Some churches have programs for kids before the service and some have them during the service. In the video below Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Bible Church provides an interesting perspective that I think is good.
My youngest son recently chipped part of his tooth which meant that we needed to make a trip to a pediatric dentist. I did what anybody does these days, then: I googled “pediatric dentist in tampa, fl.” That’s it. Out came a long list of dentists. As I looked through the list I wondered how I could go about selecting the best one? I didn’t personally know any of them. I didn’t know anyone that could recommend a good pediatric dentist to me. So how does one evaluate an organization if you don’t have any reviews or recommendations?
I recently ran out of ideas to write about. I have some measures in place like this calendar app that helps me to catalog what I want to write about, but I recently found myself at the bottom of the barrel. It’s not that ideas hadn’t been coming to me. The problem is that I hadn’t been writing them down.
So here’s what I did: I wrote them down. Genius, huh?
I pulled out my trusted Moleskine Notebook, created a tab towards the end, and took 15 minutes to write down every single idea that I could think of. During that time period I came up with about 10 solid ideas, including the title to this post.
Here’s two lesson I learned from this:
I met with our church elders privately. I then announced it to our church board. Afterwards I made the difficult announcement to the church. To get the full details and background you can read this newsletter I wrote to my church.
Here’s the gist: I’ve accepted a call to be the pastor of evangelism at Pioneer Memorial Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan. My last Sabbath at the Carrollwood Seventh-day Adventist church will be June 4th and our family will actually move north to Michigan the last week of June.
So why am I announcing this here?
Did you ever get a letter from someone that was trying to raise funds to go on a mission trip? I remember getting several of those back in the day. It would include the address of where someone could mail the check and what could be done to help. If you were really committed and close to the person, you’d probably go through the trouble of writing the check, addressing the envelope, finding a stamp, and putting it in the mailbox. But let’s be honest…most people will not go through all the trouble. Most people who aren’t emotionally attached to the person will quickly think about how much time it will take them, and end up throwing the letter away.
If you go to any church on a regular basis you’re probably pretty comfortable being there. People know you, you know them. Life is good, right? Especially if you’re a pastor or leader, though, I think it’s a good experience to see what it’s like to be a first-time guest all over again by visiting a church or service where you’ve never been before. I had the opportunity to do this recently in a Jewish service.
