I pity believers who do not spend time with God first thing. They know not what they do…or rather what they don’t do. For most, everything is more important than time spent with Jesus: sleeping 15 minutes longer, newsfeeds, breakfast, work, kids—like I said, everything! But oh, the satisfaction of hearing God’s voice from His
Sunday, August 30, marked the official 7-year anniversary of my being the pastor at Community Church of the Hills. When I first started, we had 81 people. Out of that original congregation, 12 still attend.
The first year was my honeymoon. It seemed everyone loved me. The second and third year, not so much. I learned that in a small church, in a small town, if you offend one person, the whole family and all their friends leave.I offended many during my first years’ learning curve.
Coming directly from a 1,500-member church in the beach cities of L.A. to a small country church in the middle of rural Texas didn’t translate well. I was not very gracious and was way too demanding. I over-emphasized evangelism and talked about Hell ad nauseum.
The first person to leave said it was because I didn’t teach out of the King James Bible. She had gone there 17 years. In that entire time, no one ever taught out of the King James Bible.
Another said that he wasn’t being fed. (Pastors, ever hear that one before?)
Still another complained that she “just wasn’t feeling it.”
Yet another left because someone put a hat on his wife’s chair.
One guy split because he didn’t like being told what to do and another bailed because I shook his hand the wrong way.
Oh! Did I mention that God prevented a church split in 2018? Or that a guy wrote a 4 page letter to the Elders trying to get me fired?
The bottom line? They didn’t love me as much as I thought.
I began my jail ministry three years ago, September 25, 2019, while visiting “Manny,” a man I had never met before. At the request of his brother who lived 5 hours away, he asked me to visit him after finding our church online.
I began my jail ministry on this day three years ago, while visiting “Manny,” a man I had never met before. At the request of his brother who lived 5 hours away, he asked me to visit him after finding our church online.
Manny said that he had been a Christian for over forty years.
He said that the main reason he was in jail was because he stopped going to church. One thing led to another, with sin finally getting the best of him. God got his attention after he fell too far away by putting him behind bars for what looked to be a long, long time. While incarcerated, he witnessed to everyone who came into his cell, and, with the help of his brother, gave each person a Bible, handing out over 67 Life Application Bibles.
I visited him weekly.
The second time I was there, he asked if I could visit another cellmate. Then a third and a fourth. We talked about the Bible, the Lord Jesus, and I encouraged them all with Scripture, praying for everyone.
One of the inmates, “Rick,” got out several months later and came to our church. The congregation loved and accepted him just as he was. He even started serving in simple ways. A member let him stay in an extra room he had.
Then Covid hit in March 2020, ending my visits to the jail. Still, I called Manny on occasion to check in. Rick continued to go to our church until a political disagreement caused him to leave. He didn’t like our stance on the subject. When I would see Rick stumbling down Highway 281, brown bag in hand, I urged him to come back to church. He didn’t.
I gotta admit, these days, with the way our government is going, it’s getting a little harder not to fret when I see our once great country being ripped from its foundations. 87,000 new tax agents give me little confidence. And they have guns. The mental illness that is trans-affirmation shows that all common sense
The Starfish
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young man paused, looked up, and replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
The young man replied, “The sun is up, and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
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