changes in the landscape…
i bought a house 10 years ago. while they were building the house my daughter went around to the rear of the house and said, “come look, daddy, there’s a coke bottle with water coming out of it.” or something like that, it’s been a while. anyway about 2 feet from the foundation of my new home was a spring that had been capped and was spilling water at a fairly consistent rate, creating something of a little stream.
i talked to the builder and he assured me that they would cap the spring and it would be fixed. i found out later, too late, that what they did was to drive the water further up the hill so that now the water is still there but running down toward my home. bottom line is that in all of this rain since the summer my backyard could be the swimming hole where i used to go skinny dipping as a child. :0 not a pretty sight then, even worse now.
there is no way that the guy who cuts my grass will ever get a lawn mower through my backyard right now or for the foreseeable future. i have thought about just putting a plastic liner back there and a pump and forgetting the grass. i’m not sure my neighbors are up for that move. have i mentioned that i’m not very fond of home owners associations.
well, the landscape in some places have changed. as i have written before JASON GERDES began as Lead Pastor at REVOLUTION CHURCH in Canton this past weekend. Tim, Chad, Preston, and Thad and the entire staff team did a great job of holding a “muddy” situation together. through the muck and the mire they get to see God transform the church so that even more people far from God will come to Him. i am really proud of these young guys who have weathered the storm. the Sunday before Jason arrived, a full house and the biggest offering in the history of the church! GO GOD! i believe Jason will lead Revolution to unforeseen heights.
12 church planters have signed up for the School of Church Planting. meeting these guys one-one has been a great experience. i believe God is going to use some of these guys to really rock their communities. great stories, great calling, great vision. this gives our leaders and teachers something with which to build on.
anyway when you can’t mow the grass, and you can’t channell all the muck out of the way, you just have to work around it. church work is sometimes messy. even when planting a church there are obstacles that you have to learn to work around. like the water in my yard there is a solution, this spring i’m gonna have to bite the bullet and do what i should have done a couple of years ago. problems persist until you find an answer and you act on it. i waited and got a flooded basement. don’t wait until it’s too late and you are flooded out. act now. you’ll be a better pastor/leader/church planter for it.
