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Well, the Lord be with
you. It's good to have

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you here today for
this video series. We're

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going to talk about the
Practical Theological

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Framework. The Practical
Theological Framework

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is designed for those
in ministry to be able to

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attend to issues or
opportunities in ministry

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that they would like
to find solutions for or a

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way forward. So a framework
is not a methodology.

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A methodology will give
you a step-by-step process

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by which you are to
accomplish something or do

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something. But a
framework is saying these are

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the things you need to
be thinking about. These

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are the things you need
to be working on that

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will help you to be able
to determine the best

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way forward. So our
hope today in going through

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the practical theological
framework is that it'll

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give you a sense of
how to address issues

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in ministries and also
opportunities in the

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ministries in which in
which you are at. So to

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begin with, we're just
going to talk about the

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importance of exploring.
We have this wonderful

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creation that God has
given to us and what a joy

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it is to be able to explore
it. Some people will

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explore it by going in
outer space. Some people

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explore it by going
into the forest and the

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mountains and under the
seas, wherever it may be.

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We have opportunities
to explore this creation.

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And as we explore the
creation of God, we discover

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many things about what
God has created and what

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that means for our
lives. Well, in ministry,

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we can take the same
kind of approach. So

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ministry, we need to have
a ministry of exploration

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depending upon what
context you are in and where

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you are serving and
the particular position,

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leadership position that
you have. There's going

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to be lots of things in
your particular ministry

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context that you can
explore. And it's kind of

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fun to be able to explore
the opportunities that

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God has given to us in
ministry, because ministry

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is not the same. It's
going to be different

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wherever you go. So it's
not the same every place.

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And so you have to be
ready for that and explore

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that. Well, as we're
exploring, I'm going to

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encourage you to think
about creating particular

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maps of exploration. So
there's lots of maps that

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we can create when we're
exploring something to

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get a sense of the terrain
and where we're at and

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what's going on. And so
that's what we're going to

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talk about today.
There are four different

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exploratory maps that
I want you to be able to

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create as part of the
Practical Theological

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Framework. And these
maps then are created by

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you exploring, by you
discovering, by you engaging

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in things. So here are
the four maps that we're

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going to be going
through. So the first one is

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called Attending to Self
and World. And what

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we're going to be doing
here is answering the

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question, what is the
contextual issue and or

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opportunity and how are
we attending to it? And

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then we're going to
create another map that's

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called Engaging in
First Article Insights. And

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we're going to be answering
the question, how does

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First Article Insights
provide a way of

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understanding and
response? The third map you're

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going to be creating
is called Discerning

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Theological Wisdom. And
the question you're going

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to be answering as you
create this map is, how

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does theological wisdom
provide faithful direction?

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The fourth map, this
will be a final map that

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you'll create, is called
Implementing Godly

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Guidance and Leadership.
And we'll be answering the

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question in this context,
how will we faithfully

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serve God and our
neighbor? So the Practical

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Theological Framework
then is a way to address

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an issue or an opportunity
in ministry. And you're

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going to create these
four maps of understanding

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to be able to help you
to be able to address that

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issue or opportunity. And
these maps you're going

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to initially create and
you can always come back

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to them and add to them
or discover more things

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that you haven't
discovered before. So there's

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always kind of this
fluidness that takes place

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in creating the maps,
but actually creating each

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one of these will help
you then to be able to

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address that issue or
opportunity in a godly way.

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Now what I want to do
is set the stage for you

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and help you to try
to find a way to put this

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into practice. And the
way I'm going to do that

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is I'm going to actually
talk about a particular

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congregation and an
issue that they had. And as

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we go through talking
about each of these maps,

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I'll talk about how this
particular congregation

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could use the practical
theological framework to

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be able to help them
with the particular issue

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that they were struggling
with. So the congregation

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that we're going to be
talking about is Peace

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Lutheran Church and
School. Now this is just a

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fictitious situation that
I have made up. So this

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is not a particular church
within our denomination

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or within the world. I've
made it up based upon a

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lot of the interactions
I've had with churches

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and schools. But I
think this will help us to

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be able to kind of put
meat on the bones to

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understand how to use
the framework. All right,

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so Peace Lutheran Church
and School was a thriving

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congregation. They had
been around probably for

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40 years or so. They
had gone through many

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building expansions.
They were very proud of

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the school that they had,
but also the church side

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did lots of cool things.
And they had a pastor

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that was faithfully
serving them. And this

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was Pastor Davis. And
Pastor Davis was a very

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energetic man. He was a
very social guy. He knew

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everyone in the congregation
and he knew lots of

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people in the community
as well. He often would

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show up at the school.
Of course, he would do

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chapels, but he would
just show up there to be

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there to greet the kids
in the morning and say

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hello to the parents.
Very, very interactive. He

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also was a very creative
man, and he came up with

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all kinds of interesting,
creative things to do

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in ministry. So, for
example, this is an example,

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one of the creative
things that he did is they

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had a playground area
space, but what he wanted

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to do is he wanted to
turn that space into more

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of a common area. So, he
needed money to be able

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to do that. He was
able to find funds to be

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able to make this
happen. And they still had a

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playground there. They
updated all the equipment.

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But in addition to that,
what they did is they had

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places for people to sit
benches. They also had a

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waterfall that went into
this little pond and he

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put fish in there. He
had like a prayer garden

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where people could pray
at. They did all kinds of

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other things because
he wanted it to be a space

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that both the children
and the adults could

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benefit from. And in
addition, he wanted the

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community to come in
and use this space. So,

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after this common space
was developed and it was

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all put together, indeed,
it was a very popular

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place for people from
the community, the church,

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and the school to come.
So, he was a well-loved

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pastor. Everyone loved
him very much. But he

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took a call, went to
another congregation. The

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congregation decided
they needed to call another

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senior pastor, which
they did. So, a new senior

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pastor shows up. So,
Pastor Taylor shows up as

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their new senior pastor.
Pastor Taylor has a

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different way of doing
ministry. He's more

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detail-orientated, not as
social, not as engaging

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as the previous pastor
was. And also, because of

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his detail-orientatedness,
he wanted to change

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the structure of the
congregation. So, what he

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did was he convinced
the congregation to put him

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as the CEO of the
congregation and the

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superintendent of the
school. He then wanted to

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have a lot more involvement,
especially with the

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school. He wanted to be
involved in the curriculums

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that they chose. He
wanted to be involved in

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evaluating the teachers
and sitting in on their

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classes and providing
evaluation for them, which

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the previous pastor
didn't do. But Pastor Taylor

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wanted to do that. And
now, because he was

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considered the
superintendent of the school,

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he had the authority
to be able to do those

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things. He wasn't quite
excited about the common

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space. In fact, he actually
began to put up signs

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that said it's for members
only, and the community

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weren't supposed to
come there because he

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was worried that they
were causing issues or

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they were littering and
causing other problems.

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So, he wanted to limit
who actually could use

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that common space.
His idea about being

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CEO and superintendent
was that this way,

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things would move faster
in the congregation. So,

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he got rid of all the
boards, got rid of all the

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elders, didn't have elders
anymore. He had a small

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board of people that he
picked that made all the

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decisions for the congregation
on a regular basis.

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They used to have
quarterly voter meetings. That

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didn't happen anymore.
They had one meeting in

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January, once a year,
where he would just announce

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the congregation, what
he was going to do, what

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they have done. But it
was a small board that made

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all the decisions. So,
he made a significant

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change within the
congregation. Well,

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as you might anticipate,
this did not go over well.

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Conflict began to happen.
There was significant

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conflict between the
pastor and the principal

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because now the principal
didn't have the freedom

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to do what he wanted
and to be able to lead the

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school and make decisions
for the school like he

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was doing before. The
teachers also were very

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frustrated because they
now felt that there was

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a lot more expected of
them. And the evaluation

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process for the teachers
now included the pastor

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who was demanding
from them things that wasn't

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demanded before. And
they were struggling with

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this. There were people
in the congregation who

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were very supportive of
Pastor Taylor and thought,

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well, it's about time
we kind of tighten up

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things and we change
our way of operating.

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But there were
others, however, in the

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congregation that were
frustrated by some of the

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decisions that were being
made and that they did

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not have a voice in those
decisions. This created

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lots and lots of problems.
So, with this scenario

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that I put before you,
this is an example of an

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issue that needs to be
addressed and how we're

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going to talk about how
we can use the Practical

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Theological Framework
then to address this issue.

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But realize the Practical
Theological Framework is

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not just about addressing
issues. It is also about

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looking at opportunities
that the congregation may

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have. So, let me give
you an example of that.

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So, for example, let's
say that the congregation

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looks around and
realizes there's a lot of

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children in the community.
And the congregation

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may be older in nature,
but this is an opportunity.

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So, how can this older
congregation engage young

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families and children?
There's no issue, no

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conflict happening.
It's just that there's an

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opportunity to be able to
serve their neighborhood.

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And they may want to use
the Practical Theological

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Framework in order to
figure out the best way to

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serve the neighbors
around the church. So, that'd

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be an example of an
opportunity. And in some

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cases, it is an issue
that is also an opportunity

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to be able to do ministry.
So, I've laid out for

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you kind of the summary
of what we're going to do

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for the Practical
Theological Framework,

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the four maps that
we're going to create,

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the laid out for you a
particular issue with Peace

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Lutheran Church that we'll
use as an example as we

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go through talking
about the framework. And

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hopefully, you'll stick
with us as we go through

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all of this. Now, as I
go through these various

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sections and these
various videos you're going

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to be watching, there are
going to be some videos

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that are more advanced
in nature. And I'm going to

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tell you when that
happens. So, if you simply

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just want a summary of
the Practical Theological

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Framework to be able to
use, that's fine. You can

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do that. But if you want
more advanced knowledge

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or go a little bit deeper
in understanding what

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I'm talking about,
there's going to be videos

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available for that as
well, and you can watch

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those. But you don't
need to. But if you're

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interested, I would
encourage you to watch those

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because it could be
very helpful for you. So, I

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hope that you'll join
us for this journey that

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we're going to go on in
understanding the Practical

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Theological Framework
and how it can be a

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blessing to your congregation
and your ministry.