Odds and Ends

December 11, 2019

Leadership Notes

Mid-December Odds-and-Ends:

* My brother and I {he's 8 years younger} were texting the other day about the time our dad burned the Christmas tree in our backyard after taking it down on January 1. It went up in a ball of flames. Almost melted the telephone line running to our house. Fun times. I refer to our father as dad or the old man. My brother usually refers to him by his first name, Larry. I love my little brother.

* Did you see the blurb in last week's Tecumseh Herald by the Adrian Dominicans? They were raising the alarm about Catastrophic Climate Chaos. That sounded vaguely like an episode from the 1960's television comedy Get Smart.

* One family {3 on Thanksgiving, 3 more for the rest of the weekend} …one 23-pound turkey, with proportional sides…gone by Tuesday. Is this a great country, or what?

* While the percentage of Americans attending church is shrinking, the average church size is growing.

* 50% of American churchgoers attend the largest 10% of congregations.

* A recent trend is smaller churches with a huge impact on their communities. Thom Rainer calls these "Scrappy Churches." I love the people of this scrappy church.

* Ben and I have begun a preliminary conversation about the value of having one worship service year-round. What is the purpose of worship? What is the best way for us to enter into the presence of our Holy God?

* Do things slow down for you the closer we get to Christmas? My wife and I try to reduce our pace the closer we get to Christmas. It seems to work for us.

* As reported on website "The Babylon Bee," LifeWay Research confirmed what people have known for some time: beard length is directly connected to preaching ability. According the lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Pendleton {who happens to have a long, flowing beard himself},

"Throughout church history, the ones with long, flowing beards could preach sermons that would shake the gates of hell." So, there's that.

* My wife and I are in the middle of season 3 of the Netflix series, "The Crown." Episode 5 deals with an attempt to oust Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Many were unhappy with his leadership and policies. So certain politicians plotted a coup. They hoped to gain the support of Lord Mountbatten, Prince Phillip's uncle. Queen Elizabeth nipped it in the bud. She argued that it would be wrong to attempt to overthrow a democratically elected Prime Minister, reminding Lord Mountbatten that the place to bring about change was through the ballot box. Who knew you could learn through a television series what you were never taught in school?

* Finally, as the craziness of our imperfect world swirls on around us, we await the celebration of the birth of our Perfect Savior. He was born to save us from sin and death. Jesus Christ redeems our lost and broken lives. As we all feel, in one way or another, the march of time, we know that, in Christ, it culminates in us joining the heavenly choir in worship of our Savior King!

Much Love and Affection This Holiday Season and Always!

Richard