How many of you have ever sat through a church business meeting? Ours has been scheduled for tonight for awhile. Every time Brother Matthew made the announcements before Praise and Worship started, he would mention the business meeting. Then, he would say, "C'mon folks, it's OUR business meeting! Let's be excited about it!" Then, he would get honorable applause.
As the church services came and went, with each mention of the business meeting, he would lead the applause.
I won't lie to you, I've sat through business meetings that made me wish I'd stayed home. They have always been boring, if not stressful. To me, it's usually a night of setting goals that rarely met fruition, due to bills that just seem to keep piling up -- not to mention repair funds that are usually inadequate.
Tonight, I halfway expected the same ol' same ol'. But, I learned something that I already knew. When you EXPECT big things, big things happen.
You see, for months now Matthew has been graciously encouraging us to be excited about what we knew was going to be something boring and mundane, as if it was going to be just as exciting to hear church business as it is to hear his preaching or join in Praise and Worship.
Tonight at our business meeting, we saw growth. We saw Grace. We saw joy. We saw love; and, finally, we saw HOPE.
God was there tonight. You could feel Him there as much as if it were a regular Sunday or Wednesday night service. I left the meeting and went to my car with tears of joy in my eyes.
I ask you, WHEN has that ever happened at YOUR church?
Topics of the meeting (I know I'll miss a few, but these are the important ones):
Our budget was raised substantially, because our funds were exceeding what we last budgeted. (Praise GOD!)
Our ladies commode got fixed (we think) so we may not need a new one (discussed at the last meeting) after all!
We love our Pastor SOOO much that we had to ask him to leave the room so we could discuss giving him a raise that he had already turned down when approached about it by church leadership before. Well, tonight, he couldn't turn it down because we, as a CHURCH, voted on it and made it official, whether he likes it or not. (You should have seen his reaction when we told him, brought tears to my eyes!)
We decided that we are going to name our fellowship hall the "Danny Ray Taylor Memorial Hall". Like Brother Matthew said, Danny didn't just exist so we could remember him, he HAPPENED.
Before the meeting, Jacque Butler (Brother Matthew's wife) gave a beautiful devotional for the first time.
And, let's not forget: We are praying for a bigger building to accommodate all that God has blessed us with!
We laughed, clapped, and rejoiced all the way through the meeting. There wasn't ONE dull moment.
God is so GREAT!
I hope YOUR next business meeting is just as wonderful! And, I can't wait until our next one!
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