Well here goes …

You have to realize that I never … never … never imagined I would be pastoring again.  To be quite honest, I had lost faith in the church.  I was called into ministry and 34 years later I came to the conclusion that somewhere along the way I got a job.  In my naivete, I imagined that the ministry had something to do with “ministering” to people.

I found out that there was a lot of paper that needed to be pushed …

I found out that there were endless organizational details to be cared for …

I found out that sometimes Christians can be more difficult to get along with than those who make no such profession …

I found out that the pressure of performance lay squarely upon the pastor’s shoulders and that the most important performance seemed to take place on Sunday morning …

I found that we had lost the art of discipling men and women to Christ …

Need I go on?  I can.

Pastor Jeff asked us to fill in for him this summer.  I was happy to do that and really didn’t pray too much about it.  It wouldn’t require what that day to day grind of ministry often exacted.

The craziest thing happened.  I began to rub shoulders with Lifers.  You won my heart.  Your minimalist commitment to the organization was compelling and your maximal commitment to the organism … the Body and beyond.  Well that was something I had worked toward for 34 years and only rarely caught glimpses of it.  Without knowing it, Jeff and Marcia picked their successors.

Now I am home … in so many ways.  I feel a greater freedom than I have ever had in ministry.  It was the LAST thing that I expected to find.

You need to know that I believe in you.  Not your perfection or your “slick”.  We are pretty ordinary on Sundays and that’s okay.  But I think we are extraordinary between Sundays, where the Christian life is meant to be lived.

And you need to know that Elaine and I have fallen in love with you in a very short, unscripted period of time.

I believe that God is at work in all of this and we have no idea what he has planned for those that love Him.  That’s always been the case.  Are you ready for the new thing that God is doing?  Can you perceive it?