Thoughts from the weekend

Thoughts from the weekend:

I had a great meeting with our two head ushers:  Tom Kirchner and Jon Gerstenkorn. 

Did you know that most people (according to studies) decided whether they are going to come back to any given church in the first 8 minutes of their visit?

That is how important our "First Impressions" ministry is. 

I encourage you to ponder and pray about joining our "First Impressions" ministry.  Be an usher.  Be a greeter.  Be an "informational booth" team member.

These volunteers are crucial to the church growth of our church!

Many, many thanks to everyone for the love offering that was given to our pastors yesterday for "Pastor Appreciation" Month.

It is a privilege to serve you.

We love you.

We appreciate you.

While I am thinking about it:  Many thanks to all of our volunteers who help make Sunday mornings "go."  You are appreciated.

You are important to the ministry that takes place.  As I said yesterday - you are a minister.

What I didn't get to yesterday:

Elton Trueblood has written:  "If the average church attendee should suddenly take seriously the notion that every lay person, member, man or woman is really a minister of Christ - we could have something like a revolution in a very short time."

And then this story:

33 year old Larry Walters recently decided to see his neighborhood from a new perspective.  He went to the Army Surplus store one morning and bought 45 used weather balloons.

That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair to which several of his friends tied these helium-filled balloons together.

He took along a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.

Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet into the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky - smack into the middle of the traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. 

Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than 2 hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon.

Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him, "Why did you do it?"

He replied, "Because, you just can't sit there."

That is a great challenge for everyone in our church:  You just can't sit there.

 

Love you all......