sheep swapping

Gary Smalley spoke at our church a few weeks ago. He’s a pretty famous Christian. We had about a thousand more people came that week than the week before. Some of them even came back the next week. Some of them. Lots of them went back to their “home church”.

We’re going to open up a new building at Mission this Spring. It’ll seat 1,500 people or so, and it’ll have that “new building smell” that some people love. It’ll have a nice sound system, and a freshly paved parking lot. Oh, and I almost forgot, we’re opening a new building for the students too. It’ll have a stereo too. And maybe even some new paint.

And the sheep will come.

They’ll leave the church down the street… you know, the one with the “old building smell” and the parking lot with the pot holes. The one with the youth room that is also an office and a classroom and a storage room.

And some of the sheep will go. Because they miss the “old building smell” and the “way things used to be”.

Baa’aa’aa.

Sheep swapping. It must make Jesus laugh.

We had a thousand new people, but did Central Christian have 800 less people that weekend, and did East Valley Bible have 200 less?

Did those visitors tithe at our church? You know… to pay for the show? Not that it was a show, but I’ve seen this in action. “This is where I’m going to church this weekend, so this is where I’m tithing!”. Hmm.

Dear wandering sheep: Plug in. Commit to your church.

Jesus isn’t leaving the 99 to come for you. He knows you’ll be back.

-this concludes my subtle cynicism for the evening