Quote:
Originally Posted by stmatthew
You are right Mark. I do not believe having money is the issue either, though I would gladly take a little bit (or a big lot) more  .
I really think we live in a different generation that our dad's did. They both started a church (my dad started in a storefront) and labored hard to see it survive. When finances did start coming in, while they to a degree enjoyed the fruit of their labors, they continued to pour it back into the church, and Gods work in general. Their values seemed to be different than the current brand of preachers. The church was a vehicle to build the kingdom, and was not used for personal gain and self serving motives. I don't know about your dad, but my dad took very few vacations. He felt his duty was to be at the church every time it was open, whether he was preaching or not. It was his life. Of course, the few vacations we did take was combined with camp meetings, so even in those few times we did go somewhere on vacation, it was not really a vacation.
Todays preacher takes more R&R vacations than I have seen in years. Between golf, hunting trips, fishing trips, camping trips, and cruises, I have to wonder when they take the time to lay on their faces and pray. But I guess that is another subject for another time. |
Good post Matt- sorry i missed it. There's nothing here that I can disagree with. Our backgrounds and ideals are so similar it's almost frieghtening! lol I remember when I was groowing up,we took one vacation a year in the summer and that was to drive back east to visit relatives. we always planned it around Elder Shew's AMF camp meeting in Dallas (or some place close).
I asked my mother the other day, how did you all work so hard,raise 7 kids, go to church every night, etc. and she said " we had more strenght and we were healthier then the people of today. somehow, I think she is right. I see young adults in their 20s in my church and they drag around like they are 95 yrs old. In general, people don't feel good and there is more stress thus the possible reason for more down time.
This is God's church matt. I keep having to tell myself that. I don't like what I see but I have put it in his hands knowing that he has got it all in control.
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