HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!!

Hopefully my mom will read this before she heads out on their many adventures. I was happy to get to talk to her on her birthday. We had a nice day on Friday. A small group met in the afternoon. We had a visitor and pray she will return. Lena is helping audit the UEC's financial records and that, hopefully, is soon coming to a close. I took care of some small management matters and worked some more on my church planting class. Occasionally it challenges me in a new area or confirms something I have thought for a while but hadn't heard anyone talking about. Today the instructor discussed how he believes that it is a mistake for churches to put so much responsibility and leadership in the hands of a single minister. I wholeheartedly agree. Though there are certain advantages to one person being in charge, usually it then becomes very difficult to involve large numbers of people in leading and serving. By using team leadership, it's much harder to create an atmosphere in which people lack a feeling of responsibility.

We received three more boxes of books from Dr. Mack Craig, one of the UEC board supporters. We also continue to deal with this church problem. Two people are unrepentant about some sin and, unfortunately, it looks like we are heading down the path of removing our fellowship from them in order to try to "shock" them into repenting. We still pray, though, that the process doesn't go that far.