Well I am going to be honest and this is a difficult topic.
I was very happy to be out of town for the weekend. It was great to have a few days away. [See yesterday's post.]
Then I came back to hear that several people came to church, entered the sanctuary and then left when they found out Jeff was not preaching. Walked in the door, entered the sanctuary, then left to go home. Didn't even stay.
What? I can't believe it? Woods Chapel people did this?
This breaks my heart. Imagine how the other person would feel that was preaching that day. We have excellent substitutes. And when did church become about listening to Jeff. If this place is no bigger than who the pastor is that is preaching, we have a good deal left to learn.
Let's start over. A church is more than it's pastor. When you join, you join the family, not the pastor. When you join, you agree to support it all. You join it, warts and all.
Friends, I need everyone to be there for everyone. We must all be in this together. Everyone matters. Every member of the body matters. Please do not walk again. Ever. Every time you sit down in God's house there is a blessing in store, regardless of who is praying, singing or preaching.
This is the house of God, and we are all his children. I love you all. Thanks for listening.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
4 comments:
You are right, Jeff, in that this would be disturbing to most pastors. And this is probably something you aren't going to be able to fix. I'm glad the key word is "several." At least it isn't large numbers of people who head out.
Many things in life are "relative," and this is one of those. We definitely have some wonderful pastors/speakers in our midst, at WCC. All churches should be so blessed.
The conundrum is that you are so darned good/gifted at preaching, that people's tendency to want to hear you is not a reflection on our other fine speakers, but rather a compliment to how good you are, so people tend to want to hear Jeff. This happens regularly when Jeff is preaching in the Worship Center.
And someday, when Jeff's retirement comes, the problem is going to be more acute. God is good, and WCC is His churhc, not ours. So he will see WCC through this when the time comes.
Jeff your points are well taken. As a church family we all need to support each other. I attend a different church with the same problem. Because of this problem, it is never announced when our regular pastor is going to be gone. He is gone about one Sunday in five. Somehow the word gets out anyway and attendance is always down on these Sundays. The usual substitute pastor is a great guy and usually has a good sermon but his style of yelling the sermon at us tends to put people off. No one wants to address his delivery style for fear of insulting the guy. What to do.....
Amen. Thank you for saying this. It has bothered me for sometime.
We were in the Worship Center at 9:05 and Pat did a fantastic job. His message was a blessing and it's sad to hear that people missed it by choice. You're right - we have some excellent people to deliver a message. I'll listen to what Don Canfield, Karen Schuler, Wendy Minshall, Sherri, and Mike Scott have to say any day.
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