Great Disappointment

I keep telling Mike that it is harder to be a Pastor to adults than to kids. You expect immature behavior from teenagers. You expect them to disappoint you. Well, if you have never worked "behind the scenes" at a church, you've never really seen what a church is.

Over the past week, Mike and I put our all into making changes at our church. I threw myself into the Children's Church program and held a training session. No one came. Yesterday, I presented a message at a one day conference and saw the attendees that did not come from our church grasping the concept of running the race (Heb 12:1) throughout their life. I saw them hear me when I said to never stop serving.

But today, I saw that the people we've tried so hard with aren't going to hear that message. That no matter how hard we try, they will continue to live their lives the way they believe they should versus what God tells them. Are they good people? Of course they are, with lifetimes of service for the Lord. Are they doing all they can for God? That's not for me to judge. But do they support their pastor and trust him to shepherd their church forward? They do not.

Today we changed our music and used tracks instead of piano, printed choruses instead of a hymnal. Many of the congregation sat with their arms folded and their mouths closed. When I told them how disappointed I was in the turnout for children's church training, one of them actually blurted out back at me that she had served in Sunday School most of her life and it was someone else's turn.

Should we keep trying with these people? I don't know. We made a great sacrifice for our family, for our children especially, to lead this church. We grew the numbers and saw some of the members grow personally. But I don't think this church can move forward until the leadership and long time members understand that sitting on a pew every week doesn't get you into Heaven and that you never retire from service to God.

In the meantime, we will not stop moving forward. We will press on toward the prize and run with perserverence the race marked out for us. And we will not grow weary and lose heart.