Miscellany

REFLECTION STATEMENT: Every now and then I have Marian print up some sheets of paper with thought-provoking sentences on them and post them at different points around our facility. The idea is to stimulate our thinking.

Regrettably, no one ever comments on them, at least to me. This is true, too, for newsletter columns and bulletin inserts. No one asks "What did that mean?" or says"I didn't agree with that" or "That really impacted me" or "That was a waste of time and paper" or "That gave me a new perspective". It's a little discouraging and makes me think that these sincere efforts to provide seed and fertilizer for inspiration and motivation and spiritual challenge are futile.

Well, anyway, currently there is a 14-word saying attached to some of our doors and hallways and bulletin boards around here that poses a question: if our church ceased to exist would it make any difference to this neighborhood?

That inquiry stirs up still other questions. Does the community all about us even know that we're here? What is their impression of us? Do they sense that we care? Are we really ministering to them in any meaningful way? And again, if we folded up or moved away would that have a negative impact on them? Do they harbor the impression that we just drive in for a couple of hours on Sunday morning and then drive out without any real concern for, or interest in, them?

All of this is important to consider. If God planted us here, and wants us to remain here for at least the foreseeable future, then this is our mission field. We're to reach out and get to know and influence and bless the persons on these streets close by our property. I don't know that we're really doing that. We take a stab at it occasionally but have no ongoing, concerted, consistent strategy in place to just love on those folks with the love of Christ and touch their lives in helpful, practical ways whether or not they ever come to our church. Somehow we've got to seek the mind of the Lord and come up with some plan to accomplish that.

I'm excited about the desire of our Outreach Committee to attempt another small step in that direction with the milk-and-eggs project on June 25. This is something we all can get behind in different ways. Let's not leave this to the few members of this team. Let's plug in. Let's be here that morning to meet our neighbors and help them in a specific,tangible area of life. And let's develop dozens more creative approaches to extend a hand. Matthew 25:31-46 comes to mind here. God never intended for us to have a comfortable, country club mentality but rather to shine as lights in the darkness. Seed, and salt, in a hurting world.

NEW BOOK: In just a few weeks California pastor, writer, and conference speaker Francis Chan releases his latest work, Erasing Hell(David C. Cook, 2011). It will be a brief but thorough examination of what the Bible says about eternal punishment, and will be a great antidote to the seemingly universalistic distortions about that subject in the controversial book by Rob Bell that came out in March. I hope you'll get a copy(about $15) and read and review it very carefully. It will give you thoughts to share with unsaved friends. Chan's perspective will be a humble, not arrogant, one.

SBC. I didn't attend the annual meeting this year, held out in Phoenix. Messenger count was expected to be quite low, and no major matters seemed to be on the agenda. I do think it is important for pastors(and laypeople, too) to go to these conventions. There were many years when I never missed. Oh, well, maybe next year, in New Orleans. You do need to be aware that there is real concern in our denomination these days over declining baptisms and attendance in our churches.