Monday, November 1, 2010

Quick Hits #12

1. Inspired by Challies's "How I Got Here" series, I think a sufficient amount of time has passed that I may tell my own story of moving from totally sold-out on the attractional, seeker church paradigm to gospel-centered ministry.

2. "Mad Men" fans may be interested to know that the ad-man memoir Roger Sterling wrote in the show's storyline is actually being published in real life by Grove Press.

3. "The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid." - Martin Luther

4. Last weekend was a perfect football weekend for me: Titans, Patriots, and Redskins all won. This weekend Titans and Redskins lost, and in both my fantasy leagues, I was pitted against my wife's teams, and it looks like she's gonna win both games. Blech.

5. It's election day tomorrow. I am more hopeful about eternal election.

6. Yesterday at our annual meeting, church unanimously approved the addition to our budget of a designated Orphan Care Fund, which is designed to inspire and financially assist members in the process of adoption or post-adoption care/counseling. I'm very proud of our church for never balking when it comes to practicing pure religion and loving our neighbors. This was a great start to National Adoption Month. (Orphan Sunday is this coming Sunday, Nov. 7.) Our fund has been seeded with the max amount currently set for individual missions causes, but by the end of this budget year we will have doubled that amount. Very excited about this.

7. Speaking of my church: I didn't know October was Pastor Appreciation Month until somebody called me the evening of September 30th to "warn" me. ;-) All month long my family has received such warmth and generosity, from lots of baked treats and meals to gift cards for meals out, offers to babysit the kids, thoughtful notes and cards, clothes and a sewing machine for the chickadees, a quilt that has been passed down in one person's family, an arrangement of pumpkins made up to look like our family (if we're Facebook friends, you've seen this photo and will note how excellent the likenesses were), and capping it off yesterday was a dummy Tom Brady sitting in my office, with a note thanking me for my loyalty to his football awesomeness. We have been blown away. But this is just how this church rolls. We always feel taken care of, whether its my friend Bobby who comes to drop off his mower for me to borrow but always ends up mowing my yard for me when he does it or the way the church has been footing the mortgage for our still-unsold home in TN so Becky could move up here.

8. I am sometimes asked by people whose perspective is skewed -- as mine once was -- about why a guy with an (allegedly) promising writing career would move from Nashville to a little town in Vermont even people in Vermont haven't heard of. But I'm not the catch. My church is the catch. There's nobody like this community of Jesus-lovers. I am humbled by them even as I'm honored by them. I'm grateful for them.

3 comments:

Jason said...

It's awesome the way the church supports and loves you in real ways and not just a "thanks Pastor, we appreciate you" as they're running out the door on Sunday.

Zach said...

At first, my heart said, "Oh why can't I be a part of a church like that!"

Then something from outside of me said, "That's silly for many reasons. Why don't you seek that at your church now, instead of lusting after someone else's Spirit led devotion and labor."

So thanks, indirectly, and also thank you for your posts. As always.

By the way, I can be a fellow Pats fan as soon as your head coach retires. But that's another story for another time (Super Bowl XXXVI cough! cough!)

salguod said...

"But I'm not the catch. My church is the catch."

I loved that. I hope that one day I might come and visit both your church and Hemmings Motor News in Bennington Vermont. In the summer, of course. :-P