Broken

God was really on me today to and I've just been craving his word. Normally Mondays are slow for me, but I've been fired up all day about the things we have planned for church.

I couldn't figure out why. But then it happened.

I ran into an old friend at Wal-Mart and she began to tell me about all the things happening to her family. My heart broke. All I could do was pray for her and invite her back to church Sunday.

I walked out of Wal-Mart feeling like a failure and broken.

I have never been more bitter and angry at church than I am right now. All I could do was pray for her and invite her to Sunday morning. We have NOTHING at church for a situation like this where they can come as a family and connect with others who can help them. We have Sunday mornings and bible studies and individual mens/womens groups and THAT'S IT. We should have had something for them. A specific time and place where we can say "come here at this time and you WILL receive help.

You may argue that Sunday morning is the place for that. I'm sorry, but people are not comfortable walking down an aisle and spilling their business in front of a lot of strangers. This fear could prevent them from recieving help.

THIS IS WHY WE NEED SMALL GROUPS! I'll be praying for her family and working like crazy to get all the things we have planned for the church moving. I'm so friggin' irritated that we weren't ready for her family. We've been around seven years and we should have been ready. And if you're reading this and thinking "your right, the pastor should have been doing this" just shut up. I'm talking to everyone who has ever opposed his vision on small groups. This is why we need them. I'm not content to sit in the four walls of our church anymore and "go deeper." I'm not going to sit in a chair and learn the friggin' Hebrew meaning of words when people's lives are falling apart.

I'm not saying we don't need Bible studies, because they are essential. However, we can't let that stand in for actually living out Jesus' mission.