Seth Hedman

Some men long to do great things.  Nay all men, worth their salt, long to do great things.  They long for heroism, for the epic and adventurous.  Some may deny they feel this way and others will defend their apathy, that they are just different and that’s okay.  But I don’t believe God made men to be average, to coast along in the ordinary.  There is no ordinary person made in the image of God.  No, that is quite extraordinary.  In the Bible, God calls it Glory.  There was infinite Glory for God before the world began.  He created the heavens and the earth to declare the Glory.  And He created us to share in His glory, that we may be little glowing containers of it.  It is all around.  In the mountains and the sunsets. In the eyes of a beautiful woman whom you love. In symphonies and snowfalls.  It inspires. It builds. It melts.  How is it possible that the human heart, the self, that space right above your gut we ca...

Our Rejection of the Five-Fold Gifts of Ephesians 4 Has Created A Crisis in Church Leadership When it comes to the Ephesians 4 model of church leadership I have laid out in previous posts, my understanding is relatively impercise. I am not going so far as to argue for the exact details and systematic structure of a local church, or greater church denomination, ought to implement. In fact, that is actually more of what the spiritual gift of managing described in 1 Corinthians 12 is for. I am arguing that whatever structure is built, it must have different people in high ranking leadership with all of these gifts or else the leadership will suffer tremendously, as history bears out.

Why do we only focus on pastor and teacher? The answer is found in church history, bad theology, and fear. In my last post, I introduced the Ephesians 4 model for church leadership and the 5 spiritual gifts: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, and Teacher. Clearly these are all Biblical terms and gifts that compliment each other well in church leadership. Clearly, we can see many of these gifts and characteristics in ourselves and others around us. So why is the apostle, prophet, and evangelist so uncommon in the local church? Why do we drive by churches that advertise their "Head Pastor" but not their "Head Evangelist?" I would love to see an ad in the church bulletin looking for a "Youth Prophet." The answer is found in the history and development of the church.

How Ephesians 4 Changes How We See The Church Several weeks ago, I went on all-too-common twitter rant, lamenting the pain and suffering in the world and wondering if I'm not wasting my time leading worship or working on a college campus.  A mentor saw the rant and pointed me in the direction of a sermon series over the Ephesians 4 model for church leadership and, in particular, the role of the prophet. I am not much of one for "personality tests" and whatnot, but I was floored by how well this biblical model described me and, as I have researched and thought about it more, how our ignorance of this model has led so many problems the church is experiencing today.  My research inspired me to write a lot over this topic. I argue that the church's historical disregard for the Ephesians 4 model of leadership has led to a crisis in Church leadership, a systematic injustice which amputates the Body of Christ  and handicaps the Church's ability to fully and properly...

After being inspired by Eric Rafferty and spending basically an entire day on the awesome  piktograph.com , I completed this infographic for the vision God has given me for the next two years at Central and William Penn and my need for partners.  I'm really proud of it!

        So... May really flew by! Two weeks of finishing up at Drake, two weeks at a conference in Missouri, and all of a sudden it's June!  I'm excited to share with you some of the great experiences I had with the grace of God and His people this month! Leaving A Legacy          During the first two weeks of May, I ended my semester working at Drake as a volunteer staff.  I briefly mentioned in my last update that I had finished June leading worship for the last time at Drake.  It was a bittersweet moment, playing for the last time with two other seniors on the worship team, but finishing with a really fun night of worship and celebration.

Wow! April was a really fun month.  I got to see a lot of fruit on campus, have great interactions with students, and really start to settle into my role as a staff and raising partners.  The month was not without challenges though, including a nose surgery that sidelined me for a full week.  Two major highlights stick out with a couple minor points. Free Relays Taxi!!!! In response to reading the book Radical by David Platt, our InterVarsity leadership group got together last Spring and discussed how we might live out that book by radically serving our campus.  We came up with the idea to give free taxi rides home to students during Drake Relays, a big party week on campus.  We were a little worried about logistics and how students would respond... but it went amazing! We gave over 500 rides over three days and had nothing but ecstatic responses!

God has something to say. Imagine a righteous man who always does what is right: First, he worships Me exclusively; he doesn't indulge in gluttony or excess, nor does he worship idols like money or success—he doesn't even think about it! He puts God first above everything else; money, sex, success, relationships. Nothing gets in the way of God. Second, he does not sleep with anyone but his wife. He doesn’t have sex before He is committed to His wife.  He doesn’t watch porn. He is in control of His sexual appetite.

After much prayer and reflection, I gave this spoken word poem at Vineyard Community Church on 4/6/14 over the life of Daniel the Prophet. On The Shores of Babylon Daniel's Answer to The King by Briton Riviere (1890) God is my Judge That’s what my name means You may know me as Daniel But they even tried to take that from me I know you live in an age of plenty You think yourselves quite mighty And scoff at the idea of tyranny But take a minute, remove this cultural context which is so blinding And step into my shoes, you’ll see what I mean

It's Official I am proud to officially announce that I'm going to be a full-time InterVarsity campus missionary at Central University in Pella, Iowa!!!  It was a long process and I spent a lot of time in prayer and talking with friends and family, but I have no doubt that Central is where God wants me to be.  Go Dutch! Here's the story. I never got to sign a letter of intent when I came to play football at Drake, so I decided to fake a signing to go on staff at Central.

This is the first of a "Perspective of a Prophet" series in which I will be extensively studying and then speaking from,  the perspective of various Prophets . These words are not necessarily what I would say nor how would say them but from the perspective of the prophet. This installment is John the Baptist. Preaching of St. John the Baptist by  Domenico Ghirlandaio (1490) You wouldn't like me very much. Jesus called me the greatest man ever that ever lived... but you wouldn't like me very much. I prepared the way for the Messiah, that He may reconcile all people to God... but you wouldn't like me very much. You wouldn't like me because I told the truth and didn't pull any punches. Because I called people to "REPENT!" and "BEAR FRUIT!" before I told them that God loves them.  I'm sure you would have reminded me to "speak the truth in love" and "not be so serious all the time." You wouldn...

In order to fully understand sexuality today, in a culture drowning in lust and confusion, we have to go back to the very beginning, to Adam & Eve, and learn that human sexuality is not about fun, pleasure, love, or even procreation; it's about Jesus.  Can we really use Adam & Eve as that kind of universal principle? Adam & Eve in Worthy Paradise by Peter Paul Rubens (1615).  Genesis Principle Genesis 2:24 reads: " For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." This brief verse following the creation of the first humans is more than just a description of the first act of sex between Adam & Eve, but a principle and standard by which all future human sexuality and marriages should be judged and based on. The future tense of "shall" and the reference to father and mother, of which Adam & Eve had none, shows this is, in fact, talking about future sexual relat...

Our parents spent 18 years preparing us for the world. Now that we're on our own, we do what we want, often to our doom. Our early years in our parent's house were spent learning a lot of do's and don't, a lot of life lessons, and a lot of cliches we rolled our eyes at.  Usually our teenage years we feel like we are under the heavy boot of Big Brother and can't wait to get out the house. College, for many, is the first time we are on our own away from home and our parent's edicts, so we respond by basically complete rebellion against everything they've ever taught us.  Here's compelling proof that during College we do the exact opposite of what our parents told us to. 1)  "Don't make faces like that or it will get stuck" In an effort to rebel against our parent's ban on making faces, these girls have resorted to looking like aquatic birds for aesthetic reasons. The plus side is they're really good at eating spaghetti.  M...

Looking Back At An Amazing Month of God's Faithfulness I started off the month of February, despite the cold  and snowy weather, burning with excitement. I had just graduated in December and I was beginning my first semester working with InterVarsity. I could not have been more thrilled to be giving my time to students, fundraising, and seeing God's kingdom come on Drake's campus.  And it's been an amazing month!  I finally had my official interview with intervarsity, gave an unexpected talk at our weekly large group, and have been taking big steps to becoming a fully fundraised, full time campus missionary! Going back into the last week of January, let's look at some of the highlights: Student leader Cara Lutes setting vision at the Back To School Retreat Interview and Placement In the last week of January, I finally had my official interview with InterVarsity.  At a Panera out in West Des Moines, I sat with five (thats right, five!) interviewers from ca...

“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and [there ascend] to stand before the face of the Lord, ever present, all seeing, within you [and on the throne].” - Theophan the Recluse Growing up, most of us were told to pray before bed and before meals and we saw our preacher do it on Sundays, but we never put much thought into what it actually was.  At times we think of it as a check list and duty. Last Wednesday at InterVarsity, Ann gave a great definition of prayer to shake loose these misconceptions, that "prayer is conversation between two people in love, you and Jesus."  Like any conversation, if you don't know the person very well, it can be awkward.  But as you talk more and get comfortable, great friendships can form.  Many of us never get past small talk with God, having only brief awkward interactions followed by days or weeks of silence.  But if we want to get to know God, our Creator, our Abba Father, we must talk to Him. Without commun...