Ball Fields and Church Buildings

After spending a wonderful week of vacation in Mexico and the Central American countries of Honduras and Belize, our ship docked on Sunday morning in New Orleans and we began the 12 hour trek home.  All along the way, I lamented the fact that we could not be with our church family for worship.  It has been my practice for years to miss as few Sunday in worship as humanly possible.  Even as a pastor, I NEED worship.  I NEED to be with my church family.  I NEED to be taught, discipled, convicted and encouraged by God's Word, even when I'm the one preaching it...and I NEED it as often as possible.

We were passing through Fort Payne, Alabama around the time church meets on Sunday evening...at least when some churches still meet...and I noticed something that reflected where we have drifted as the body of Christ.  A church was on one side of the highway and a ball field on the other.  The church building was quite attractive and appeared to be an impressive facility.  It only had one glaring problem...it was closed up "tighter than a drum."  No cars in the lot, no people milling around, no lights peeping through the windows...just plain ole dark.  But what about the ball field?  Lights were on, cars were in the lot and people were around.  In that moment, the reality settled in...the church no longer values corporate worship enough to strive for it.  We've raised the white flag and thrown in the towel.  Pastors have concluded that "modern" man will not rise to the challenge, therefore cancel services so as not to "inconvenience" the busy schedules of the congregants.  Many (but certainly not all!) professing believers have concluded that they can get enough "Jesus" in one meeting per week to get them by...so they show up on Sunday morning to "pay their dues" to God, then hit the golf course, the movie theater, the lake or the couch facing the TV.  All the while, Hebrews 10:24-25 rings in my ears, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."  Friends, the Day of Christ's return is approaching...as a matter of fact, it is approximately 2000 years closer than when the writer of Hebrews penned the preceding verse under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  We shouldn't be canceling, but adding!  We shouldn't be finding ways to miss, but to meet!


Dear follower of Jesus Christ, please fight off the desire to protect your convenience.  Remember, life is not about me and not about you...it is about the glory of God.  Our chief aim is to be conformed into the image of Christ.  It is our privilege to receive the preaching of God's Word.  It is our duty before God to exhort one another and stir up love and good works...which requires being together to accomplish.  It is our joy to be with the ones we love...our spiritual family.  And beloved pastors, let me admonish you...don't succumb to the "wind of the day".  Challenge your people to rise.  Don't conform to the lowest common denominator, but call your people to climb!