So…I am a pastor. I’m the Pastor of Family Discipleship at Peace Church. In our day in age, associating with the Church and with Christians can come with some baggage for some folks. With that, let me just say upfront that I love my fellow Christians and the local church. Keeping that in mind and with knowing our current cultural climate, sometimes when I meet someone new, like in a waiting room, I try to get them to understand what I do in non-conventional ways. Here’s a snapshot of how it goes some of the time….

PERSON: So, what do you do?

ME: I work for a non-profit.

PERSON: That’s awesome! Tell me about it.

ME: Well, we seek to bring truth, grace, and reconciliation to our community and region, and by extension – our world.

PERSON: Wow, how do you do that?

ME: Through all sorts of ways, but we mainly try to do this through truth in love. We have weekly weekend gatherings, open to all the community, where there is live music and worldview teaching rooted in eternal truths designed to impact people today. Oh, and there’s free coffee [Que smiles]. We also have programming throughout the week for children and adults to help build the family. There are coordinated times for people and families to serve our community and region through work projects for families with need or visiting retirement homes, and other sorts of things like that. We have a ton of fun. There’s also classes we offer that people can take on anything from marriage, to family life, to finances, to historical studies. We’re ever learning how to better serve our community, but I’m pretty excited about what’s happening.

PERSON: This sounds pretty amazing…is there a cost?

ME: We don’t charge anything. We take offerings and donations to cover facilities, materials, and staff. It’s amazing because ends are always met.

PERSON: I have to say – I think this sounds like an awesome thing you get to do. Where exactly do you work?

ME: I work for a church called Peace and for this guy named Jesus. Hey, come be my guest this Sunday and check it out for yourself.