Pastor Jim is the Executive Pastor at Avalon Church. This means he handles most of the day-to-day administrative duties, staff management, and a bunch of other not so fun stuff that no one else wants to do. He's also the first one off the bench if Pastor Dale can't preach on Sunday for any reason. When he does take over the Sunday service he likes to do things a little differently, to give you a new perspective on things. Or, as he puts it, "I'm going to hit you in the head with a 2x4." So in that spirit, I'm going to let you look over my shoulder as I write a letter to him.
Dear Pastor Jim,
First of all, I want to thank you for all of your behind the scenes work at church. I know that things would not go as smoothly as they do without the hours of preparation you put in each week. I would also like to thank you for not clipping me with the hand truck before we moved into the church building.
The training and guidance you have provided in getting the life groups started has been invaluable. If it hadn't been for your help I would probably still be "wandering in the wilderness" wondering how in the world I'm going to get this thing off the ground. And now it's poised to become a great outreach of the church, as five of the seven people who are interested do not even attend Avalon. We're going to change lives with this, and I can already see a change in mine just from preparing to facilitate the group.
You have a unique gift in your speaking style, in that it never really feels like a sermon when you speak, but I always leave thinking how powerful and personal it was. I'll never forget the message you gave pretending to be Peter, demonstrating the process of Christian maturation. If a hotheaded blowhard like Peter can reach the point that he writes "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pet. 5:5) then there really is hope for the rest of us.
As an interesting side note, did you know that when I first started attending Avalon, you approached me four weeks in a row to ask if it was my first time at church? Apparently I blend in pretty well.
One final thought, I wanted to point out that the most powerful part of your testimony (to me, anyway) is that when you talk about what you used to be like, when you were hurtful and a not-so-good husband, I have to take your word for it, because I can't for the life of me imagine that you were ever like that. Again, showing there's hope for the rest of us.
So thank you, for everything you've done and continue to do. I thank the Lord that He allowed me to find Avalon and to come to know you.
Sincerely,
Matt
While I've still got your attention I wanted to tell you that Pastor Jim is one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet - if you "get him." If you don't he'll just leave you confused and wondering how in the world this guy got to be in charge of anything. Which, in the end, just makes it even funnier to the rest of us.
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