You can’t imagine how that makes me, as the preacher; feel about the membership at Eastwood. Of course this is the way we should always be but very seldom does someone let everyone know of our friendliness.

To all that greeted this new sister I want to say, “Thank You.” There is a lady at Eastwood that will occasionally say, as she comes out the building, “You did big.”

I say to all of you, You Did BIG!”

This coming Sunday (3/14/10) we begin a series of lessons on “Understanding Our Youth’s Culture.” Eli Harper will do the preaching. Eli and his wife Jordan are the youth ministry team at Tuscumbia Church of Christ. They excel in good work with the youth that they minister too.

We are going to announce an exciting way to minister to our shut-ins. Be sure and be listening for how you can be part of a group that will take worship to them.

Aren’t you excited about our new song leader? Ron Hayes is an inspiration to sing with. Ron is a motivator and he is not afraid to encourage us to sing.

Wayne Kilpatrick has been teaching an interesting class on Wednesday nights. The elders announced in our last meeting that Wayne will teach a class, in April, on elders. I am certainly looking forward to this class. I hope all of us, especially those serving and those that will serve in the future will have pens and notepads ready.

Right now…..raise your right hand [if you are left handed raise you left hand] and say. “Thank You Lord!”

Now let’s look at the churches of Christ. There are many bright moments. We have gone into the world in a much greater way than most other religious bodies. We have helped all people in time of disaster. We have a mission to take Jesus’ saving message to all people.

May we, Eastwood Church of Christ, in Florence, AL. be a light that is set on a hill for all to see the light of Jesus.

Worst of all it seems (to me) that it is just expected that this is the way it is. There is not a rush to find the lost sheep. There is no recognition that there are any lost sheep.

Are there any lost sheep? Does it matter whether worship is attended? Do we count among the faithful those who live such calloused lives of devotion? What do we do? Nothing is not an option!

If nothing is done by me (preacher) elders and the whole church can we say that we are the Lord’s church?

Frustration! I dare us to be better.

Last Sunday (Aug. 23) Jackie and I went to Mt. Zion. They had their Friends & Family Day, plus they had open house for their addition on their church building. I enjoyed preaching for them. It was my first time back since I left there in Jan. 2000 or was it 2001. Time flies and I don’t remember. But I do remember my brethren at Mt. Zion. We enjoyed so much the hugs and hand shakes that came our way Sunday. Preaching for them was an honor.

There will be many more special Sundays. In fact all Sunday’s are special. It is the day the church comes together to worship and to see family. God’s family that is!

It ain’y easy being a rock star cause you got to let your hair grow real long and be able to play music real loud.

It ain’t easy being a movie star cause you got to be so good lookin and be able to member lines of words.

It ain’t easy being a pro athlete. You got to be big and strong and practice all the time.

Some say it ain’t easy being a Christian. I disagree cause you just got to be like Jesus and He made it easy. You just have to believe and do what He says do. I think it’s easy because when you get into Jesus you just have to be yourself.

You don’t have to have a lot of schoolin. You don’t have to be loud. You don’t have to be good lookin. You don’t even have to be big and strong cause Jesus did all the hard things, like die for you.

You just have to be yourself and of course take up your cross and follow Him.

She is from the Glasgow, Scotland, area.  Notice her before she sings.  How easy it is for all of us to pre-judge someone based upon appearance.  For example, note these lines from WalesOnline:

“When Susan Boyle walked onto the stage at the Britain’s Got Talent auditions, she was the complete antithesis of our image-obsessed world.  Dressed in a dodgy gold dress, with bushy eyebrows and her greying hair longing to be styled and colored, first impressions meant we all expected her to fail miserably.”

Then she sang.  Everyone was shocked.  A refreshing reminder to us all in a culture that values the outward appearance above all else.  How refreshing in a culture where people often feel “less than” because they don’t wear the right jeans, don’t wear the right labels, don’t drive the right car, or in some way just don’t measure up.  What a refreshing wake-up call.

To God be the glory!

Things I read lately:

• If Christianity is just your hobby, it’s a pretty lame hobby.  Take up golf or scrapbooking.
• How would your life be different if you were not a Christian?
• We have equated being a Christian with just being nice.
• We think Jesus is kind but we don’t believe he is smart.  We don’t think he knows what it is like to live in USA today.  He then quotes some teachings of Jesus such as: “Do not worry” “Don’t lay up treasures on earth” etc. The early church believed he was smart and lived radical lives.  We reject his teachings.
• If you’ve grown up in the churches of Christ you’ve probably heard, “Oh, aren’t you the ones that …” and you can fill in the blank with a lot of things.  Most of the things I used to hear when people filled in the blanks were on the negative side and not always very nice.

So when the lady caught me at Wal-Mart yesterday and said, “Oh, you go to the church of Christ? I’ve heard about you guys.  Aren’t you the ones….” I cringed thinking the worst. I quickly finished her sentence in my head with about 10 things that I thought she might say. Then she finished her sentence.  “Aren’t you the ones that are doing a lot of good things in the community to help people?”

WHAT?  That was NOT what I expected.  I’m sure my face showed some excitement as I had to force myself not to dance a little jig right there in the store (because you know… we don’t dance either (smile) ). Instead of hearing something negative I got something positive.

As I floated out of Wal-Mart, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “The church of Christ … a church that helps others … I like that!” It made me think of Jesus,  “and Jesus went around doing good…” (Acts 10:38) and that’s exactly the kind of church I want to be. “copied”

Things I Have Thought lately

• Baptism is not worth a dime if your life does not change
• Church is a social club at worst and a dis-functional family at best if  it is not Christ centered
• Worship time is useless if we do not worship
• Hearing the word of God is empty if we do not listen to it
• How can we hear if we do not listen?
• How can we listen if we do not intend to?
• There must be something said to listen to in order to want to listen