Musings of a Country Pastor

It's been some time since I have updated my blog, and many things have happened since our baptismal service in August. My folks came up for a visit for the week of Labor Day, and we had a good week of spending time together, and the church continues to "continue".

As many of you may or may not already know, we began a new ministry at Calais Church back at the end of June/beginning of July. Our new ministry was in fact a bus ministry.

This new ministry has been both a challenge and blessing at the same time. Like any thing that God is using to spread His Word, the devil has been on full attack with this ministry from the get go. Our first Sunday out, we picked up 9 children/teens for the Sunday school/Morning Worship Service. VBS followed shortly on its heels, and because we were bringing in 25 children on the first night of VBS the bus decided to break down on the way back to the church after dropping everyone off. This of course follows a few other adventures with the bus already. We spent the better part of the next 2-3 weeks trying to nail down exactly what was wrong, while we also rented a 15-passenger van to run the routes in the meantime. Finally, figured out the issue and had it fixed. Then, it began to act up again the following week with a load of people on it. Fixed the new problem and wouldn't you know that after a month of good runs, and finally some new non-church members riding, something else goes wrong. Back to the shop it went this week! Loads of fun. We've also started an elective Sunday school class called "The Foundations" from Answers in Genesis. We have had good attendance for the first 2 weeks and are covering some really good material. Also, visits are going well. We are making some good contacts on our Saturday visitation and outreach program as well as having several visitors from the surrounding towns and villages in our services this past month. We have more special emphasis Sundays this Fall as well as our Fall Festival coming at the end of October. And we are in the beginning and planning stages of a small construction/renovation project which is keeping me busy along with our Trustees trying to get estimates from area contractors. All of this along with area festivals and fairs, and the occasional funeral or other opportunity to minister to others outside of our "normal" Sunday and Wednesday format. To the one who says that Pastors only work one hour a week and play golf the rest of the time, I simply want to say you may be partially right. I may only "work" about an hour a week, if i am doing it right, but I don't play golf the remainder of the time. I am busy ministering to and serving my wife, church folks and the community around me by preaching, pastoring and everything else I do in the name of the Lord and for His glory. Oh, and here is a new one I heard today: "Pastors get asked out to lunch every week, so they never have to pay for a meal." O the joys of ministering for the Lord!