Here's the first billboard for the church. The idea for the billboards is to get people to think or laugh or both. The next one will be funny, but this one is for thinking.
Actually, this quote was from a few weeks ago: "I didn't know you were a pastor. I just thought you were someone being nice." The woman who said it is genuinely kind - and I know she meant it in the very best way. The situation to which she referred concerned a pastor who helped her on her first Sunday get her kids to their Sunday School Classes. However, it got me thinking. Expectations of a pastor can be low. We're too busy to care. Or, in a more fair fashion, we have a lot on our plates and can't be bothered with something that the volunteers should be doing. Especially, on Sunday morning. Being nice - even in church - is an anomaly to some. Lord, help us (all of us) to never be too busy to act in mercy and grace. Fill us with a desire - indeed, a passion - to help. What do you think?
I have received a few "anonymous" comments to this blog since starting it over 6 months ago. Usually, they are read and ignored because I feel that if someone isn't willing to own up to what they have to say, then it must not be very important. However, I received one today and decided to answer one of his/her questions. When I worked at Hewlett Packard, we would have occasional "coffee talks". These were large meetings of an organization where some planned topics would be discussed before the leader of the meeting would often ask, "what rumors have you heard that I can refute or validate?" So, in that spirit of openness, I will attempt to answer one of these questions. "Is the Church in Trouble? " This depends. I capitalized the word, Church, as the question was written. So, I will give two answers: one for the global Church and the other for the local church (Central Community). The global Church. If being "in trouble" means that ...
We are in change. Big change. We see it and will see it again, this weekend. And, as I speak with those around me, I see a mixture of weariness and fear in response. How does one respond to change? It is a personal deal, definitely, that depends on the context and perspective with which one finds himself. My perspective will likely be different than one who has worked for years with these folks who are leaving (I have worked with them a relatively short 8 months). In the world in which I've been working for over two decades before coming on staff here at Central, change happens. People move on. We all continually assess where we're at and compare it with where we want to go or remain and make the tough choices on whether to stay or to go. Unfortunately, we don't understand the impact and import of those tough choices made every day that we just don't know about. The other day, a volunteer confessed that she was ready to stop volunteering because the problems she was enc...
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