Barneyisfat

This morning I served communion during the traditional worship service at Toccoa First United Methodist Church. Our children's pastor, Shelley Martin, preached a great sermon. Shelley is in her early thirties. It is a refreshing morning when I can hear someone from my generation preach in a United Methodist Church.

Shelley spoke on the need for our church to let go and be broken for God. She referenced the fact that we only added one new member by confession of faith last year. Something inside my spirit dies when I hear news like this. Toccoa First is largely heralded as a model for other county-seat UMCs in the south.

Shelley stepped on toes, got into the Bible, and preached a message that demanded a response. We served communion following the message. The participants included two fifth graders, two college kids, Shelley in her thirties, the Youth pastor Bill in his forties, the associate pastor in his fifties, and a couple from church in their sixties. It was beautiful to see servants of God from every age bracket celebrating the great gift of God this day. Bill and I served communion to at least three people over the age of ninety.

Our new clergy team has brought a renewed and refreshed spirit to our congregation. There is a great sense of peace and calm which was missing until recently. However, our numbers are down. Dr. Ken, our senior pastor, has been preaching the gospel - that people need to give their hearts to Christ, that those who have given their hearts to Christ need to lead new and transformed lives, and that leading these lives will propel us outside the walls of the church. He has preached on racial reconciliation, acceptance, and keeping open doors to everyone in the community.

Last week Dr. Ken spoke about a friend who suddenly left one of the largest churches in the south east. A drunk man had stumbled to the front doors of his church and pleaded that he needed to know God. The ushers denied the man entrance, telling him that he needed to sober up before he could come into church. The drunk man drove away and died in a car crash two blocks away. The pastor of the church resigned the following week. He could no longer serve a church that refused Christ to those who need him most.

For me personally, the saddest aspect of this story is that it could happen here. That scene could be played out on any Sunday morning on the front steps of our church. I'm making a prediction, one that I pray will come true.

I predict that over the next four months our numbers will fall dramatically before climbing drastically. I think that in the next few months Dr. Ken, and Pastors Tom, Bill, and Shelley will open our church doors to the lowest and least - and that not a few of our society ladies and moneyed gentlemen will find their way to a church more suited to their vast pocketbooks. But that the Spirit of God will prevail I have little doubt.

It's so exciting to just wait for the Holy Spirit to bust down the doors of a church.