District Assembly

The Assembly for all Nazarene churches on the Arizona District was held in Las Vegas this year. I loved the location even though many other pastors and laymen hated it and made it known.
I should confess this was the first year I wasn't excited about the actual gathering. Since junior high I have attended this annual event with enthusiasm, sitting through the missionary slides, voting by delegates and 4 hour ordination services. Something has shifted in me.
I enjoyed the missionary speaker, Brubaker. I enjoyed the fellowship of other pastors and the leadership of the General Superintendent, Jerry Porter. I even engaged in the voting of delegates as our Distrit Superintendent was reissued the invitation to lead our district with a vote of 187-39. But something was different in me.
The Holiness movement has stalled and is constipated. Aside from the inbredness and unfunny religious jokes we put up with, I sense serious problems. The first is the focus on sin defined as the gambling and prostitution that is legal in Sin City. I struggled with the constant references to sin being an outside, behavior thing - rather than an inside heart condition. Which means sin is not narrowed to a city that celebrates it but can even be found in the church that mocks it.
The second challenge that has me uncomfortable is the beaurocracy that stifles the cure for the disease we all suffer. There seems to be a different philosphy of our association for local churches. Initially we associated to combine resources for better effectiveness. Now the church exits for the denomination and for the preservation of the institution.
I'm glad I went to report what God is doing at NorthGate Church, hang out with my wife by watching a movie in a casino, and connecting with others who with me are discerning how to follow Jesus while serving in his church.