This evening at church we had another guest speaker – Rev. Ken Brown. He is the founder/director of an inner-city ministry in Washington, D.C. called “Urban Outreach”. It’s an amazing ministry with amazing results and fills a deep need for ministry to take place in an area where the “church” seems to be MIA.

Ken Brown spoke from his heart and shared some personal stories of folks whose lives have been changed as a result of God working through their ministry.

The message was clear – God is working through “Urban Outreach” and we as a church have an opportunity to “pray”, “give”, and even “serve” with their ministry.

What struck me tonight was a simple fact that I have a problem with “short-term missions work”.

That sentence needs some explaination…

I struggle with folks (myself included) who JUMP at an opportunity to minister “outside the box”. Those who would raise a hand and say “I’ll Go” on a 1-week-long ministry in a “foreign-to-them” situation, and yet NOT share the Gospel with those around them on a regular basis.

I called it “Convenient Evangelism” and “Easy Christianity”…

Why is it EASIER to go “somewhere else” to share the “Love of Christ” with this “lost world”?

Shouldn’t those who GO ELSEWHERE be those who are ALREADY “maxed out” in their evangelism capabilities where they currently reside? Shouldn’t they have already “ministered” to the needy in their own town, shouldn’t they be the ones who radiate with an “abnormal” love for Jesus that our Americanized Christianity seems to have forgotten about?

Why is it that the ones who seem to get the most excited are the ones who are the least “vocal” about their personal faiths. Even sometimes the ones who aren’t vocal at all about a “conversion to Christ” that has taken place in their lives.

I’m chewing on these thoughts and I’d love to know what YOU think!

This morning I arrived at church with my lovely wife, sat in my office writing out the morning announcements, gathering my thoughts and eventually walked toward the sanctuary for our 9:15 service at approximately 8:50AM.

As I walked, I was stopped by numerous folks for the traditional “hellos”, “good mornings”, and the like.

It was when I arrived at the sanctuary door that I was stopped by two men, both named Bill and they quietly informed me of a little problem I was having.

They “jokingly” told me I had a big rip in the back of my pants.

I laughed.

They did not.

I reached around only to find that they were not joking.

the pants – post rippage
I quickly ran to my office and then out the door to my Neon for a faster-than-normal trip back to the house to put on a different “non-holy” pair of pants.

Obviously I was in a hurry. I quickly changed when I arrived home and jumped back in the car for the second trip to church in less than an hour.

Of course the train HAD TO be crossing my route!

I was a nervous wreck but eventually made it back to church with 2-minutes to spare – both of which I used to calm myself before service started. I welcomed Dr. Bence who was our guest speaker this morning and he informed me that my “fly” was down.

He was joking…

My wife happened to mention to him what my “situation” was this morning.

The congregation got a big kick out of the ordeal as I explained to them what a stressful morning it was, but how wonderful it was to be in God’s house for collective worship!

One thought after this ordeal: those OTHER people who saw me this morning on my “walk” from my office to the sanctuary who PROBABLY saw my lovely green boxers through this enormous rip in my pants – WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?

What a day!

Maybe owning a new camera will help me be a cool photographer like this.

Probably not, but at least I’ll try!

Today I purchased a new friend. It’s the Olympus C-770 4-mega pixel, 10x-optical zoom digital camera. It will be in my possession sometime next week.

I can hardly wait.

10x-optical zoom?! Can you imagine those close-up shots of my nose!!

Thanks to Matt VanKirk, I now have two headlights that are MUCH better!

BEFORE.

AFTER.
After we fixed the headlights, Matt let me drive this year’s Demolition Derby car! Yepper. A Buick station wagon will meet it’s end in just a few months! It was pretty fun to drive a car that will eventually be so beat-up that it won’t be recognizable!

After I got a try driving, Matt showed me how a professional drives – and he even took it out on the road in front of the house and “burned off” a little rubber.

A fun time was had by all!