Sunday
Hey Gang,
I am trying to post at least once a week. I read most every day, but I post to my lifegroup blog every day and it is pretty lengthy so I don't get to write as much to this one.
We had a pretty busy weekend with church stuff. The highlights: We had Dann Spader in to do his Growing a Healthy Church 1 day conference. It was the best 1 day event I have ever been a part of. I have been wanting our leadership to be exposed to this stuff for several years. (Dann is a kind of grandfather to YouthWave. I know that Ben felt the same way about me for a couple of years.) So it was very cool to have all of our staff there. Only three of the elders showed up. I was a little disappointed in that. But those who were there were really excited that God seems to be confirming some of the directions we are moving. I am grateful to Tim Baugh for making it happen. We will see where it goes.
At the same time we had a couple in for the weekend to consider planting the church in Odessa. They are one from a week ago. I believe they are the right ones for this adventure. I think God is working them the same direction. I continue to pray. I believe this is a huge moment in our history as a church and as a fellowship. We will see.
We finish up Hutton's basketball season this week. Lee Ann is back at it. We made it through the first week of clinicals from 10pm to 6am. It is going to be tough, but we have one week behind us. I go to Brownwood this weekend to speak a couple of times at a regional retreat. By the way Dad, I will be sleeping at Providence Point and boating over to the Baptist camp. I may take Hutton on Thursday night with me and spend Friday there, speak Saturday and come back to Midland Saturday night. I may just go Friday.
One last question that was asked of us yesterday. Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. He wore the title as a badge of honor. With us it's definitely true of Lee Ann, but probably not me. As a family is that our reputation?
Have a great week.
posted by Tod Brown @ 9:56 PM
2 Comments:
Good question. You know, it's just so messy. But Bret Franzen's testimony is still fresh on my mind. A guy befriended him in high school and spent 2 years pouring into his life before he became a follower of Jesus. He pointed out (when talking about discipling relationships) that people are like trees. It's a process and it takes a lot of time. The time factor seems overwhelming to me at times when I think about being the friend of sinners. And, honestly, we've had a couple of situations in the past couple of years in which we invested a lot of time and then seemed to "lose" those people. Perseverance, perseverance, perseverance.
I would agree with Tod that the seminar was incredibly significant. I can't quit thinking about it. I believe God is going to use the principles we learned to transform the life of our church, and hopefully me. I need to be investing in the lives of others, especially unbelievers. Holly got so excited that she is going to put together a neighborhood directory to help us get to know our neighbors. We'll see.
Post a Comment
<< Home