Pastor, do I have a deal for you...

This entry is actually from a guest writer, the lead pastor of Discovery Church and my persistant partner in this noble endeavor, Steve Cuss. He expresses some mutual feelings in this posting...

Late last week, my trusty 12 year old Passat started to give me hints that a new clutch would be in order soon. The clutch bearing is getting loose, which transmits right through the pedal to a non commital spongy sensation in my foot. The dilmena is simple: do I drop $1000 new clutch into a car worth $1800 and risk something else going wrong tomorrow, or do I spend $7000 or so into a used car now? Well, I'm not sure which way I'll go yet, but I've stopped by three car dealers of dubious variety to test drive what $7000 buys now days, which isn't a lot. Used car dealers have an earned reputation and two out of these three dealers did not dissapoint. They were aggressive, pushy, obnoxious and determined to get me into a new set of wheels before I left the lot. One of them even chased after me into the parking lot. "Mr Cuss, what do we need to do to earn your business today," he shouted as I drove away...


But its what you expect. It goes with the territory. I have an agenda of test driving cars to see if I want to buy one. They have the agenda of making as much money from me as they can. That's business, pure and simple.


Having worked in various ways on our land and building project for two years now, I have come to conclude that Christian business is seriously flawed. In "Christian" business, everyone claims that their agenda is always, always in my best interest. Everyone claims that they have some secret knowledge/connection/discount/money that people in the rest of the world don't have access to. In Christian business, people are comfortable being pushy, obnoxious and aggressive because they claim that they are serving me/our church/God's Kingdom.


As a pastor, I'd like to come clean. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of dealing in "Christian" business. To be concise, I've dealt with many Christians who are also business people, and with some exceptions, I have no beef with them. Its the folks who push their business as a "Kingdom" business designed for my benefit. With those folks, I have run out of patience. The cynical part of me wonders how many of them have discovered that there is a ton of money to be made from churches, and just enough wide eyed innocent pastors to go around.


I am no longer one of them.


You see, word is out that our church is looking to build. I'm getting cold calls from technicians, architects, finance companies, owner's reps, contractors. All of these folks have other folks they want to put me in touch with....right away....as if my soul somehow depends on it. In the early days, I took many of those meetings and I would patiently listen to the same buzz words over and over again: creative financing, out of the box development, scalable design, and the best buzz word of all: value engineering.


Give me a break. Give me a business man or woman who's intent is to provide a quality product or service at a reasonable cost. Let them compete against others for our dollars. Let's keep it at that, can we? If that person happens to be a Christian, great! But please, no more of the Christian Business approach. No more talk of serving the Kingdom when I know you're making a profit - the very profit you are entitled to simply because you are in business. No more talk of my interests or helping our church with some unique approach that isn't unique at all. We're trying to build a church here and you're too much of a distraction.

Lunch with Glen…

I had the opportunity to take a WWII veteran to lunch today. Glen is 80-something years old and has a job as a security person in the office building where I work. He brought a photo album of his battleship, the U.S.S. North Carolina. His ship provided naval firepower during the Battle of Iwo Jima. An aircraft carrier in his group was struck by a kamikaze plane. Their ship was at sea for 138 days without seeing land. Glen actually shook hands with FDR. It was fascinating to hear his stories and know that this was someone who served our country in the defining conflict of the last century.

Glen was in Japan for the signing of the surrender that ended the war aboard the North Carolina. However, in spite of her wartime accomplishments the North Carolina was not chosen as the stage for the signing of the final surrender of the War in the Pacific. The newly commissioned U.S.S. Missouri was chosen for that honor. This ship had arrived in the Pacific Theater in December of 1944 – only 9 months before the fighting ended. Glen said that the crew of the North Carolina was more than a little bit jealous.

It is easy to feel jealous of those who have accomplished something that you have desired yourself. It's hard to see others reach the finish line before you. I have personally turned a little green when other church projects receive approval, complete construction, and open their doors while we wait for our turn. To correct my misguided emotions it is important to be reminded that the success of other churches is a win for the Kingdom. The ultimate final surrender is still being negotiated, and the stage will be irrelevant. All will know, all will see and all will bow to Jesus Christ our Lord.