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April 24, 2008 >> 2:40:35 PM

Dear Robbie

Dear Robbie,

I enjoy working out at the deep end…probably 4 or 5 times a week. Unfortunately, there is a person there that exercises, well, let’s just say, “very loudly.” It’s very distracting for me to be near this person and hear their loud “UHHHHHNNN’s!!!” and “YEEEAAAAHHHH’s!!”. I tried changing my workout schedule but this person seems to always be there. Also distracting my routine is when this individual blatantly checks themselves out in the gym mirrors.

How do I approach this person with my concern? Should I simply ignore this? And how do I hold back laughing when they admire their reflection? Thanks.

-Gym Rat for Jesus

 

Dear Rat,

Wow! This concern regarding this particular student has come up a few times now so I better offer my best help (which is never that good). My first priority is to try to understand this person’s motivation for their behavior. Most likely, this person is hoping to display a sense of power and control in their environment (in this case, the Deep End). You feel unable to concentrate on your own routine which means that you are playing into their motivation.

Now- Be Assertive! You cannot simply ignore the situation…

Many mature advice givers would prompt you to approach this person and explain the situation. But this would not be good because loud people like this do not care to listen to your feelings. Instead, take a more creative approach to assertive action. When this person grunts, “UHHHHHNNNNN!!” immediately follow it up with an even louder, “DEEEEEERRRRWWWEEEAARRRR ISSSS SMMMMEELLLLY!!” An alternative to this would be to follow his “YEEEAAAAHHHH!!” with a “BUH-DAH-BUH-DOOOOO!!!” This will immediately disable further outburst.

I wish I could advise you on how not to laugh when they check themselves out in the mirror. But I also wish I could live with the Smurfs one day. Some things are simply not possible. 

Robbie

April 23, 2008 >> 10:02:49 PM

ATS Comic

April 23, 2008 >> 10:24:08 AM

Erik Rasmussen's Calling

I was a freshmen in college and very young in my walk with God. Everything around me was changing, but it seemed to be for the best. As I saw my desires and wants and hopes grow into God, I realized that I wanted to share this story. I remember going to my mentor’s office and not understanding why everyone did not want to do ministry. It made no sense to me, because I couldn’t imagine doing anything greater. (I am very selfish and can’t usually see beyond my own scope. This is one of those times.) In this experience, I realized I’m probably called to ministry.

As the years went on, I could think of nothing greater than to live like Paul did. Moving from one city to the next declaring God’s beauty, truth, and life. But at the same time, I had an inexplicably immense desire to be married. These two lives couldn’t be melded together (at least in my mind). I struggled for quite some time with whether I was called to live like Paul or to be married and maybe pursue a ministry with more stability. Then one day I was sitting at church and I felt like God showed me that I didn’t have to be a missionary, I could be a pastor here or something else of the like. This was quite strange because I hadn’t even been thinking about it. All of the sudden it just popped into my head. I had release from one calling, and I had a choice I could make. 

I’m only just now realizing this, but it seems that at this point, God began to reform my calling. For the last couple of years, I have had a huge burden for the church in the United States. I don’t know how long this has been here, but it feels like forever. I don’t long for other countries anymore, it is strange to me that I ever did want to live like Paul.

Only this morning I read a question that asked this, “What would you attempt to do if you knew that you could not fail?” There was no doubt or hesitation. I would make a retreat center for pastors in the UM church to come and stay and be renewed for and encouraged to claim a deeper life for themselves and their congregation. A reminder that we were never called to play church, but instead to be the church.

Is this my calling? Maybe, J.

Erik Rasmussen is a first year Master’s of Divinity student at ATS from Louisiana. 

April 18, 2008 >> 6:50:16 PM

Archived Comics and Dear Robbie columns!

Do you like reading the Dear Robbie columns and comics in This Week at Asbury?  Now they are archived all the way back to 2007 on the blog under the categories section on the right hand column of the page.  Check them out!

April 17, 2008 >> 1:36:26 PM

ATS Comic

April 10, 2008 >> 7:31:57 PM

Tom Grafton's Calling

Calling

One year ago, I sat and had a conversation about calling with a friend who took a route I almost took: leaving seminary at Wilmore and then coming back. That conversation got me thinking about my calling and what calling really means. So, here’s my story as best I can remember it:

One thing has always been painfully clear to me, and that is that I am definitely called to music. I grew up around live music. My dad is a musician. When I started getting serious about music in high school, I took to it like a fish to water. Not only did I learn very quickly, but I loved playing music and performing it for others. Naturally when I hit college, I became involved in leading worship because of my gifts in music. Worship leading has always been my entry point into any ministry, including at my church after I graduated from college. I became a good worship leader, but it was not until 2 or 3 years out of college that I felt called beyond that. This calling came in two stages.

First, I went to a youth leaders’ convention in St. Louis, and there I attended a worship leading seminar (of course!) led by Charlie Hall and a certain J.D. Walt. I remember Rev. Walt talking about the seminary in Kentucky where he worked being a worshiping community. I was really attracted to the way he described this community, so I tucked away Asbury Seminary in the back of my mind.

Later, I had the opportunity to teach a couple of Sunday School classes in which I worked with my pastor to study a few passages in depth. I remember one day when I was sitting in a coffee shop with my Bible and a couple of commentaries open, thinking, "I love this stuff!" I enjoyed opening up the Word of God so much and digging into its meaning that I got really excited. I remember feeling so weird because I was sitting there in the coffee shop with books open, and this excitement was growing up inside of me. I felt like getting up and doing a little jig, but I didn’t. At that point I started looking into Asbury, and a couple of years later I was a student on campus, all excited to be in school again. The first few months were a mixture of being excited about being in a new place and a lot of doubt about whether I was really called to be here. It was a complete life change, and I had a lot of times of homesickness. My doubts rose to the point of almost not coming back my second semester, but I did. Even though I still have a lot of doubts and questions, what I do know is that I love studying God’s word and I hope for more chances to teach people the love and truth of God in a way they can understand.

Tom Grafton, the individual that initiated the collection and compilation of ATS’ student, faculty, staff, and alumni callings, is a second year MABS student from Illinois.

April 10, 2008 >> 1:48:46 PM

Dear Robbie

Dear Robbie,

I want to take my wife out on a fun date - something that we have never done before. However, we have been married for a while now and I suffer from a severe lack of creativity. Normally I am able to overcome this by paying someone else to be creative for me (a chef, a movie director, a band, an actor, etc). Unfortunately, I have given all of my money to professors and crying babies. Any suggestions?

Seriously, broke and uninspired

 

 

Dear Broke,

You wrote, “Something that we have never done before.” Tell me, have you and your wife never had a fun date? Or are you looking for a fun date that you two have not already done? And if it’s the latter, are you assuming that I know what fun dates you have been on and expect me to pull a new idea for you right out of my donkey? OK fine, I’ll see what I can do.

The first important step is to understand your uncreative nature. I have included a scientifically proved graph (Fig. 1) to highlight the nature of man:

As one can clearly see, the marital creativity curve sharply drops just after the honeymoon. Some psychologists call this phenomenon the “Idiot Husband Effect” or IHE for short. Also note the sudden spike in creativity, that’s going to be your fun, creative date.

It is best to start saving cash in a “date jar” right now. Place it next to your “tithe jar” (so you will be allowed in heaven…jk). Try to load it with $3-5/day with plans to date two to four times a month. This allows $21-$70 per date depending on your rate of going out. Hey, you’re not so poor now!

Here are fun date ideas. Combine them as you see fit:

-Antique stores in downtown Lexington: This is a neat idea because you will see items that were actually made in the USA

-Lexington Legends: Class A Baseball at Applebee’s Park

-Picnic at Highbridge Park

-Stroll at Veteran’s Park: bring your disc golf equipment!

-Lexington Theatre: sometimes shows old classic films as well as new films

-Woodford Reserve Tour: beautiful spring landscape in Versailles

And finally my favorite:

-Sitting next to my sweetie in front of the John Wesley statue and silently reflecting on his life.

 

                                    Robbie

April 09, 2008 >> 2:16:17 PM

Asbury Bloggers Society Party

We are really excited about getting together for our 2nd annual "What's Blogging got to do with it?" night.

This is our chance to come together as a community and investigate the spiritual practice of blogging.  If you are part of the Asbury Blogging Society and you are still wondering what the hoopla is about, this is your night.

We have special guest blogger/speaker Michael Spencer coming in.  Michael blogs over at the internet monk.
This will be a great night of food and learning about how to use blogging as a tool in your ministry.
So come see us Monday, April the 14th at 7 p.m. in Royal Auditorium.

April 02, 2008 >> 3:13:39 PM

Ashley Nave's Calling

At the age of five, I had an accident that resulted in my loosing nearly half of my hearing. For the sake of coping, I quickly picked up some skills to interact with the world around me. I learned to read lips, faces, and body expressions. I found that I had to be extremely intentional when listening to someone. If I were only half engaged, communication would suffer. While I managed well enough, at the age of nine I began to ask God to restore my hearing. Through a series of "circumstances" which go beyond the scope of this testimony, my prayers were answered during my sophomore year of high school.

As I grow in my faith, I realize that God in His infinite wisdom, not only gives us gifts and talents to shape us for the calling He has placed on our lives, but He allows us to have weaknesses and inadequacies. Sometimes these "thorns" are present for our good, to teach us humility or patience and sometimes they arrive in time for someone else's good, because without them we would not have grounds to relate to those currently suffering. In either case, it is exciting that something that is perceived as such a hardship was really intended to exist for His glory.

After my hearing was restored, I took a life assessment. I acknowledged that God provided me with a unique experience that had shaped my perspective on humanity and had allowed me to acquire a skill set that would complement the talents He had already bestowed. I thanked God for His gifts and asked what He wanted for me to do with them. His answer seems simple, "Listen." I whole-heartedly think that the calling and station of my life is to support and encourage others through hearing. Multiple vocations embody support, encouragement and hearing. Is any one vocation within that genera better then the other?

I believe that our given personalities, in addition to our skill sets and gifts, play into the type of stations in which we will find ourselves serving. Knowing that my personality is fashioned for the work of a teacher or counselor, I finished my undergrad degree in Special Education. During my two years of teaching, I saw how some of my abilities complemented the work to be done, but I also noted that my passion for helping was being constrained. I was under legal obligations to move children forward academically. I found this to be extremely frustrating. I would have much preferred to have sit-downs with these kids to talk with them about the insecurities and frustrations that were preventing them from moving forward in life. But due to structural policies, I was only capable of offering band-aids for their troubles in order to pursue phonics and arithmetic. With this new understanding of my passions in correlation to my skills, gifts, and personality, I began filling out applications for counseling programs.

Ashley Nave is a first year counseling student at ATS and resides in Lexington, KY.

April 02, 2008 >> 2:09:19 PM

Open Door Community House Internships

Summer 2008

The ministries of Open Door Community House, Inc., Columbus, Georgia, are multifaceted from after school care for children to showers for homeless persons. Interns may choose to focus on a specific area of ministry, like developing the homeless women’s program, or participate in established ministry areas. Rest assured, you will be engaged in front line ministry with those Jesus called "the least of these."

Programs of Open Door and Intern Responsibilities:

Children and Youth Program:

Engage in teaching life skills, Bible Studies, anger management, reading development, arts and crafts and recreation

Senior Adult Program:

Assist the Chaplain (who coordinates the seniors’ program) with transportation, spiritual counseling, and home/hospital visitations

Showering Program for the Homeless:

Provide spiritual counsel, Bible Studies and life skills development with unsheltered homeless men and women.

Opportunities to develop new ministry areas

Homeless Women’s Ministry:

Work with Open Door’s Methodist deaconess to provide a structured and well-rounded program for women who reside on the streets. This will include researching other best practices and effective women’s ministries, designing a program for homeless women in the Columbus, Georgia area, creating a resource room, and implementing this one-of-a-kind program in our area. Many street-dwelling homeless women are engaged in prostitution, are in violent relationships and unsafe conditions. This ministry will provide nurture, self-empowerment and address safety issues for homeless women.

Clothing Bank:

Re-structure the clothing bank ministry including organization, assessing and developing its community impact.

Children and Youth:

Develop a creative arts curriculum for children and youth, ages 5-18, which may include dance, drama, mime, painting/drawing, pottery/ceramics, and musical instruction. For years, Open Door has been trying to develop a children’s choir and this will be a unique opportunity to take eager children and develop this dream for our community.

Please contact Claire Williams on FirstClass if you are interested in applying for one of six internship spots available this summer in Columbus, GA. All students are welcome to apply; however, completing this internship will count for one counseling practicum (CO705 or 706; PC660) or for the second semester of Mentored Ministry 602, which is cross-cultural in nature. Note: The staff at Open Door is able to work with MAC and PC students to shape your experience at Open Door to meet practicum requirements.

You will receive a $4500.00 stipend, but are responsible for your own room and board in Columbus. The Open Door staff will assist you in finding a place to stay for the summer (10-12 weeks). If you have questions, feel free to e-mail Sandy Edwards or Ginny Jones (FirstClass), both of whom worked with Open Door Ministries last summer; also, check our their website, at www.odch.org On Thursday, April 10, Kim Jenkins, an Open Door Community House supervisor, will be here during the lunch hour in the Student Center Lobby and by appointment to meet with anyone who is interested in exploring and/or applying for this life-changing internship.

April 02, 2008 >> 11:16:19 AM

Dear Robbie

Dear Robbie,      

I'm having a hard time adjusting to the politeness and manners seminary students show during intramural sports. I mean, even when somebody really screws up, the whole team gives them encouragement and high fives!! What's up with that?? Any suggestion on how I can remind my team that winning is the only thing matters? (Other than yelling in their face. That didn't work.)

Sincerely,

                My Identity is Based in Sports 

Dear MIBS,

Seminary life requires a lot of “getting used to,” as they say. Unfortunately, people who are adjusted to the seminary style will want newcomers, like you, to adjust as well. This is especially hard for those who have become secure in the world of “winning” and “being #1” because seminary students think that these two notions are ridiculous. They’re wrong. Winning in sports has to be the only thing that matters because that’s all that you’re good at (aside from arguing with professors and other students in class). What you will have to do in order to get the truth across is to use some powerful verbal tactics that I’ve observed by some real “winners” in the Seminarian Intramural Sport circuit:

1) Do not hold back from giving a high five to someone who screws up. However, make sure to include a comment like, “I really didn’t expect much out of you anyway.”

2) When you receive praise from your seminary teammates for that awesome volleyball spike, make it a point to reply, “Yeah, I know. Maybe you could learn something from it.”

3) Some seminary teammates will probably come up to you apologizing after your team loses a match. This is where best to interject with, “It’s OK. There are no winners or losers anyway except that we just lost the match so I guess we’re all losers now thanks to you.”

Yelling in their face doesn’t work, as you said, because it confuses them. But as you can see here, sarcasm and petty remarks can be highly effective in making students become a little more aggressive and driven in intramural sports with as little confusion possible!

Oh, and don’t forget that these tactics for winning can be applied to your children as well!
 

Cordially,

                Robbie

April 02, 2008 >> 10:40:51 AM

ATS Comic