It has been a long season friends - a long season indeed. When we are locked in the depths of late January there appears to be no end in sight - no light at the end of the tunnel. Believe me; we have felt it at Churchtown. On the one hand, it feels as though we have been plodding along week by week just trying to survive the snow and the ice and cold. On the other hand, we have indeed been thriving. I was asked again just three days ago in a phone conversation, "Is your congregation growing?" Now, my standard response to that is, "I don't know, you will have to ask them." The problem was that in this case, I didn't. You see, it is easy for me to say that to those in the conference who ask. I am naturally just a little grating and kind of a thorn in the side of my supervisors; but this was a man who might have been interested in attending and I got scared and I copped out and I started fumbling for an answer and for numbers and muttering how we are "holding our own" and are "quite pleased" with the numbers etc...

What the heck was I trying to say? And why the heck was I trying to say it? Why, when confronted with such ridiculous questions by my "superiors" can I stand on what I believe - that growth comes from the inside out and that if we are preaching Christ and Christ crucified and serving people in becoming followers of Jesus, then we are living as a submitted body of Christ and HE will take care of the rest. But when it comes to a single man who is inquiring about our congregation I get nervous and feel compelled to justify our existence by the industrial standards that are such a part of our American Church culture i.e. how many members? How many baptisms? How many first time confessions of faith? How much is being tithed? Etc...  I knew that this fella attended one of the large Evangelical Free churches in the area and I wanted to puff my chest and show him that we could compete.

COMPETE!!!!!    Forgive me Lord. What the heck am I doing'?

What is our Mission? What do we say at Churchtown?

Love God                   

Love Each Other

Love Your Neighbors


Being a football coach taught be a great many things over the years. One of the most important, paradigm shifting revelations that I came upon was the fact that football coaches do not create playbooks for the players - they create playbooks to impress other football coaches. What, you may ask, does this have to do with anything that I am talking about? Stay with me - You see, I have read so many church "mission," "vision," and "ministry" statements and they sound fantastic! You know the deal - serving the poor, the orphans, and the widows... following God's call wherever it leads, making and growing disciples, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and providing opportunities for all ages to worship in traditional, contemporary, blended, coffee shop, workshop, and whatever other worship "style" is trending that week. I have read so many of them that I have come to the conclusion that they are, indeed, being written not for those who are seeking Jesus, but for those who are seeking church - and for other pastors.

There is much being made of the church. Question... Is there much being made of Jesus?

Love God    -    Luke 10:27; Philippians 2:4; Galatians 6:2; John 14:21; Psalm 91:14

Love Each Other - Luke 10:27; John 13:34-35; 1Timothy 5:8; Ephesians 4:32; Romans 12:10

Love the World    -    Matthew 28:19; Proverbs 21:13;

I know, I know, written like the pastor of a small church. Our Father in Heaven only knows how I would respond if Churchtown grew out of her pews over the next 6 months. I am just trying to figure out what being faithful to my Lord looks like where the rubber meets the road in the spiritual hospital we call church here at Churchtown. The sign reads "Churchtown Church of God" - not the "West Shore" Church of God, or the "Greater Carlisle Area" Community Church of God. I believe we have been called to serve this village and my faith is in the Christ and His ability to meet the needs of the people - not in my own and the programs that I can create. Please let it be so.

Hello again friends. It has indeed been too long since I have even thought about writing for this blog. I could go on for thousands of words explaining why but let it suffice to say that LIFE happened to me - and lots of it - over the past six months.

I have learned much through my experiences but I thought that as I am now looking back on a full two years in the pastorate, it would be good to reflect just a bit and share some of the life that I have been blessed with. I am going to try and share piece by piece and actually start a conversation - as opposed to posting a seven page essay that nobody will take the time to read. I really hope that I achieve the intended purpose; and I encourage you to join the conversation.

So here goes - let's look back on a few things that I have learned over the past two years and let's start out with something I have learned about "church" just last week.

Last week, just before the 10AM service, I received a test message from a person who had been attending Churchtown but had decided to attend no more. I had already pretty much understood this to be the case given the fact that they had dropped out of sight over the previous month and pretty much had been avoiding all contact. What made the person decide to share this with me just prior to a worship service, I have no idea; but I will say this - every week there seems to be SOMETHING placed in front of me to throw me off, to distract me from my prayers and my focus on the Christ. Every week. I believe you pastors know what I am talking about.

This week, I must say, the devil nearly succeeded. I was truly affected by the text message and the thoughts started flowing...why? What did I do wrong? Of all the many people that stop into Churchtown, why do so few stay? Is this worth the kind of discouragement that I feel at this moment? I carried this mood and these thoughts into the worship service - very melancholy to say the least - then a miracle happened. The "service" turned into a prayer meeting and the prayer meeting turned into an open, extended conversation between me and the congregation. We talked and we sang and we prayed and I preached for about an hour. It was amazing and wonderful and one of the most unique experiences of my life. I was worshiping through it like I have never worshiped before, and I felt more lifted and affirmed than I ever have in my life. (thank You God)

Now, what is it that I learned? About half way through this experience The Holy Spirit revealed to me this fact... there are people who attend a church wondering exactly what it is that the church can do for them; and there are people who submit to Christ and wonder what it is that they can do for His Body on earth. I realized that I was standing among folks who had dedicated themselves to Christ and as a result, do not sit in the pews waiting for church to "happen" to them - they are the living, breathing, laughing, crying, bickering, moving, loud, annoying, precious, precocious, and above all loving body of Christ on earth.

What can Church "do" for folks? The answer is nothing. And if you are looking for a church to meet your needs, you are guaranteed to look and look and look - sometimes you might stay for a year, sometimes maybe several; but just like any relationship that is based on our selfish desire to have our needs met, there will come a time when that is no longer possible. So we move from marriage to marriage, from job to job, from church to church, until we die - never having been fulfilled by that perfect experience.

There comes a time when you must stop asking "what can the church do for me?" and respond to your Lord as such, "Jesus, I love you. What can I do for your body on earth?"  You might just be surprised to find out that Satan has indeed been lying to you all this time - you really aren't the star of this movie after all. In fact, it's not even about you - period.