“We’ve used ‘House to House,’ and never really got any contacts.” “Door knocking just doesn’t work in our area.” “We had a huge Fall festival and almost no one came.” “We tried Facebook ads, and it just flamed out with no real response.” Do any of these sound vaguely familiar? Oh, the specifics might be different, but I have heard similar things said nearly countless times. And, to be honest, I have said similar things more times than I care to admit. I’m spending quite a lot of time currently preparing for a class that is coming up quickly. The elders at Central asked me to teach a Bible class…

As this is being released, we are right in the middle of VBS week at Central. Our Vacation Bible School runs from Monday evening through Thursday evening and is a true highlight on our church calendar. After 2020, when we couldn’t have VBS and after 2021, where we had it, but tried to “cap” the numbers a bit, it is a joy to see young people everywhere in our building for this special week again! I have “directed” VBS approximately 16 times over the years. I will admit that my job is basically getting amazing people to lead various departments and letting them shine. It always makes me cringe a…

I love the heart of those who want their congregations to help their communities. There can be no doubt that Jesus “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) and that we are to be as much like Him as we can be. While we can’t miraculously heal or feed people, with God’s help we can help a lot of people. Christians should want the hungry to be fed, those who are without clothes to be clothed, and the hurting to be comforted. In fact, we will be judged, at least in part, by our efforts–or lack thereof–in these types of areas (Matthew 25:31-46). That said, there is often something that seems…

I don’t remember the first time it happened when I was present, but it was a number of years ago. It has only happened, maybe, a half-dozen times when I have been present, but it continues to cause me to think. We were getting ready to sing the old hymn, “Send the Light.” That great old hymn is a tremendous missionary song, reminding us that there are people all throughout the world who need to hear the Gospel, and that we have a responsibility to send “the blessed Gospel light.” However, a few times I have been present where a song leader took a good amount of time telling us…

I would hope that every congregation of God’s people would agree that their number one priority is to win souls to Jesus and help keep them growing closer to Him. You may choose different wording for that, but I would hope that would be what we are about. But are we really doing that? I’ve sat through a lot of meetings and conversations lately at Central where this has been talked about (thankfully). Obviously, for a congregation to run as efficiently as possible, there will be some matters that may seem mundane, like the condition of an air-conditioning unit or when some event needs to go on the calendar. We…

A fairly interesting football game over the weekend was overshadowed by a few moments of excitement in the stands. As the Miami Hurricanes struggled to defeat Appalachian State, the attention of a large number of the fans was drawn to something happening away from the field. A cat was somehow hanging from the upper deck and unable to climb back up. Fans in the upper deck tried to reach out to the cat, but that only scared the feline. Some fans below were formulating a plan, though. They had brought an American flag to the game–it was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, after all–and unrolled it, holding it underneath the…