Our Church’s Softball Team in the City League

Our church put together a softball team and entered our city’s co-ed rec league.  We played our first game this past Friday and won 16-4!

I love:

• that we are in a city rec league instead of a church league
• that someone from the other team last Friday night said, “We’re playing a church. We can’t cuss.”
• that our team shirts have our church logo and phrase “where the cross is central” right on the front, along with our website address
• that every player’s shirt has their favorite Bible verse reference on the back between their name and number
• that we pray before and after every game
• that we have great fellowship with people in our church outside of our church
• that there is a good number of our younger people coming out (probably only 5 people on our 20-person roster are above 35 years old)
• that we are encouraging each other during the entire game

I think being part of our city’s rec league

Churches: Be An Asset to Your Community, Not a Liability

What I’m writing is coming from frustration after reading about 2 specific situations, from the current situation our church is in, and from a desire to see the glory of God displayed in all churches.

Last week, I saw on the local news and then read about a church around Columbus who is involved in an ongoing battle of protesting with a strip club.  This is a very stupid situation in which the church has been protesting outside the strip club for several years now, even to the extent of photographing club goers and their license plates.  Now, the dancers from that club are protesting outside of the church on Sunday mornings.  It appears that neither party is going to step down either.

Super Bowl in the Snow!

Well, it probably won’t snow tomorrow in Miami for the game, but Central’s Community Super Bowl Party will be accompanied by snow!  We’ve got somewhere around 8 or so inches of snow in Marion, which hopefully should be cleaned up enough for people to get out to worship services and the party tomorrow.  We hope that many in the community will come out to enjoy the game and a great time being with others.  Here’s what we’ve got planned:

• Tons of food (chili, soups, chips, sandwiches, wings, and an assortment of brownies and cookies)
• Great prizes to give away each quarter (one for a man, one for a woman, one for a girl, and one for a boy each quarter)
• Game largely projected
• Half-time DVD featuring NFL quarterbacks Chad Pennington (Dolphins) and Carson Palmer (Bengals)
• Activities for children who don’t want to watch the game

I’m looking forward to this event tomorrow night.  I’ve invited many people, and I know some have been calling the church office this week for information and seeing our flyers in Panera, Starbucks, Whirpool, and OSUM, or reading the press release in the Marion Star, or hearing it on the local radio station.  We’ve tried putting the word out because we want to be part of the community and serve the people in it. Oh, and everything is free!

So if you’re in the Marion area tomorrow night, starting at 6:00 (kick-off is 6:25) anytime to the end of the game, you’re invited to our first Community Super Bowl Party!

Meeting with the Mayor of Marion

One of the first things I wanted to do when arriving to Marion to pastor Central was to meet with some of the public officials to learn more about the area and to see how Central can most effectively impact the community of Marion.

So I called the mayor.  I thought he might be gracious enough to give me a spot on his calendar to sit down and talk.

And he did.

He called me back this morning and asked if I could meet with him this Friday at 1:30.  So I’ll be meeting with Mayor Scott Schertzer to start making connections in the community.

Mayor Scott Schertzer speaks to a crowd in Marion at Bill Clinton's 2/29/08 visit to Marion.

So give me your input in the comments section here- as a new pastor to a new city, what should I ask our mayor?