Pastor’s Blog

This morning I got up quite a bit earlier than usual.  I was having some coffee (imagine that!).  I was just sitting, thinking, looking out the window at a cloudy rainy day.  I love cloudy rainy days, and yes, I know I’m twisted.  Anyway, I just started thinking about how blessed I am.  As a pastor, husband, dad, friend, son, brother and Christian I have made – and continue to make – so many mistakes.  Some of them I ignorantly stumbled into, and some I just stubbornly and pridefully decide to go my own way, knowing what I was doing was wrong.  Yep, that’s your pastor. 

In the middle of my morning musings I was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and thanksgiving for YOU.  I know churches that would have fired me for some of the blunders I have made as your pastor.  But not you.  Though you have shaken your head in amazement at some of the stuff I have done, you have always loved me.  You have confronted me, gotten righteously angry at me, questioned me about my decisions, disciplined me, held me accountable, but in the midst of it all you never stopped loving me.  I simply want to say THANK YOU.  You are a very special church.  By the way, I LOVE YOU TOO.
–Pastor Ferrell

OTHER STUFF:
SERVOLUTION – Click here: http://www.servolution.org/7days/
It takes place April 3-9 and both worship locations will be participating in this effort.  Please get familiar with what it’s all about.  More details from Outreach Pastor Jimmy Bryant soon.

ONE PRAYER – Click here: http://2009.oneprayer.com/
It begins June 6-7 and both worship locations will be participating in this effort.  Please get familiar with what it’s all about.  More details coming soon!

The Cross & The Crown
Please do not hesitate to get involved with the presentation of The Cross & The Crown.  Maybe you are a new attender.  This is a great place to get involved.  It is short-term and you will get to know a lot of people in the WC/Bridge family.  How do you let us know that you want to get involved.  You can use the sign-up insert in your worship program, sign up at the info desk in the main foyer, call the church office (735-5411), or email Pastor Jimmy at jimmy@whitleychurch.com.  Oh yeah, the dates of the presentation this year are April 9, 10, 11 & 12.  We added a Thursday evening presentation this year!  TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!  It’s free!!

Valentine’s Dinner Show – HUGE SUCCESS!!
It was delicious and hilarious and romantic.  It was my first trip to Paris and I enjoyed it immensely!  Special thanks to Creative Arts Director Betty Grantham and her awesome team!!

About once a month I read through our website(s) to review our claims/promises.  We have a link at the top of the WC homepage that asks, “New to Whitley Church?”  If you click on it, here’s what WE CLAIM: http://www.whitleychurch.com/index.php?pageid=9.

So after I read that claim I ask, “Really?”  So, what do YOU think?  Are our claims true?  How long would a business last if their ads didn’t deliver on what they promise?  Not long I assure you.  The same is true for a church.

1)  We claim that we are the first-time visitor’s “friend”.  So I ask myself again, “REALLY…WE DO?”  I am treating new attenders in a friendly welcoming way?  Really?  Am I actually thinking about others when I go to church or is it really all about me and how I am treated?  Do I look around on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday to see if there is anyone who has that “deer in the headlights look”?  If you see someone like that, do you remember when you attended for the first time?  Do you remember that same uncomfortable scary feeling in your gut as looked for a familiar face?  How do you wish you had been treated that day?  If we are not going to be friendly, let’s stop claiming that we are.  Right?

2)  The next claim I noticed is that we you come to visit will gladly help you find your way around.  Really?  We will?  So let me get this straight, we actually go up to new people and ask if we can help by showing them where the nurserys are….where the pre-school kids’ church is located….where the grade school kid’s church meets…..where the teen church meets…..?  Really?  We actually do that?  I’m just asking.  Oh, I know our Guest Guides do that, but they can’t cover everyone-especially the way our church is growing.  So do you ever just stop and look around and try to find those who appear to need answers or information?

Hey listen, Im not getting on anyone’s case here.  I just want to make sure that our claims match reality.  If they don’t, we could find ourselves “going out of business”.

–Pastor Ferrell