Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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As we move to the
completion of our renovation/expansion and prepare for the dedication on June
3, we're inching closer and closer and closer to the worst controversy in
our church's recent history.
It's the most
explosive issue to hit us in nearly two decades.
Every other
problem that we've faced will seem like pachyderms taking on a donkey (synonym)
for the White House.
Having survived a
pastoral transition of over seven years, idolaters, auto-suggesters,
narcissists, irregulars, irascibles, and irreconcilables who love Jesus by
hating everybody else, this one has the potential to tear families apart, cause
members to take our dirty laundry into the streets while exposing it in
local rags, devastate the budget, and make worship wars look like cold peace.
Distrust,
suspicion, and cynicism recently exorcised may return with even more
demonically vile force.
We may not
survive.
We may be added
to the 10+ churches closing their doors every day in America.
Sigh.
Help us, Jesus!
We're about to
change the locks.
Just one question
will ignite the...
Who gets keys?
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I've been around
long enough to remember the good old days when everybody had a key.
There was a time
when I didn't need to carry one.
All I had to do
was stand on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Main Street in Belvidere (our
location) and just ask anyone passing by if I could use theirs.
Those days are
coming to an end; and maybe...
We may not have
to wait for Israel to bomb Iran for Armageddon.
Requests are
coming in via voicemail and e-mail and post-its and finger-pointing-face-to-face...
And if I texted,
twittered, tweeted, or Facebooked, I'd really be...
So I've started
to fast.
I've gone on
retreats.
Because the
Kingdom must surely depend on who gets keys, I've begged Him for revelation.
Help us, Jesus!
Who gets keys?
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Keys symbolize
volition, ownership, control, prestige, power, and prerogative.
If I have a key and she/he doesn't,
that means I'm...
Why should she/he have a key and not
me?
It's more
polemical than poetic.
It has the
potential to rip us apart.
Because so much
is riding on it, I've promised to up His take on the royalties if you know what I mean.
I'm bargaining.
Help us, Jesus!
Who gets keys?
@#$%
O.K., enough fun
at our expense.
Hyperbole can be
so exaggerating.
But, yeah, I'm
concerned.
While it hasn't
gone viral, uh, yet, truthfully, I'm being asked.
Who gets keys?
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Just like some
country clubs, it seems easier to get into the eternal family of faith than...
It only takes
believing in Jesus to get into heaven with some very special existential
benefits.
To get a key will
require getting approved by, uh, uh, uh,...
Oops.
Don't know.
I guess it will
be the church board(s).
Psst.
How are they
gonna figure out who doesn't get 'em on
the board(s)?
Need?
Please!
This ain't about
need.
Remember, it's
about volition, ownership, control, prestige, power, and prerogative.
@#$%
Or maybe it's
about being a family of
faith.
Do I deny a
family member a key to the house?
If I can't trust
members of my family to...?
Sure, there's
gotta be some common sense.
Forget that;
but...
Some rooms gotta
be off limits to everybody except for the ones who need access.
Not everybody
needs access to...
You know what I
mean.
But how about fellowship
areas, chapel, sanctuary, and, uh, toilets?
If we trust each
other, which is supposed to be a hallmark of the Body of Christ, it makes sense to give keys
to "open" areas to everybody in the family!
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Staying with the
subject in a bigger picture kinda way, I was stunned by a journalist's take on I Just Wanna Ride (FTW) and
its author.
A big newspaper
in the East was/is very interested in the book's theme(s); unlike local
versions not to mention my denomination or even presbytery's newsletter(s).
Of course, the
franchise once told Lloyd Ogilvie to take his TV show and...
If that doesn't
work, go to google, search for Times
Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), click on features for 2/19/12,
and find the article by Mary Therese Biebel.
Yeah, there's
some shameless self-promotion there; especially for the distrusting,
suspicious, and cynical.
Be that as it is, the
journalist really captured the author's heart and soul as much as capturing the
author's desire to reflect the heart and soul of...
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Blessings and Love!
