Wherever There's Water

Friday, I had a call at the church from a chaplain at the local hospital.  There was a fellow who wanted to be baptized, and was asking for a Methodist pastor.  I called him as soon as I could.  I talked to his wife, as he is terminally ill, can barely breath and can't talk.  I said, "well maybe I should come out to you?"  She was surprised that we could do that.  I said, "if you have some water, what can stop him from being baptized?"  As we got to talking, it was apparent there was no way we could immerse him.  And it seems that that is why she was seeking out Methodists, because we will sprinkle or pour in addition to immersing.

Well, the more we got to talking, I realized they live in Menifee County.  I told her we are starting a new church in Menifee County.  She said, "I didn't think we had any Methodists down here!"  I asked her if she would like me to put her in touch with Mike Adams, our planter down there.  She was really excited to think that they will have a church right there where they live.

We don't always know how God is going to use and reward our faithfulness.  Let's just do what He asks us to do!

Rejoice With Me!

I went to visit a woman today, to pray with her about some medical concerns.  She and her husband told me some wonderful stories of how they have known God is with them, times he has proven His faithfulness.  Their son was visiting, a fellow I have seen off and on when he comes to town.  I have witnessed to him before, but today was the day the Lord moved on his heart and he accepted Christ.  It meant more to his mom to see him come to faith, to now have all her kids in church, than it did to receive a blessing of healing.

Get the water ready, we will baptize Sunday!

Water

Just filled up the baptismal for Andrew Donner, a college student who will be baptized.  Our evangelism is cranking on a lot of levels... children's ministry, youth ministry, Methodist Student Center, sanctuary services, all producing converts.  And all to the glory of God!  I can't figure it out.  If I could I'd bottle it, sell it, get proud... but that can't happen anyway.  It's the work of God through and through so that the only boasting we can do is in Christ. And I won't shut up about all the good he has done!

Last year about this time, I got frustrated with our bulletin "stats."  We count attendance and giving.  That's important, but it's hardly the whole picture.  I felt we needed to start keeping track of things that need to go up and things that need to go down.  So, worship attendance and giving need to go up.  But so does membership in the church, and most definitely professions of faith.

Things that need to go down has been a little harder to get a handle on.  Kids going to bed hungry needs to go down, and if there are as many Methodists as we say there are in Rowan County, then it should be going down.  People living in sub-standard housing needs to go down.  Jeff Lewis has been helping me think through how we can measure stuff like that.

At any rate, we set a goal of 20 new members and 10 professions of faith.  We did not set that goal as something that we must reach-- we set it simply to remind us that it is an important task.  The Holy Spirit will determine the final numbers.  Maybe higher or lower.  But we need to keep it in front of us, to remind, to challenge.  Well, we were really being blessed early in the year.  We were going to hit our goals.  So after baptizing some of our children I asked if we should push harder, and we all agreed we should.  So our goal is 30 new members and 20 professions of faith.  I think putting that out there has really helped us to be intentional, reminding us that we all have a part to play in bringing people to the church.

As of tomorrow, we will have 24 new members and 12 professions of faith. We think that's pretty good because as United Methodists we are not used to much of that at all!  If you think about the need, about all the people in Rowan County who do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have a lot of work to do.  I wish you were crying about it.   I need someone to go to the Staff-Parish committee and say you want a new pastor because we just aren't getting it done!

You know, Brother Wesley used to tell his preachers, "you have nothing to do but save souls."  Somewhere down the line, we got into doing other things.  The main criteria for a Methodist preacher back in the day was "have they fruit?"  That is, are people converted under their preaching? We still ask that question when we ordain elders, but we apparently refuse to define what fruit is... or we don't want to be accountable to anything so measurable.

See what happens when I get pumped up because people are coming to faith in Christ?  I get rabid.