The ordinary person

On our website, we have listed some of our values. I thought, in between some of these great emails from other leaders, I'd sprinkle in a thought about each of our values.

Number one on the list of values particular to the Union is the ordinary person. I love the word ordinary. Right away, it says a couple things. First, it says that this is not the work of full-time ministry people. Not led by pastors, staff, ministry people. Second, it says that the work of making disciples is not only for the gifted. Not only for the exceptionally bold or particularly passionate. Or even... and this is going to sound controversial... the very righteous.

This broad call is made possible by the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, he makes us good enough, and he makes us strong enough. And in this way, the more ordinary the better. I'm exhibit A.

As a fourth year English Lit major at UCI, I took a required upper division course. It was a total waste of time. Not so ironically, it was taught by a professor who was supposedly a rising star in the field of comparative literature. Yale, Harvard, tenured before 40... blah blah blah. For 90% of us, 100% of his ramblings were useless. Instead of teaching most of us, he taught the 1% devotees of academia.

Now, set that against Jesus. Able to run circles around Pharisees, he pledges partnership with Peter and hands him the keys.

Oh man... I dream about our Christianity being in the hands of ordinary people.