by Joe McKeever
Something about those children intrigued me, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
For
the past week or two, I have noticed these three small children playing
in their yard near the Mississippi River levee. Normally, in my daily
walk I don't travel as far east as their house, but recently I began
lengthening the walk by another mile, trying to lose more weight. That's
when I began noticing them.
The
oldest child seemed to be seven or eight. There was a younger brother
and a little sister. In the yard was all kinds of play equipment. No
matter how cold it was, they were out there laughing and running,
jumping and hiding, having a big time. You could hear them a block away.
Something about that made me smile. "Whatever the parents are doing," I thought, "its working."
Yesterday,
the children were out once more, enjoying life. As I reached my
turning-around point and headed back, I noticed they were doing
something different. They and another boy had several large-wheel
vehicles at the top of the levee which they were riding down to their
yard across the grassy expanse. Two women sat in chairs near the house,
keeping an eye on them. One was the mother, I assumed.
As
I neared them, all the children rode off the levee except the oldest
boy. As I approached, he looked in my direction and said, "Hi. I'm
Harley." I was so taken aback, I had to ask, "That's your name?" He said
it was. I said, "Hi, Harley. My name is Mister Joe." He smiled a big
grin and said, "Hi, Mister Joe!" Then, off the levee he went.
I
walked away thinking my first impression of that family was right on.
The parents are doing many things right. Here is a little kid with a
great friendly attitude, confident enough to introduce himself to
strangers, and enjoying life to its fullest.
One
day soon I plan to introduce myself to the parents. I'm going to
predict that I will find the family does not have a television set and
the children do not own computer games. There's more to that family than
this, of course, and I want to find out what it is.
From the first, I had felt there was something so attractive about that family.
And
that's what started me thinking about churches. Is it possible to do a
drive-by of a church and within a few seconds determine that it's a
healthy church?
I've run that question by a number of friends.
My friends and I have decided it's easier to tell an UNHEALTHY church in a few seconds than a healthy one.
As
one pastor put it, "If the building is in a state of disrepair and if
the people are unfriendly, those are dead giveaways. If there are no
greeters for the church and no helps for first-time visitors, you decide
very quickly this must be an unhealthy church."
Other
signs are so obvious they require very little comment: a sparse crowd,
lackluster singing, uninspired sermons, and unfriendly congregations.
But the question is: How would you tell that a church is healthy in a few seconds?
Corey
gave several possibilities. "You might notice that the people are
excited to be there. That works for me. A healthy congregation."
He
continued, "If the people are generous, that's a great sign. Not
necessarily rich. The people of Macedonia were generous but dirt-poor (II Corinthians 8)."
"If
there is strong pastoral leadership, if everyone is in the right place
in serving. Those are great signs. It's what I call a 'good Ephesians 4' model."
"If the people love their ministerial staff and follow them, they are going to be a healthy church in most cases."
Mike
said, "I need a little more than 30 seconds to determine if a church is
healthy. I want to hear their preaching and learn what the preacher is
telling the people theologically."
I
posted the question of Facebook today, as to how we could tell in 30
seconds that a church is healthy. Here are some of the answers, and then
I'll give you mine.
· people are friendly and speak to me.
· I see signs of mission involvement and evangelism.
· there's an air of expectancy.
· the church has children.
· people are carrying their Bibles.
· warmth.
· a variety of age groups.
· in the parking lot and at the front door, servants are showing me Jesus in their very actions.
If
I could choose one moment, one sliver of time, that would tell the
story on a church and allow me to decide on the health-status of the
congregation, it would be: How they handle a conflict.
For years, I thought Acts 6:1-6
was all about the origin of the first deacons in the church. Finally,
it hit me that that is a very minor part of that story. The major theme
of that story is how the church dealt with a challenge to its fellowship
and peace.
You
and I cannot sit off to the side and watch the Jerusalem congregation
deal with the dissension that arose when one group of widows began
complaining that they were being neglected in the daily distribution of
food in favor of the majority group. We can't, but plenty of others in
the city were watching.
They watched and they were most impressed by what they saw.
And
what exactly did they see? They saw the leaders, the Apostles, move
quickly as soon as the dissent arose. They saw them defer to the
congregation, instead of handling the matter themselves. They saw the
congregation do the most amazing thing: select seven good men from among
the dissenting group and put in charge of the food distribution. They
saw how it pleased everyone and how the congregation settled back down
in harmony. And they made a decision.
They wanted what these Christians had.
Acts 6:7 reads, "So
the preaching about God flourished, the number of disciples in
Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became
obedient to the faith."
Question: When was the last time your church impressed the outside world by the way it dealt with conflict?
When
was the last time newcomers walked into your fellowship and were so
impressed by what they saw, within one minute they were ready to sign on
the dotted line? What could they have possibly seen that would have
brought about that kind of reaction?
I do not have all the answers on this. However, this would be a great subject for a discussion with your church leadership.
I
know this: many of the first-time visitors to your church will be
making a decision on whether to return within the first minute or two
after they get out of the car. What they see will either draw them in or
turn them off.
Scary stuff.
Katerina | Diethood
Baked Garlic Butter Chicken
Katerina | Diethood
Garlic
Butter Chicken with fresh rosemary and cheese. The perfect one pan dish
for a weeknight! Super quick, easy and SO delicious.
5 minPrep Time
35 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Ingredients
- 4 (16-ounces) boneless skinless chicken breasts
- salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 1 stick (1/2-cup) butter*
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
- 1/2 cup Shredded Reduced Fat 4-Cheese Italian
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Lightly grease a baking dish with a pat of butter.
- Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper; arrange chicken in a single layer in prepared baking dish and set aside.
- Add butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat.
- Stir in garlic and cook over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring very frequently. DO NOT burn the garlic.
- Stir in the rosemary and remove from heat.
- Pour the prepared garlic butter over the chicken breasts.
- Bake for 30 to 32 minutes, or until chicken's internal temperature is 165F.
- Sprinkle with cheese and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and let stand a couple minutes.
- Transfer chicken to serving plates; spoon a little bit of the garlic butter sauce over the chicken and serve.
Notes
*Though
we're using an entire stick of butter for the sauce, we're only
ingesting about 1/2-tablespoon of the butter per serving.
WW SmartPoints: 7
WW SmartPoints: 7
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