DISTRICT CONFERENCE chapter 96

I didn’t have to do anything regarding housing for district conference. The two ladies took care of everything. Because I was right next door to the church we were assigned to house Rev. Charles Pierce and his wife. Mrs. Pierce was in a wheelchair. I understood the convenience, but there were stairs into our place and no ramp. We didn’t mind providing space for these people, but we did not have a bed or a ramp.

A couple of days before the conference we were given a bed. We hoped it was comfortable. We moved all the boxes to our empty basement and tried to make it as nice as possible. Della quickly made some curtains for the room and we covered a couple of boxes for night stands and moved one of the lamps from the living room to the bedroom. We had an extra alarm clock as a wedding gift so we set that up as well.

I was at the church helping with registration when the Pierces arrived. They wanted to get settled at the house and needed some help. So I went next door to help Rev. Pierce lift the wheelchair up our 3 stairs to the house. He was around 50 and she was heavy. I had a great deal of admiration for what he was doing and realized the load he was carrying for the woman he loved. I had no idea how he managed. The two of us could hardly get her up the stairs.

I believe there were five guys from my graduating class with appointments in the district and I was very glad to see them, They all went on and on about how wonderful their little churches were doing and how greatly God was working. It didn’t take long to realize how well they fit in. When you talked personally to any pastor in the district there was not one work with any real problems or that was not growing, and many were growing a lot. And baptisms, lots of baptisms!

As meetings got underway and I began to read the districts annual report I found a huge disconnect. Where were all these numbers I was hearing about. We were the largest church and also had the most growth, conversions and baptisms. I just assumed that was to be expected. It was another church in all those numbers that surprised me. While it wasn’t a tiny church it wasn’t huge. Conversions and baptisms were right there with us, but attendance had barely grown. I didn’t understand why some of those numbers had not transferred to attendance. Strange.

What was messing me up was that I was personally struggling. I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I had only been there three weeks. My buddy’s had mostly been in their church for the whole summer. Maybe I just needed time. Why were their words and stats at such loggerheads with one another? Wasn’t anyone struggling, confused or unsure? Was I the only one? I began to ask people about the difficulties of ministry. I didn’t consider any of what was shared very significant. Most churches needed more money. Some needed more staff. A few had some cantankerous leaders or controlling families. But the pastors all seemed to suggest they were handling that all rather well. What was wring with me?

I tried not to doubt my friends and the pastors I was meeting. But it all sounded screwy. The more they talked the more I was sure I had made a mistake. I liked the kids in Sunday school and Christian Service Brigade, but I did not yet have a handle on anything. Ken was fundamentally running CSB and I was trying to figure out how a guy who knew nothing about camping (I have gone three times in m life and others did all the set up work) was going to lead a program like CSB. They loved floor hockey and football. I liked football. I cold play that with them. Most of the guys I worked with were only 7-11 years young than myself. We were practically peers. I was just a kid, maybe more of a big brother than a spiritual authority. Did my new ministry classmates all feel capable of managing the leadership of a church? If so, they didn’t have anyone like my Sunday school superintendent.

They all loved preaching. I now had a date when I would preach, but had not done more than sort of teach SS for a week, nor given even a brief talk at CSB. I was still getting acquainted with my “congregation.” On the other hand, I had a Sunday school class larger than most of their churches and when I would finally preach, the congregation would be larger than all their churches put together.

If that should have made me feel better, it didn’t. I was terrified. My inability to speak to large crowds was looming large. This church was about to hear a kids attempting to fill some very big and capable shoes and I knew I was only a “C” speaker.

I felt alone. None of my buddies suggested they had any such fears. Why am I here? I should be in Red Deer delivering milk.