Holiness on the Dirt Road

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Well this is the weekend! Holiness on the Dirt Road

Twenty-one people from as far east as the Netherlands and as far west as Idaho are headed to Windsor Hills Campground just outside Hillsboro, NH for a Naznet Retreat. People are traveling even as I type this. Would you pray for us as we travel?

We are gathering for fellowship, "retreating," worship, and discipleship-discussion around the topic of holiness. Tom Oord is facilitating our discussion around this statement: "We want to find a way to talk about those experiences of God's sanctifying grace within a relational paradigm that makes sense to 21st century people and makes them want to reach out for God's purpose with and in their lives."

And Mike Schutz is leading us in intentional group devotion each morning.

Would you pray for all of the above?

We do not have an internet connection on the campground, so we can't update you more than what we get on our cell phones. But we'll let you know how it goes after the weekend.

[Thomas Oord]

And thanks to you (and others) for coordinating this event!

[Hans Deventer]

Yes! The discussion about this dates back more than a year, and finally, we are here and today, things will start!! Tom, Edwin and I arrived at Mark Metcalfe's place last night (guided by a Dutch speaking navigation system ) and we're exited about what this all will be like. Brought my netbook with me and if anything, I do want to make a good report of where this conference has led us, en how. As I wrote to Jeremy in July 2009:

"For all clarity, I'm pretty goal oriented (or purpose driven ). Although it's a lot of fun to meet NazNetters, I do want a retreat or conference or whatever we call it that to make a difference, to reach the goal we've set for it."

And for those travelling today: safe travels!

[David Troxler]

Having been to Windsor Hills before, it looks like our Holiness on the Dirt Road may actually be Holiness on the Muddy Roads this weekend. Lots of rain in the forecast through tomorrow....

[Kevin Rector]

On the plane!

[Mike Schutz]

In the airport!

[Ryan Scott]

I really wish I could have made it.

[Jim Chabot]

At work. Still have a couple of hours left.

[Peggy Gray]

So near, yet so far.

[Roland Hearn]

I'm not envious, I'm not at all. Green is my normal complexion colour.

[Susan Unger]

Having been to Windsor Hills before, it looks like our Holiness on the Dirt Road may actually be Holiness on the Muddy Roads this weekend. Lots of rain in the forecast through tomorrow....

Yeah, I thought about that alot today as I sang "Arky Arky" [there's gonna be a floody floody...].

[John Reilly]

Great discussions with brilliant minds engaged. Its raining so the dusty road is not so dusty more like soggy wet socks but those who thirsty for righteousness ... will get wet!

[Gary Creely]

Sitting here at the conference. Oord shaking up the conversation. Talking about how to use current language to talk about holiness.

Rain has stopped, and cold has started.

Lots of good conversations.

Shea showed up in time for dinner.

All is well.

Sidebar- this message brought to from an iPod tethered to a jail broken iPhone 4 placed carefully in a window on the edge of coverage.

[Shea Zellweger]

My eight hours at the conference were pretty great. I was very happy to meet some NN folks from the far-flung regions of the world, and the conversations- both structured and unstructured- were quite enjoyable.

[Mark Metcalfe]

... arrived at Mark Mercalfe's place...

That must be a Dutch accent for Mark Metcalfe. ;-)

[John Reilly]

The rain is gone; the sun is shining on the Dusty Road of Holiness as the Shekinah Glory warms our hearts.

[Jim Abrams]

Took a relaxing walk through brilliantly collord leaves as they fell from the blue sky today. Our heavenly Father does all things well. Had to make my way back early from the retreat but my mind is still spinning form the conversations and my memery freshly filled with the faces of new friends. I feel challenged and affirmed all at the same time. Today God's grace seems like such a more powerful force in my life and in the lives of those whom I love and minister among than it did before I arrived.

[Gary Creely]

Take a look

[Kazimiera Fraley]

Praying for your service this morning and the rest of your time together.
Wish I could be there for rest of your time together. I guess it was time for me to go, my scarf was completed.

[Dave McClung]

I am disappointed that I couldn't be there. I think it is the first "NazNet" meeting that I have missed.

I have been to Branson, Mo to participate in a day-long discussion about the future of the Church of the Nazarene with many of the folks who work at the Global Ministry Center. It was a productive day with lots of good input for the Commission on the Nazarene Future.

[Jim Abrams]

I am disappointed that I couldn't be there. I think it is the first "NazNet" meeting that I have missed.

I have been to Branson, Mo to participate in a day-long discussion about the future of the Church of the Nazarene with many of the folks who work at the Global Ministry Center. It was a productive day with lots of good input for the Commission on the Nazarene Future.

Dave, we pray for you and the many who are commissioned to help our church faithfully follow the Lord into the future.

[Gary Creely]

Here are some better pictures- sorry if I missed anybody

http://db.tt/yrwrMqi

[David Troxler]

I'm not envious, I'm not at all. Green is my normal complexion colour.

We missed you too Roland.

[Thomas Oord]

I had a great time at the Naznet retreat! Thanks to Hans, Jeremy, and others who worked to put it together.

I think Hans will be giving a summary/report on what we talked about, so I'll wait to share my comments on the substance of our discussions. And Gary has some great individual photos on his link (noted above). But here is a group photo (without Shea) and some other photos I took during our free time...

Tom

[John Reilly]

A wonderful and perfect retreat on the dusty and wet road of holiness. Great job everyone. Thanks Jeremy, Dennis, Hans, Mike, Tom, photographers. Great time of fellowship. And a special thanks to those who traveled from foreign countries (like Arkansas and Maine) to be with us!!!!

[Kevin Rector]

I am sitting on the tarmac in Baltimore. Soon to be off to St. Louis and the Little Rock. I had an exceptional time.

[Mike Schutz]

I am sitting on the tarmac in Baltimore. Soon to be off to St. Louis and the Little Rock. I had an exceptional time.

My flight is delayed until at least 9pm. Something about "problems at Philadelphia Airport," which is, as the flying public knows, a redundant statement.

[Hans Deventer]

I'm at Logan right now, on my way home. Yeah!! It has been a very good conference and I loved meeting friends I had met before, friends I had never met and new friends! Will post the document with what we discussed after I ran it through Tom.

Blessings from Logan,

[Marsha Lynn]

II think Hans will be giving a summary/report on what we talked about, so I'll wait to share my comments on the substance of our discussions.

Oh, sure. Assign the summary tasks to the guy with the farthest to travel and a 6-hour time change. I smell a conspiracy here to keep the rest of us in the dark for as long as possible while you who were there savor the glow of camaraderie and insider status a little longer.

Ah well. Such is life when you're on the outside looking in. Looking forward to the report.

[Hans Deventer]

Oh, sure. Assign the summary tasks to the guy with the farthest to travel and a 6-hour time change. I smell a conspiracy here to keep the rest of us in the dark for as long as possible while you who were there savor the glow of camaraderie and insider status a little longer.

Marsha, the good news is that I have internet here at Logan so I already emailed Tom for his approval. That's before most of my travel!! Does that help a little?

[Ed DiSante]

Thank you to all of you for including a former lurker in this wonderful experience. I was encouraged, challenged and affirmed and learned a lot about some old friends (Melissa) and got to make some great new friends. And the learning and sharing experience was exceptional (yes I started a sentence with And)
Let's do it again soon!

[David Troxler]

Thank you to all of you for including a former lurker in this wonderful experience. I was encouraged, challenged and affirmed and learned a lot about some old friends (Melissa) and got to make some great new friends. And the learning and sharing experience was exceptional (yes I started a sentence with And)
Let's do it again soon!

Karen and I carpooled to/from Windsor Hills along with Kaza. On the way home, our in-car discussion hoped that the kind of discussions we had among our modest-sized group would be replicated many times over around the world among Nazarenes. If there were 25-30 other groups, whether NazNetters or not, but Nazarenes seriously considering the implications of holy living in this day and age, it would go a long way to helping the entire denomination work through its issues with itself.

One of the fascinating points we considered was our denomination's 40-year identity crisis. We have grown so much in the past two generations globally, particularly in the past 20 years, we do need to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to understanding and communicating the message of holiness.

As Ed suggests, let this happen again.

[Ed DiSante]

My flight is delayed until at least 9pm. Something about "problems at Philadelphia Airport," which is, as the flying public knows, a redundant statement.

Having grown up there, I know the City of Brotherly Love doesn't always live up to it's name

[Doug Kitchen]

A couple of pictures from the top of the mountain on Sunday afternoon






I'll post some of the others on the photo forum.

I had a great time. Really enjoyable discussions and great fellowship.

Doug

[Dennis M. Scott]

This event went better than planned. It was a great time of retreat, fellowship, discussion, discovery, etc. More than half were from New England, and that was somewhat of a disappointment. I suppose it was no real surprise, but we all wished broader representation could have been there. Several noted that meeting face to face people we had only interacted with online was a most meaningful part of the weekend. It even made some of us a little embarassed that naznet dialogues hadn't been a litrle more conciliatory.

The mix of lay and clergy working through theology and international church issues was an aspect I haven't experienced previously. We worked on issues like "Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations", seeking to know how to express that - and the holiness message - on the dirt roads of life in various cultural settings.

This was not a "rip apart the denomination" time. We looked at how the church has changed in North America, and how our understanding and identification of the holiness message has changed over the history of the denomination. While scripture has not changed, our historic and cultural perspective has expanded. It was interesting to be able to identify that development.

A personal blessing for me was that the congregation I pastor was able to attend the Sunday AM worship experience. 94 year old retired pastor, Francis Crandall, said he had never expected to be able to attend such a service, and the people who live on the side of the dirt road in Manchester, NH, have begun to feel they are part of a much larger felowship than they had realized. Thank you, naznetters, for making them feel so welcome.

I probably will not forget the prayer several of us shared on top of Mount Kearsarge. That doesn't happen very often for me.

[Susan Unger]

One of the fascinating points we considered was our denomination's 40-year identity crisis.

What happened in 1970 to cause an identity crisis? This is news to me.

[David Troxler]

What happened in 1970 to cause an identity crisis? This is news to me.

Susan,
I had to find the material that was referred to over the weekend, but was told that is was on the General Church's website.
Check out the "turning points" in the history of the COTN at http://nazarene.org/ministries/admin...n/display.aspx

In particular, we discussed this paragraph on that webpage:

Period Four: Searching for Identity in an Era of Change, 1971-Present
The church took seriously internationalization as it coped with the growing demands of size and cultural diversity.

Compassionate ministries returned to the heart of the church, as an aspect of evangelism and as a sign of the Kingdom of God at work in our midst.

Our discussion of holiness included how the Manual statement on Entire Sanctification has changed over the past 100 years as well as cultural changes and the effect those changes have on our understandinng of holiness.

In the paragraph cited above, while holiness has not changed, we have changed by growth and a renewed emphasis on compassion towards others as an expression of holy living. The question then is how does holiness look in an international body? Is that different than what was at one time, almost an exclusively North American context? Or, by expressing compassion as holy love, how does that fit with what the Manual describes.

In fact, are the words written in the Manual, descriptive or prescriptive of holiness?

All of this stemmed from the concept of the Church searching for identity.

[Hans Deventer]

Just got home and here's the report!

Holiness on the Dirt Road - A Report.pdf (This one is in A4 format)

Holiness on the Dirt Road - A Report (letter format).pdf (This one is in Letter format)

[David Troxler]

Hans,
Thanks for being our recorder. It looks like you have accurately covered the scope of discussion.

[Kazimiera Fraley]

So no conclusions after I left?