The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
How crazy!
Not us. We're anticipating celebrating the birthday of the King today!
I know some people want to go to church today but can't go to their own church where they are a member because the leadership of the church made a choice to close today. I feel sorry for those people and have encouraged them to go visit another church in their area that's open today.
It's interesting, that some Christians and even pastors fight the whole "happy holidays" versus "Merry Christmas" yet many of those same people stay home from church today or even made a decision to close. That's really where the rubber meets the road for me. How strong IS your faith? Just strong enough to complain about "Christmas" being misaligned by some store clerk telling you happy holidays? That's pretty weak. By the way, the word holiday derives from the term "holy day" which is exactly what we are celebrating -- a holy day. Christ-mass. A service, for Christ - a holy day.
I don't shy away from telling anybody Merry Christmas. I tell co-workers, job seekers, store clerks, and passers by. Whether they celebrate it or not, if they are not mature enough to have their big boy or girl panties on and hear it without a meltdown, it's probably time to get them a gift certificate for some therapy instead of a Starbucks card. This is Christmas time -- we've always celebrated Christmas in America and it doesn't seem to have affected anybody's sensitivities until recent years when all of a sudden it seemed to matter to some people who got loud about it. As Buddy said in Elf, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing nice and loud for all to hear. So just get louder than these super-sensitives. I keep saying Christmas tree no matter how many times I hear the words holiday tree. I keep saying Christmas Concert no matter how many times teachers call it a Winter Concert. This is Christmas time. If that bothers you, put a little mistletoe in your pipe and smoke it. ;P
Last Saturday someone called me and said, "I'll only take a moment of your time, I know you're probably busy getting ready for your Christmas program tomorrow."
"Nope," I said, "it's not tomorrow."
"Oh really? So it was last week?"
"Nope. Wrong again."
"So you're not having one?"
"Yes we are...on Christmas day."
"Okkkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy," was their response. Then a moment of silence. They couldn't believe it. They were shocked. Yes, not only are we having church but today is our Christmas program! We're featuring special music by the kids choir, teen ensemble, adult choir, solos, duets, and a special message from my husband.
Are we open today at Celebration? You better believe it.
Merry Christmas everybody!
*Photos in this post from the Christmas Eve Communion at Celebration Church.
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