New
Acts 2.42-47
April 25,2010
Dr. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Give us, we pray, O God, thoughts higher than our own thoughts, prayers better than our own prayers, powers beyond our biological possibilities, that we may spend and be spent in the preaching and hearing of Thy Word. Amen.

Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Acts. Listen. Acts 2.42-47.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,

47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

The Grass Withers, The Flower Falls, but The Word of The Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

First things first. I want to show you this. It is an empty box of sweet and low. I bought this box in 2004, after I had been here for a year, and put it in my office for my own personal use. It had 1500 sweet and low packets in it. I use one per day in my coffee. I have 2 cups, and put half of a packet in each. I am here for my coffee usually 5 days of the week, so I figured this would last a while. When I bought it, I wondered if we would still be together, you and I. I mean, 1500 packets, it means about 6 years and I never know where I’ll be in 6 months, much less 6 years. But just a couple of weeks ago, I took out the last packet. So, we made it through the whole box of sweet and low. Question answered, I guess.

I have been telling people, especially colleagues, that this is my last Sunday before my Sabbatical. I have been really gloating to my colleagues, and have taken more pleasure than I should admit to while watching them all turn green with envy. I tell you this as my form of confession. Forgive me NPC, for I have sinned. I have gloated and boasted. A lot.

That said, as I sat down to write this sermon, and as I stand here before you to deliver it, I have a good bit of mixed emotions about my Sabbatical. As much as I am looking forward to catching up on some long overdue reading, and as much as I am looking forward to rejuvenating and recharging my batteries, I am also really going to miss seeing you all on a regular basis. You don’t do ministry in a vacuum, and you all have been having such an impact in how I grow as a minister that it is hard to imagine what 3 months apart will look like.

Which is exactly why it is going to be good for me to take Sabbatical, as a way to make sure that we don’t have a codependent relationship. I don’t think we do, and I don’t think we are in danger of getting to that point. And things like Sabbatical are things healthy churches and healthy pastors do as a part of the mechanisms that make sure we have a healthy relationship.

And here’s the thing. I have had absolutely no anxiety about the fact that you all will be not only fine, but will flourish during our 3 months apart. I am more worried about me than I am about you. You all will be fine. Much more than fine, actually. Maybe you will realize that you miss me very little, since Melissa and the girls will be here quite a bit and everyone, myself included, likes them better than me. You all will do great. Me, however…

Slight exaggerations aside, I stand before you as one who is simultaneously looking forward to this time of Sabbatical, and at the same time I’m looking forward to coming back. Because I feel the Holy Spirit is moving in here, and is going to move in ways we cannot expect. And I know and believe that what the Holy Spirit is doing, is preparing, and will be doing, is going to be awesome. So, I am looking forward to the time when I come back, because I know that God is already there, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit working to prepare us for a time in which the life of God will be as palpable as ever in here, and will spring forth from here like wild fire. I believe that this church is, as we have been and as we will continue to be, living in the Acts 2 time. We devote ourselves to the teachings, to fellowship, to prayers and to breaking bread. We spend much time together, here and at each other’s houses. And God’s spirit rushes through.

I mentioned this last week, and we will talking about this once I come back in August; we are just about to start a capital campaign. I mentioned two of the things that we are using the capital campaign for, the pulpit and remodeling the kitchen. When I come back, we will give opportunities for you to meet with me, in various homes hopefully, to talk further about the details of the campaign, and to talk numbers, and then to ask you to prayerfully consider giving a separate pledge over the next 3 years to cover the campaign.

Now, the things I want us to cover with this campaign, besides the pulpit and kitchen, are the parking lot, which has been something I have heard about since my first week here. I suppose it takes me 7 years to hear you on that one, but it is time. We also need to start a seed fund for the organ. I don’t think we can come up with enough money to be able to purchase an organ in 3 years, but I do think we can come up with enough to start a fund so that when it is time, and it will be soon, that organ is 25 years old, when it is time, we won’t be starting from the ground floor. I want us to give a portion of the money to ministries outside of NPC, perhaps the co-op, or to help prepare our facilities for a new ministry such as family promise.

But here is the last thing I want us to raise money for. And I think it is the thing that won’t sound like it, but will be the thing that we need most, and will be the best thing for us. I want us to build up a reserve fund for the church. Healthy churches have 3 months, a quarter, of their expenses and costs in an operating reserve. For us, that means between 50 and 60,000 dollars.

One of the things this does is provide us a safety net. Right now we have around $6,000 in reserve funds. Last time we had to replace an air conditioner it cost us more than $7,000. If an air conditioner goes out, I suppose we all sit here and sweat. A lot. How many families that visit do you think will stay in the heat box of the summer? Or if the roof gets to the point when it needs to be replaced, it has been 12 years now, if we don’t have the money, are we just going to sit here and let it leak on us when it rains?

But even more important than that, I want us to have some space where we feel like we can be ready to do/start/enable/and equip ministry while considering the budget, without feeling like the budget holds a big veto stamp, and we are bound by the budget to not try anything, not start anything, not enable anything, not equip anything because if it doesn’t bring money in, and immediately, then we can’t do it and keep the bills paid. I want us to be ready to say “yes” to God, and to follow where God wants to lead us, and go into ministry to which God calls us, and that means having some money in a reserve fund that we can use and repay. And I’m not saying I want money that we can use instead of regular budget. That would be counter to the whole reason for having the reserves. We would be back in the same spot in just a few short years. Instead, I want to have the ability to be able to answer the call of God with, “Yes Lord” and then go to work on how to afford it instead of “Hold on, O Creator of the Universe and Lover of My Soul, Let us check the budget first and run some numbers.” Or “We’re sorry, O most powerful God, but we can’t really follow you right now. Let us have a couple of fundraisers and then we will get back to you.”

So, 6 things. Pulpit, kitchen, parking lot, organ seed fund, reserve fund, and then giving some away. I know, it seems like a lot. My current working estimates, after a good deal of research is that this will cost us around $150,000. And I know that’s a big number. But, I have been talking with a small number of folks, and have received some early pledges. I want to tell you a very very few early pledges have come in and totaled over $33,000. Which I think is great news, we are well on the way already.

They, the experts, the people who write books that I have been reading recently about Capital Campaigns, they say that relatively few people will give to this kind of thing by increasing their pledge. Some folks will, for example, say “I’ll give up one trip to Starbucks per week, and pledge that $5.00 to the church,” or “I’ll actually brown bag one lunch per week, maybe take some leftovers and heat them up in the break-room, and pledge that $10.00 per week to the church.” Some folks will do that for three years. And that is wonderful. What we are asking as much as anything is for people to take their capital, some form of capital they have, and place it in the hands of the church. Some will give stock, or a CD, or something of that nature, where you literally move capital from your personal possession to the possession of the church.

Here is what we are doing. These are baseballs signed and still sealed in plastic. This one is Bob Gibson. Willy Mays. I got this one because of the hometown connection, Hank Aaron. And the crown Jewel of the collection, Joe Dimaggio.

Look, selling these aren’t going to bring in the $150,000 we need. They won’t even bring in the $115,000 when you take into account that is what we need to raise aside from the pledges we have received. But they are my way of saying, “Here is something I love, that is mine, that I would like to give to the church so that we can all benefit from it.”

Oh, one more thing. I want to show you this. This is a brand new box of sweet and low, bought just recently. Here’s to a sweet future. Okay, I know that was too much, but on my last Sunday, what did you expect? Well, you don’t expect this. Instead of “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen,” I’m going to end with this.

Pastah Fry, Machine of Preaching

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