The idea of being ‘caught’ in a transgression (sin) doesn’t mean that it was being done in private and someone found out (although that certainly could happen). Rather it means that a brother or sister is caught, or trapped, or has stumbled into sin. According to this verse, when someone is caught in a transgression, another should restore him. In other words, we need others to help us be restored when we stumble into sin. True community is when we love one another enough to help each other grow and seek the face of Christ, especially when someone has temporarily lost focus.

Paul continues in this passage by stating that this restoration ought to be done with gentleness. This will help guard us against self-exaltation (as in, ‘I’m glad I’m not like this person.’) In the body of Christ we must fight against pride and arrogance. That is actually the context of Galatians 6:1-2. Galatians 5:26 talks about not becoming conceited and Galatians 6:3 deals with not thinking too highly of yourself. True community in the body of Christ will happen when we recognize that we are all sinners, saved by grace, joined together as a faith family, seeking to honor Christ both individually and corporately. Paul goes on to say, “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Why do I bring this up? I bring it up because I want us to focus on community this year. I want us to think through, as a faith family, how we can get into one another’s lives and help each other treasure Christ above all things. I bring this up because walking with Jesus is the most important thing in our lives, and we need each other to do it well. I bring this up because I see community and fellowship as a clear indication of the health of a church. I also bring this up because community seemed to flow naturally in the New Testament church. Acts 2:42 says, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” While there is much more to unpack in this verse, I simply want to point out that one of the four things the church was committed to, having just added 3,000 people, was fellowship.

While I do believe this can happen naturally, I also know that many of us could use an avenue to start building lasting and meaningful relationships with each other. This will become even more of a factor if the Lord continues to add numbers to our congregation. At this point I think the best way to do this is through our Sunday School. While I have stated before that I believe community groups (in homes scattered through SWFL) would be very beneficial, I simply do not want to add another night to our weekly church calendar. Therefore, since we have the Sunday School hour in place already, I would like to challenge each of you to become a part of Sunday School. However, do not come to Sunday School just to show up. Come to Sunday School in order to speak into the lives of your brothers and sisters and to allow them to speak into your life. This will take humility. This will take patience. It will take a willingness to let the gospel message continually be applied in your life and the life of CLBC. But I believe, if we take seriously the command of Scripture to be a community of faith, then God will be glorified in and through us. Let us make every effort to build meaningful relationships in the body of Christ so that we can indeed fulfill Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

During this past year many of us have dealt with some difficult situations. When we think of individuals we should quickly realize some have lost jobs, some have lost loved ones, some have moved away, some have gone through difficult family situations, many have faced surgeries of various kinds, and probably hundreds of other things. Through all of these things God still proves to be God and He still proves to be faithful. It truly has been a wonderful year of grace in the midst of some difficult times.

During this past year we also have had much to rejoice in by God’s provision. We have seen babies born within our congregation; we have seen several new members added to our faith family; we have seen God work and move in ways that only He can; we have seen His hand working to heal, sometimes through a merciful touch and sometimes through doctors and nurses; and we have seen a thousand daily graces from His loving hand. We ought to indeed rejoice in these things. God has proven to be God and He has proven to be faithful.

We now, by God’s grace, begin another year together. When a new year begins people often take time to reflect and make goals for the year. I want to challenge us with a goal this year. Actually, the goal I want to challenge us with for this year is a goal that I want to challenge us with for life. Beyond this, the goal I want to challenge us with is a goal of every Christian, so it’s really nothing new. However, it’s easy to drift away from this over time as we get busy and add responsibilities to our lives. So what’s the goal?

The goal is to be intentional about making this year a year of radical faith. This is a simple declaration, but a much more difficult application. This takes intentionality because it doesn’t come naturally. We need to be “built up in Him and established in the faith” (Colossians 2:7). In fact, we will spend a sermon or two (or three!) in this text as we begin 2012 together. There is intentionality here, which I hope to show from these sermons. The first one will be on Sunday a.m., January 1, 2012.

There are several practical ways that we can be established in the faith, but here are a few I’ll mention:

Read the Bible and pray daily

Memorize helpful Scriptures that you can use to grow in faith

Gather with the church regularly where you can sit under the teaching and preaching of God’s Word

Join a smaller group of believers (Sunday School would be an excellent place for this) where you can be cared for and prayed for on a regular basis

Find a couple of others who love you and will hold you accountable in your walk with Christ

Get involved in ministries and outreaches that help and serve others

Find a way to be involved in missions

These are just a few ways. I am very thankful that God has allowed me to pastor this church. I look forward to what He may do in and through us in 2012. He has proven faithful time and again and I am convinced that He will continue to do so unto the end. May we truly seek to know Christ and to make Him known!

For the glory of His name,

Pastor Randy

Be intentional.

Make this a year of radical faith.

     I want to encourage each of us with this article to make sure we don’t neglect the One who matters most. Why do we have a holiday called Christmas? We do this because of what we learn in John’s Gospel. In John 1:14 we read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The incarnation of the Son of God is why we celebrate Christmas. Sure we can honor Christ by giving to others. Sure we are free to enjoy the gifts of God in our lives. However, with all the pressure from society, friends, and even family, we have to be intentional to not neglect the focus on Christ.

     How can we do this? I would suggest developing particular traditions that help you keep your focus on Christ. I know we all have family outings and gatherings, which again ought to be enjoyed for the glory of God. We also have a chance to get together with our faith family. On Christmas Eve we will have a service at 6:00 PM. I hope everyone reading this will make it a priority to be here this year. This is a great opportunity to slow down and focus on Christ together. This year we also have the opportunity to get together on Christmas morning. Again, I know the pulls and struggles, but shouldn’t we consider making it a priority in our lives to get together with the people of God to worship Christ on Christmas? I hope you and I will take the necessary time to slow down and make sure the busyness of the season doesn’t distract us from the reality that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

     Since I do want to help and encourage you, I’d thought I’d share a few of our family traditions. We add to these often and will change them when needed. These are not what you are supposed to do, but just some ideas that have helped us over the years.

• On Christmas Eve my wife gets a breakfast casserole together. This helps us not to have to focus on cooking Christmas morning.

• When we awake we go into our living room and see the gifts that we all received from one another. We have two kids, so I know this is a part they love. As a side note, we are actually working to change this a little by have a manger built and placing all the gifts in there to help point to the greatest gift in Jesus.

• After taking a few moments with this we will all sit down and read from the Scriptures together about the birth of Christ.

• Prayer and singing to the Lord usually follows.

• We usually eat breakfast together afterwards and the kids play with some of their new gifts.

• One of our final traditions (at this point) is that my wife and daughter work together to bake a birthday cake for Jesus.

• When it’s ready we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and rejoice that He was indeed born into this world to save people from their sins.

     We want to do more. We want to make sure the focus of this season (and life!) is about Jesus. I hope this helps. I would love to hear of some of your traditions. May we worship Christ as individuals, families, and as a faith family this Christmas!

                                                                        With grace,

                                                                        Pastor Randy

However, I challenged us that morning from Hebrews 13. Particularly I challenged us from Hebrews 13:12-13, “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured.” To be outside the gate, as Jesus was, was to be among the unclean and despised people. This was the place where the town didn’t hang out. Sure they may go through there, but they didn’t dwell there. Those who dwelt outside the gate were those not welcomed in the town or village. And Jesus went outside the gate, among them, in order to sanctify the people through His own blood. In other words, Jesus went there to die a sacrificial death for others.

Verse 13 calls for others to go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach that He endured. I stated on that morning that Jesus still works among the poor, despised, and outcasts in our world. Jesus even states this about Himself when He reads from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus came to save the sick and the suffering through His sacrificial death on the cross in our place.

Both the author of Hebrews and Jesus in the Great Commission invite us to be a part of His saving mission. I challenged us to go to those in SWFL that no one else will go to. I challenged us to think about what it would look like for you and me to engage the people whom everyone else looks down upon. I wonder, even as I write this, if we are serious about taking the good news of Jesus Christ to those who are so desperately in need of hearing about the only Savior of this world.

Let me be as clear as possible about this. Let me make this as simple as I possibly can in a newsletter article. Beloved, we must either decide to embrace this calling on our lives or we must reject this calling on our lives. We cannot have it both ways. I have talked a ton about missions and engaging SWFL with the gospel of Jesus Christ in my 14 months here. I have challenged us week after week to think through how we may reach our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I even stated on that Sunday morning that how we respond to that message will directly effect whether we are still a church in 5, 10, 15, or 50 years.

I am encouraged that we have taken some steps to get into our community and world with the gospel of Jesus. We have helped stuff backpacks for kids before school started. We have been on Edison State College’s campus a couple times handing out water and church brochures (which have the gospel message on them). We have raised funds this year for an orphanage in Haiti. We raised funds that enabled me to go to Myanmar with the gospel and to provide some food and clothing for those in need. All of these are reasons to rejoice. All of these make my heart really glad. But I still have a sense of urgency that there is more we can do. I still see the lost souls around us and I still hear the statistic that over 90% of Lee County is unchurched. And I wonder whether we are willing to go outside the camp to reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ.      
    

My friends, this will not be easy. When Jesus sent His followers out in Luke 10 He told them in verse 3, “Go your way; behold I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” This still holds true for us today. The challenge is still real today. No one likes to hear that they are sinners and need a Savior. But we are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been commissioned by our Lord to go and make disciples of all nations. This is nothing new to our ears. We have heard this for years as a church. In many ways it may seem like we’ve heard this too much.

Let me say that I agree that we’ve heard this many times. And let me say that just hearing this is not the answer. Let me say, as humbly as possible, that we (myself certainly included) need to be more than hearers. James says in James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Brothers and sisters let us be doers of the word.   
 
I write this article under extreme conviction in my own life. I write this article with a desire to see the nations reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I write this article with a desire to see Cypress Lake Baptist Church impact our community with the gospel of Jesus. I write this article knowing that many of the things I think it will take for us to effectively reach Fort Myers, FL with the gospel of Jesus Christ may be controversial to some. It may even be controversial to some within our faith family. However, I cannot live my life without living it for the glory of God. I cannot live my life without being faithful to the calling of God on my life. I trust you can’t either. And so I say again, adapting what John Knox famously said, “Give us Fort Myers or I die.”

For the glory of God,
Pastor Randy

However, I also hope that we will see that this is rooted first in God’s grace. We are a gathering of people who have been born again by the Spirit of God by His grace in our lives. It starts there. Because we now have the Spirit of God within us we can treasure Christ above all things. There is nothing of greater worth than Jesus. We must remember this when things get difficult. We must remember this when we want to jump ship and do our own thing. And we must remember this when we wonder whether or not it’s worth going to the hard places to do the hard things for those who do not even know about this Treasure. We also must remember that we exist, in all times and all places, to bring glory to our great God.

Some may conclude from that paragraph that I simply mean we ought to always go overseas to the hard places. I do not mean that, but I do want us to realize that taking the gospel where there is no gospel witness is of greatest importance. With that being said, I love the fact that God, in His providence, has placed us in Fort Myers, FL. I have been told that over 90% of our area is without Christ. If that is true we have much work to do here. We cannot neglect so great an opportunity for the glory of God in this city! This is not an either/or mentality, but a both/and. Jesus expects us to obey Him and make disciples of all nations.
As I stated a moment ago, God-willing I am leaving soon to help take the gospel to Myanmar. This is only possible because of my faith family. This is only possible because you gave the money, the time, and the prayers for me to go. Thank you very much for partnering with me to spread the gospel in another country.

I also want to take a moment to say thank you for two other opportunities we’ve had over the past couple of months to make an impact locally. By God’s grace we were able to help prepare several hundred backpacks for kids who were unable to purchase what was needed as they prepared to go back to school. This was our first opportunity to help in Harlem Heights, and I hope and pray we’ll have many more. This past month we also had the great opportunity to get onto the campus of Edison State College to pass out free bottles of water and some information about our church. Again, this faith family provided the waters and the time to make this happen. We were blessed to hand out close to 300 bottles! Praise the Lord!

God seems to be doing great things in and through us as a faith family. I am humbled and delighted. I pray for more. I pray that God would give us Fort Myers. I don’t mean this for my own selfish ambition, but because there are thousands around us who have not bowed the knee to King Jesus. John Knox, the Scottish Reformer, once uttered, “Give me Scotland or I die.” I wonder if we’re as passionate about seeing God’s name exalted in our area. I wonder if our prayer life would show that we are serious about making disciples of all nations and that we are serious about beginning in Fort Myers, Florida.

Would you pray with me that God would give us Fort Myers? Would you labor with me? Would we be willing to give up our lives and trust that our Father would work in and through us to display His glory to the ends of the earth? I am eagerly anticipating God to do many more great things. To God be the glory, great things He has done!

When the people of God in the Old Testament had abandoned the Word of God, they began to do what was right in their own eyes. This was not a good thing, as it led them astray from the Lord and caused judgment and evil in their land.

However, when you get to Nehemiah you see something happen. The people gathered together and a scribe named Ezra read them the Book of the Law of Moses. All the people listened attentively. When Ezra opened the book he “blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered ‘Amen, Amen,’ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:6).

I wonder, do we really long for the Word? What do we look forward to each day? What about on Sundays and Wednesdays?

I, as your pastor, am committed to the Word of God. I truly believe “All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). As Jesus prayed for the church in John 17, He said in verse 17, “Sanctify them in truth; your Word is truth.” I truly believe that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). I believe that “heaven and earth will pass away, but [His] words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). I agree with the Psalmist who said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). Finally, I believe that God has given us His Word that we might know Him, the true and living God.

On the other hand, I also believe that this precious gift is so easily accessible in the USA that we take it for granted.

Beloved, do we long for the Word? When we wake in the mornings what do we think of first? What do we long for first? Is it the revelation of God to man? Is it the Word?

I said, when I first came, that I believed Cypress Lake Baptist Church could be a thriving church because I believe in the power of God. The way God sanctifies His people is through the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

However, acknowledging what I’ve already said in this article is only part of what is needed. We can’t simply acknowledge that the Bible is the Word of God; we must also submit to its authority.

The Scriptures as God’s words have authority over us as His bride. They must shape our every decision. They must lead us to do the hard things that we would never do if we were left to ourselves. They must guide us in every outreach, every corporate gathering, every study, every prayer – every aspect of life, individually and corporately.

I am convinced that when the people of God submit themselves to the authority of God in His Word, that God will do amazing things with and through them.

So church, do you long for God? If God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His Word, then the way to know more of God is to know more of His Word. O how I pray to God that He would increase our affections for Him and give us a love for His Word. May we be like those in the days of Ezra that, as we hear the Word, are driven to worship! May we not do what seems right in our own eyes, but may we have the eyes of Christ.

By His grace and for His glory,
Randy

My recommendations are rooted in what I hope is the focus of our church as stated in our mission statement: “Cypress Lake Baptist Church exists, by the grace of God, to make disciples of all nations, through treasuring Christ above all things, for the glory of God at all times.” If this is our focus, then we ought to think through how to apply this mission statement in our context in Fort Myers, Florida. With that being said, here are a few applications:

1. Core Commitments – I think we ought to be committed to three things: The Gospel, Community, and Missions. Beginning on the first of June, I plan to start teaching through these three commitments on Wednesday evenings.

2. Music – Please do not get me wrong or misunderstand me when I say this. I think the body of Christ is diverse and therefore we ought to express that diversity in the way that we come together as a faith family. As I stated on May 15, our evaluation of our music shouldn’t be about whether it is old or new, traditional or contemporary, but rather about whether or not it has deep theological truth that will enable us to worship Christ in Spirit and in truth (John 4). I also stated that I hoped we would consider raising enough money to bring on a second staff person (Associate Pastor) who will be able to minister to the flock, while also focusing on our music. Someone stated that would probably mean we should raise at least $100,000.00 for the first two years. My hope is that we would do that as a minimum, but would rather see it be closer to $110,000.00. I plan to discuss this during our June business meeting.

3. Children – I do not see children as “the future of our church” because I hope they are presently part of our church. While I understand what is meant by that statement, I think we ought to think through how we can better minister to the children that we have today to help them become devoted followers of Christ. One area that I hope we will work on soon (by the Fall?) is to have a Wednesday evening ministry to train the children already in our midst as well as the children that God will be bringing to us.

4. Fellowship – Certainly fellowship of the body is more than simply gathering together for enjoyment and conversation, but it’s not less than that either. I want to see community built within our faith family, and I want to see us thinking through how we may grow together and invite others to join with us. If we are truly a faith ‘family’ then our fellowship together ought to reflect this. I think beginning a regular time of gathering together for fellowship (maybe eating a meal on Wednesday evenings together) is a good way to see that fellowship grow deeper still.

5. Outreach – There is no reason to water this down. The truth of the matter is we ought to have a heart (as individuals and as the church) to reach all that we can with the good news of Jesus Christ. In Acts 1:8 we see that we are not limited in the range or the demographics of whom we are to reach, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Beloved, we need to pray and work to reach Fort Myers, SWFL, the USA, and the ends of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ. God honors faithfulness to Him and His word. We do not have the right to pick and choose whether or not we will do this!

6. Gathering and Connecting with our Visitors – I am thankful for our greeters. However, they are not alone in helping to connect with and minister to our visitors. I hope we will think through how we may intentionally engage those who visit with us while they are here. I hope we can take the time to get to know them as much as possible in that brief setting. However, I also hope we will think through and pray about how we may connect with them after they leave here. In other words, we want to care for those whom the Lord brings to us, and we ought to think through how we can better reflect that care in our actions.

There is much more that could be said, as there are certainly more areas we could focus on. These, however, are the ones I feel are important to address now.

I do not see these as BIG changes, but rather as a few small changes and as a bunch of hearts that want to see the glory of God displayed through our church.

As the missionary William Carey preached, “Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God.” Let’s seek to humbly follow his example.

May we dream big, labor hard, and pray harder together!

Your Co-Laborer for Christ,

Pastor Randy

There are at least three ways I think we can plan to help the school through this transition. There has already been guaranteed some money for AWP that will help them relocate so that they can continue their ministry by providing an education and care for the students. I am grateful for that generosity, but would challenge us to add to that sum over the next few months. The transition will be expensive, and this is one way the church can help support them. A second way the church can help the school relocate is through helping them physically move their things when the time comes. I recognize that will be limited for some of us, but let’s show them we care by trying to help where we can. The third way, which is the most important way, is to pray for this ministry. Though it will no longer be a ministry of CLBC we still have four of our members working there. That alone ought to cause us to make sure we are praying for them. I know there are and will be other ways to help through the transition, and I pray that we will display the glory of God as we help them through this time.

Now, I also want to say something about the church. We have experienced several good things happening lately. We’ve had many visitors and people interested in our church in various ways. We have an opportunity before us to minister to them as well. This is not because the school will be gone, but rather because we ought to seek ways to be the body of Christ before them. The Lord, I truly believe, has great things in store for us. I honestly believe that we are on the brink of being used by God to reach many people in our community for Christ. There will be many ministries that come to be at CLBC in the future. As we continue to grow and move forward there will be needs that are presently unseen. I pray that even now we might display the glory of God as we seek to minister to those among us and to those outside as well.

We have an opportunity to apply several characteristics that are expected of those who follow Christ. We have a chance to display love and compassion to AWP as they seek to relocate to a new facility. We have an opportunity to come alongside some of our visitors and help them get plugged into our faith family. We have an opportunity to tell our neighbors and our friends about the good news of salvation found in Christ.

Beloved, I sense the Lord has stirred us and shaken us all in order that we might rethink how we can live and function for God’s glory. I love you all more than you will ever know. God is not finished with us yet. He has great plans. I look forward to loving, planning, and serving with you all as the years go by.

For His Name’s Sake,
Pastor Randy

During our conversation, I admitted to a mistake I made early on in my ministry days. When I was a youth pastor I thought that I had to help my youth know more before we actually got involved with missions and reaching the lost around us. I have now come to realize that actually doing ministry is what causes us to grow.

Another point that came through in our discussion last night is that we do not actually have to read this book to understand this. The Bible has already commissioned us to make disciples. Most of us are familiar with the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28:18-20. Maybe we’re also familiar with our church’s mission statement, “Cypress Lake Baptist Church exists, by the grace of God, to make disciples of all nations, through treasuring Christ above all things, for the glory of God at all times.”

One more thing I want to remind us of before I get to my point. Several months ago, I preached through the book of James. On October 24, 2010 in our evening service I preached a sermon entitled “Biblical Faith Always Produces Godly Works” from James 2:14-26. My point in that sermon was that God expects us, as His people, to do what we know we’re supposed to do from Scripture. When the Holy Spirit works in our lives and enables us to live for His glory, we ought to seek how we can live out our lives in obedience to the King.

I’ll close this article by bringing all of this together. We know we’ve been called to make disciples. We know we’ve been called to help one another as we seek to grow in grace together. We know we’ve been called to reach the lost around us with the gospel. We know we’ve been called to minister to those who are hurting and needy when we have opportunity. Knowing all of these things (and many, many more!), I pray that we will seek to live our lives matching our declarations. May we live out the gospel in such a way that people will see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven! I challenge us to put our faith into practice by loving, praying for, encouraging, and strengthening one another. Together, let’s seek to make new disciples of those around us. We do not need to wait, because actually doing the Word of God will help us to become more like God.

With hope in the gospel,

Pastor Randy

Nose and Hand were sitting in the church pew talking. The morning service, led by Ear and Mouth, had just ended, and Hand was telling Nose that he and his family had decided to look for a different church.

“Really?” Nose responded to Hand’s news. “Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hand said, looking down. He was usually slower to speak than other members of the church body. “I guess because the church doesn’t have what Mrs. Hand and I are looking for.”

“Well, what are you looking for in a church?” Nose asked. The tone in which he spoke these words was sympathetic. But even as he was speaking them he knew he would dismiss Hand’s answer. If the Hands couldn’t see that Nose and the rest of the leadership were pointing the church body in the right direction, the body could do without them.

Hand had to think before answering. He and Mrs. Hand liked Pastor Mouth and his family. And Minister of Music Ear meant well. “Well, I guess we’re looking for a place where people are more like us,” Hand finally stammered. “We tried spending time with the Legs, but we didn’t connect with them. Next we joined the small group for all the Toes. But they kept talking about socks and shoes and odors. And that didn’t interest us.”

Nose looked at him this time with genuine dismay: “Aren’t you glad they’re concerned with odors?!”

“Sure, sure. But it’s not for us. Then, we attended the Sunday school for all you facial features. Do you remember? We came for several Sundays a couple of months ago?”

“It was great to have you.”

“Thank you. But everyone just wanted to talk, and listen, and smell, and taste. It felt like, well, it felt like you never wanted to get to work and get your hands dirty. Anyway, Mrs. Hand and I were thinking about checking out that new church over on East Side. We hear they do a lot of clapping and hand- raising, which is closer to what we need right now.”

“Hmmm,” Nose replied. “I see what you mean. We’d hate to see you go. But I guess you have to do what’s good for you.”

At that moment, Mrs. Hand, who had been caught up in another conversation, turned back to join her husband and Nose. Hand briefly explained what he and Nose had been talking about, after which Nose repeated his sadness at the prospect of losing the Hands. But he again said that he understood since it sounded like their needs weren’t being met.
Mrs. Hand nodded in agreement. She wanted to be polite, but truth be told, she wasn’t sad to be leaving. Her husband had made just enough critical remarks about the church over the years that her heart had begun to reflect his. No, he had never burst into an open tirade against the body. In fact, he usually apologized for “being so negative,” as he put it. But the little complaints that he let slip out here and there had had an effect. The small groups were a little cliquish. The music was a little out of date. The programs did seem a little silly. The teaching wasn’t entirely to their liking. In the end, it was hard for the two of them to put their fingers on it, but they finally decided that the church wasn’t for them.

In addition to all that, Mrs. Hand knew that their daughter Pinkie was not comfortable with the youth group. Everyone was so different from her, she felt out of joint.

Mrs. Hand then said something about how much she appreciated Nose and the leadership. But the conversation had already run on too long for Nose. Besides, her perfume made him want to sneeze. He thanked Mrs. Hand for her encouragement, repeated that he was sorry to hear of their departure, then turned and walked away. Who needed the Hands? Apparently, they didn’t need him.

For His Name’s Sake,
Pastor Randy