My Day Off

Friday is my day off. Today, it began with a Donuts with Dad session at my son's school. Remember the woman that I ran into at Walgreens the other day? Well, today, I ran into her husband at Donuts with Dad. When I saw him, we exchanged greetings. Then I asked him if his wife told him that I want to see them soon at KCC. He was aware of our conversation. I reminded him that he is always invited. He seemed appreciative of my invitation. After leaving the school, I headed out to run a bunch of errands in my attempts to complete the "honey-do" list for my day off. One of my stops was at a company that shreds documents in bulk. The owner of the company happened to be the only person there today. Through our conversation, I asked him if he had ever approached our church about offering shredder services. He was not familiar with the church. We exchanged contact information, and I directed him to the appropriate person to contact on our staff. Before leaving though, I told him that he should come and visit our services at some point. Who knows if he will or not, but at least he has been invited to attend. After leaving the shredder location, I stopped at a gas station to fill up my car. While filling up, a car pulled in, and I recognized the driver as the cable guy from one of my earlier posts. He didn't remember right away where he knew me from, but when I greeted him by name and reminded him of my name, he immediately remembered. He offered some reasons why he had not yet been to church, but he said that he plans to come this weekend. I am hopeful that I will see him because it sounds like God has placed some encouraging folks in his life. Running into him reminded me that when we are intentional about reaching out to people through invitations and prayer, we are planting seeds that might not produce fruit until much later. We can provide one of what might be many touches that God uses to reach a person. I enjoyed my day off, and I enjoyed continuing the journey of inviting people to learn more about Christ.

In Christ,
Kyle

Trying to set a good example

If anyone should know about the dangers of pride, it should be me, a pastor. However, I did have a moment today when I felt a little bit prideful. Don't worry, I quickly repented. Here is what happened. I walked into Walgreen's to pick up a prescription for my youngest son who had two teeth pulled today. As I walked down the aisle with the ibuprofen and other stuff on the way to the pharmacy, I recognized a guy that I have seen before during some of our neighborhood outreach activities in one of the surrounding neighborhoods of our church. I said, "hey, didn't I meet you on Christie Street." You have to know that this guy is rough around the edges. His response was, "Who are you?" I told him my name, and then he remembered. We carried on a conversation. During our whole conversation, there was another gentleman in the aisle looking at some medication and kind of glancing our way every now and then. I continued my conversation with the guy. I asked him about his family, his life, etc. As he responded, he dropped some profanity every few words. He is one of those guys that couldn't care less that I am a pastor. He is going to say what he wants to say no matter who is around. We kept talking and eventually I asked him, "When are we going to see you over at the church?" He said, "Aww, I came to see you one day and they told me that you were in a meeting or something. I waited for over an hour, and then I left." I told him that I felt bad that he had to wait so long. I told him, "you know we want to see you come to one of the weekend services one day, Sunday mornings at 9:20 and 11:00 in the morning." He didn't commit one way or the other, and we parted ways. I passed by the gentleman that had been glancing our way and headed to the pharmacy counter. After paying for my items, I exited the store. In the parking lot, the gentleman that had been listening to our conversation said, "Hey, pastor, I enjoyed your sermon on Sunday. It was a good message..." Now, if you're reading this, you might think that this is the point that pride crept in, but it wasn't. I appreciated the encouragement, and was thankful that the Lord gave me the words to say during the sermon. The pride crept in a bit when I thought about the fact that a KCC congregant saw me, the Outreach Pastor, modeling extending an invitation to someone in the community. Like I said, I quickly repented. However, I do long for the day when every KCCer would feel the boldness and the courage to invite people like crazy. I hope that as I am out inviting people to KCC activities, there will be some timid KCCers that get greatly encouraged by my example. I hope for this not for my glory but so that many more people can be exposed to the truth of Christ through the ministries of KCC.

In Christ,
Kyle

Invitations Anywhere

Thanks to those of you that encourage me to update my blog. I appreciate your enthusiasm about this journey that I am on. I am finding that an invitation to church can be extended anytime, anywhere. I ran into one of my neighbors at Walgreens. We exchanged conversation and talked about the fact that she had just returned from her son's football game. I knew that she and her husband had been married earlier this year in a church, but I was also pretty sure that they were not regularly attending a church. I said, hey, have you two started going to a church yet? She said that they had not yet begun attending anywhere. I told her, you know, you are always welcome to visit KCC. She told me that they had been talking about it, but they had not yet made it a priority. It was as simple as that. She paid for her stuff. Then, I paid for mine. I will see her again in the neighborhood, but I am hoping I will see her sooner during the weekend services at KCC. I hope this encourages you that it is not hard to extend an invitation to church.

In Christ,
Kyle

Knock, knock....Cable Guy

Yesterday, I was sitting at the kitchen table helping my sons with their homework. My youngest son noticed someone walking up the walkway. Then we heard a knock at the door. When I answer the door for a stranger that I know might be trying to sell me something, I tend to step all the way outside. It creates less of a hassle trying to hold back my 85 pound black lab. So, I step out on the porch to meet the cable guy from AT&T. He wants to know if I have seen their trucks in the area because they are making some upgrades. He is also curious if we have cable and who we use for land line and internet services. I let him know that we don't have cable and we already use AT&T for phone and internet. So, before he left, I said, "So, how long have you been doing this?" He told me that he had been working at it for about a week. I asked him if he was from Grand Rapids. He told me that he was originally from Saginaw. I asked him if he lived in the community. It turns out that he lives in the apartments located right near our church. I told him that I was one of the pastors at the church near his apartment and that he should come and visit. He mentioned that he was just at our church this week seeking some financial assistance because he has received an eviction notice, his lights are out, and his car is broken down. However, he said that I was the third person that told him to come and visit KCC. He claimed to have a strong faith in God but was just not attending church regularly. I offered to pray with him, and I just asked God to bless him in a variety of ways and to give him a hunger to draw closer to God. He appreciated my prayers and said that he will likely visit KCC next weekend. When I went back inside, the boys asked me if I knew the guy or if I just met him. When I told them that I had just met him, they asked me why I prayed for him. I told them a few things about his situation. They didn't fully understand what it meant to have your lights turned out, but it was still a good teaching moment. Keep on inviting. That's where God is leading me.

In Christ,
Kyle