A glimpse of how it should be.

Wowzer! One week ago at this time I was in Summerton, SC attempting to access a horrible wi-fi connection. I was at Impact, our summer camp for our students, and boy was it hot. I love camp. No, seriously, I do. I don't love being away from my family, but I do love camp. Something about seeing the future generations worship makes my heart glad. This year camp was really, really different.

Exactly two weeks before we were to leave, we received word that our speaker had suffered a severe head injury that would sideline him for the rest of the summer. Now for some churches, that would have been the death knell. Not for us. We are tremedously, extraordinarily blessed. Within hours of receiving the news, 5 of our pastor's, including our senior pastor, had volunteered to speak and cover our sessions. It also needs to be said that there was no compensation or bribery involved. This is a picture of how the body of Christ is supposed to work. When one part suffers, the others rush to their aid.

Now, it needs to be said that this isn't a rare occurrence around here. This is who we are and how we operate. We use terms like family of faith and we don't snicker when we say it. We mean it. We love each other, care for each other and protect each other. This is how the body of Christ is called to operate. When people look at most churches they see bitterness and jealousy running amok within the staff. When people see this behavior within the leadership, it's no wonder they act the same way.

I write today's post not to boast. Believe, my heart, nor any of the others on the team here would ever want to do that. I write this post to offer hope. The reason we love one another is because our senior pastor loves us. He knows that Christ is the head of the church and as he follows Christ, we follow him. My hope and my prayer is that more and more senior pastor's would follow Christ's model.

Another reason this year was different is that my wife was back at camp with me for the first time in 4 years. She was radiating in all of her 8 month pregnant glory. I missed my boys for sure, but having mama there was truly a gift from the Lord. Now if I can just get this left over water out of my ear from tubing all morning last Thursday, I'll really be in good shape.