Advent Three
I just turned 81.
(Yes! I know! I don’t look a day over 80!)
And on Jan 21, I will celebrate my 42nd year as pastor of St. Matthew.
So—how did that happen?!?
Well, in 1982, I was a 29-yr-old theology student beginning a second career after teaching.
I needed a church to serve while in seminary. And there was this small, dying church nobody wanted to be sent to.
St. Matthew.
A church off the main drag. No prospects.
I was sent there to close it down—pronounce the “last rites,” so to speak.
But it didn’t die. It began to grow.
By 1989 we were out of room. We had a building program to transform the sanctuary into the glory it is now.
Since I presided over an unlikely recovery, the bishop let me stay. Many bishops let me stay. Having this continuity is what has preserved a church that seemed to have no future.
That—and this. This thing you are reading.
In 1987, we began these “little articles” in papers.
Some 90% of our members come through Friday’s Word.
And everyone knows what they are getting before they get here.
We attract loving and accepting people.
And by the way—I ain’t done yet. I am as excited about ministry as the day I first stepped into a pulpit.
And Christmas at St. Matthew will be glorious.
The Christmas Show is this Saturday night—the 16th –at 6:00. It’s kind of like an old Bing Crosby TV special.
Great music.
Christmas supper after.
And Santa for the kids.
And Sunday morning?
I’m still preaching.
Thanks to God ,Max & countless others. Keep up the good work! With MUCH Love, Rev. Gene Chamness I am Now 95 yrs. old You still have a long way to Go.