Baptist Business Meeting

And no, that wasn't as a result of a business meeting - just poking fun at the stereotype.

Just so you non-Baptists understand - we don't like these business meetings either. While we were walking up to the sanctuary from the parking lot, one of our members repeated three times through gritted teeth "I hate business meetings."

And I'd agree. But knowing they are sometimes necessary means I'm always going in with a "how can we share a vision for what the church can be?" As opposed to a "if a hurricane were to hit and we got wiped out we'd need more money in our reserve" frame of reference. LOL

But we make it through.

Congregational polity can be messy. It can drive you crazy when you are trying to get something done NOW. But it also can help a pastor (who loves the people God has given him to care for) to hear them. In fact I like to hear from them. For my experience has been that the people who are most opposed to whatever it is we are voting on don't say a word.

Tonight we took a step away from our local association, deciding to send the minimum each year and sending the difference to missions. No, that's not a misprint. We just don't think the association is doing missions so we're bypassing the structure. I was enlisted by the congregation to take a further step, that of sending a letter explaining why we were doing it. A no confidence letter I suppose is what is in order.

We'll be exploring other ways to partner with churches locally as well.

So the Baptist business meeting came to a close with no fires spotted. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but maybe they'll wait until Tuesday.