Bittersweet Farm

Last night Hope and I had a full moon walk around the pond. Dan and Wes came along for comic relief. They are really good at that.

Tonight Hope and I will take a full-moon drive up the Southfield freeway to Berkley Community Church. I’m speaking for a banquet sponsored by Boys and Girls Bible Clubs. A fall night, a full moon, free food, time with Hopey, story-telling for Jesus – it should be fun. I hope to encourage a lot of people to keep doing a very good thing.

It was on August 28, 1946. A third-grade girl walked down the street to see the tent that had been erected on the corner of Bertrand Road and US 31. Bertrand Bible Church was conducting a children’s Bible club. They used little flannel figures to tell the story of Jesus and explain the gospel. She and her sister heard the story of Jesus and were saved that day. That was over sixty years ago. Both of them have walked with the Lord faithfully all those years. One of those little girls was my Aunt Sue, the other was my mother.

Their family was in great turmoil at the time, but God began to work and heal. Starting with the girls, Jesus quietly made his way through the family one at a time, touching and healing and saving one and then another. Those little flannel figures can have a multi-generational imfluence.

When I was growing up, Mom continually devoted herself to children’s work, Bible Clubs, Good News Clubs, Joy Clubs, Five-Day Clubs, and VBS. She knew how life-changing they could be.

My friend Ray Pritchard has a post on anonymous criticism that is worth reading. Here is a part of it:

Anonymous criticism is cowardly. If you don’t have the courage to put your name to what you say, then don’t say it.

When I was a pastor, I told the office staff not to show me unsigned letters or notes because I wouldn’t read them. For that matter, I told the staff never to bring anonymous criticism to a staff meeting. We had a simple rule that no one could say things like . . .

“Some people don’t like this idea.”
“I’ve been getting some negative feedback.”
“I can’t say who told me this.”
“I promised not to mention any names.”

Anonymous criticism is unfair because opinions should be weighed, not counted. Negative statements and strong disagreements are fine, but you need to know the context. It’s unfair because there is no way to dialogue with your critics. And in really rough times, anonymous criticism is a Gestapo tactic, a way to intimidate people with vague, unsourced gossip and slander.

You can read the full post here