The focus of conversation at a PPG is not who preached the best sermon, had the highest attendance or collected the biggest offering. Seeking the Lord is valued over statistics. Our problem is we thought Jesus said we were to build his Church for him. So instead of attending staff meetings with the master, a simple way to describe what best goes on at a PPG, we have devised our own programs, which eventually prove to be inadequate substitutes for the presence and the power of our God. Good ideas cannot compete with God ideas.
Relationships develop as trust grows.
I'll never forget the Sunday evening I stood before the congregation that sponsored our church's start some 15 years ago. I had to humble myself and ask their forgiveness. We were neither grateful nor cooperative when they assisted us in our early days of becoming an independent congregation. For most of us in the room that evening, those events were either forgotten or had taken place before we arrived at either church. But the Lord remembered.