Like all kids, she had issues. The trick to working with kids is to identify those issues and making them productive. But it was hard with Tina. She was sarcastic, irreverent and sometimes obnoxious. But there was a deeper Tina. All of those things were a part of her mechanism to cover a heart that was to tender. It was her way to keep from crying when she saw kittens playing, or (growing up on a dairy farm) when she saw a new calf born. It was hard to get to that tender heart, but possible. I was with her mother when her Mom told her that her father had died suddenly that afternoon. She tried to be strong for her Mom, but broke down. She cried on my last Sunday at the church. She fought it, didn't want me to see it, but she just couldn't do it. And, like all kids, she had a dream. When I first met her, she was seven years old. First thing she said to me was, "I'm Tina and I am going to be a lawyer." Cute, right? But that never changed. All through the years she had that dream. And in 2014 she passed the Ohio Bar and became a lawyer. The last four years she worked as a public defender. Yes, she could be sassy, especially with me. Even so, I was always 'Pastor Wade' to her and always there was a little hug waiting. 

A few nights ago, her mother, who had been my secretary, called me. Tina had been at work and began to have trouble breathing. They got her to the hospital, where she began to have chest pains. Then, at age 37, she died. Her father died back in 2005 in exactly the same way. Tina's mother, Denise, and I were standing at Frank's bedside at a Cleveland hospital. While Denise talked to Frank, my eyes wandered to the sonogram machine that was monitoring his heart and lungs. I saw something pass from his lungs and go to his heart. A blood clot. He died. I imagine that was what caused Tina's death, too. The autopsy will tell.

Tina had bought a nice little home a few years ago. She had plans. Not 'grand' plans. She had already accomplished the grand plan. Now she had the job she loved. She finally had the guy she loved and wanted to spend her life with. She loved being an aunt, but didn't want to be a mommy herself. She was very active in her church. Tina was living the dream. Then the light went out.

As someone said at the funeral home, "We know she is in a better place." Very true. I was with her when she accepted Christ. (She cried then, too.) I baptized her. She would argue about anything at the drop of a hat, except the Bible. She took the Word seriously. Kind of an oddity, actually. A Christian lawyer. So, I do know where she is right now. But it really, really hurts anyway. She was one of my kids. 

Death seems abstract to us as we live our lives. Oh, we see it. Some fear it. We know that each day brings us closer. But we manage to put it on the back burner. But it is coming. Maybe at the end of a long illness, maybe in just a few minutes.

Are you ready? Have you come to the Lord and settled your salvation? Have you put aside your anger or frustrations with others and offered the hand of friendship? The time draws close.

Tina leaves behind a mother, Denise, a sister, Jennifer and a brother, Jason. She also leaves behind a mountain of friends and relatives who are all hurting today. And she also leaves behind a testimony for the Christ she went to join. What will you leave behind? Consider it now for soon it will be to late.    

For the first ten years of ministry, I was bi-vocational. That means I did ministry (music and Youth at the start and then pastoring) and I also held down a fulltime job. Actually, during most of that time I was going to school as well. And then came McKinley Community Church in Warren, Ohio. They needed a fulltime pastor. I sent in my resume, and I was the only person they wound up interviewing and then calling. I HAD ARRIVED! But there was also the responsibility. Opportunity, sure, but I also had a church full of people who would be depending on me for Spiritual guidance, preaching weekly sermons, doing Bible Studies, visiting them when they were sick, doing their funerals and their weddings and all the rest of the things a pastor does for his congregation. In time, all those things became a part of who I was, and still am, but at first it was more than a little overwhelming.

I was into a week of this fulltime ministry when the church secretary came to me and said, "I am going to need your article for the November newsletter on the 27th of this month." Surely, I hadn't heard that right. "What now?" "Your article for the monthly newsletter. You know, the pastor's article. It is part of your job." Well, this was news to me. But apparently this was a tradition at McKinley. "Oh, wow, what do I write?" This earned me that look women reserve for really stupid men. "Something inspiring. It will be November so Thanksgiving will be coming up. That will make it easy." Right. Easy. I could write. I knew the rules of writing. I had written 'technical' papers in school, but I was pretty sure writing about Hebrew grammatical structure was not going to be 'inspiring.' I can't tell you now what I wrote in that first offering, but I can tell you it was a huge relief to get it done.

But then, something odd happened. After a few days of feeling relief, I began to get ideas for the next article. Of course, Christmas was coming, which would make it 'easy.' But after the Christmas article more ideas began to flood through my brain. I couldn't shut them off! I would write the ideas down and once written down they seemed to take on a life of their own and grow! I found out that I could express myself better with writing than I ever could preaching.           

After a good long ministry in Warren, Ohio, I resigned (on very good terms) and went to a church in Geneva, Ohio. There they mailed out over 200 newsletters a week! Now I got to write all the time! One day I got a letter from someone in New York state who had picked up a newsletter at a yard sale. The article touched him, and he sent a check to the church. A Christian publisher was sent a couple of newsletters from one of the ladies in the church and suddenly I was writing for a couple of Christian magazines. The publisher then asked if I would mind if they put together a collection of articles in book form to sell and to benefit a particular mission. I agreed to this (yes, indeed, I have sort of written a book). This in turn led to speaking at some conferences. It was all very heady stuff. Until one day when I was sitting in a plane on a runway in St. Louis waiting for the weather to clear and the Lord pricked my conscious with the thought that He had called me to pastor, not all the other stuff that was robbing my church of time. I stopped the rest and went back to pastoring and writing the weekly article.

And then came Indiana. The notion of a weekly blog was put to me by one Eileen Weck. I had no idea how to do this, but the wise and caring Miss Mary explained the process and got me set up. She already wrote a blog and the platform she uses keeps track of the number of reads and the various countries in which they are read. I posted my first blog on January 12, 2017. This particular blog that you are reading now is number 532. Most weeks there has been one blog, but there have been weeks of two or three blogs, and once there were four. With those blogs I had nearly 87,000 reads in 86 different countries. These efforts since January 12, 2017 have extended far beyond the scope of all the rest of my ministry efforts in the last 50 years combined. The internet has a lot of trash on it, but it can also be used as a vehicle for putting the Word out to the world. To say that I am humbled by His use and awed by His power and scope is a complete understatement. 

I love to write and would be glad to just do the writing.

However.....I have a pastor's heart. Where I live now has 119 apartments which house around 140 people. I conduct a worship service on Sunday morning, and it is not well attended. Our service is for seniors who want to go to a worship service but who cannot go to their own church, for whatever reason. If we have 15, it is a crowd. But that is a worship service. Pastoring is seeing to the Spiritual needs of people, visiting in their homes and the hospital or rehab facilities. With that in mind, I pastor anyone who has a need. It is what God has called me to do.

Anyone who thinks writing is just putting words on paper has never really tried to write. Writing, at least for me, involves time and research and proof reading. And since I am a poor typist, the actual writing is time consuming. Time I don't have. So, for now, this is the last From the Pastor's Desk. I have used that title for forty years. It reminds me who I am.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for the kind words. Thank you for the support. But mostly, to those of you who have allowed me to be your pastor, thank you for the privilege. 

Be blessed and be a blessing!  

  

 

When I make an appointment, I make it as early as possible. Very few want to be walking into an office at 7:50 for an 8 o'clock appointment. I like it because 1, I usually have other things to do later and 2, I hate to wait in the office. So it was that I was struggling through the parking lot of my apartment building, a parking lot filled with ice, frozen slush and fresh snow on Monday at about 7:15 in the morning. Arriving at the car, I had to brush the snow off and then work on the half inch of ice that covered the whole thing. Finally, I got into the car and got it started, backed out and headed on my way. Being a holiday (President's Day) the snowplows were delayed and the roads were covered in the same mess that filled my parking lot. I turned on the radio to hear traffic updates and while I waited, I listened to an expert who was telling the local host that this bad weather was the result of climate change and that eventually the earth would not be a place on which humans could live.

Now, I have seen a lot of life. I grew up in the area in which I now live. Northeast Ohio. I have done ministry right here for thirty two of the last forty years. So, giving my growing up years and those thirty two years, I have lived in Northeast Ohio for fifty years. During that time, I have seen fifty winters. Bitter cold, heavy snows, Lake Erie freezing over from the US to Canada. Year after year after year. Springtime is beautiful, summers are hot and humid and Fall is breathtaking. Every year, year after year. And yet, people talk of climate change. Maybe Northeast Ohio is immune to climate change. Tornados roar through Tornado Alley every year. Evidence of climate change, except that it has happened for as long as people have lived there. Hurricanes ravage the Gulf states and the Eastern Seaboard. Evidence of climate change, except this has always happened. Drought plagues various regions. Evidence of climate change, except droughts have always happened. In conversation with a young man once, he pointed out that there were many more named storms now than ever before. Evidence of climate change, except years ago we only named hurricanes. Now, tropical storms, winter storms and summer storms are named. Interesting.

There is one other evidence of climate change that tops the list, though. Glaciers are melting and sliding into the sea and are going to raise sea levels and destroy humanity. Climate change will kill us all! However, just this past week a scientific paper was published that says glacier movement is not a result of glacier melting. Instead, it is the weight of the glacier forcing the ice at actual ground level to break up and melt and thus allowing the glacier to slide downhill. The melting process begins as the glacier nears the sea, JUST LIKE IT ALWAYS HAS HAPPENED. The paper's proof is indisputable, being accepted by all the scientific councils. The upshot of the paper, which is the result of years of study, is that the predictions of sea level rise are way over blown. It is a natural event and is happening at a very slow rate. The sad thing is the people pushing the sea level rising narrative have known all along that it was fake. When the Obamas left the White House, one of their home purchases was on Martha's Vineyard, right on the Atlantic Ocean and just seventy two feet above sea level. Why would you spend 6.8 million dollars on a property you really believed was going to be unlivable in a few years? 

The whole purpose of the climate change narrative is to promote fear. Fear makes people easier to control and exploit. Why do people fall for such tactics? Because people love to be scared.

For instance, over the years I have been asked many times to teach the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (that is the actual name of the book, not Revelations. One Revelation given by Christ. Just a pet peeve of mine.) So, I have taught the book. Strangely, most people quit while I am taking weeks to work through the messages to the churches. They want to get to the exciting stuff of the punishments even though most of them will not even be there to see it, because it is scary! The whole story of Moses is pretty ho-hum to people until one gets to the plagues, because the plagues are scary! We climb on roller coasters and we bungee jump because it is scary. We read mysteries and stories of wars. We like to be scared. So, we allow ourselves to be told nonsense. One older gentleman told me once that when he read the Old Testament, it was all about war. Much more of redemption in the Old Testament than of war, but it depends on your selection of topics.

There is a Psalm that is requested at many, if not most, funerals. I have read it literally hundreds of times because it was requested, but it has to do with life rather than death. Another example of hearing what we want to hear.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteous for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You have probably heard that more at funerals (and in the good old King James version) than anywhere else. But read it for life rather than death and be comforted knowing the Lord is our Shepherd. We need not fear.

On a personal note: I have written on a regular basis for forty years now. Church newsletters, blogs, magazines, newspapers and those little funeral memorial folders you get at funerals. (Didn't know I had the soul of a poet, did you?) I have often said that I would rather write than preach, which is totally true. I have never considered myself a good preacher. However, my pastoral activity is increasing, which I guess was to be expected, living in a seniors' apartment complex. My time is more and more limited. So, I am closing out this blog. Next week's will be the last From the Pastor's Desk. Some of you have been so very kind over the years! But my readership is way down and I have to look at priorities. This is a very hard decision, but next week ends it. Thanks so much!   

When I was eleven, the funniest kid in school was Greg Rinyo. Of course, you never heard of Greg, but you knew someone like him. That is, if you were an eleven year old boy. Greg told these really dumb jokes that left us in stitches. One of the great things about being a boy, there was always a Greg. Girls, however, were different. You never saw girls laugh so hard that it was hard to breathe. No real sense of humor. Even at eleven years old they were talking about the boys. Judging them. Putting them down while secretly sizing them up. Serious stuff. Girls were too sophisticated. Unless they were away from boys. Then they could be silly. I had two older sisters. They could be laughing and cackling in their bedroom, but if I walked in the laughing stopped and a shoe would be on it's way to my head in an instant.

Of course, the boys outgrew all of that silliness. We grew up, took on responsibilities, fought wars and raised families. We longed for those days with Greg at the lunch table.

The good news is, THOSE DAYS ARE BACK!!! And it isn't an eleven year old kid telling the jokes now. Men are telling the jokes! Now, we call them DAD JOKES! And the girls still don't understand. Even so, today's blog takes us back in time. If you are a female (or identify as a female today) have your son/ brother/ Dad/ boyfriend/ husband explain it to you. I give you something non-theological....Dad Jokes! Although, I think even the disciples would laugh.

What did the ocean say to the beach?

Nothing, it just waved.

Why can’t a nose be 12 inches long?

Because then it would be a foot!

How do trees get online?

They log in.

Why don’t eggs tell jokes?

They might crack up.

Why was the math book sad?

It had too many problems.

What do you call fake spaghetti?

An impasta!

Why don’t skeletons fight each other?

They don’t have the guts.

How do you organize a space party?

You planet.

Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself?

It was two-tired.

What did the grape do when it got stepped on?

Nothing, it just let out a little wine.

Why don’t some couples go to the gym?

Because some relationships don’t work out.

How does a penguin build its house?

Igloos it together.

Why did the scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

What kind of shoes do ninjas wear?

Sneakers!

Why don’t seagulls fly over the bay?

Because then they’d be bagels.

Why did the coffee file a police report?

It got mugged.

What did one wall say to the other?

“I’ll meet you at the corner.”

Why do cows have hooves instead of feet?

Because they lactose.

What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?

“Supplies!”

Why was the computer cold?

It left its Windows open.

Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?

In case he got a hole in one.

How do you make a tissue dance?

Put a little boogie in it.

Why did the chicken go to the séance?

To talk to the other side of the road.

What kind of car does a sheep drive?

A lamborghini.

How do cows stay up to date?

They read the moos-paper.

What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

Nacho cheese!

How does a snowman get around?

By riding an “icicle.”

What do you call an alligator in a vest?

An investigator.

Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer?

He couldn’t see himself doing it.

What’s brown and sticky?

A stick.

Why don’t ants get sick?

Because they have tiny ant-bodies.

Why don’t skeletons ever use cell phones?

They have no body to talk to.

What’s a pirate’s favorite letter?

You might think it’s “R,” but it’s the “C”!

Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer?

She kept running away from the ball.

How do you catch a squirrel?

Climb a tree and act like a nut.

Why did the tomato turn red?

Because it saw the salad dressing.

What do you call a factory that makes good products?

A satisfactory.

Why did the barber win the race?

He took a shortcut.

Why don’t oysters share their pearls?

Because they’re shellfish.

Why do fish live in saltwater?

Because pepper makes them sneeze.

OK, I am done. Resume your normal day now. 

What is regret? By definition it is something you have done that impacted you or others negatively and now it weighs on your mind. It really isn't something that someone else has done that impacted you in a negative way. That really isn't 'regret.' Maybe someone rear ended you while you sat at a red light. That is something that happened. But regret something you could have avoided.

Having said that, I was asked recently what was my greatest regret in life and in the ministry. 

"Hmmm. Well, let's see. Hmmm. Well........ Nothing comes to mind." "WHAT? Nothing comes to mind? Your life has been perfect?" "Hah! Certainly not! There are things I wish had not happened and there might be some things I wish I had done differently, but no, nothing I regret. The Lord has been really good to me! Not in a material sense, but in a Spiritual sense, which is a lot more important to me."

And that pretty much ended that conversation. The closest I have ever really come to real regret was having to leave the last church I pastored. My health would not let me continue and I became depressed. For about a week. As time has gone by I see it was all a part of God's plan. They now have a pastor who can do the things I had become unable to do. They have the best Elder body I ever worked with and have now brought in a wonderful addition. The people are great. It was just time for everyone to move on. My health is greatly improved, and they are in very good hands, so there is nothing to regret.

In fact, looking back at life I don't see missed opportunities or anything like that. What I see is.....well......weirdness. Not weirdness in a bad way, but weirdness in a weird way.

1982. Hialeah FL. (suburb of Miami) We had taken our Youth somewhere in the church van. We had returned to the church and the kids had exited the van and were standing in a group on the sidewalk talking to Marsha. Recently a strange man had been attending our church. When I say 'strange,' I mean in a frightening way. He was building a spaceship in his back yard so he could go to a planet that was experiencing drought and help them out. His name was Phil. As I came around the front of the van he walked up. "Hey Phil! What's up?" "I've come for Noelvys. Taking her with me to that planet." Noelvys was one of our Youth. "You know Phil, I don't think Noelvys wants to go to that planet." With that, Phil pulled out a pistol and said, "Doesn't matter. She's going and you aren't going to stop me!" I have no idea what came over me, but I grabbed his hand and slammed it against the door of the van. I heard crunching and he dropped the gun and ran off crying. The police picked him up the next day, so I guess he missed his flight.

Now, dealing with a guy with a gun would be weird for anyone in the ministry, but I dealt with three other people with guns over the years, as well. Now that is weird.

2002. October. Different church, different state. The church was going to celebrate 135 years of existence. The church's first baptism had been on the very first Sunday in October in 1867 and had been in Lake Erie. By 2002 the church had a baptistry which we had used for all our baptisms. However, for the 135 anniversary the Elders wanted to have a baptismal service in Lake Erie. We had seventeen people awaiting baptism and I was sure they would say no. Lake Erie is not user friendly in October. But to my surprise, they all thought it was a great idea! So, I grudgingly went along with the plan.

Lake Erie was not friendly that day. Sunny, but cold. Waves very much over our heads. I nearly lost the first person I walked out. A wave crashed over us and he came up spitting and asked if he was baptized yet. I told him no. When the baptizer goes down with the baptizee, it really isn't a baptism. Just a near drowning. Finally, after sixteen people had been properly (more or less) baptized, the last one came splashing out. Twelve years old. I was beat. Couldn't wait to get back. Turned to face the beach just as the biggest wave hit. Because she was smaller, we had moved inshore quite a bit. The wave hit and smashed my face into the pebbled bottom of the Lake. I came up bleeding, she came up choking and I very quickly baptized her. But the real bad one was number eight. She came out wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I had come in to lead her out and I said to her softly, "Why the sweatsuit?" "Cause it is cold and I don't want to get cold!" "That thing is going to fill up with water and it will be heavy and you will freeze!" "No no, I'm good. Let's go!" By the time we got we got to the depth to baptize, the sweatsuit was soaked. She weighed twice as much as normal. Baptized her and really struggled to bring her up. Walked her part way back and then her husband splashed out to take her. When she got up to where she was only about knee deep, her soddened sweatpants fell down. Most of the folks on the beach were drinking coffee and one of the men said to me later, "Wow! Drinks and a show!" At the time I was not amused, but now it is really funny.

Many other things have happened that would be discouraging to some, but to me they have taught lessons and, at times, made me laugh. I mean, I passed out at the wheel once and ran one of our church ladies off the road! Today we can laugh at it (sort of). One day at a funeral home a lady gave me a hug and I didn't even know I needed a hug, and it was awesome. And I suppose that is the point here. When we follow the Lord, He takes care of things. Not always the way we want. In fact, almost never the way we want. But then we see His way is so much better than our way. We think of the great figures in the Bible. They didn't know where following the Lord was going to take them, but they followed anyway.

And if they didn't follow Him, they had nothing but regrets.  

So much to write about today! I could write about the weather. Miserable cold. Supposed to reach all the way to Central Florida. Back in the 1970s they tried to scare us by saying there was going to be so much pollution that the sun's rays would be blocked and we would freeze to death. Then in the 1990s, when we weren't freezing after all, they said we were in the midst of global warming and we were going to fry. But that didn't happen, either. Some glaciers melted, but some also had their ice increase. So, then they said climate change, and we are going to die. Well, I don't see much in the way of change except for the regular seasonal change. Weather has always been unpredictable.

Oh, wait, I know! The National Championship Game! Well, I guess I won't write about that, mostly since I don't really care and didn't even watch the game. But, I do feel it is my obligation to point out that Ohio State beat three Indiana schools by a combined score of 117-38 on the way to winning the National Championship game. And, if OSU can play enough high school teams, their basketball team might play .500 ball this season. 

We did greet a new president. I didn't watch it on TV or listen on radio. When I got back from my morning appointments, I lit up my computer. It was interesting. Fox Online had wall to wall reporting of the day's events. But I always check the liberal outlets for news, too, and then I make up my own mind. One of those outlets carried weather news, information about the Big Game that night and lots of mindless fluff, but nothing about the inauguration. It was actually funny. The first article of the day that they ran was one that said Mrs. Trump was standing next to her husband during the swearing in holding a stack of Bibles and the president didn't lay his left hand on them. The 'stack' was two Bibles (I don't know, but I imagine one was hers and one was his.) Donald Trump is human and I assume in the excitement he simply forgot. The Bibles were there, so they were part of the plan. What was sad was that this outlet has openly made fun of Christians and Jews and then they act offended that the president did not lay a hand on the Bibles. 

I could write about all of that, but another thought has been perking around in my head. 95 out of 190 USA Ambassador posts around the world are not currently filled. Half of all nations that we have diplomatic relations with have no US Ambassador to represent our country. There are many reasons, but those gaps need to be filled. It is not just a matter of putting a body out there, either. The American Foreign Service has to train people. There needs to be serious background checks. They are representing the United States, for heaven sakes! They must present our country in a sterling way. And when they get to their embassy, they MUST be near perfect. I looked up how many Ambassadors our country has had that have been expelled by their host country. Some have been expelled because the host country doesn't like the US anymore. A few have been expelled because their transmissions to Washington reporting about the activities of the host country (which falls within their job) were intercepted by the host country and they took offense. However, I did not come across a single incident of an Ambassador being expelled for committing a crime or acting in a lewd or immoral way. I have to believe that with Ambassadors all over the world and 248 years of exchanging Ambassadors with other countries, someone has slipped up. But if so, it has not happened very many times. Our Ambassadors know how to act!

In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, we have this; 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are Ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.    

I hope you get the meaning of this passage. God has a ministry of drawing the world to Himself and He has chosen us to do the actual work. You, me and every other believer who lives or has ever lived has the title of Ambassador! What an honor! What a high calling! And yet, over the last week, have you let that office down? This last week I was talking to a lady who says she is a believer. She got caught up in her rant and fired off a couple of sentences that could turn the air blue. She caught herself, dropped her head and said, "Pardon my French." I told her I know a little French and I am certain those words were not French. And then I told her this, "If you want people to treat you like a Christian, you have to act like a Christian." You get frustrated or angry, what comes out of your mouth? If someone badmouths you, do you heap coals of kindness upon their heads? When the world slaps you, do you turn the other cheek? 

Are we effective Ambassadors?    

 

 I enjoyed last Friday's Miss Mary's post about change. If you haven't read it, go to Mary's Moments and give it a read. It won't take but a few minutes and it is much worth your time. 

From a pastor's point of view, change is a nasty thing. Most pastors take change in stride, but it is the church that the pastor is going to that feels change is nasty. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have sat in a Board meeting, Deacon's meeting or Elder's meeting and heard the phrases "We've never done that before" or "That isn't the way we do it here." I was in a church in Binghampton, New York because they had called me for help. The building was massive but the congregation had dwindled too next to nothing. In a meeting with the church leaders on Saturday night I had suggested they do something in particular and one elderly lady spoke right up and said, "That isn't the way we do things here."  To which I replied, "Well, your way of doing things here is killing this church. Trying something new might actually help." This was not well received. Churches hate change even when change is the only thing that will save them.

In school we had a Ministry professor who addressed this issue. He told us that all things either change or die and the way to get a church to change is slowly, with baby steps. "And fellows, never go into that first meeting with the leaders when you are a candidate and tell them what changes you want to see them do. They know their people and they know their history and they know the struggles they have faced. Watch for about a year and then slowly introduce your thoughts." Very sound advice and advice that I adhered too. Until that one church.....

I was contacted by a church to see if I would consider coming to their church. I was already pastoring a church and the church that was contacting me was just a few towns away from where I had grown up. I didn't want to return to my home area, so my first inclination was to say 'no', but then I thought that I should at least go and talk with them. So, a time was set and Marsha and I went. When we got there we were introduced to the group. "Wait, are you all Elders?" The response was affirmative, so I said, "Well, that's not right. There should be regular church folks here, too. I would not be very comfortable in an Elder controlled church." They all looked at each other with uncomfortable glances. Marsha and I were still standing, so we said our good-byes and turned to leave. The Elder chair spoke up and said, "Well, this is just how we do things. First couple of meetings it is just the Elders." Which was just fine. It was their way. But I was going no further. Another Elder spoke up. "Well, OK. Maybe you could just sit and talk with us and we could use this as practice?" Marsha and I looked at each other and communicated by our glance and I said, "OK, that would be fine." So, we all sat down and started our little chat. 

The church had some funds that had been donated by folks over the years. These Elders were very proud of the fact that these invested funds could support the church. I told them that this was not good because it gave folks no incentive to tithe. I asked if they each tithed and they all dropped their eyes. I told them that not tithing was a Spiritual problem and since the Elders, Biblically, were the Spiritual leaders of the church, they should be tithing. Now they were really uncomfortable. I went on and asked them if they, individually, shared the Gospel. The eyes dropped to the floor. Again, that was their primary function. When we were led in we passed through the sanctuary and I noticed a floor to ceiling crack in the plaster. I asked how long that had been there. Someone mentioned a small earthquake from about ten years earlier. Marsha spoke up and pointed out that the crack was a bad testimony, especially when they called the building "God's house." No one was even trying to meet our eyes now. The community the church was in had a grape festival each year and I asked if they participated. (I had no problem if they did. I was just curious.) Oh yes, came the proud reply. Their church was known to have the best grape pies in town! "Is the church known for anything else other than great grape pies?" By this time everyone was examining their shoes pretty well.

I was anxious to leave and I told them that we needed to go. They asked me to close in prayer and we went our separate ways. I told them I would be praying about it, but I showed no enthusiasm. When we got into the car Marsha said we probably shouldn't have been so hard on them. I said that since we would never hear back it was our one chance to point them in a different direction. Looking back on it, we were pretty hard on them.

But I had told them we would pray about it.

A week later, Marsha and I sat down to talk about it. We both said that God was leading us there. However, since we had raked them over the coals, we knew we would not hear from them again. And then they called and wanted to set up another meeting. Folks from the church were there and again I told them that there were things they needed to do to live and it involved change. The secretary had given me a bulletin when we walked in and the order of services was so crammed full 'things' that I asked how long I had to preach. I was told they wanted out in an hour and so the pastor got about ten minutes. I laughed and told them they would have to do away with a lot of stuff or expect an hour and a half service. Still, we moved ahead and one thing leading to another, we accepted the call.

We started out on the wrong foot, but it was just the foot God wanted. Six years later the terror attacks happened in New York on 9/11. That evening we opened the church for any of our folks who wanted to come and pray. The church filled with folks from the community. I asked one fellow why he had come to this church, and he said that he knew that this church would meet for prayer. The next day all the pastors met to plan a community service for one week after the attacks. The first thing brought up was the location. They all wanted to be at our church. I protested. I named two other churches larger than ours plus the Community Center was more than willing to host. One of the pastors said no, this service needed to be in the most Spiritual church in town. I sat down and let the tears flow. In six years we had gone from being a church known for making a great pie to being the church that was known to never fail to stand for Jesus. Then, after eleven years, I stood in that pulpit for the last time. I spoke into a state of the art sound system. The walls and windows and floors were in perfect shape. New pews filled the sanctuary and every seat was taken. In the beginning they needed that gifted money to survive. Just eleven years later we had spent a small fortune and didn't even think of that money anymore. And we had baptized one hundred people in those eleven years, up from the one hundred in the previous century. 

Now, one could say that they would welcome change if they thought that would happen in their church. But that is not how the Lord works. He leads us into change and we may not see any benefit for a while. That isn't the point. The point is to follow the Lord and leave the blessings up to Him.  

Either welcome the Lord's change or accept death.