Great Questions!!! June 22, 2005

WOW–this has been a busy week so far…but a fun one!!! I am the “camp speaker” at our summer youth camp at Lake Lanier Island in Atlanta, GA & so I have been driving down there every night to speak and driving back. (Which isn’t a bad thing!!! I discovered a Brusters Ice Cream Shop not far from the camp–so I have been “suffering for Jesus” by stopping every evening and having a scoop or two of birthday cake ice cream…quite possibly the best ice cream I have ever had. If you have not had this ice cream then you need to go get some as soon as possible. Trust me…I am an expert on this! A young lady named Karla in our office recommended this to me & now I can’t stop eating it…it is awesome!)

The high schoolers are down there this week (I think there are around 45 students total.) The middle school went down last week. (I think there were around 120 students.) Props to our youth staff…Sammy, Dustin, Chris, and LB…they have done an incredible job and putting together a top notch camp…and the kids are having a blast.

I wanted the atmosphere of my speaking to be different…and so I did something that I love to do when speaking to youth groups. I did a short talk on Monday night and then I had them take out a piece of paper and told them they could write down any question they wanted to ask me about God, Jesus, the Bible, dating…I told them nothing was off limits. These guys and gals wrote down their questions and handed them in. I mixed them up so I would not know who wrote what…

I must say that I am impressed with our youth group–they asked some great questions! The number one question asked by them is, “How can I have a closer walk with God?” Isn’t that awesome? How about you–have you ever wondered that? Let me give my standard answer…it works for me and I believe it will work for you.

(Don’t worry…I am not going to try to dictate what a closer walk with God looks like…I am trying to discover that for myself.)

I always tell people, “Find out what causes you to fall in love with Jesus and do it a lot.” With some people it is reading the Bible…that’s what it is with me…I love to read the Bible…there are times when I feel as if God is speaking directly to me from His Word.

For others it might be prayer…you can feel the presence of God & Him rocking your world when you pray. This isn’t me…I can’t pay attention for long periods of time. Many times my prayer times will go like this, “God, thank you for today…wow–the carpet is dirty…” I seriously used to think that I was not spiritual because I can not pray for long periods of time…until I discovered that we are not all wired the same spiritually…and that is ok!

(Please do not misunderstand…I do pray…it is just that I pray a lot throughout the day and my prayer times in the mornings are not always very long.)

For some of you it might be singing…if that is it then do it a lot. Get in your car today–go for a drive and sing your heart out. (Please be aware that people in cars next to you will stare…this is ok!!!)

I had a lady once that she told me she felt the closest to God when she went shopping. Uh, I am not sure about this one…I haven’t been able to find a Biblical reference for it. I guess she prays a lot when she shops, “God, should I buy this…”

My challenge today–whatever brings you the closest to God–do it…no one has ever been worse off because of more God time!

What Are Your Eggs? June 21, 2005

My birthday is this Friday…and I am pumped. Lucretia, my wife, is baking me one of my favorite cakes–I am not exactly sure what you call it–I call it her, “White Chocolate Fudge Cake.”

Let me tell you about it…

The “cake” portion is made with a simple box mix–BUT you add white chocolate in the mix. You put the first layer down…then you add a layer of milk chocolate–A THICK ONE–and then another layer…and then the icing. The icing consists of melted white chocolate and whipped cream.

I don’t know what the calorie count on this thing is…and I don’t care–it is awesome. It is so good if you put a piece on your head your tongue would beat your brains out trying to get to it! (If you are from the South then you understand that terminology–if you have trouble with that one then I apologize.)

I was thinking about this cake on the way to work today…and it reminded me of a time or two when I actually baked a cake. (Not nearly as good as my wife of course!) During my limited baking experiences I have always wondered something, “Why in the world is the egg necessary?” Seriously, no matter what kind of “sweet stuff” you happen to be making it seems that the donation from the chicken is always called for. Brownies–you need an egg. Cakes–you need an egg. Pies–you need an egg. What’s the deal with the egg?

I was perplexed about this a few weeks ago & so I asked a cooking expert about this, her name is Meg–she is the wife of one of our staff members…and when I say cooking expert–this lady has talent in the kitchen!!! Anyway–I shot her an e-mail and asked about the egg…and like always, she responded.

Basically she said this–the egg holds the “whatever” together–that it helps form the structure of what is being baked…and without the egg then the structure would not be stable.

Then I had this thought–that applies to leadership and life as well. We all need “eggs” in our lives–people and things that shape our structure–that hold us together when we go through the heat. What are your eggs? Here are some of mine…

#1 – God! DUH! I am not trying to be over-spiritual here, but without a relationship with Jesus Christ I am toast–literally. Don’t have time to tell my testimony right now–but Jesus changed my life and through a daily walk with Him He directs my steps and holds me together.

#2 – Lucretia, wow, I have an awesome wife. She is incredibly smart (which intimidates me at times) AND beautiful (which has never bothered me!) She is my best friend and I can talk with her about anything. I KNOW if the world fell apart tomorrow that she would be there.

#3 – The leadership team I work with…seriously, you take me away from my team & I get nervous. Our leadership team at church is awesome…together God uses these guys to encourage, inspire, and challenge me–shout out to Jason, Jason, Jake, Paul, Michael, Sammy, & Shane…I could not do what I do without you.

#4 – Our creativity team–I wish you guys could see how awesome these people are. I learned a long time ago that I do not have the best ideas…that I am not the smartest person…that I am NOT the only one that God can speak to. So, through observing the way Ed Young does things at Fellowship Church, I formed a team of “creative geniuses” to assist me in sermon preparation & development…and they are awesome. We have so much fun in planning and preparation, shout out to Lee, Ken, DJ, Jason, Judith, Taguba, Gizz, & Shane!!!

#5 – Lindsay, my assistant! She’s a god-send! I am NOT an organized person; in fact, I can’t even spell organizde! She is excellent at taking my schedule & making things work–assisting me with phone calls and e-mails, talking with Lucretia about things that I forget. If you are a senior pastor–you NEED an assistant like Lindsay. (Don’t call–she’s not going anywhere!!!)

#6 – My relationship with people who are smarter than me who have poured time, energy, and love all over me–shout out to Dale Sellers, Paul Marshall, David King, Mark Greenway, Jon McDerment, Ed Young, John Maxwell, Terry Storch, Tracey Barnes, Owen Goff, Rob Johnson, Preston Mitchell, and so many others.

#7 – Our AWESOME staff at our church.

I could go on and on–I have some really good “eggs” in my life. Who are yours? Oh yeah–and be careful about those bad eggs–more on that maybe tomorrow–maybe!

I Like Leftovers…Sometimes June 20, 2005

Update–I haven’t found the spider–the extirminator is being called in–I am not playing around. Now on to the thought for the day.

Leftovers…aren’t they awesome? Lucretia and I love leftovers. Many times on Sunday she will prepare a meal and I will throw it in the oven when I get home on Monday. Then we will proceed to eat it for the rest of the week. Eating leftovers is a great way to save time and money!

But let’s say we had company coming over–people we really wanted to make a good impression on…people that we actually wanted to have in our house again…what do you think we would serve? What would you serve?

I really don’t see me going to the fridge and pulling out three day old chicken pot pie, throwing it in the microwave, getting out the paper plates…you know, sort of the routine we go through when it is just us at home. Nope–when guests show up we go all out. Lucretia and I spend a lot of time preparing the food and creating a very welcoming atmosphere. We figure these people are guests in our home–and we want them to have a wonderful experience and as I said before, want to make a return visit.

I think there is a lesson or two that the church can learn from this analogy.

One of our core values here at New Spring is excellence. Please understand that excellence does not mean perfection! (I promise that we mess something up just about every week.) We simply define excellence as offering God our very best…and that means that each and every Sunday we are going to put forth an intense effort to serve the very best meal possible–no leftovers.

I decided about 10 years ago that if I ever pastored a church that we would not offer anything to the Lord expect for our very best. The decision came on Sunday while I was at a church and this guy got up to sing. I was very surprised to see this dude with a microphone in his hand…I had no idea that he could sing.

He couldn’t!

He began to sing and I began to scream, inside of course. I thought, “This has got to be a joke.” I’m not kidding–it was worse that a cow dying in a hail storm. I began to pray for the rapture to occur–immediately. I just knew at any minute my ears were going to bleed. When the song was over I clapped…I could not help myself…the song was over and the joy of the Lord had returned to my life.

I know what some of you might be thinking. “Now Perry, you shouldn’t be so critical, he probably had a good heart.” You are right, I know the guy and his heart is good–but his voice is awful!!! What is unfortunate is that we will excuse that type of performance in the church and call it godly–no wonder many of the lost and unchurched are so turned off by Christianity…we have been serving them leftovers.

I think the church should be passionate in our pursuit of excellence. We are called by God, gifted by the power of the Holy Spirit–we represent a risen King. We should have the best music, the best art, the best literature, the best speaking–the best of everything. The church should be the main influence on our culture–but we will never achieve this by serving leftovers.

This is a deep conviction of mine…and it is fueled by events that happened last night. Lucretia and I went out to eat after church and the meal was awesome. Afterwards I asked our waitress her name and then invited her to church. She was bluntly honest, “I’m not a Christian.” That floored me…I wanted to weep…my heart was literally torn out of my chest and I could not focus.

When I regained my composure I told her, “That’s ok–there are a lot of people who are not Christians who come to our church.” I then explained to her what she would experience on a visit to New Spring, the awesome volunteers, our INCREDIBLE band, and a ton of other stuff.

I know she is going to visit one day. I am going to continue to go to that restaurant, try my best to let her see Jesus in me…and leave HUGE tips. And I am driven personally to work as hard as I can to do my part to prepare for her visit. As the one who will give the message I will guarantee that I will do my best to not serve leftovers…and I know the incredible volunteers and staff that I am privileged to serve with will do the same.

I know, I know–some of you are asking the question, “Well what about God–where does He work into this?” Great question…it is my personal belief that God works through people who offer their very best. Not perfect people–not people who are the smartest–but people who are willing to give Him their very best effort. It might not be your conviction–but it’s mine…and I am relentless in my belief in this and will always strive to offer God and the people who attend New Spring every week the best “meal” that we can offer…and then beg God to move in and do the things that I could never do.

God’s never offered me leftovers–why should I do it to Him?

I REALLY HATE SPIDERS!!! June 17, 2005

So I am getting ready for bed last night and I am walking through the kitchen on the way to check to make sure the doors are locked–you know, sort of the man thing to do. Then I notice there is a spider on my kitchen counter…and my evening took a turn for the worse.

I know what some of you are thinking, “Perry, it’s only a spider.” I am sorry if you and I can’t see things the same way…but it is not just a spider. It is a terrible creature with multiple eyes and eight legs that has been created by the devil as a tool of terror in my life. You might have seen it and dismissed it–but it nearly caused me to lose control of my bodily functions.

So I went for the kitchen weapon of choice–paper towels. (Make no mistake–if I had been carrying a shotgun that spider would have gotten it–I’m not kidding!) As I attempted to slay this beast from the pit of hell–it ran…and I ran. I’m not sure if it screamed–but I did. (God had to have been laughing at me…a 6’6″ guy in his boxer shorts running around his house screaming because of a spider.)

I mustered up the courage to try to find it…and then I realized that it was gone. I began a frantic search for the tiny beast–I mean I looked everywhere–with caution of course. I even went as far as looking through the kitchen cabinets…but he was hiding from me…and laughing, I am sure of it.

Well today I am making it my goal to search for this thing…and kill it! I am not resting until this thing goes splat and then takes a spiral journey down my toilet! He does not belong in my house…this is my house–I pay the mortgage around here–he has chosen to invade the wrong place…and for that he will pay dearly.

I know this story has been long so far–but it really does have a point. The spider does not belong in my house–and my passion is to get the freeloading insect out of here. That way I can actually sleep in peace tonight and not fear that he is going to find some of his freaky friends and then terrorize me while I am asleep.

I think the same can be said for my life and journey as a leader. At one time there were tons of things in my life that freaked me out…things that I did not enjoy doing that I thought I had to do. I was a walking example of what stress can do to a person…and I did not seem to enjoy life as much because I was always trying to avoid these “leadership spiders” that seemed to be all over me.

But I made the decision a few years back to get rid of these things–to be passionate about getting them out of my life because they did not belong. God did not create me to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. He designed me for a reason and a purpose and I realized that I was never going to discover it if I didn’t learn to say no to some things so I could say yes to the things I really loved and enjoyed.

So I searched out the things that I did not enjoy doing–and I did this with passion. I am not an organizer. I am not good at counseling people. I am not good at visiting the hospital. (I get really nervous!) I am not good at having long phone conversations. I am not good at doing anything that causes me to have to be still for more than five minutes.

So I made it a point to get rid of these things. Don’t get me wrong…I didn’t throw them to the wayside and say, “Oh well–I guess people who need those things will just have to get over it!” NO! You see–those things were “spiders” to me–things I feared…but during this process I made another amazing discovery–not everyone is afraid of spiders.

(There are actually some strange people on this planet that have pet spiders…big ones…in cages. If this is you then I would like you to know that Jesus loves you–I do not. You are sick and twisted and you need to repent and go smash that thing right now–with a sledgehammer!)

The things I did not like–the things I feared–the things that made me want to stay in bed and not face the day–they were actually the joy of other people. There are people who actually like to organize things–they love visiting the hospital and counseling people–they are not afraid of spiders! So I sought them out, surrounded myself with them, and delegated the tasks to them…and now those tasks are performed at a level of excellence that I could have never achieved–ever.

Pray for me today as I seek out this spider…I will not rest until he is destroyed. And I will pray for you–that you will be able to let the Lord help you to narrow your focus so that you can discover and develop your strengths and delegate your weaknesses.

Have a great weekend!

So How’s It Going–Really, I Mean It!!! June 16, 2005

There is a social awkwardness that seems to dominate the people I meet. You have probably had the same experience–let me explain what I mean.

I am walking down the hall at the gym and I see someone and ask, “How’s it going?” To me this is a question…and I must admit I do not want the 30 minute version of their life story; however, I do want an answer. But all too often the other person will respond by asking me the exact same question, “How’s it going?” I want to yell, “I asked you first!!!”

I have pondered the reason for this and the only thing I have came up with is that the other person either does not think I care OR they really don’t have anything good to talk about.

The other response I get is one that drives me up the wall–especially when it is given by a Christ Follower. Once again I ask, “How’s it going,” and they respond, “I’m barely making it.” This makes me want to throw up.

I have this belief (it actually comes from Scripture) that each and every person on this big ball of dirt called earth was custom designed by God. (I can see it now–God is putting us all together in heaven–maybe in reality show style…and the angels are watching…and the show is called, ‘Pimp my hide!”)

Sorry–I digressed!

Anyway, I really do believe that each one of us has a purpose in life…and it is not just to see how much oxygen we can consume or how many blisters we can form on our rear ends as a result of sitting around and doing nothing.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He wanted us to have life–life to the full. I honestly do not think Jesus spilled His blood on the cross so that His followers can walk around and brag about how we are all “barely making it!” And I don’t think He sent His Holy Spirit to live inside of us so we can merely survive–He wants us to thrive!

So why do so many people, even Christians, feel like, “if I can just make it through this day…or this week…or this project then I will be ok?” I believe it is because too many of us become passionate about the pursuit of things that are not in line with the purpose for which we were designed.

One of the verses I have been wrestling with lately is Psalm 37:4, it tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart. I have heard that verse nearly all of my Christian life and I believe I am finally beginning to discover what that means…that if I will learn how to continually and completely fall in love with Jesus then He will blow my mind with the full, abundant life that will take me to places that I have never even dreamed.

The problem is that too many people have re-written that verse. To them it may say, “Delight yourself in your career…or your car…or your home…or your kids…or having a dating relationship,” you get the picture. So people relentlessly pursue all these things…and because of that they fall out of love with Jesus and merely begin to admire Him from a distance.

And that is why people feel they are “barely making it.”

So how are you doing–really? Are you surviving–or thriving? Has there ever been a time that you seriously got along with God and asked, “OK, you designed me–but for what?” It bothers me that so many people in our country feel trapped in dead end jobs…and the only reason they stay working where they are is because they are dominated by feelings of inferiority and insecurity. So many people I know pursue the career that their parents wanted them to pursue, or their friends–but what about God–what does He want? If you don’t discover your purpose then you will always be in survival mode.

One more thing–God wants you to know your purpose more than you want to know it. All too often we think of God’s purpose for our lives as this HUGE heavenly secret…and in order to get it we have to read our Bible’s, stand on our heads–and read the Prayer of Jabez. But the Bible says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord–continually learn to fall more and more in love with Him–then He will rock our world with His plan.

He didn’t create us to survive–He wants us to thrive!!!

Should Church Be Entertaining? June 15, 2005

I recently went to see the latest Star Wars movie. I know some people didn’t think it was all that; however, I am a Star Wars freak–I have seen every movie multiple times and I could watch them all again…today. I was so engulfed in the story that I didn’t even get up to use the restroom; in fact, hardly anyone moved during the entire movie. The movie was well thought out, it completely engaged me–there were creative elements that I had never thought about before…and I left completely satisfied. (OK, I was disappointed as well because the whole Star Wars movie thing is over.)

But get this–on my way out of the theatre I did not hear one single person say, “That’s it, I am never coming to this place again–all it contains is bells and whistles and that movie was WAY too entertaining.”

What if you were leaving the movie and you did hear someone make that comment. You would probably think, “Stay away from that dude–he is on the crack rock!” Why? Because movies are supposed to be entertaining–and we Americans love to be entertained. We go to concerts, plays, we watch television, purchase movies–the entertainment industry has captured our attention.

But for some reason when the church tries to capture the attention of the people coming it causes a few people to begin to say, “All that church wants to do is entertain people.” My question is–what is the problem with that?

One of the definitions I once discovered for entertainment is, “To hold someone’s attention for a specific period of time.” If that definition rings true for entertainment–then I am completely guilty because I desire to hold the attention of the people attending New Spring every Sunday. I would much rather entertain them than bore them to death!

Here at New Spring we strive for creativity, we purposefully think through each and every thing that we do. We happen to believe that the people walking through our doors on Sunday morning are worth an incredible amount of time and effort. You may choose to call this entertainment–I call it honoring God & serving people.

People have challenged me on this before, “Perry, where in the world did you ever get the idea that it is ok to entertain people. You just need to stick to ‘preaching the Word,’ that is good enough.” I always respond, “Well actually I got the idea by reading the Word!” Walk with me through this for a moment.

When God wanted to communicate to Balaam what did He do? He didn’t speak to him from a well dressed preacher with really bad hair and a KJV–He used a donkey! Say what you will–but that HAD to be a sight…and I think God smiled–He captured Balaam’s attention in a unique way–that’s entertaining. (See Numbers 22 for the story)

When Jesus wanted to communicate to people that He could heal He did not say, “Turn with me in your Bibles while I teach you line by line and verse by verse on the subject of healing.” Nope, look at John chapter nine–he found this blind dude, spit on the ground, made some mud pies, and then stuck the mud in the blind dude’s eyes! (Keep in mind–this had to have been a lot of spit.) Then He told the blind guy to go wash his eyes out in a pool. This had to have seemed to be a cruel joke by the onlookers–but when the guy did it his eyes were opened…and he then went on to give one of the most powerful testimonies of Jesus ever, “I was blind but now I see!”
Over and over you see this in Scripture–when God wanted to communicate to Jonah he used a big fish, when He wanted to communicate to Peter not to worry about money He sent him fishing and told him there would be money in the mouth of the fish. (I don’t know about you–but I would have tried to catch a few more fish before coming home!) When the apostle Paul went to Mars Hill the Spirit led him not to just “preach the word” but to begin to actually quote the poets of the area. God is into creative communication.

In fact–I would take it this far–as my friend Ed Young says, “If church is boring then it is a sin!” Why should Hollywood get the credit for being creative? The church has the power of the Holy Spirit–who empowers creativity. The church should be the most exciting, energetic, creative entity on the planet–period.

One more thought–whenever Jesus communicated He did so creatively. He was always telling stories and using real life examples; however, His creative communication always had a point. I do disagree with churches being creative with no purpose in mind. Here at New Spring we strive for creativity–but there is always a purpose.

So should the church be entertaining? YES–the people walking through the doors deserve to be engaged. I am tired of hearing, “just preach the Bible and God will grow the church.” I will say that every church that I have ever been in during my 33 years of existence on this planet has always preached the Bible; however, church attendance is declining in our nation year after year–seems to me there has got to be something more!

The people walking through the doors of our churches are worth our time and effort…and if in entertaining them they come to Christ–then what is the problem?

What–no kids in the worship service? (Part two) June 14, 2005

Picture this with me–I was preaching on a Sunday evening. Our church was less than a year old and there were about 75 people in the room. A young mother was there with her three year old child who was a handful. I am not being critical of the mom, after all, the dad was out of town a lot and the child was very strong willed. The young girl was extremely restless and actually got out of her chair and walked up on to the platform. This would not have been a problem…expect for the fact that I was in the middle of my message. I calmly looked at her and asked, “Can I help you darling?” She freaked out, I mean complete meltdown right there in front of everyone–then she ran to her mother who picked her up and they both left the service. (Don’t worry–I called the mom, we spoke and they are still at our church to this day!)

I completed the message and was talking with people after the service when a guy in the church told me, “I thought what you did tonight to that little girl was very rude!” It was then I realized that when it comes to kids in the service that the pastor is in a no win situation. If they cause a disruption and we address it then some will consider us mean. If we let it go unnoticed then others will consider us to be passive.

So our team met, prayed, brainstormed, and thought through every possible scenario until we finally decided that our church was going to strive to provide a distraction free worship environment for adults and a creative, relevant environment for kids–that way everyone wins.

As I stated yesterday this has caused a bit of displeasure from time to time. We have parents who love to quote what Jesus said about the little kids coming to Him. I once had a father yell at me over the telephone, “Jesus said bring the little children unto me.” I completed the verse for him and said, “and do not hinder them.” It is my belief that by taking a child and placing them in an environment where they are not engaged in a way that they can understand that they are being hindered. That is why we refuse to hinder kids spiritual development by asking them to surrender an hour of their life to boredom.

Once again, I know this is tough for some to swallow. But I always ask parents, “If you two needed time with one another, time for heart to heart conversation, then what do you do? You hire a babysitter, go to a nice restaurant, have a nice meal…and talk AND listen to each other. If you want intimacy with your spouse you don’t involve your children.” And let’s take that step further–if you do go to a nice restaurant and there is a disruptive child there what is your reaction? Don’t even try to lie–you get offended and angry because the time with your spouse has been disrupted.

I had a parent object to this once and say, “But Perry–that is a restaurant, this is church, they are not the same.” I replied, “You are correct–church is WAY more important that a restaurant…and if you will take measures to provide yourself with a distraction free environment where you can talk and listen to your spouse then why wouldn’t you do the same so you can hear from the Lord?”

As I said yesterday–we at New Spring have chosen to take this stand…and it is working. Our children’s ministry has grown from 3 kids the first Sunday to over 500-600 each week. We actually have three and four year old children who get their parents out of bed on Sunday mornings to come to church. (Be honest–did you ever do that–or did you play sick???)

If your church is going to adopt this policy then you need to be prepared to make some serious changes. We knew when we decided this that we were going to have to heavily invest in the children’s area…and so when it comes to kids we spend the money.

We didn’t go to the local junkyard to find toys for them to play with–we bought the good stuff. We didn’t try to support the children’s area with a volunteer or hire a minister of youth, children, senior adults, special events, and anything else that the pastor assigns. We went out and hired the best, most qualified children’s staff we could find. We currently have four full time and two part time staff members in our children’s area…and we know that we are going to have to hire more in the future.

We have invested money in a state of the art check in system that allows no one except for the parents who dropped the kids off to be the one to pick them up. We have a means of paging parents in the service if their child become ill or injured. We have security officers in the children’s area to make sure that no one just roams in the building and begins interacting with the children.

Our children’s area is clean and neat. We are currently meeting in rented facilities…and if the room is dirty when we get there–we clean it. We put down our own carpet. We disinfect everything in sight. For too long the church has taken some dirty room in the basement and stuck the kids down there just to keep them quiet. I always tell people that if you want to attract the lost and unchurched to your church you had better place their kids in a clean and safe environment.

And speaking of safe–we don’t let just anyone volunteer to work with our kids. They have to go through an interview process AND be willing to submit to let us do a federal background check on them. (The church pays for this.) People have asked, “What if I won’t do the background check.” Then it is very simple–you can’t work with our kids! (Yes, even the security personal go through this process.)

We love kids at New Spring…and it is so refreshing as a pastor to serve at a church where I can watch the kids dragging their parents to the children’s area because they can’t wait to get checked in. We have had some people say that there is no way that they can ever support this aspect of our vision. This is sad; however, the only way to handle this is to encourage them to find another church because we are not changing our mind. We believe in children–and we believe in them enough to make sure that they get our best every single Sunday.