Quotes

My skills have been honed by hanging with big church pastors, but my character has been honed by hanging with small church pastors.  (Darrin Patrick, Twitter)

 What may appear weak and insignificant to us may be great and glorious to God.~ Bonhoeffer

 Pastoral visitation is never outdated. We pastors need to be present in times of need. For example, the family or individual waiting for surgery. What an opportunity for intentional listening, selected Scripture and prayer. Wedding planning, funeral dinners, graduation parties, blessing a new home, all opportunities. Such times are not interruptions but investments in relationship building. Jesus ministered often through so called “interruptions.”    “Know your sheep by name, carefully attend to your flocks.” (The Message- Prov. 27)   ~Bob Yawberg, Fort Wayne< IN

 

“i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
--i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
--i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)” 

~e.e.cummings