I spent time today talking to all the administrative and support staff at FBC Richardson. What a great group of servants! We have a very capable and caring group of people working quietly behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly at our church. I want them and you to know how much I appreciate everything they do. Our Ministerial staff works hard ... but they couldn't do what they do without an extremely competent staff to back them up.I shared with them all that I am hoping to accomplish in my first 100 days as pastor. They were able to share their thoughts and concerns. I greatly appreciate their honesty and insights. They have already given me some important things to think about.
I hope that if you ever find yourself at the church office during the week you will let them know how much you appreciate what they do.
Tonight I was able to take my kids to the Rangers game (thanks to a very generous church member who let me have her season ticket seats for the night!). It was a great game and I had a wonderful time with my children. Thanks go out to Karen for the tickets! The Rangers beating the Tigers 7-3 was just icing on the cake.
I continue to conduct interviews with the "smart observers" in our church and am beginning to get a better picture of where we are as a church, what some of our obstacles might be ... and where we need to go over the next two years. I still have a lot more interviews to conduct, but I'm on target to meeting my goals. I plan on sharing my findings with all the church leadership in the Fall and then we'll be ready to present something to the church body.
I'm closing in on the first half of my 100 days and feel good about where we are so far ... PLEASE KEEP PRAYING!!!! Wherever God is working ... Satan is usually not far off trying to destroy ... DON'T FORGET OUR 100 DAY COMMITTMENT TO PRAYER! It is critically important that we bathe everything in prayer. Thanks for being a great body of believers!
Blessings,
Pastor Ellis
The smart observers. Nice. After the interview, do they get a lapel pin?
ReplyDeletenope. i'm on a budget here. just a gold star on their attendance chart. gotta love those gold stars.
ReplyDeleteMan, what a rip-off. At the very least, they should get a bumper sticker.
ReplyDeleteFocusing on what one gets for their participation at/in there church is a selfish interpretation for ones involvement in another’s inquiry for insight into the life of FBCR’s past, present, and desired future. The reward for such participation should be the personal satisfaction of knowing that one has taken a more proactive ownership in their church as opposed to just claiming membership in it.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, our selfless actions should be the lapel pin/bumper sticker that we display for society to be visually fixated on (and hopefully motivated by).
Well whatever we do, we must *never* display a sense of humor, or society might start to think that Jesus had one too. And then where would our witness be?
ReplyDeleteGuess I'd better mind my p's & q's if I see someone running around with a gold star on their forehead. At least I'll now know who the "smart observers" are.
ReplyDeleteRenae - It seems to me that we are not commanded to observe, we are called to "go, tell & do". How we go about completing this call will be seen by others, much like a star worn (as you noted) on one's head. The color of one's star would be an indicator of the intent that one completed their calling with. Unlike the badges of Nathaniel Hawthorne or The Third Reich, our's should not be one of humiliation and/or shame. When one looks down upon you for the star you wear, do as John commended Gaius for doing (3rd John, 5-8) and as Jesus has commanded of us..... Love them anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely certain that the "gold star" the pastor and Renae had in mind was the little foil sticker used to mark attendance charts in Sunday school. Their allusion was an in-house joke.
ReplyDeleteThis star, on the other hand, is no joke.
And there's no appropriate comparison, even by way of contrast, between the experience of being forced to wear that badge in 1930's Germany and the experience of being "looked down upon" as an evangelical Christian in the middle of the Bible Belt.