Picture of the day:
For now:
Florida has
been our home: Key West, Tavares, Deltona and Leesburg. (Sherry cannot
settle down) WE use a mail service in Eustis to keep from changing addresses
too much LOL.
We arrived back
in Florida a week or so ago. Many Snowbirds wait until now to move in, and the
influx is obvious. We have lived in Florida full time and part time; we still
appreciate Florida’s weather. Although Florida
has a lot of out of state folks, we have met many ‘from birth’ folks here.
One, our former friend and Pastor, the Rev. Wayne Carter. Wayne
was an admirable man. In his youth he was a little wild; even a stock car
driver for a while. He married the sweet
Juanita and I think she settled him down. ;-0
Since Wayne
had held secular jobs before becoming a minister, he knew what it was like to
work and the pit falls of job insecurity.
From that perspective he (like my dad) viewed his congregation. Knowing their normal everyday situations and
problems. Many Floridians depended on
the Citrus industry. As it has folded many folks are out of work.
We talked about
that from time to time; seeing churches fold because of poor planning and leadership
of pastors. Many pastors walk their churches into debt that cannot be sustained
with even a small set-back. That allows a church to be placed in debt so far,
as income drops BIG debts cannot be paid.
One of his
statements I have seen too true is: Pastors
are the worst MONEY managers in the world and need a council with backbone (not yes
men) to guide a church.
Very few
churches have complete transparency. I feel it is common-sense to KNOW where
your hard-earned money goes. I feel it is very important for church go-ers
(members) to know how their donations are spent.
I have a big
problem with TV ministries in general. I cannot send money anywhere, not
knowing how it is used. That would bother me.
In the past
10 years we have witnessed churches in our denomination fail, and buildings
sold, because of poor foresight. Churches moved into millions of $ in debt that
cannot be sustained. That is sad.
WOW, reading
over this, I hadn’t meant for it to be so DOWN!
Yes, of course I need prayer, and advice. Thanks in advance….
PS.
I do appreciate you stopping by
the Shipslog, we are transit for a while.
Hopefully SHERRY will learn and settle down. ;-)
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6 comments:
If that picture was of Wayne Carter - gosh he has a twin - our minister looks so much like him.
It is true about churches. Sometime people put too much in churches and not enough in Jesus.
True words, and very sad to see all those churches with for sale signs.
All too often churches get their eyes on worldly gain and goals and forget WHO they are supposed to be worshipping. When Pastors and church members keep their eyes on Jesus, their church will flourish and people will grow in their relationship with Christ. But when they want to please the world and attract people by worldly ideas and activities, they are forgetting their purpose. And when the fun stops, people go elsewhere looking for more exciting things to worship. They do not know the One True Living God, Who is THE most exciting part of living!!! (and dying!)
Praying for you all as requested.
God bless.
Gosh, your friend Rev. Carter looks just like another minister, Clifton Ditmore in Scottsdale, AZ. He and his wife were my very first commenters on Blogland, but sadly neither blogs any longer.
You've sure been blessed to brush shoulders with some of the best.
Sadly it seems less and less people are going to church. I know my home church used to have double the number of people attending. That creates money problems. Would that people come back to church, but they are in a different place as far as priorities go. My hometown had a few churches close because of that.
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