Been pretty busy lately, haven't had a chance to blog. I started another semester of seminary, taking Old Testament I, and Christian Heritage I which is basically a history class. I am enjoying this semester a lot more, but I haven't gotten any grades back yet. The church I pastor has a website now, http://www.haven-umc.org/

I have also started podcasting sermons at http://pastorjsimpjr.buzzsprout.com/ and on Itunes under Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Just trying to create a bit of a pastoral web presence for my church and myself. I am not sure how, this happened but after the second batch of 4 sermons were uploaded to the web some of them hit 100 plays in a 4 day span and a Palm Sunday Sermon I preached got 238 plays....wow. I have also got the idea in my head to publish a book. I have started writing it I just have to power through it. I want to keep it around 100 pages, and not be too academic.

Last Sunday was also World Communion Sunday for the United Methodist Church. My church Haven Chapel UMC worshipped with St. Paul AME Church. It was good to get involved with the community, I intend to do a whole lot more. Big plans in store, big plans.

Back from Local Pastor School!!!!!

So I just finished my last day of Local Pastor Licensing School (LPLS). For those who may not know, LPLS is pretty much pastoral hazing. It is a one week crash course covering the basics of things I need to know in order to effectively pastor a church. They cover weddings, funerals, sacraments, polity, Christian education, evangelism and a whole lot more. LPLS is supposed to be 80 hours and they try to fit those 80 hours into 9 days most of which are 12 hours plus. I gained 12 pounds from sitting around slamming Dr Pepper to stay awake in class. I feel I am better for it, I came back with some immediate changes I want to make at my appointment and in my ministry. I asked my wife to design a letterhead for the church, I plan to send out letters to the members and supporters of the church this week. I also have some more tools to develop a simple website for the church, and I am uploading some sermons to podcast while I type this blog. (soundcloud.com/pastorjsimpjr). I also have some ideas to better operate the church Facebook page. I have some tips on pastoral care and handling weddings and funerals. Still a Pastor in training, I think I will always be one of those but I came back with a good experience.

Things are coming along well for this pastor in training. I have a better understanding of church administration, I am also getting ready for Local Pastor Licensing School this July. Eight days of training in how to be a pastor and getting my license so I can legally marry people.

Since last post I had to preach my first memorial service. I used 2 Samuel when David's son died, I spoke on what David did after his son passed. David, mourned, then he washed his face, went to worship and fellowship, then he ate, as long we can continue to do those things after the death of a loved one we be able to grieve and deal with our loss. It won't make us feel better immediately but it will help us process. I learned that and what I know about funerals and memorial from two people Willie Lane, and Kirbyjon Caldwell. Working at Windsor Village UMC  I probably attended close to 100 funerals in a two year time period, I wouldn't call myself a professional funeral goer but if I was called on to officiate a funeral on short notice I am confident I could do it.

Other than that, preparing for LPLS and working on the vision of Haven Chapel UMC have been my professional focus. I look forward to what God has in store for us.

So I finished my first year of Seminary, exciting stuff, I am pretty sure my GPA is less than stellar. I know that may have repercussions if and when I decide I want to be a doctor but I was really just happy to get out with my head still intact. I have some great tools to use when creating sermons, I have made some good friends in class, I have also learned that I am not the smartest guy in the room sometimes. I haven't been one to try to aim for straight A's but getting pretty high marks in my first Master's degree made me think Seminary would be pretty easy.......-_-......not so much. There is always next year, but I learned a lot about myself, mainly that I have a lot to learn about myself and what I truly believe theologically. Now I have to catch up on the reading I wanted to do 'for fun.' I have a book on preaching I want to read, another one on revitalizing churches in decline, another on prayer, and 6 on the Kingdom of God, I guess I better get started. 

So I got my first real live Jesus chain letter. It came with a Jesus prayer rug on it and instructions on how to pass the prophecy on. I wasn't supposed to open it unless I was serious about the prophecy. The "prayer rug" was made of paper and had was about the size of an unfolded napkin. It had a picture of Jesus on it with His eyes closed and I was supposed to pray until His eyes began to open. -_-

What part of the game is this? Pray until His eyes open? Jesus chain letters!?!? People are taking this way out of hand. I first get a little frustrated as their is so much talent at SMU that doesn't have a church appointment, and then there is this foolishness running free without restrictions.Not that it is the fault of the denomination but I just see people doing such foolishness in the name of the Lord and and it gets frustrating. Somebody somewhere took that crap seriously and is following the instructions to the tee, looking for some sort of breakthrough in their life. There is more work to be done.

I've been working on my next sermon and the title will be God is Love part of me thinks that is "low hanging fruit" but part of me is looking for the challenge of bringing something new and fresh to the message (at least something new and fresh to me). I am preaching from 1 John 5:7-21, so I know I can talk about showing love instead of just saying it. I know that I can end with Jesus committing the ultimate act of love by dying on the cross for us. I also see some room in there for 1 Corinthians 13, and a description of the different Greek words for love, agape, phileo, etc, but my issue is EVERYBODY already preaches on those things when speaking on love. I am following the lectionary for the time being and I don't really want to preach on the other 3 scriptures offered for this week. The good thing is i still have time to hash this out.

So the semester is coming to an end for me, my head is bloodied but unbowed by the expectations of graduate level coursework. I was so used to getting by on the strength of my ideas that I did not care much for presentation. My idea are not tested in Seminary, but the presentation, and the coursework and research that I used to come to the conclusion are tested.

The church, Haven Chapel UMC is growing, so is the pastor ;-). I haven't started canvassing the community yet but that will happen as soon as I finish this semester. I am also waiting until we at least meet more than once a month. Which will happen in 2 months. My time at WVUMC seems to be coming to an end so I will have time to reach out to the community in West & East Columbia starting in May. Preparation and ground work will be my friends in this upcoming season of my life.