Sunday's Notes

Here's a totally random thought that has been bugging me. There is no animal that plays dead to trick a buzzard into coming close enough, and then the animal can eat the buzzard. I am sure a buzzard is just too nasty to eat, but then again, it's a big bird, more meat than most, and you'd think somehow, somewhere, some animal would be desperate enough to try this.

Melissa has been holding steady. Her platelet levels are holding at levels higher than they have been, so we are grateful. Not out of the woods; the docs say we're on a week-by-week schedule to see about taking out her spleen. Taking the spleen is probably the answer to the platelet issue. They might be inclined to let her platelets come up slowly, but they would really like to have a port in her brain to give the preventive chemo to her. The neurosurgeon won't put it in until the platelets are 100. So we have a ways to go. It would be wonderful if we could get her platelets up without having to take her spleen.

Me and the boys had a magic evening Saturday night. They had had a good time going to the Rock for a back-to-school bash for the neighborhood kids. We came home, they took a nap and then we swam, grilled hamburgers and played some sort of football/rugby game. It was a moment to live for-- a few hours where you let go of so many things holding you down.

Our evangelism team met again today. I have 15 people signed up to learn how to go out into the neighborhood and share faith. I am amazed that that many people are interested in such work. Anyway, as I tried to think about what we would need to get the work done, I realized we'd need a small group feel for the project. The work of evangelism takes a lot of hard work and patience, two things people in church generally don't do well. We think because it's church, and therefore spiritual, it needs to bring quick and gratifying rewards. Evangelism, however, has many pitfalls.

The idea of talking to total strangers, hoping that one day they won't be total strangers, scares most people. And then, when you realize that most people will reject you, it's discouraging. And when you have been faithfully visiting and sharing the gospel for 6 months and no one has even come to church, it gets to feel like you're not accomplishing anything. You're ready to teach 2nd grade Sunday school, or even go downtown to the soup kitchen—anything to get a quick fix of do-good.

“Evangelism fatigue,” we can call it. It hits anyone who pounds the pavement for the gospel.

But the incontrovertible fact is the best way to reach unchurched people is to visit in their homes. It's not by having events or advertising. You do those when you can't get any one to visit with you.

So I figured I need to get a group of people together to study, pray, and get to know each other. And mostly to get to the point where we could encourage each other when things are slow or difficult, and also to hold each other accountable to actually getting out and visiting people.

Well, we met today, and in only our second meeting, the things that need to happen started happening. We shared how we had come to faith, and we saw how many ways there are for people to come to believe in Christ, how many ways we have to be prepared to understand when we interact with people. And two people shared something about the difficulties in their lives that made them feel like they probably weren't cut out for faith-sharing. We were able to say to them that it is precisely the difficult places in our lives that make us the best witnesses. At some point as we get to know people, they will say to themselves, “If this fellow can go to church, so can I!” Or as people share with us the difficulties in their lives, they know that we can empathize with them.

It hit me as we were leaving that this is something like what Jesus must have been up to before he sent the 70 out on their evangelism mission. I can't emphasize enough that it it is one of the most difficult areas in church work. It's like planting an orchard or vineyard; it takes a lot of time and work to get to the fruit.