Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Heart of God Church
Mark McElwee: “I would always have people, even in the third grade, asking me advice and counsel.”
Membership: 125
Pastor: Mark McElwee
Age: 51
Born: Groton, Conn.
Formation: Southwest Bible College, Gainesville, Ga.; Logos International Bible College, England; Vision International Education Network, Ramona.
Years Ordained: 12 years
San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?
Pastor Mark McElwee: It varies. Sometimes I teach topically, so if I feel I’m going in a particular direction, then I’ll take time out for study, about four or five hours, and then a day to think about things…. The sermon becomes a development out of my devotional reading or a particular focus in terms of a topic.
SDR: What is your favorite topic to preach about?
PM: The goodness of God — I was raised in a church environment. I had a picture of God being an angry judge, and it’s interesting how many times when things happen people are quick to say that God is judging. So I like to discover how God is a God of love and that God has good things for His people and good things to say. It’s quite a mindset change for me.
SDR: Can you think of a time when you gave a sermon that flopped?
PM: When I have bombed, it was because I went too deep; I became too philosophical and it wasn’t practical enough.
SDR: Which of the Ten Commandments does your congregation find the most challenging?
PM: I would say probably the Second Commandment. “You will have no other image.” A lot of us no doubt think we don’t make anything in God’s image, and some even think that idea is rather archaic. But as I see it…instead of having a relationship with God, we take principles and precepts of God and create formulas. Instead of loving God, we work for God; instead of taking time to know Him, we read through a devotional. So the Second Commandment is the most difficult for all of us, because we’d rather live by form and function than relationally.
SDR: Why did you become a minister?
PM: I can remember as a kid, going through school, I would always have people, even in the third grade, asking me advice and counsel. I would think, Why in the world are they coming to me? So through the years I had a heart for people and for the Lord I served.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PM: It gets back to the goodness of God. “We’re touching God, changing lives,” we say. We try to help people understand that God wants to be touched and experienced, and He wants people to know His love.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PM: I try to focus people toward God. If you look at the Garden of Eden, He never planned death. We try to focus them on God being a God of life. He created everything good and it was unfortunately man’s choice to choose death. When we die we’re either going to be with Him or separated from Him. I don’t often use the “hell” word, but it is truly separation from God. He loves us enough to let us make our own choices and if we don’t want to be with Him, He’s not going to force us.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Heart of God Church
Heart of God Church
Mark McElwee: “I would always have people, even in the third grade, asking me advice and counsel.”
Membership: 125
Pastor: Mark McElwee
Age: 51
Born: Groton, Conn.
Formation: Southwest Bible College, Gainesville, Ga.; Logos International Bible College, England; Vision International Education Network, Ramona.
Years Ordained: 12 years
San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon?
Pastor Mark McElwee: It varies. Sometimes I teach topically, so if I feel I’m going in a particular direction, then I’ll take time out for study, about four or five hours, and then a day to think about things…. The sermon becomes a development out of my devotional reading or a particular focus in terms of a topic.
SDR: What is your favorite topic to preach about?
PM: The goodness of God — I was raised in a church environment. I had a picture of God being an angry judge, and it’s interesting how many times when things happen people are quick to say that God is judging. So I like to discover how God is a God of love and that God has good things for His people and good things to say. It’s quite a mindset change for me.
SDR: Can you think of a time when you gave a sermon that flopped?
PM: When I have bombed, it was because I went too deep; I became too philosophical and it wasn’t practical enough.
SDR: Which of the Ten Commandments does your congregation find the most challenging?
PM: I would say probably the Second Commandment. “You will have no other image.” A lot of us no doubt think we don’t make anything in God’s image, and some even think that idea is rather archaic. But as I see it…instead of having a relationship with God, we take principles and precepts of God and create formulas. Instead of loving God, we work for God; instead of taking time to know Him, we read through a devotional. So the Second Commandment is the most difficult for all of us, because we’d rather live by form and function than relationally.
SDR: Why did you become a minister?
PM: I can remember as a kid, going through school, I would always have people, even in the third grade, asking me advice and counsel. I would think, Why in the world are they coming to me? So through the years I had a heart for people and for the Lord I served.
SDR: What is the mission of your church?
PM: It gets back to the goodness of God. “We’re touching God, changing lives,” we say. We try to help people understand that God wants to be touched and experienced, and He wants people to know His love.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PM: I try to focus people toward God. If you look at the Garden of Eden, He never planned death. We try to focus them on God being a God of life. He created everything good and it was unfortunately man’s choice to choose death. When we die we’re either going to be with Him or separated from Him. I don’t often use the “hell” word, but it is truly separation from God. He loves us enough to let us make our own choices and if we don’t want to be with Him, He’s not going to force us.
Comments