lost her arm in an automobile accident. With this new limb, however, she is able to grasp a glass of water, fold clothes, and do any number of "normal" tasks, simply by mentally controlling the prosthesis – much as most of us do every day at a thousand mundane tasks. Incredible technology, with the promise of giving a step back towards normalcy for thousands of amputees – war victims, etc.
   
2. Within minutes of seeing the bionic arm story, I received an email describing a new regulation in California where now it seems it is not acceptable for a wedding party to be referred to as "bride and groom," but rather now they must be "party 'A' and party 'B'". No longer "husband and wife," but some other non-sensical term. Seems like Huxley's "Brave New World" isn't that far off. This is quite amazing, to say the least.
   
3. We have some new neighbors this week. I went over to say "Hello," and discovered that this household is composed of two women "partners." Hmmm. Well, I know that's the world we're living in now, but somehow it was always far away in distant places like San Francisco, Portland, and New York. Now it's right across the street, less than 50' from my front door. I can't say I was shocked, just that it caught me by surprise.
   

I have to ask myself and other church members, With realities such as these saturating our society, can the church just continue with "business as usual"? I hope you hear my voice crying out with a resounding, "NO!" We can't just keep doing what we have always done – maybe just more of it with more intensity and thinking that's the working of the Holy Spirit. It seems we (the church) cling desperately to old familiar, secure forms of religion that become more and more irrelevant to an increasingly pagan and hedonistic society. Is it any wonder that the church is almost completely marginalized in our time?

Teamnet Ministries is one attempt to empower the church for effective ministry in this spiritually starving society. But I must confess some frustration. I've been doing this for well over ten years, now, and it seems I've seen little progress. I still have to deal with entrenched traditionalism, NIH (Not Invented Here) Syndrome, and the resistance of gatekeeper-controllers who are loath to release their power.

But there is one saving factor: In spite of all the obstructionism and difficulties, God is still on the Throne of the Universe. He is still in charge. And it is a privilege and an honor to be called into His service. To Him be the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever! Amen!

Spiritual Gifts Support Team

The most current incarnation of Teamnet Ministries has seen the emergence of a group we call our Spiritual Gifts Support Team. The SGST came into being when the church I now serve as pastor decided to change the function and focus of what we had previously called the Human Resources Council. The HRC was basically a standing committee that functioned as a permanent personnel committee for the local church. Whenever there was a vacancy in an office, the HRC was called upon to find someone to fill it. The emphasis was always on Spiritual Gifts and finding the right person for the right job.

At a point about a year and three months ago, the church body decided they wanted to discontinue the standing personnel committee plan, but instead return to the previously tried-and-trusted annual nominating committee process. At the time, some Teamnet Ministries loyalists saw this as a serious retrogression back into lock-step traditionalism and control by the few. Others saw the step as a retreat from chaos, in that they could not understand the open system at the heart of Teamnet Ministries. Nevertheless, something very beneficial has emerged from that conflict.

What had been the Human Resorces Council was morphed into a Spiritual Gifts Support Team. The SGST has spent the last year and several months learning its new role, and most recently some tangible clarity has begun to emerge.

As we now see it, there are two main tracks of service lying before the SGST. (1) Spiritual gifts education for the church body, including promotion, awareness, training, and many other different aspects of helping the individual members become aware of their personal gifts and placing them in service for the Lord; and (2) a coaching/mentoring relationship with each of the team leaders/facilitators, in which the members of the SGST work in support roles with them. Their task in this track is to coach, ask questions, assist, and encourage the team leaders in their work to manage, inspire, and coordinate the spiritual gifts resident within the team members.

These two tracks are supported internally within the SGST through an intentional, focused plan of personal growth and inservice education. At present, the coaching skills of the SGST members are seriously in need of development. Communication skills and techniques need to be studied and put to use in sharing the inspiration and joy of service through using the gifts God has given to every believer.

The SGST is a wonderful outgrowth of a period of distress within the congregation. There are incredible opportunities lying ahead of us. It is truly amazing to see how God is leading in the ongoing development and evolution of this plan we call Teamnet Ministries.

As always, the glory is all His.