It was Mother’s day 2011, I had a 102 degree fever, the scripture was Peter being offered unclean food (Acts 10:1-33), and the sermon was about pornography. Needless to say it was a memorable Sunday.
The crux of the message was that God calls us to uncomfortable places, and we are called to go and offer love and grace. Even to people we don’t want to offer love to. Even to people we think don’t deserve love. Even if it goes against everything we were raised to believe.
If you are involved in a more traditional church, like I am, you know there is no end of time or money that can be spent in keeping up church buildings. The most original part of our structure is now over 80 years old. Assembled over time, it’s a mix of 2 and 3 prong outlets, carpets, and walls that meet at odd angles.
Some might argue that the amount of energy and money it takes to keep up our brick clad building going is too much. I’ve heard it suggested, indirectly and directly, that many of us are more interested in our buildings than we are in our faith. In fact, bemoaning church property is starting to feel a bit tired. If you don’t find yours of value, sell it. No argument from me.
All of this did lead my engineer mind to ask the question, how do you measure the value of a church building? Some say they are a burden that ought be left behind. Others argue they are necessary to the life of the church. How are we to decide? They can’t all be dust filled warehouses of bygone days.
A few years ago I attended a conference and heard Shane Hipps give this talk in person. And look, now you can hear it for free!
If you are a leader in the church today, watch, it’s worth your time [27 minutes to be exact].
The Nielsen Family is dead. And you know, it’s about time.
For decades the success of a television show has depended almost solely on the finicky taste of the Nielsen Family. A family with a few thousand members who decide more often than not if a TV show is worth it’s price, because the cost for advertising is determined by how many eyeballs are watching. [It would have killed you to watch a little more FireFly??]
Or at least, that is how it used to work.
It the world I came out of, software development, there was no more curst task than requirements development. No one ever wanted our products just as they were, they always needed to be adapted to each customer. So, it was the job of some poor unfortunate souls to be in meeting after meeting with different groups and define exactly what would be changed.
I, as you can tell, never enjoyed it.
