One thing that has encouraged me recently is the high number of people who have shown up at Good News Church as visitors! Over the last six months there have been more new faces than I can count. And many of you who are new are not merely new, but you are excited to be a new part of this church! That is great.
Additionally, I have received numerous encouragements about the "inviting" and "including" culture of Good News Church and the philosophy of preaching. I can’t tell you how many people have mentioned to me things like, “I haven’t ever learned the Bible like this before!” Several people have asked me to lunch, or offered to have my family over to their house for dinner, or wanted to go on a vacation with me. And all of this is very flattering.
However, at some point I do need to say that, while all of this is very encouraging, there is simply not enough Mario to go around to be able to do those kinds of things with everybody. Here are three reasons:
However, at some point I do need to say that, while all of this is very encouraging, there is simply not enough Mario to go around to be able to do those kinds of things with everybody. Here are three reasons:
- I am finite. When a church is under 100 people, a pastor can literally visit everyone’s house once each year. That becomes mathematically impossible when the church becomes hundreds of people. So, even if I were to have lunch with a person from Good News Church every single day of the year (with no days off or vacations) I would still only be able to meet with 365 of the approximately 1,000 people who call Good News their church. And honestly, I’d have to neglect some major things in my life in order to pull that off, and even then, there still wouldn’t be enough time to meet with everyone even one time per year. There is nothing personal to this; it’s just math.
- Church isn’t about one man (well, actually it is, but that man is Jesus.) I’ve written, taught, and preached on this many times. A healthy church doesn’t revolve around everyone’s relationship with the preacher. 1 Corinthians 12 makes this clear: the church is not made up of one part but of many. Exodus 18 is also an incredible chapter in the Bible about the stupidity of making everyone and everything revolve around a single leader. It is much better to milk a herd of 40 cows once per day, than to milk one cow 40 times per day.
- Burnout/Exhaustion. I am happy to have pastored Good News Church for almost 15 years now (August 14 is the 15th anniversary of GNC!) But I would have already burned out and resigned long ago if it had been up to me to meet everyone’s relational and spiritual needs during that time. The truth is, it was 12 years ago (right around the time the church hit 300 in attendance) that I realized I literally couldn’t be there for everybody anymore. But that is fine. God makes churches out of groups of people, and those groups have enough gifts to meet each other’s needs. And we’ve been doing pretty good at that for the past 12 years.
So, if you are new to our church and would like to talk to me about something, there are two things I can offer you immediately:
A) INTRO TO GOOD NEWS. This is an event we are hosting at the church on August 22 from 9am to noon. This is a time where you can ask me any questions you want. I love answering questions and visiting with people, and this is a perfect environment for newcomers to be able to do that. Feel free to sign up online.
B) SUNDAY MORNING. You may or may not have noticed, but I do not emerge from a green room on Sunday mornings, nor do I retreat to one after the sermon. I stand around the auditorium before and after every service and speak to anyone who approaches me. Every week I am there for anyone who wants to ask me a question or tell me something directly. I am not hard to get a hold of in that sense. I am physically present and available every week.
So, please understand that we mean no disrespect if you hear from me - or another staff member - that I am unavailable for a personal one-on-one meeting throughout the week. I might be available; I might not. It really does depend on the week and the issue. However, we also have several other staff members, elders, and community group leaders at this church. And if you have a spiritual crisis, and you need to reach out to someone for help, that is no problem. Usually, God provides someone who can be there for you in your time of need. But, the purpose of this article is to help set proper expectations. The person God provides for you, in many cases, will not be me.
By the way, one of our goals at this church is to train you up (see Ephesians 4:11-12) so that you can be a person God provides for someone else in their time of need. We strongly believe God wants that to be true of every Christian. It’s not that someone is supposed to minister to everyone; it’s that everyone is supposed to minister to someone.
A) INTRO TO GOOD NEWS. This is an event we are hosting at the church on August 22 from 9am to noon. This is a time where you can ask me any questions you want. I love answering questions and visiting with people, and this is a perfect environment for newcomers to be able to do that. Feel free to sign up online.
B) SUNDAY MORNING. You may or may not have noticed, but I do not emerge from a green room on Sunday mornings, nor do I retreat to one after the sermon. I stand around the auditorium before and after every service and speak to anyone who approaches me. Every week I am there for anyone who wants to ask me a question or tell me something directly. I am not hard to get a hold of in that sense. I am physically present and available every week.
So, please understand that we mean no disrespect if you hear from me - or another staff member - that I am unavailable for a personal one-on-one meeting throughout the week. I might be available; I might not. It really does depend on the week and the issue. However, we also have several other staff members, elders, and community group leaders at this church. And if you have a spiritual crisis, and you need to reach out to someone for help, that is no problem. Usually, God provides someone who can be there for you in your time of need. But, the purpose of this article is to help set proper expectations. The person God provides for you, in many cases, will not be me.
By the way, one of our goals at this church is to train you up (see Ephesians 4:11-12) so that you can be a person God provides for someone else in their time of need. We strongly believe God wants that to be true of every Christian. It’s not that someone is supposed to minister to everyone; it’s that everyone is supposed to minister to someone.
