Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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"Do not think of yourself as being more important than
you are."
Paul
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Whenever I'm
chatting with someone who's a tad too full of her/himself as I can be too
often, I remind 'em as I remind myself that there's only one Messiah.
Starkly and
specifically for the thick-egg-headed like me, I'll elaborate, "If I die
on Monday, there will be ham and cole slaw in Fellowship Hall on Wednesday and
then a pastor search committee will be elected on Sunday 'to find somebody who's better than
the last one.'"
If you don't
believe that's true for you as well as me, you don't need acid.
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Some pastors
still think size matters.
Really.
Listen to 'em.
"So, uh, how
big is your
church?...So, uh, how big is
your attendance?...So, uh, how big
is your budget?...So, uh, how big
is your staff?...So, uh, how big
is your total compensation?...So, uh, how big is your...?"
Some pastors
think being bigger means
being better.
If you don't
believe that's true for you as well as them/me, just don't get caught with your
pants down.
Some pastors are
more Freudian than Christian in a suffering servant kinda way.
@#$%
When I was a
really big and important
pastor of two really big churches
and then one kinda big one
before going to one that thought it was better
which enabled/deluded me to think I really deserved bigger salaries and houses
and stuff than smaller pastors
in smaller churches, I'd only show up for
meetings or conferences or workshops or local ministerial groups or
Rotaries or prayer breakfasts or community worship services or the like if I was the featured speaker and got
to sit up front with the other big and important...
I was too big/important/indispensable to
waste my time listening to anyone who was smaller
than me.
I was big which made me better than anyone who was
smaller.
If you don't
believe that's true for you as well as them/me, take a look at your community's
big/important/indispensable pastors
and when they grace everyone with their presence at meetings, conferences,
workshops, local ministerial groups, Rotaries, prayer breakfasts, community
worship services, and the like if
they're not the featured speaker and sitting up front with the other big and
important...
@#$%
How big are you?
How big am I?
Not big enough to be
considered indispensable; unless, of course, I'm/we're stoned.
BBPBHO is gonna
serve out his second and then be about as important to anybody else as any
peanut farmer or Bubba behind, uh, Bushes.
Dan was replaced
by Katie who was replaced by...
Rush and Sean
and Chris and Rachel and Brian and Jay and David and O'Reilly
have shelf lives and will be replaced by...
Starr then Favre
then Rodgers then...
Joe then Mickey
then Derek then...
Hmm.
I've been doing
funerals for about four decades.
I've seen deacons
and elders and staff members and pastors and pillars...and wives...and
husbands...replaced.
Nobody's
indispensable.
If you don't
believe that, wake up and smell the roses before they're placed on your...
@#$%
Really.
Are you getting depressed?
If you are, it's
because you've forgotten there's only one Messiah; and He is enough.
Psalm 62.
Yeah, we're
integral in a Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 kinda way; but not indispensable.
Only Jesus is
indispensable.
And when we
figure that/Him out, at least two wonderful things happen.
First, we do our
best and leave the rest to Him in a parable of the sower kinda way.
Second, we sleep
well; knowing the past, present, and future are in bigger and better hands than
ours.
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I've conquered
the 10th commandment; except, uh, for one thing.
It has nothing to
do with anything, uh, big; and
He has told me to keep my mouth shut about it so He can work on it.
Really.
I don't covet anything
big anymore.
I know the only
size that matters is the size of His love for you, me, and everybody else in a
John 3 kinda way.
While I've got
too many friends who can't wait to retire because of everything seemingly going
to hell in our world, country, mainline denominations, sideline facsimiles, and
even District 100, I'm more excited than ever before since a week
in October 2011 with Eugene and covenant brothers as Matthew 23 and
Luke 11 were opened up to me in ways never taught in seminary or churches
enabling such idolatries.
Besides, by His
grace, we've just about completed the purging and pruning of posers on the
corner of Lincoln and Main in Belvidere, Illinois; and I've got lots of
encouraging to do with the trickles to increasing flow of authentics or wannabe
authentics coming through the doors.
We're no longer
polluted by people who cannot serve unless they're leading with some sick sense
of entitlement that has nothing to do with service personified by the
Founder.
I figure I've got
about 20 more years to go; barring cancer from Grandpa Jacob's genes or
assassination.
Of course, like
you, I'm not indispensable even while knowing I'm integral.
And if I die
today, there will be ham and cole slaw in Fellowship Hall on...
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Blessings and Love!
2 comments:
Dr. K.,
The only BIG in our Lives/Churches/Vision etc should be Jesus!! High and Lifted Up! Maybe we should counter act those questions with a "How Big is Your God?!!"
Bless you,
'Spose that might be a welcome change, "ham in the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday rather than in the pulpit on Sunday (Sorry, the devil made me do it!).
To paraphrase this excellent KC: "If we don't get over ourselves during our three-score and ten, it is a good sign we're already over Him (or never got It/Him), so He'll give us an eternity in our own company rather than His."
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