excellence

sorry for the long span between posts. i was enjoying that discussion. i just had one or two things i wanted to add to place. i would love for us to find a place that was first used for a different purpose, and restore it and turn it into a church, or a new church, i love the metaphor of redemption in our building as well as our people. i would love to have a location near schools or in the middle of downtown, someplace people that are poor can walk. and i would love to have something of a greeting, either over the door or maybe in another way, something along the lines of "welcome all you sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterors, thieves, come and be redeemed," and that is very open to editing.

now, onto the topic i would like us to discuss in some more detail, the idea of excellence. all too often i feel like churches use the fact that they are working for god as an excuse to do some very subpar work. all too often it is used as an excuse to not plan ahead of time, to wait till the last minute, to put less energy into the work than we would with homework, or work for our jobs. i think that is pretty insulting to god. we have a much higher calling when we do work for the lord, therefore i think we shoudl put even more energy into it than we might with the things we do with less than eternal impact.

so i think it could help us to discuss several things; why do people so often not put their full effort into church work? why are they so apprehensive to plan ahead of time? and what can we gain by being very forward thinking? what are some ways we can encourage one another to do a better job, how can we help someone who is putting less than excellent effort into their work? it is very important that from the beginning we are honest with one another, but tactful at the same time, a lesson i am continually learning the hard way, but one that is necessary.

it was really great to have so many different voices respond to the last post, and it is ok if you just dont have something to say, but i want this to be all of our church, from the ground up, this is a place where we can share thoughts and ideas, so the more the merrier. anyway, keep us all updated, and lets really be praying that god brings us through our current ordeals with our eyes upon him. im excited every day about our future together. hope you guys are well.