All Kinds of Construction

As I write this, a friend from church is replacing our back door. Like most home improvement tasks, this one had complications too. The boards under the old back door where rotten from water leaks. Fortunately, it's only the front outer board that attaches to the floor supports. Anyway, he's an expert and he will "make things all new." I refuse to waste time thinking about the losses and the destruction some selfish kids brought upon our house. We've just had a wonderful weekend - full of answered prayers and things to praise God for.
We had a shepherd's retreat all day Saturday. All nineteen shepherds, along with Jerry and I, met to map out how we can best function as a leadership to get the job done at Florissant. We ended the day with everyone coming to our house for dinner and some special sharing time. (Yes, that's 42 for dinner. See previous blogs ref. finished basement. PTL!)
When I told friends that we were installing twelve additional elders, they grimaced and couldn't believe we'd do such a thing. When I explained that we installed shepherds not CEO's, they understood. I am so thrilled to work with this wonderful group of men. They are humble, people oriented, sensitive, loving, and passionate about helping people develop a deeper relationship with Jesus. I am absolutely excited about what God is going to do through this wonderful group of spiritual leaders.
To those of you who read this and have sour feelings about past church leadership (or present), please be encouraged to know that there are men out there who just want to serve God and help his people grow. With nineteen godly men purposefully encouraging, guiding, and connecting with EVERY member - HOW CAN GREAT THINGS NOT HAPPEN? I can't wait to see what he's going to do! What I pray about for our church family more than anything else is that we will look for spiritual maturing - people growing in Jesus - and quit looking for the things that the world says is "church growth". With this many men and women, committed to changing lives, God will give the increase as more and more members develop a passion for being like Jesus and sharing him with others. After all, He is the Door!