Kiva.org

Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to give you all a heads up on w kiva.org, which is a microfinance organization. Microfinance providese small loans to people and small businesses, generally in third world countries, so that they can build a better life for themselves.
This site will alow you to donate to an businesses or people who areproperly vetted by a microfinance institution)in amounts as small as $25, which will be paid back to you over 6-12 months. Once the loan is repaid, you can either withdraw your money, or you can put it towards another business or person. Check them out at kiva.org

P.S. Thanks to Matt for e-mailing me about this site!

Up and Down- Drew Edition

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to make a quick post with what’s up and what’s down from my first two weeks of class.

Up

1. Supervised Ministry (the church)- My church is wonderful, the people are welcoming, my pastor is delightfully crazy, and I’m really excited about what I will learn and the ministry I’ll be doing.
2. United Methodist History- Taught by the professor who taught my parents United Methodist history nearly three decades, who is apparently as delightful, passionate, engaging (and slightly profane) as he was when my parents had him.
3. My Fiancée- Who is always way up in my book ( And, to make things better, she threw me a surprise birthday party!
4. EDIT Drew Hierarchy- For funding myself, Melissa, and two friends (Farrah and Matt) to go to the Northeast Jurisdiction Leadership Training Event.
   

Down

1. Supervised Ministry (the class)- I was devoured by a six credit class in three credit clothing and spent a lot of time at the first class typing into my notes (as we were told how important self-care was), “I will not jump out the window, I will not jump out the windowl….” Believe it or not Drew, there are people who use the number of credit hours to determine how much work they’ll have to do, and have to drop other classes if the workload proves to be too much. (e.g. me)
2. Supervised Ministry (the Pastor’s Orientation)- Held on Monday, September 11th, which is not only many pastor’s Sabbath because it’s a Monday, but is also a day when most pastors now have duties leading worship services, etc. However, after forcing pastors to break Sabbath and forcing others to probably work a twelve hour day, we did hear another nice lecture on self care; how considerate of them!

A Run of the Mill Blog Post

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the past few weeks. Two weeks ago I was coordinating Orientation for about 75 eager incoming first years- it went extremely well, although it was a lot of work, and I am still catching up on lost sleep!

Last week was the first of classes. For all of you who are curious, I am taking Systematic Theology (which looks to be fun and stimulating), Supervised Ministry (which is a six credit course masquerading as a three credit course, a fact that might have been helpful to tell us BEFORE we enrolled), Preaching (the jury’s out on this one), and United Methodist History (taught by the delightful Dr. Kenneth Rowe, who taught my parents United Methodist history when they were at Drew).

In other news, I had my first Sunday at my supervised ministry, which is a multi site church: one site (Trinity UMC) is a small church, much like what you’d find all across New England, and the other (Monroe Community Church) is a new church start. So far so good- I managed to successfully read scripture and be social without any serious mistakes J

That’s it for now; I’m beginning to realize that I can’t simply wait to post when I have a good idea and/or time to develop a really insightful post…so, for all of you disappointed readers, brilliance will have to wait for another time, and in lieu, you just have this simple update.

P.S. In case you were wondering, yes, I did have this on my to-do list, and yes my brother did harass me about posting when we talked tonight.