Moving The Piano

I was once told by a very wise man, that, “If you want to move the piano in the church, move it an inch at a time every Sunday.”

Bottom line is that these are great words to put into practice with pianos and any other changes you want to make in the church.  I have worked in the Lutheran Church for a long time and I can tell you first hand that all of the jokes involving light bulbs and tires are true...they don’t like change.

I heard a story that involved an actual piano a while back.  Upon the worship leaders arrival at his new church, he moved the piano from the side of the stage to in front of the alter in his first week.  I almost died laughing.  This poor guy hadn’t even had his first Sunday and people were already on him. 

I’ve been there when I was younger.  In a moment of “brilliance,” my co-worker and I decided that the organ that hadn’t been used for 5+ years should be removed from the front of the church.  In our defense, it was broken for 5 years and was being used as a catch-all for coffee mugs and sheet music.  On a Monday morning, we took a sledge hammer to it and put it in the dumpster.  We spent the week doing carpentry work to fix the stage where it previously resided.  The next  Sunday morning, we caught a lot of flak for that.  I realized then that we moved too soon and too fast.

This philosophy is the same when it comes to service time changes, bulletin changes, stage layout…really, it’s a good standard philosophy to have in any church.  Hopefully you can avoid the mistakes that I’ve made in the past.

UPDATE: Still working on hunting down “Mike.”  It’s been a tough process!

Spiritual Nudge

Have you ever gotten the feeling like you should call someone?  Maybe a friend you haven’t seen in years or someone you lost contact with along the way?

I got one of those “feelings” the other day.  For the sake of anonymity, we’ll call him “Mike.”  I haven’t talked to mike in close to thirteen years, yet for some reason, God placed him in my heart last week.  I remembered the fun times we used to have and, more importantly, the impact he had on my life.  Mike helped shape and mold me into the person I am today.  If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be in ministry.  If it wasn’t for his guidance, I wouldn’t have gone to the college I went to…I wouldn’t have met my wife…I wouldn’t have had the same beautiful daughter…I wouldn’t be in a job that I love…this list could go on for a while.

After several days of thinking about Mike, I was in a conversation with someone and Mike’s name came up.  As I started to tell stories, I was interrupted and was told that Mike was going through some tough times over the past several years.  I now knew why Mike was on my mind.  God has placed him there. 

Is there someone that God is putting on your mind right now?  It could be a friend that you haven’t seen in a while.  It could even be someone that you see often.  It could just be a coincidence, but it could also be the Spirit nudging you to talk to that person.

I haven’t found Mike yet, but my search continues.  The gentle nudging has now consumed my mind to find him to tell him that God loves him…to tell him that he is loved!

Healthy

I know it’s been a while since I’ve added a new post.  This summer has been filled with so many twists and turns (some of which I’ll address in future entries). 

I had a conversation with my college mentor the other day.  He called me up and asked, “How’s life been lately?”  I didn’t know how to answer him at first.  I mean, my life, my job situation, my family has all been in an upheaval for the past year.  But, as I paused to think about it for a minute, I realized that my answer was simple: healthy.

It felt weird to say that considering our church lost a secretary, our high school pastor and our senior pastor in the last five months.  All left for good reasons; mainly to move closer to family, but here’s the thing: there’s no panic.  In any other church, there would be wide-spread panic.  There would be members calling for emergency congregational meetings.  There would be people leaving the church in droves.  But that’s not the case.  Volunteers are coming out of the woodwork.  The congregation has come together in unity. 

Healthy. 

Is this really what “healthy” looks like?

I’ve seen it all in my fifteen years of ministry: Pastors having affairs.  A cult rising out of a ministry.  A sudden death of a staff member.  Power struggles between pastors.  Internal strife between staff and elders.  Financial upheaval.

But healthy?  That’s a new one to me.  Even as I type this, I think of how blessed I am to finally experience what that really means. 

Maybe you are reading this and you, like me for so long, aren't experiencing a "healthy" church situation.  It's my prayer that you continue to seek and put God first.  The Great Physician is never far away ready to heal the hurt and brokeness.