As my last post mentioned, my church has gone through a drastic change. Solely due to financial issues, the church leadership laid off 8 of 11 people. 2 were ordained pastors, the rest were lay ministers and support staff.<\/p>\n
As I dig through some of my facebook friends list and look at their friends, I found someone that apparently still looks to a minister that remained as the source of all this. And, to be honest, I’ve not always held this minister with appreciation. However, God has seen to it that I recognized my issue as it was eating at my heart, and it now has opened the door for something so much better than I thought it would. Thru all this, God has reminded my that I service the body of the church, regardless of who is there leading. <\/p>\n
Through this ordeal, my heart went from disappointment in myself, to concern for the youth, to what is now a very STOKED expectation of God releasing a renewal on my church. Some of my other friends were looking to the positive early Friday, but it took me hearing “what and why” from our church’s leadership to be able to reconsile my head to my heart. <\/p>\n
Now, the deeds are done. I can’t change any of it, but I do have a choice in how I react and feel about the events. Instead of thinking that the senior remaining minister had an agenda and hand in the lay offs, I listened to our leadership explain, then another pastor, Blake, say, “and I vouch for the heart of our leadership.” <\/p>\n
WOW. <\/p>\n
I know emotions are difficult to get through sometimes, especially when someone close has had something bad happen to them. However, what does it says about us as a body… the BRIDE OF CHRIST… when we unjustly place that blame on another minister? I heard from another friend that they just KNEW that this minister was behind it all. However, as I have gotten information from the source of the layoffs, nothing could be farther from the truth. <\/p>\n
We want justification for a wrong of a friend. I was in the same boat. A good friend’s wife left him and is really slamming him hard, legally. Sunday, Blake talked about “righteous anger” and if we had anger for something done to someone else, we are out of God’s blessing. It’s not ours. It belongs to that person. I had to turn over my anger to God, all the while knowing that God would have His hand in the situation anyway. <\/p>\n
Emotions are a part of us, but we have a choice on letting them run us. It something we all have to struggle with. I truly hope those that still feel a sense of loss about these events can have that replaced with an expectation of God’s Good Work in us.<\/p>\n
Next, we meet our Sr. Pastor candidate. Since our search team is unanimous in their recommendation, it’s going to be exciting to see what God has planned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As my last post mentioned, my church has gone through a drastic change. Solely due to financial issues, the church leadership laid off 8 of 11 people. 2 were ordained pastors, the rest were lay ministers and support staff. As I dig through some of my facebook friends list and look at their friends, I … <\/p>\n