the freshness of it all...
today we went to church at the church conrad grew up in. it's had its share of trials...splits, lack of commitment, etc. attendance has been pretty meager since i can remember going with conrad while we were dating. i've never preferred the worship...old style, slow, everyone sits down. and though the messages are good and the people are sincere, i'll admit i've had a bit of compassion because i know of the trials, but also a bad attitude about me not getting fed when i go there. i've been convicted about it over that last year or two----believe it or not, it's not all about me...who woulda thought?? they got a new pastor about a year ago and he's done an amazing job of bringing what's left of the congregation together, and also in outreaching to the community. a couple followed him to idaho to do youth ministry. the open gym on friday nights has gone from 4 to 40. teens are hungry for positive relationships and for Jesus. there was probably 75 people there today...the most i've ever seen for a sunday morning church service. this is up from the usualy 15-20 a year ago and has been a regular amount for a few months now. there was a special speaker/singer there today who was very in tune with the holy spirit and did a mix of singing songs she and her songwriter have written and talking about different aspects of God/patriotism/etc. people were very touched. i saw some old christians wiping away tears, but most of us sat there and enjoyed the beat of the music (how sad is that...?). what touched me was the response from some of the people who have begun attending this church in the past 6 months or so. grown men weeping, a mother who had come to watch her 14 yr old get baptized got a special word from God, and the overall positive response to the altar call. PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY!! basically what i've been thinking, without going on all day, is that after years of walking with the Lord, i've become complacent. i don't think i'm the only one. we sit in our little church seats and do our weekly "duty" by gracing the church with our presence, paying our tithe (well, studies show 3% of us do) and give ourselves a pat on our back. this is NOT what it's all about. yeah, we have our little "highs" but those are all about us. what if we all started doing things because of JESUS??......reaching out, bringing people, getting involved in our church so we can have programs, speaking positively about our church family, praying faithfully for our leaders, etc, etc. i'm so sick of people (myself included) complaining, but yet not doing anything to change the situation. satan loves complaining, especially about the church/pastor/body, because it makes us weak, individually and corporately. God, bring back the excitement of sharing my faith in you, give me a passion for my little town and for my big town, help me to be a good example, help me to speak positively of my church body and leaders, and help me to draw people to you!!!! because it sure isn't about me.

okay, there's a wee bit of my soap box.....