Sheep dog's Blog

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sheep dog

Sheep Dog's Blog

You're probably asking yourself who's Sheep Dog, and why would a Sheep Dog have a Blog? Well, as it turns out, Sheep Dog is Pastor Jeff. Huh? The Pastor's a Sheep Dog? How did you teach him to type? Of course these are all good questions, let's see if we can put your concerns to rest.

Pastor Jeff is a master story teller, but don't take my word for it, come to Trinity this Sunday and see for yourself. Anyway on Sunday June 28, 2009 Pastor Jeff gave his first sermon at Trinity, well more of a story telling event and introduction than a true sermon. Pastor Jeff started with a story about his home in the mountains of Virginia, trying to please everyone, and a hiney. You should probably ask Pastor Jeff to tell you that story. During that first sermon Pastor Jeff likened himself to a sheep dog. His reasoning is that Jesus is our shepherd, and we are his flock, his sheep. The duty of the sheep is to reproduce more sheep to keep the flock growing and obey the shepherd. The duty of the sheep dog is to obey the shepherd, keep the flock together, and heading in the direction the shepherd wants us, his sheep, to go, and to keep the wolves out.

So, Pastor Jeff, Sheep Dog presents his Blog. Enjoy.

September 22

fall20

September 22 is my favorite day of the whole year. First, it is my wife, Reesa’s, birthday. She grows more beautiful every year, and my love grows deeper. But I must confess that September 22 was my favorite day long before I ever met Reesa, because that is the first full day of autumn. Fall is my favorite time of year. It has been ever since I was about six years old. Fall meant the mountains of Virginia would explode in a palette of color so rich that all one could do is praise God for such beauty. The big maple tree in our front yard would turn bright red, and then the leaves would fall. One chore I loved doing was raking those leaves into big piles and jumping into them. As dusk settled, after we were finished having fun, Daddy would set the leaves on fire, and we would bask in the warmth of beauty and family.

Fall also meant that school started back, and I always loved beginning a new school year. It meant seeing classmates that I had not seen all summer, as well as meeting anyone new who had moved into our small town. Starting back to school meant getting new clothes, new note books, new pencils with new erasers.

Fall meant harvest, and that means my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. I love Christmas and Easter and all the others, but Thanksgiving is so special to me because it is the least commercialized. I feel closer to God at Thanksgiving - and in the fall of the year.

Fall also meant new beginnings. Even as creation around me seemed to die with the colors of autumn, I felt more alive with the crisp bite of the autumn mountain breeze. I appreciated the new opportunities of the new school year, as well as the sense of renewal that came with the splash of color. I love autumn.

Matthew tells us that “...Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38).

I am also excited about the arrival of fall at Trinity. It means that Wonderful Wednesday is back, along with Disciple Bible Study and Alpha. The Fall Festival is just around the corner, as well as preparations for the Holiday Season. This year brings our new worship service that we have been praying for and planning for over a year. Our church family continues to grow because the harvest is plentiful. But we are running out of barns to put the harvest - or space to put everybody on Sunday morning. That means we need to build a larger barn - bigger worship space - or offer new worship opportunities. Since the number one time that the unchurched in our community prefer to attend church is on Sunday morning between 10:30 and 11:30, we are offering that opportunity at 11:00 am in Murrow Hall - again because the harvest is plentiful.

Another new gift to Trinity this fall will be our first ever (that we know of) Church Picnic on Saturday, October 1, sponsored by our United Methodist Men. You will be hearing more about that in the weeks to come, but I am excited because it means a second Thanksgiving a month early. Good food, good folks, and good fun.

The harvest in Brunswick County is indeed plentiful, but I hope and pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into the harvest. That means that we must not only pray for Trinity to have laborers for the harvest, but for all the other churches in our communities to have laborers as well. I don’t think there are enough churches in Brunswick County to hold all of the harvest with which God wants to bless us. Our church family continues to grow, and we give all thanks and praise to the Lord of the harvest as we strive to be obedient laborers in every way that we can to bring His harvest in. I’ll see you at the Trinity barn next Sunday. I love you.

Jeff

It's not enough

Cover of "They Like Jesus but Not the Chu...

Cover via Amazon

I was reading a newsletter this week from another church in which the pastor related how he had had a conversation a few weeks ago with a 27-year-old man. During the conversation, the pastor invited the man to church. His response was to tell the pastor that he didn’t care much for the church, and that he had given up on institutional Christianity, but that he was a follower of Jesus Christ. The man said he used to believe that the church was the hope of the world, but not anymore. But he did believe that Jesus was the hope of the world. Then he asked the pastor, “There are millions of people in the world starving, millions of orphans, preventable diseases killing children. There is unbearable poverty, and there are more than one billion people in this world who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Does your church care about that? What is your church trying to do about that?”

I wondered how I would answer that 27-year-old man about Trinity. I am confident I could tell him that Trinity United Methodist Church does care about the hurting people in this broken world; that we care about those who have never heard of Jesus Christ. I am confident I could tell him that we are doing a lot. I would tell him about all the mission work we are doing beyond the walls of our church building out in the world. And when I got through, I hope he would say, “Hey man, that’s great. Well done!” But I am afraid he might say, “Well, that’s good, but it’s not enough.”

I’ve been thinking about that lately. I think we should always celebrate the mission work of Trinity Church, both locally and around the world. I thank you for the financial support and hands-on work in which so many of our Trinity Family participates to help transform the world for Jesus Christ. God is doing great work through the people of Trinity and the list of mission and ministry outreach continues to grow. But as we celebrate, I can’t help but think of the words, “That’s good, but it’s not enough.”