Reformation Day

This past Sunday we had a wonderful celebration in worship marking Reformation Sunday.  As I explained in worship, Reformation Day is actually on October 31, because it was on that day in 1517 that a Catholic priest/monk/professor in the city of Wittenberg in what we now call Germany finally got so ticked off at the way the Church was being run in Europe that he nailed his 95 Theses (or complaints) to the door of the church in town.  Now, it should be noted, that Luther isn’t the only one who would have nailed papers to the front door of the church.  It was used as a kind of bulletin board for the town.  But regardless, posting his 95 theses on the town bulletin board was a gutsy move.  

As so often happens in history, Martin Luther was the right person living at the right time.  It also helped a great deal that he found a powerful ally in a local ruler by the name of Frederick the Wise (a lot can be said for having friends with money and influence as long as that money and influence is used for God’s purposes).  Perhaps the most important factor, however, was that the printing press was available to Luther in a way that it had not been available to those who came before him.  Because they could be copied rather quickly (by the standards of the times) Luther’s writings spread like wildfire.  It wasn’t long before all kinds of reform movements, some very different from Luther’s, began to take root in cities in France, England, and Switzerland.  Our tradition, Presbyterianism, is the descendent of Scottish Presbyterianism, which is in turn the descendent of the work of John Calvin, a major reformer who was originally from France but did his work in the Swiss city of Geneva.  A fiery Scottish preacher named John Knox (who spent a good deal of time as a galley slave on a ship because of his Protestant beliefs) studied under John Calvin and then returned to Scotland.  The main thrust of the Protestant Reformation (in its many various forms) as a whole was generally to get the Church to return to the Bible as the only authority of the Church, as opposed to Church tradition.  Many of the Reformers saw themselves as working to return to the ways of the early apostolic church.  

I love Reformation history and I have read hundreds and hundreds of pages written by John Calvin as well as many written by Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli.  I’ve read some of John Knox’s work (including the Scots Confession) as well as other documents from other reformers of the era such as the Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.  Also, I have read many current authors who write a great deal about the Reformation such as Michael Horton, R.C. Sproul, and Kevin DeYoung.  These brilliantly intelligent authors look back to the Reformation in a very similar way that the reformers looked back to the early church—as a kind of pure era to which we must return.  Although I owe an immeasurable gratitude to the Reformers and I have learned a great deal from the contemporary writers who call for a return to the ways of the Reformers, I am not as enthused about the idea of returning to the ways of the Reformers as some Christians are, many of them my good friends.  

But time for both this writer and probably you as the reader is running short so I’ll have to tell you why I’m not as enthused about the call to return to the Reformation next week.

In the meantime, may you all have a blessed Reformation Day on October 31 as well as a day of remembrance and God’s comfort on All Saints Day on November 1.  We will mark All Saints Sunday on November 3.

Grace and Peace,

Everett 

The Bishop of Bling

Over the past few days, Pope Francis has made the news once again for something very positive.  He has suspended the Bishop of Limburg in Germany for using church money to live an obscenely lavish lifestyle. The opulent spending of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst (what a name!) is so notorious that the media has dubbed him the "Bishop of Bling."  Among other charges against him, it is alleged that he spent $42,000,000 renovating his personal residence.  His extravagant lifestyle has been financed by the offerings that are put into the plate each Sunday by faithful German Catholic worshipers.  It seems as though the Bishop must never have read Jesus' words in Matthew 6, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth."

It is interesting that this has made the news this week as we approach Reformation Day on October 31, which we will mark as a congregation as Reformation Sunday on October 27.  It was on October 31, 1517 that a German Catholic priest/monk/professor by the name of Martin Luther finally grew so ticked off with the excesses and greed of the Church in Europe that he nailed his "95 Theses," which were basically 95 complaints against the Church leadership, to the door of the church in the town of Wittenberg. Although this date is said to have begun the Reformation, really the Reformation had been building strength for more than a century. Metaphorically speaking, the dam had been cracking for more than a hundred years, but Martin Luther's actions burst the already heavily compromised dam letting loose the waters of reform. It must also be noted, because we Protestants are often ignorant of it, that the Catholic Church did actually reform itself through the Councils of Trent that took place between 1545-1563.  Pope Francis is trying to do the same thing right now in regard to the greed of Church leaders, what he calls the "closed-mindedness" of some Catholic doctrines, and the horrible tragedy of priestly molestation and the resulting church cover-ups.  

But let's concentrate on the opulence of religious leaders for a moment. The so-called "Bishop of Bling" is merely the most recent example of greed among church leaders.  Popular American preachers like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and TD Jakes teach what is called "the prosperity gospel."  They tell their hearers that if they will give money to God, conveniently through their particular ministry, that the giver will receive more money and blessings from God in return.  Meyer, Osteen, and Jakes have mansions and private jets, yet continue to ask the faithful for more money.  A friend of mine who is an elder in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria told me that there are many Pentecostal prosperity preachers in Nigeria (and throughout Africa) who have become multi-millionaires from the money given by poor, even destitute, African people.  On a much smaller scale, I've known a Presbyterian pastor who always drove a brand-new Cadillac and wore a Rolex watch.  Also, I've sat in a presbytery meeting and watched as a pastor fought tooth-and-nail to keep the presbytery from setting a minimum salary that congregations must pay a pastor, a minimum of only $40,000. Come to find out, that pastor who was fighting against the $40,000 minimum (I was making $37,000 at the time) had a yearly salary close to $100,000 along with six weeks of vacation and four weeks of study leave per year.  This is most certainly not merely a Roman Catholic problem; this is a Christian problem.

This morning I opened up my email and read my daily devotion from Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr.  Here is part of that devotion:

The biblical bias toward the bottom has been called by some the "preferential option for the poor."  But it is an option, an invitation: it is a grace, and it emerges from inner freedom--or else it would not be from God.  In the last analysis, the Bible is biased; it takes the side of the rejected ones, the abandoned ones, the barren women, and the ones who have been excluded, tortured, and kept outside. This is all summed up in Jesus' own ministry: He clearly prefers, heals, and includes the foreigner, the non-Jew, the handicapped, and the sinner--without rejecting the people of power, but very clearly critiquing them.

I believe what Father Rohr is writing about is true; that is why I struggle with it.  I try to live a simple lifestyle. It may not seem that way to a lot of folks, but I do.  It is true that I live in a huge, almost 3,000 square feet, stately, freshly renovated house.  This could be interpreted as opulence. But it needs to be known that this is simply the house the church owns, the house the church provides for my family and me. We enjoy the house, but we were just as happy in our little 1,100 square feet house in Oklahoma.  "But what about your giant TV?" you might ask.  We didn't pay for that either; it was a housewarming gift from someone in our family. We didn't ask for it; they just gave it.  "Well, I see you wearing expensive Ralph Lauren shirts."  I bought one of those at Ohio Thrift for $3.00.  The other one I bought for $7.00 at the outlet mall. Anything I own that is name brand I bought at a thrift store, off a clearance rack, or it was given to me as a gift.  "But sometimes you play golf."  Whenever I play golf I only do it when someone else is paying for it or if I've been given a little extra money as a gift.  Plus, my set of clubs was given to me for free from someone who pieced it together from spare clubs.  I drive a 2005 Toyota Matrix with 125,000 miles on it and stains on the seats.  Danielle drives a Mazda with 50,000 miles on it. We've never bought a new car or owned a luxury car and we do not plan to do either one.  This church provides generously for my family but all of our money goes back to the church, to pay bills, or to provide opportunities like scouts, piano lessons, and ballet lessons for our kids.  

I'm certainly not the Bishop of Bling or Joyce Meyer, but I must continually allow myself to be critiqued by the words of Jesus.  We all must allow ourselves to be critiqued by his words.  As we celebrate Reformation Sunday this week, let us remember that reformation is always needed in our larger church bodies, in our local congregations, and most importantly in our own lives.  May the controversy over the "Bishop of Bling" be to us a reminder to search our own hearts.  Let us all remember the words of our Lord Jesus, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  

It is my prayer that this week we will all realize and live into the fact that we are blessed by God in order to be blessings to others.  See you on Reformation Sunday!

Grace and Peace,

Everett

Greetings from Louisville

Earlier this year I applied to The Collegeville Institute Writing Pastor Workshop, and thankfully the selection committee chose me, along with eleven other pastors and church workers from all over the United States as well as a writer from Zambia and one from Nigeria.  We were selected to participate in the weeklong workshop with all expenses paid (minus travel).  That is why I am spending this week on the campus of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Our professor for the week is Dr. J. Bradley Wigger who is a writer and a professor of Christian Education here at the seminary.  Interestingly enough, he is also doing research around the world on children who have imaginary friends.  How cool is that!

 

We have completed two days of morning and afternoon workshop sessions, afternoon writing assignments, and a meeting this afternoon with the former Poet Laureate of the state of Kentucky, Maureen Morehead, who teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing program at Spalding University here in Louisville.  Tomorrow we will meet with the current Poet Laureate of the state of Kentucky, Frank X. Walker, who is a professor at the University of Kentucky.  To top it all off, our workshop sessions and evening meals are held in a beautiful old mansion here on campus!  Thank you so much for allowing me to use my remaining study leave time for this wonderful experience. 

 

As a part of the workshop and afternoon sessions, Dr. Wigger gives us certain writing assignments or writing prompts.  I wanted to share with you what I wrote to complete two of these assignments. 

 

This morning, Dr. Wigger gave us a copy of Psalm 8.  As a writing "warm up" he told us to take five minutes to write a short memory prayer for children based on the Psalm.  Here is what I came up with in those five minutes.  It is very simple but that's the point.

 

The whole planet says that God is great.

Babies say it and animals too.

Even space says that God is great.

      And God says back, "I love you." 

 

The second (and final) assignment I'd like to share with you comes from a writing prompt.  Dr. Wigger gave us four opening phrases from which to pick.  We could only choose one and we had to start our story with that phrase.  The piece was to be fiction and it was to be only 600 words.  He sent this assignment with us during our midday break and writing time, and told us to spend about an hour on it.  Of the four prompts, I chose, "Since the plane had a layover in Kathmandu..."  Here is what I wrote:

 

Since the plane had a layover in Kathmandu, a layover caused by what the pilot had called “a glitch,” Barbara found herself standing near the front of a line at the airline ticket counter.  In front of her, a balding businessman yelled at the employee, “I don’t care how you do it, but you better damn well get me home.”  Barbara watched as the young woman at the counter pecked feverishly at her keyboard searching for a connecting flight that would satisfy the man, and then repeatedly saying in her broken English, “I am so sorry, sir.”  Barbara believed the employee but, as she looked back at all the weary travelers, she knew no one else would be as understanding.  She considered abandoning her spot near the front of the line as an act of selflessness.  She’d been working on that, trying to be more giving, more open to “promptings” as her priest had called it in his homily several weeks earlier, but she decided that the Kathmandu airport was not the place to have a breakthrough in generosity. 

She tried to push the thought from her mind, but it was too late.  The thought of moving to the back of the line, of willingly being last, had quickly been planted inside of her and had sent down roots before she could yank them up.  As Barbara listened to the man grow more and more irate and watched the woman directly in front of her standing with arms crossed and doing her best to sigh loud enough that everyone could hear her, Barbara was overwhelmed by the strange feeling that it had been someone else that had planted the thought in her mind.  “Go to the back of the line,” she kept hearing whispered into her ears, but from the inside. 

 "I’ve been away from home too long,” she said to herself.  In fact, she’d been gone so long she wasn’t even sure where home was anymore.  Her house, the house she’d shared with her husband, Ted, before he left her for a woman who was willing to give him the kids Barbara never wanted, was practically a museum.  There was no one waiting for her there, and that is why her boss had chosen her to go to Shanghai, where she had been for four weeks training her Chinese counterparts in plant efficiency and safety.  “Go to the back of the line,” she heard again, this time echoing throughout what seemed to be her entire body.  Barbara looked behind her.  “I must be going crazy,” she thought when she saw that there must have been a hundred people behind her in line, a line so long it snaked out toward the terminal exit. 

 

Barbara’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the young woman’s voice call out, “Next.”  Barbara looked toward the counter and saw that the woman was now talking to her.  She stared back at her for a moment, unmoving.  “Next!” the woman called out again, this time her voice heavy with frustration.  “Go to the back of the line,” Barbara heard again.  Her foot began to tap nervously.  Finally, much to the confusion of the woman at the counter and to everyone behind her in line, Barbara listened to the prompting, picking up her carry-on bag and making the long journey toward the end of the line.  As she walked, she felt obedient and free at the same time, but when she was just a few steps from the end, she glanced up at the terminal exit and the voice returned, except this time it said, “Keep walking.”

 

Thanks again for letting me loose for a week.  I will be back in time to lead worship and preach this coming Sunday.

 

It is my prayer that you have a blessed week during which you see God at work in your life and the image of God in others.

 

See you soon!

 

Everett

 

We Appreciate You Too!

This past Sunday the congregation presented my family and me with a basketful of cards and Cincinnati Reds themed gifts for Pastor Appreciation Month, which our congregation has aptly renamed Pastor and Family Appreciation Month.  We were very touched as we read through the cards and letters that afternoon.  We were very appreciative of the gifts that were enclosed within some of the cards, but the words of appreciation were of much more value to us.  I am being completely truthful with you in saying that, while the congregations I served previously were wonderful, this particular congregation has done the best job of making a pastor feel welcome and appreciated that I can imagine.  In return, I’d like to tell you and any other readers of this blog how much I appreciate this congregation.

A lot!  Okay, maybe I’ll expand on that a little.

My appreciation for this congregation began before I was even called to serve you as your pastor.  During the interview process I sensed very early on that the Pastor Nominating Committee was different than others with whom I was in conversation.  This group exuded trust in God that regardless of what happened they were in God’s hands, and they knew what they were looking for in a pastor.  They seemed to be on the same page, which was not true of most PNCs with whom I had spoken.  They seemed to care about my family before they even knew us.  More than anything else, I came to appreciate this congregation (through the PNC) when Christy Wall directly contacted Danielle and communicated with her.  Very few churches would have done that.  If you’re glad I’m here, which at least the people who wrote cards seem to be, then you have not only God to thank for that but Christy Wall.  As the old saying goes, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”  Christy’s emails and calls made Danielle very happy.  Christy’s gesture of communication and hospitality showed that this congregation sees Danielle as her own person, not just the pastor’s wife.  Danielle never wanted to be a pastor’s wife.  I kind of sprung that on her after we’d already been married a couple of years.  Just as I’ve never grown into the traditional role of pastor, she has never grown into the traditional role of the pastor’s wife.  Personally, I’m glad for that.  We can be misfits together.

In addition to the PNC, every single minute of work that was done on the manse in preparation for a new pastor was an act that showed appreciation for whoever was coming.  When we walk around in the house, we know that you appreciate us.  The only other manse I lived in was quite nice, but I have been in a lot of manses in which not one elder on the session of that church would have been willing to live but they expected their pastor and the pastor’s family to live there as some sort of vow of Christian poverty.  That is not the case with this congregation.  My family and I appreciate this greatly.

I could go on all day about what I appreciate about this congregation, but I don’t have all day.  So I’m just going to throw out a kind of random list.

I appreciate this congregation because…

Those of you who stuck around through the tough years didn’t give up on the ministry of this congregation when you could have and when others did.

You respect my days off (Saturday and Monday), but you know that if there is an emergency that you can and should call me no matter what day it is.

You don’t act like the manse is just part of the church for you to use however you want.  You treat it as though it is our house.

You actually listen to my sermons.  I put in a lot of work on those.  It is terribly disheartening when you work hard all week and then people don’t seem to care while you’re preaching.  You seem to care.

You are open to seeing the Christian faith in different ways.  I’ve been very encouraged by our congregation’s openness to new ideas.  A lot of small town congregations wouldn’t be that way.  This congregation has a lot of open-minded people who don’t feel the need to have answers to everything.  I appreciate that more than you’ll ever know.

You think of us at certain times of the year when it is difficult for us to be away from family.  You invite us into your homes and support us whenever we feel the need to make a visit back home.

Even after two years you still ask us questions like, “Do you really like it here?  Are you all doing okay?”  Just the fact that you care makes me want to hug you when you do that.

You love and accept our kids.  As you’ve probably heard, being a pastor’s kid can be a pretty tough gig.  You don’t treat them any differently than the other kids.  You don’t expect them to be saints. 

You care about people in need.  You’re not always in agreement as to how that care should be lived out, but you do care.  A lot of pastors have to push that on a congregation.  I don’t have to do that; you all are more generous than I am.

You have made worship music a priority.  I’ve been to churches in which the music is neglected or just plain bad.  It doesn’t matter how good the prayers and sermons are in a worship service if the music is bad.  People will suffer through bad sermons for good music, but people don’t usually suffer through bad music for good sermons.  I truly appreciate Dick and the whole music staff.  They set the tone for worship, which is of utmost importance.

Again, I could go on and on, but I won’t.  I just want you to know that

MY FAMILY AND I APPRECIATE YOU TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dreams of Writing (a follow up to last week)

First of all, I want to tell you about a fun new side project I’m doing.  I am going to write a novel (or perhaps a novella) by writing one very short chapter every week (about 1,000 words) or so and posting it online.  I’m trying to get people to “subscribe” to it for free so that you will receive notification each time I post a new chapter.  I simply have to know that someone is going to read what I write, or I have very little motivation to write.  This is not going to be Pulitzer Prize winning fiction.  This is going to be “pulp” fiction or “popular” fiction.  It probably won’t bring you to a state of enlightenment, but my hope is that it will be interesting enough to keep coming back each week.  It will give you something short to read and it will give me something short to write.  Please go to somewherewestofrockyford.blogspot.com, read about it, and register your email.  You will then need to check your email and click on a link in your email from “feedburner” that will verify your registration.  I’m trying to get 100 free subscribers before this coming Monday when I post the first chapter.

Now, I want to respond to several questions I received last week in response to my blog post.  The response to last week’s blog post has been quite positive; I thank you for that.  If anyone was bothered by it in any way, those folks have not come to me with their concerns.  Like I said last week, I’m different than a lot of pastors.  I appreciate your acceptance of my difference and even your support for my other interests.

The main questions that folks had for me this past week have been in regard to my statement that it is a dream of mine, a dream that won’t go away, for me to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing.  I mentioned last week that I have voluntarily put that dream on the shelf two times—once to take the path of building a relationship with Danielle (that one worked out!) and once to take the path to become the pastor of this congregation (that one is working out too!).  I do not regret either decision.  The great Christian spiritual writer Richard J. Foster is fond of saying that wisdom is “knowing what to do at the moment it needs to be done.”  I believe that I was acting wisely both times I set my dream aside.  That does not, however, mean that the dream goes away.  It just gets moved to the proverbial backburner, but it keeps simmering.  Some of you wanted to know how I could ever achieve that dream.  The short answer is, “I don’t know.”  The longer answer follows.

The first thing you need to know is that not every college or university offers a degree in Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.  There are only a few schools that do in the state of Ohio.  The second thing you need to know is that the majority of MFA programs are traditional residential programs.  That means that you go to school full time for two years.  During those two years you take graduate courses and teach undergraduate courses.  Quite often your tuition is paid through the stipend you earn from teaching.  All your other bills, however, are not.  To earn an MFA in this way, you need to have a ton of money saved up, live with your parents, have a spouse that supports the family, or take on a large amount of student loan debt.  This is why the vast majority of MFA students are people in their young twenties who just earned their undergraduate degrees.  I do not have a ton of money saved.  Living with my parents is not an option.  Danielle works very hard but does not earn enough as a teacher’s aide to support the family.  Within a year, we will have finally (after thirteen years of monthly payments) be out from under student loan debt.  I refuse to enter back into this kind of debt again.  As Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”  I’m about to be free of that “slavery.”  Why would I want to go back into bondage, especially for a degree that doesn’t pay off financially?  The most important reasons, however, that I wouldn’t fulfill my dream this way is that it would not be good for my family and because I love being pastor of this church.  So the traditional option is out, and I’m okay with that.  There is another option, however.  But there are some obstacles there as well.

Over the past decade or so, several colleges and universities have started to offer what is called a “low residency” MFA program.  It is a model that is almost exactly the same as the Doctor of Ministry degree that is offered by most seminaries.  In a “low residency” MFA program, you go to campus for 10-14 days in January and 10-14 days in July.  A couple of programs even offer an option where you go away just once for 14 days in the summer.  During those “residencies” you take intensive classes.  Throughout the rest of the year you work on your writing projects, work long distance with a writing mentor, and “workshop” your writings through online chat groups.  Most low residency programs are still just two years.  You get to keep your fulltime job, and this option works very well for students with family and work responsibilities.  However, there is a catch.  Because the low residency model makes it to where an MFA student cannot teach during the program and there is little to no scholarships or financial aid available, these programs end up being very expensive.

There is another issue with low residency MFA programs.  That issue is that the majority of them are offered by private universities.  This makes them very expensive (again without the scholarships and financial aid offered to undergraduates at the same school).  There are some public universities offering this model of program, like Murray State in Kentucky and the University of Alaska, but there are no low residency programs at all, let alone public university low residency programs, in the state of Ohio.  So my choice would be either to pay private school tuition or out-of-state public school tuition, which are pretty close to the same.  Then you also have to pay for travel to and from, as well as for room and board during your residencies.  While this option has greater possibility for me than the residential programs, since I do not have an extra $25,000-$30,000 lying around, this is almost certainly never going to happen either.  After all, if I was able to save up that much money, wouldn’t it make more sense to spend it to send my kids to college, rather than to earn a second master’s degree?  It makes me sad, but such is life.

I have just become aware today, as I have been writing this post, that there is, perhaps, a third (and maybe fourth) option.  There are now a couple of schools, such as the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Arkansas at Monticello, that are offering programs that are 100% online.  There are obvious advantages to these programs, but there are two very big disadvantages.  The biggest disadvantage is that a big part of the MFA in Creative Writing experience is being a part of a community of writers.  In that way it is similar to seminary.  Many seminaries continue to refuse to offer online programs because they believe (and perhaps rightly so) that the experience of academic and spiritual community is essential.  Many writing programs feel the same way, and in a “perfect world” this is true.  But people have responsibilities.  The second disadvantage is that, while technically an MFA qualifies you to teach creative writing at the undergraduate level, chances are that the person who is reviewing your resume is going to know that your program was online and not residential or even low residency.  My guess is that there is a great deal of prejudice in that regard.  “If you were a really good writer/writing teacher you wouldn’t have had to go to school online.”  That is not necessarily true, but perception is reality isn’t it?   

A possible fourth option is that there is an online program called a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Writing from Western New Mexico University.  This degree, however, does not necessarily qualify you to teach creative writing at the college level but it does (presumably) help your writing, it is shorter, and it is much less expensive.

So all that being said, I have to decide how important that dream is, and whether or not the dream really is to earn an MFA in Creative Writing or to become a better (and someday published!) writer.  Is the dream to be able to teach a creative writing class at a college?  Fulltime creative writing teaching positions are extremely hard to get (virtually impossible), they pay less than what I make as your pastor, and if it comes down to someone with an MFA from the online program at UTEP or from a first-class residential program like Iowa or Michigan or even good regional schools like Bowling Green or Miami (Ohio) we all know who would get the job.  So teaching (at least in any fulltime way) creative writing is a pipe dream; it’s not going to happen.  It would still be nice to have the degree, perhaps from a program like UTEP, that would make me eligible to teach creative writing as an adjunct, let’s say at local schools like Southern State Community College, Wilmington College, or OU-Chillicothe.  I would enjoy that experience a great deal.  The one semester I taught undergraduate New Testament was one of the top experiences of my life.  More than anything, however, I really just want to become a better fiction writer.  I can do that without an MFA degree, (after all Stephen King doesn’t have one) although the instruction and workshop experience (group feedback and revision) usually accelerates the growth and gives a great deal of inspiration.  I asked a friend of mine who graduated from the perennial number one MFA program, Iowa, what is important in an MFA.  He said, “a community of writers and deadlines.”  After all, an MFA degree won’t get your writing published “just because.”  It doesn’t usually hurt your case but ultimately it is your writing that speaks for itself. 

So don’t worry; I’m not going to run off and enroll in a residential MFA in Creative Writing program.  That would be ridiculously stupid on my part.  I’m not going to enroll in a low residency MFA anytime soon—unless someone has $30,000 burning a hole in their pocket that they want to give me.  I am, however, going to look into the online MFA at UTEP and the MAIS at Western New Mexico State University, and if one of those might be a viable option I might use my continuing education money toward that program.  It isn't a traditional thing for a pastor to do with that money, but most pastoral conferences bore me, and a Doctor of Ministry degree just doesn't get my heart racing the way a writing program does.  While these online programs wouldn’t be my “perfect world” choices, if my real goal is just to become a better fiction writer than they might be the wise choices.  So, again, I’m not going anywhere.  I love being your pastor; I just love writing fiction too.            

Again, if you haven’t done it already, please go to somewherewestofrockyford.blogspot.com and register your email address.

Next week, I’ll get back to more overtly spiritual matters.

Peace,

Everett