Archive for the ‘Teamwork’ category
August 12, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. August 12, 2015
What is a hymn?
How you answer that question may actually say something more about your age…or lack of…than anything else.
If you answered that question with responses such as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”, “In the Garden”, or “Blessed Assurance”, chances are you are over fifty years old.
“If you answered that question with such songs/hymns “Blessed Assurance” (again), “Majesty”, and “Pass It On”, you are probably under fifty by a few years or a couple of decades.
Why would I say such a thing? I hear quite often from the senior folk of my congregation the desire to sing more hymns. We try to balance our worship between hymns and praise songs. Recently, however, a revelation occurred to one of our musical members when she was talking about what hymns are. The younger folk she was in conversation with thought that a hymn was any song in our current hymnal…which includes each of the songs I listed in both sets of responses above.
That makes sense, in that they are in the…hymnal! But those who have been around for a few years would tell you that “Majesty” is not a hymn because…it just isn’t!
It speaks to the fact that any church that is a mixture of ages will have situations occur where people assume they are speaking about the same thing, but they really aren’t. It’s a cultural disconnect in the church.
When I was growing up and someone was asked whether they went to church the answer would be “yes” if they were there every Sunday. Some might even have said yes because in their thinking being a part of a church meant you were there every Sunday morning and evening, and every Wednesday night.
If that same question is asked today the answer could be yes, but the determining criteria for the one who answers is completely different. If a person attends Sunday worship once a month he characterizes that sa being intimately involved in his church. The typical church member now attends Sunday worship 1 to 2 times a month, whereas in my young days it was 3 to 4 times a month.
It is the same topic…are you very involved in your church’s ministry…but the definition of “very involved” is seen different.
What happens too often is that people, fallen in nature, misread other people they never discover are speaking the same language in different ways. Instead of grace entering into the conversations sometimes suspicion and presumptions become the gap fillers.
The challenge for any church is creating that environment where people can hear those who are different than they are, while also feeling like they are also being understood.
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Grace, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: church attendance, hymnal, hymns, language, Pass It On, praise songs, speaking the same language
Comments: 1 Comment
July 31, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. July 31, 2015
As a high school basketball coach and a middle school football coach I am around adolescent athletes a good bit each week. I love relating to them, seeing them create life-long friendships with teammates, and improving on their skills and understanding of the sport they are competing in.
There is growing concern about a multitude of things related to middle school and high school sports. “Helicopter parents” is a new term that is used to describe parents who are always hovering over their children to make sure that the coaches are seeing that the next Peyton Manning is right there on their football field in a twelve year old body.
We also have the “transfer craze”, where athletes are changing schools because School A has a better team than School B, plus the attached thought process that says, “I’ll have a better chance of getting a college scholarship if I play for School A!”
Helicopter parents spend unbelievable amounts of money to have Johnny play for a club basketball team, go to several basketball camps, and outfit him with gear that an NBA player would wear…because if Johnny is going to play for Kansas, or UConn, or UCLA someday he’d better get started now.
And so grade-school boys are treated like celebrities and middle school girls start walking with swaggers because their lives are consumed with playing a sport…one sport…year-round…too excess, but nothing is too excess in the eyes of their parents.
We cut out the years of their lives where they can just be kids, playing whiffle ball in the backyard with the neighbor kids, catching fireflies at night, and having a sleep-over in the home-made tent in the basement made out of bed sheets and blankets and propped up by chairs. We eliminate the need for kids to just be kids, like it’s a wasted period to be avoided like acne, and we rush them into being grown-ups who haven’t reached puberty yet.
But the tragedy in addition to that is that when you don’t let kids grow into their lives it’s like cutting off a body part that will hinder them in some way at some time. Johnny gets to his junior year in high school and is sick of his sport, and he’s angry with his parents for making him play it excessively. Brenda’s knees ache all the time to the point that Motrin is her best friend. Tim thinks he’s a loser simply because he is very athletic, and his parents have told him he should be with all the money they’ve spent on him over the years. Judy can’t stand being around her dad because all he ever talks to her about is volleyball.
A life rule that we just can’t seem to remember is everything in moderation! Excess does not lead to success! In fact, more often than not, excess is the curb on the road to sadness.
In a few days my wife and I are having a cook-out for all the girls I coached for five years in high school. We will talk about some of the games, and a couple of our opponents, but we will mostly talk about what is going on in their lives now, the meaningful team bonding experiences they had, and the former teammate that passed away a couple of months ago. It will be a gathering of young ladies who have moved on in life and are understanding that the most important things do not have to include a round 28.5 inche basketball!
Categories: children, Freedom, Parenting, Story, Teamwork, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Basketball, club sports, Everything in moderation!, excess, excessive, helicopter parents, high school ports, high school transfers, middle school, middle school sports, moderation, one sport athletes, team, team-bonding, whiffle ball
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June 26, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 26, 2015
My good friend, Steve Wamberg, and I were sharing over coffee this morning about our grandkids. Steve has a four month old and my quiver is almost full with three. Grandparenting is exciting, and an excellent source for new sermon material.
Steve made the revealing statement that Facebook has become an excellent way of checking in to see how the grandkids are doing. Everyday…multiple times…my daughter and his son post pictures, videos, updated news, Christmas gift lists, and if all the grandkids are healthy that day on their Facebook pages. It’s like we can watch our grandkids grow up without being helicopter grandparents.
This morning I watched my newest grandchild, Corin Grace Hodges, talking to a stuffed animal that was dangling in front of her face. Last Sunday when she was dedicated in our morning worship service a posted picture on Facebook showed the displeasure of Corin’s big sister, Reagan, as I was saying the dedication prayer. Reagan likes to pray, and she was borderline pouting that I was leading it instead of her.
I’ve watched my grandson Jesse’s mugging of another boy in the midst of a Buddy Basketball game from last season. Jesse might tell you that he got all ball, which he did! The problem is he also got both arms and a couple of ribs with it!
Steve and I see Facebook grandparenting as being almost like a monitor camera in our grandkids’ lives that we can look in on. “What’s Jesse up to, I wonder?” Click…oh he’s reading Charlotte’s Web! Awesome!”
Understand that Facebook grandparenting will never replace face-to-face and sitting-on-lap grandparenting, but it does keep us in the loop without being a pest.
In a couple of weeks I’ll be baptizing Jesse on a Sunday morning. I’m sure it will hit Facebook within ninety minutes of the event…and I’ll watch it and watch it. But even more awesome is the fact that our families in Illinois, Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, and Kentucky will be able to view it. call it Facebook “Uncle-ing” and “Aunt-ing” and other family relative terms.
And just so you know…Reagan said the prayer before lunch last Sunday. She was quick on the draw and left me in the dust. She’s a sly one! I have Facebook videos to attest to it!
Categories: children, Christianity, Community, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Prayer, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: baby, Facebook, family pictures, family videos, grandchild, grandchildren, grandparenting, grandparents, helicopter parenting, praying
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June 25, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 25, 2015
Somewhere in eastern Kansas (Lawrence) a young lady with very short blonde hair has her feet up in the air right now. Allison Perrine is bicycling, along with about 30 other college-aged young adults, four thousand miles across the country, from Baltimore to San Francisco, in seventy days.
I’ve been following her journey as it has progressed. Carol and I supported it financially a few months ago when she was in the midst of trying to raise $4,000. Today I noticed she was $83 away from having raised $22,000. The funds aren’t being used for late-night runs to Sonic or daily living expenses. Allison is raising funds for young adult cancer awareness, patient navigation, and support groups.
Today would have been the 48th birthday for Allison’s mom, Becky. Becky passed away from cancer in October of 2011. Becky was my secretary for the last few years of my pastorate at First Baptist Church in Mason, Michigan. Allison was a quiet little blonde-haired girl who always looked terrified by me. Perhaps since my last name was Wolfe she thought I was big and bad. These days Allison is not quiet any more, but she is also anything but timid. Her mom has been the inspiration behind her journey, and she has persevered through a lot of obstacles.
In eight days (July 3) Carol and I get to meet up with Allison in Fort Morgan, Colorado. We are excited to see the girl who has grown up into being an exceptional young lady. I’m sure I’ll have tears banging on my eyes to get out as I see the image of her mom shining through her.
Before she started on this journey, Allison got her beautiful long hair shaved off to help in another way. I’ve noticed from the pictures on her daily blog post that it’s grown back to being just a little longer than stubble.
Many of us are traumatized by the tragedies that jolt our lives. We give up, looked stunned, and choose isolation. Allison chose to keep on keeping on. She chose to persevere. On her mom’s birthday she wrote the address of her mom’s favorite bible verse on her leg…Joshua 1:9, which says “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
If you would like to follow Allison’s blog you can go to:
Www.4kforcancer.org/profiles/Allison-Perrine/
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Community, Death, Faith, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Allison Perrine, bicycling, bicycling across the country, cancer, cancer awareness, courage, honoring parents, Joshua 1:9, perseverance
Comments: 1 Comment
June 23, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 23, 2015
Dear Jack and Jill,
I happened to be watching your son Benny’s Little League game the other night. Yes, I know…that’s probably a little surprising to you. You probably think I spend all my time in prayer meetings or talking to people from the top of a mountain, walking on water and turning water into wine…you know, “the work of a messiah!” But, actually, I kind of enjoy baseball. My favorite team is…you think I’m going to say the Angels, don’t you? Actually, it’s the Cubs! They need all the help they can get! As the Word says, “nothing is impossible with God.” But, of course, those words were written before the Cubs came into existence! Just kidding!
Benny seems like a sweet young lad. I couldn’t help noticing that he laughs and seems the happiest when he is with his teammates in the dugout.
I couldn’t help noticing your body language when he came up to bat. You tensed up like the physician was about to put a hypodermic needle in your backside. When Benny stood watching a third strike sail by him his teammates still offered encouragement to him when he came back to the dugout. I then looked at you and noticed that both of you had your head in your hands in obvious disappointment.
After the game Benny was smiling when he left his teammates, but Dad, as soon as he came to you the words of advice and correction started.
So take these words with a grain of salt or chew on them and be the salt!
Let Benny be a kid! Even when the local newspaper starts putting stats in the daily sports section, let him be a kid! I don’t know if you realize this or not, but I love kids. I mean…I love everybody, but I especially love kids who are just kids. That might sound like a strange way of putting it, but actually, some kids are made to grow up too fast, and…hold on!…turn into their parents too quick!
Benny wants to know you love him for who he is, not his batting average! God wants him to enjoy being a kid for a while before he learns how to hit a curveball!
Let me suggest that you focus more on building a child with character than one who can play six positions on the field. There are a lot of adult baseball players who hit for power, but have no character. Let Benny’s baseball skills develop alongside his character. The world is changed by people who want to help others much, much more than fastball pitchers.
Don’t sell out to the game! Keep a balance in your family life. Benny may love baseball, but don’t allow him to be obsessed with baseball. Obsessions pave the road to imbalanced. Passionate is different than obsessed. Passionate echoes his love for it, his enjoyment in it. It’s okay to be passionate.
Give him some space and grant him grace. Don’t try to live your frustrated sports life through him. I’ve noticed that too many parents buy into the idea of investing their kids’ lives into extended practices, a multitude of games, long weekends in strange places, and buying the best equipment with the hope that their child will end up on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. I worded that exactly the way I meant it also…”investing their kids’ lives!” They too often mortgage their children’s childhood for a future that the child may end up despising.
Here’s one last thing! What I noticed about Benny is that he has a caring heart. A couple of times he got a cup of water for a teammate who had just before that had made a defensive error. When he was sitting on the bench for a couple of innings he was encouraging his teammates. He helped the catcher get his equipment on, and one time put his hand on the shoulder of a kid who was smaller than him who had just gotten thrown out trying to steal second base. Benny is a great kid! And guess what? He will probably never be able to be a kid again. If you let him giggle in these years it will open up a laughter in his spirit and joy in his heart. Perhaps that’s where I’ll end it! Focus more on developing his heart instead of his muscle mass and throwing arm.
Have fun with these days! I’ll be watching and smiling, but for now…the Cubs need some divine intervention. They’ve got a series coming up with the Cardinals!
Holy Cow!
Jesus
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Grace, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: angels, Baseball, childhood, Cubs, enjoyment, kids, let kids be kids, Little League, obsessed, obsession, passionate, sports section
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June 17, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 17, 2015
Currently, there are 16 people who have announced that they are candidates in the running for the 2016 Presidential race. Why so many?
Let me step back for a moment. Why would anyone want to be President? On most of the decisions half the country isn’t with you, and the half that are with you are at risk of jumping ship any moment…depending on how your decision affects them. Why would anyone want to be in that position?
Don’t get me wrong. There have been many good presidents in the history of our country, but most of the time they aren’t recognized for effective they were until years after they left office. Rarely has a president been recognized for right decisions while in office! that would mean that the rival party would have to give credit, and how would that look when the next election came around?
It still begs the question that is on my mind…why are there so many people running? The answers to that question range from practical to an inflated level of self-confidence. Some are running because they are getting their name out there for 2020. They don’t expect to win in 2016, but perhaps people will take notice of them for four years on down the road. My guess is that most of those reading this post will find it difficult to remember even half of the candidates who have declared, let alone the two others who have formed “exploratory committees.”
Some of the candidates will fall by the wayside in a few months when they realize that their is no steam in the engine. But others will stay the course too long because they either feel called to run, have never started something they didn’t finish, are being urged by their constituents to stay the course, or they are simply full of themselves.
Self-confidence needs to be a quality of the president, but not so self-assured to the point that the person doesn’t think their bodily discharges don’t stink…if you get my drift!
If I start believing I can personally fly, and keep telling myself that, at some point the reality of my earthboundness is going to come into play in a crashing sort of way.
What should we look for in a president? Some may crucify me for this, but I’m looking for just a few things. The wisdom of Solomon…the patience of Job…the strength of Joshua…the prayerfulness of Daniel…the ability to listen like David…the grace of Paul…the faith of Abraham…and the willingness to say “I’m wrong” like the prodigal son.
I know that I just listed eight men in those qualities, but gender if not an issue for me. the candidate I vote for will not be on the basis of a gender, although I know a lot of people would make their decision on that basis.
I simply go back to the question again: why would anyone want to be president?
“Somebody has to be” may be the best reason!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Faith, Freedom, Grace, Jesus, Nation, Pastor, Prayer, Story, Teamwork, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: 2016 Presidential Campaign, campaigning, Candidates, decision-making, Donald Trump, exploratory committee, good presidents, President, presidential campaign, presidential qualities, running for office, self-assurance, self-confidence
Comments: 3 Comments
June 15, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 15, 2015
Today was the first day of our Vacation Bible School. I was running gym time, well stocked with balloons, bubble blowing attire, ping-pong balls, and long styrofoam noodles. Six different groups divided across four age groupings!
What an amazing time it was! Giggly girls…confused boys…little ones with runny noses…and a few pre-teens and teens who weren’t too sure about an early morning wake-up call on a summer vacation Monday!
Give a four year old a balloon in the midst of a big gym and watch the fun! And I was having fun with them!
“All right! See who can keep their balloon in the air… without holding it!!!!…all the way to the other end of the gym! Ready…set…go!”
What is it about a balloon that makes a four year old squeal as he or she plays with it?
“Who thinks they can make their balloon go all the way to the other end by just using your foot? Raise your hand! Raise your hand!”
A flock of hands go waving in the air like sunflowers in an open field.
“Ready…set…go!”
The squealing gets mixed with giggling as the non-competitive race begins.
Fifteen minutes of balloon fun!
And then the two’s and three’s attack the gym! I’m ready with the bottles of bubbles and the bubble wand. In fact, I instantly create a new character called the “Bubblemaster!”
“Okay! Follow the Bubblemaster and see who can catch the bubbles!”
With this group I have to be careful because they do not realize that my size eleven’s can step on them. One cute two-year old boy comes up to me and with a very serious face gives me a heartfelt message.
I have no clue what he said, so I just shake my head and try to look understanding and compassionate.
A little girl puts down her balloon for a moment to look at a boo-boo she got two weeks ago on her knee. A little boy swoops in like an eagle on prey and snatches up the loose balloon. Thus, a lesson to two year olds needs to be instantly taught about sharing and fairness!
By the time the pre-schoolers leave my head is almost as light-headed as one of the balloons!
But I love it! Maybe because I’m just a kid with XL clothing on, or because they have such interesting developing personalities.
Or maybe because I see Jesus in each one of their faces, a treasure, a jewel, a blessing about toi be given…to me!
Tomorrow should be just as fun! The kids are excited, I’m excited, and the giant squishy ball is about to be unleashed!
Awesome!
Categories: Bible, children, Christianity, Grace, Humor, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: balloon games, bubble blowing, bubble master, four year olds, games, giggling, laughing, playing with balloons, pre-schoolers, squealing, vacation bible school, VBS
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June 12, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 11, 2015
I’ve been consulting with a great mission organization located here in Colorado Springs called Reach Beyond. Reach Beyond is passionate about sharing the words of hope spoken by Jesus, known as the gospel. They minister around the world in numerous cultures, many that are not accepting of the Christian faith or representatives of that faith.
At our of last recent meetings we were gathered in the conference room discussing a new curriculum that the organization is creating that seeks to motivate people to share their faith. Around the room attached to the walls there were about twenty quotes on mini-posters from missionaries, leaders, and pastors from the past and present about the Great Commission and the urgency of sharing the good news of Jesus.
As our discussion got more excited, however, one of the mini-posters, a quote from Oswald Chambers, suddenly fell off the wall and hit the floor just a slight thud. Jim Elliott followed closely behind. By the end of our meeting four quotes from missionaries or key Christian leaders from the past and present had taken a plunge to the carpeted floor beneath them.
The eight of us who were meeting in the conference room didn’t take it as a sign from God to forget being mission-minded. Instead we saw it as a visual illustration of what has happened to missions in general.
The concern for missions…listen to this, listen…has dropped in many churches, but concern for missions not initiated by the church has seemed to increase. That is, there are more and more people who are not associated with a fellowship of believers who are becoming increasingly interested in missions.
How can that be? Easy! Churches are concerned with paying salaries, operating buildings, establishing programs and ministries…which are not bad things, mind you! Many churches give 10, 15, 20, 30% of their funds to missions. Others gives a token amount.
But many who are not a part of a church have the mindset of supporting missions with 100% of their gift.
There needs to be a happy middle ground in there. Sometimes church ministries and their effect get taken for granted, and missions get forgotten. Jesus commanded his disciples that as they were going to make disciples, and then in Acts 1:8 he said to be his witnesses close to home, in the vicinity, and all over (my paraphrase). We can become location minded in an imbalanced way. What goes on inside the walls of a church building or the living room of a house church is just as important as the mission couple who are being witnesses in the midst of a Japanese culture or West African mission hospital.
When there is imbalance the missionaries fall and the churches falter. It’s a partnership that often gets screwed up.
Jim Elliott got put back on the wall more firmly…more firmly supported…and stayed there the rest of our meeting. Sometimes you just have to hammer the point home a little more for it to stick!
Categories: Bible, Christianity, Community, Jesus, love, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: Jim Elliott, mission support, missions, Oswald Chambers. giving
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June 8, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 8, 2015
I’ve recently written quite a bit about loss…losing people close to me who have gone on to glory. Believe me! I don’t want to write about the process of grieving for the rest of my life, but I had two experiences yesterday that have profoundly affected me.
It began with “the missing!” A dear man and his wife, 94 and 91 in age, were missing from their usual spots in worship yesterday morning. Rex helps take the offering each Sunday morning and always squeezes my finger when I put my offering envelope in the plate. He looks at me and says “I’m praying for you”, and then he gives me a wink. It’s an important moment of the morning for me…but he wasn’t there.
He’s been battling a form of cancer, running a race against old age…and the age is catching up to him. He is a dear committed man of God and serving husband to his wife, Ann.
I called him Sunday afternoon and asked if I could bring our group of young men by to pray with him and his wife, Ann, that evening.
“Well…that would be great, Pastor Bill! Yes…I think that would be all right!”
So we went, six of us, spent time with them, heard about his “miracle malts” that his granddaughter was bringing to him that seemed to make him feel better, and then we stood with them in a circle and prayed.
Each one of us felt a bit of heartache knowing that this couple were in the midst of daily struggles to just keep going. The weariness of their bodies was now dictating what could be done and what had to be surrendered. Things that we took for granted were now only maybes for the two of them.
But we were also blessed by simply being with them, holding hands with them and praying, listening to their stories told with wit and humor. They were so thankful that we had come, but we were even more thankful that we had been there.
After we prayed and hugged on them for a while we got in our vehicles and headed down the street to the ice cream place, BJ’s Velvet Freeze, and we all ordered malts!
Right before I had gone to be blessed by this pair of ninety somethings I became aware of another kind of heartache. I young lady I had coached for three years in basketball died. Twenty years old, full of potential and primed for life…suddenly gone. I was numbed by the news. On the wall behind me in my study is a team picture from her freshman year where she is standing just behind my right shoulder, in the midst of her teammates, looking happy and almost giggly. That was one of the sweetest, most fun groups of girls I’ve ever coached. They finished 13-5 and beat an undefeated Doherty team in the last game of the regular season…a group of Doherty girls that had not lost since they started playing together in 6th grade.
And this young lady was a vital part of the team, but more than that, she was just a delight to coach that year.
And now her light had faded out!
That same sense of heartache that I experienced as I sat with Rex and Ann I also experienced as I processed the news of the death of this young woman, but this time it was tagged together with helplessness. I wished I could have said something to her to change the course of her ship, to let the wind be in her sails again. I wish I could go back to her freshman year and be blessed once again by the giggling and the solidity of those relationships amongst teammates. I wish I could rewind and know that I could say one thing that I hadn’t said before that would result in June 5, 2015 being different…being a day of celebration and fulfilled promise instead of grief and deep, deep sorrow!
A strange day of lives that have been long, purposeful, and fulfilling…and a life that had barely started…and I can’t stop thinking about it!
Categories: children, Christianity, Community, Death, Faith, Freedom, Grace, Humor, Jesus, love, marriage, Parenting, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized, Youth
Tags: age, basketball coach, being blessed, blessed, coaching, coping, grief, grieving, heartache, helpless, loss, malts, ninety year olds, Old age, praying, sudden death
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June 7, 2015
WORDS FROM W.W. June 7, 2015
From the time I was eight years old I’ve been a part of American Baptist Churches. Before that time my family went to a Southern Baptist church in Winchester, Kentucky (Central Baptist Church with Pastor Zachary). We switched to American Baptist because we moved from Winchester to Williamstown, West Virginia, and the Baptist church in town was First Baptist Church with ties to the ABC.
That’s my pilgrimage! No doctrinal differences that sent us scurrying for safety. No questioning of our salvation, or limited program opportunities…just one town with one Baptist church. I was at an age where I didn’t understand what a Nazarene was…and the only things I knew about Methodists were that the Boy Scouts met there and that they didn’t meet as often as we did at the Baptist church. They didn’t even have a Sunday night service, which I thought was the eleventh commandment!
I grew up, moved to Zanesville, Ohio, and then to Ironton, Ohio. The First Baptist Churches in those communities were also American Baptist-related. And that’s how I became entrenched in my denomination.
All that to say that in less than three weeks when my denomination has their biennial convention in Overland Park, Kansas I won’t be there! It isn’t a protest because of some issue they will be debating. It’s just a matter of church budget constraints. I didn’t even ask for the biennial convention to be a line item in our 2015 budget. If we are committed to sending mission dollars to various parts of the world I just couldn’t see asking for a thousand dollars to send one pastor to four days of meetings.
I’m not disgruntled or embittered. I’m just…conservative!
And I’m probably not alone. I’m sure there are plenty of other pastors of small and medium-sized congregations who can’t justify the expense as well. A few years ago I made a suggestion about simulcasting the biennial to various places around the country and world. The concern was that we would lose the “community feeling” of the biennial, those face-to-face conversations with people we know or missionaries who are available or region executive ministers being able to meet with “new blood” potential pastors.
I still was not convinced that the cost of bringing a couple thousand people together from around the country and abroad was worth the expense. The last biennial I attended was in Richmond, Virginia eight years ago.
And so I will miss this one! I’ll miss reconnecting with ministry friends such as Tom and Diane Bayes…and Bret Truax…and Ed Owens. I’ll also miss the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board luncheon, and some great speakers, and the freebies that I’ll keep for memories.
But I’ll survive…and our denomination will go on.
Sometimes you just can’t do everything, and a person needs to decide what it is he/she can do. What is financially responsible? What is good time management? What makes sense?
Categories: Christianity, Community, Faith, Pastor, Story, Teamwork, The Church, Uncategorized
Tags: ABC, American Baptist Biennial Conventio, American Baptist Churches, biennial, church meetings, denominational meetings, fellowship, Kansas, Overland Park, Richmond, Virginia
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Words from WW Blog 