BOB BARIL'S MOST WANTED!

I'm writing this a little before 9 on Friday night - on Friday the 13th of all nights; but I'm NOT superstitious!

I've got very mixed emotions tonight.

I know that the mood above says "Quiet".  AOL gives you several moods to choose from.  This was the best choice, but it's only about 40% accurate.  I'm VENTING right now.  I'm actually NOT angry.  I AM tired.  And my mood is really reflective and philosophical, and those choices are not available from AOL's list.  

Some of you know the church I pastor is very small.  If my wife did not have a decent full-time job with family plan health insurance, I'd HAVE to be a "bi-vocational" pastor.  Ironically, experts have found that pastors of churches of 50 or fewer people generally work much harder than do pastors of churches of 300 or more people, but that's a topic for another day.  Some of you know that our little church's attendance is down 30% in comparison to a year ago and our financial income is down about 40% compared to a year ago.  In addition, the losses of those "30%" people create other problems such as the one I faced tonight.  "Tammy" a 35ish woman at our church has many problems- most which are not of her doing.  She's overcome many difficulties and many unfair situations.  Tammy got some devastating news this week.  In comparison to how she'd have handled it a year or two ago, she's doing very well, but Tammy has few CLOSE friends and has only a minumal support system outside of the church.  Friday night is our Bible Study.  The Friday night Bible Study is the poorest attended event at our church, although it means a LOT to several people.  One of those "several" is Tammy.  Up until three months ago, there was a married couple who attended our church that attended Friday night Bible Study every week  ALMOST NO MATTER WHAT.  Occasionally the wife would have back trouble and would miss the study, but her husband, (a frankly well-meaning but very loud and very talkative guy) was always present.  Since that couple left the church in early January, I've had a problem on Friday nights.  IF my wife is unable to attend due to another commitment, and IF the only person who shows up for Bible Study is a woman, well, ethically and morally (and everything else) it's a very bad idea for me to meet with that woman alone.  I've had to cancel several Bible Studies for that reason.

My wife and adult son have a commitment in Worcester this Friday night, next Friday night, and the following Friday night.  

Tonight Tammy showed up in a very needy condition. No, she wasn't hysterical or anything like that, but she needed the study.  I actually tried to reach one woman from the church just to ask her to come and be at the study for Tammy's sake, but when I called that woman, all I got was her answering machine.

"Please, people," Tammy said aloud several times.  "Please come.  Please come.  Please come BACK."

Tammy actually covered her face and looked pained.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

"It's just that my sinuses are really bothering me," she replied.  "You know, I REALLY made an EFFORT to be here tonight."

I did the best I could to encourage her.  Actually, I was feeling just a tad resentful because I'd taken time to prepare the study, run off handouts, etc.

At 7:40 p.m. (ten minutes after the official start) I sent a disappointed Tammy home.

Some folks from OUTSIDE of our church may be thinking, "What's the matter with your Board and your Leaders?  What are they, a bunch of jerks?!"

Well. actually our Board is now down to five people counting me.  One Board member is 78-years-old and does a lot at the church- probably too much.  One is 64 and has suddenly had an onslaught of all sorts of health problems.  One is my age and healthy but lives over 30 miles from Framingham.  And the other is my wife.

The 78-year-old and the 64-year-old have each been leaders and workers at this church for 25 years and they are tired.  Honestly, they're about ready to be "retired" from leadership and have "new blood" take over--- people who are under 55 and filled with energy and vision AND who have a passion for Jesus Christ and His church.  Our church actually needs PEOPLE LIKE THAT even more than we need money!

98% of those who read this just don't fit the bill of what I'm talking about, but you can pray for our church and for me, and I'd appreicate that.  As I write there's a documentary on PBS about people who just can't lose weight no matter how they try...because of their subconscious mind, etc.  I can relate to that BECAUSE there IS a problem with people who pastor very small churches long term. They become SO into preparing sermons and preparing classes and preparing Board meetings, and repairing photocopiers, and trying to figure out how to pay the bills, and trying to figure out how to minister to the needy people under their care...they become SO caught up in all that stuff that they actually LOSE vision- and they actually turn inward and are almost crippled in their ability to "think outside the box" and reach out to new people.  Just like those fat people in the documentary who are ashamed to admit the mental trap they are in, I'm kind of ashamed to admit I fall right into the statistic of the small church pastor who's trapped in a limited way of thinking and functioning.

I was up VERY late last night.  I did not get much sleep last night.  I had a couple of stressful ministry situations today.  Part of me is glad to be home, in my pajamas, sitting at the computer with the TV in the background instead of teaching a Bible study.  If I were at the church, I'd be wrapping up the teaching right now, and taking prayer requests.  It HAS been a somewhat easier night for me.  But it STUNK for Tammy.

I don't mean to sound like a sensational Southern evangelist, but SOMEONE reading this just got an insight into the needs of churches and people that's blown your mind.  THAT'S the Holy Spirit talking!  Others wonder, "WHAT can I do?"  You can pray.  And,  for that Friday night Bible study, I honestly need a strong mature Christian man and a strong mature Christian woman from the Framingham area (whether or not you're from the church I pastor) who would say, "Unless I'm away on vacation or I'm very sick, I'm going to be at that Friday night Bible Study every week to help Pastor Baril but even moreso to help needy people like Tammy."  Of course, if you're a stranger to me, you don't have to join the church I pastor or anything like that, but I'd HAVE to have a recommendation from a pastor telling me you're a mature, reliable Christian of integrity and stability before I'd let you help me wtih this.

The Bible Study is only one area of need at our church, but right now it's one of our greatest needs.  I need help with vision and outreach.  I need Christians who are willing to pray and work.   There are athletes who train and train and train. It's their life.  There are people in various hobbies who devote unbelievable hours to the hobby.  There are gardeners who spend the warm weather months working their hearts out on the garden.

The large churches of MetroWest are filled with Christians who may not be doing a whole lot but who could come and help a pastor like me and a little church like ours and make all the difference for someone like a Tammy.

That's all, but in the spirit of "Most Wanted" (John Walsh) I will add :  "You CAN make a difference!"

REACTION TO DON IMUS' FIRING

I'm writing this at around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.  Less than an hour ago it was announced that not only has Don Imus' simulcast on MS-NBC been cancelled, but that CBS radio has fired him.  Thus, it's the end of the "Imus in the Morning" radio show.

Some of my readers may infer from my posting entitled "Take Heed" that I'd support the firing of Don Imus.  I don't.  I DO think the originally proposed two week suspension was reasonable.  

Imus' remarks about the Rutgers players were WAY out of line and offensive to me.   He should have known better, as Bernard McGuirk should have.  All that said, I think that firing Don Imus is a bad precedent.  

One of my church members e-mailed me that he believes James chapter three in the Bible is a Scripture that really fits this situation- about sins of the tongue.  I agree.

My piece "Take Heed" indicates that I've said things in public that are ALMOST as stupid as Don Imus said.  I've done other things like that which I later regretted.  About eight years ago, I mimicked a female member of our church in a somewhat derogatory manner.  I had no idea how much it upset and offended people.  At the time, it seemed cute and funny, but later I realized it was stupid and immature and insensitive and something I just should not have done.  I'm glad nobody fired me!

It's pretty unlikely, but if Don Imus and his family are ever visiting the MetroWest suburbs of Boston, they're welcome to attend our little church's Sunday morning service.  He has said he was sorry and has tried to make things right.  What else can he do?

On a practical and realistic note, this is an opportunity for FMTalk 96.9 to make some very positive changes to their lineup.  I'd like to see either Michael Graham or Jay Severin doing the morning drive slot, AND one of them doing the afternoon drive slot!

"TAKE HEED"

“But take ye heed...” (from Mark 13:23)

I’m posting this on Thursday, but I’m actually writing it on Monday night.  As I write, I’m sitting having coffee at a Dunkin Donuts in the Webster Sq. section of Worcester.  A young lady was jut mopping the floor.  It’s not real late- it’s before 8, but I’m sitting here with my feet up so as to not interfere with the mopping.

On Monday morning as I ate at McDonald’s on Route 30 in Framingham, a construction crew was working there right in the middle of the breakfast hour.  They’re completely redoing the dining area at that McDonald’s.  Breakfast eaters were made to feel like unwanted interlopers.  It was weird.  Solid objects were being removed from the wall with power tools, and the wallpaper was being stripped right off the walls as we ate.  One woman, eating across the aisle from me was irritated and swearing.  I don’t condone the swearing, but I did comment to her, “I wonder if it’s LEGAL to do this!” (i.e. to be doing construction amid diners who are just trying to eat).  Everybody there had to “take heed”.

This week’s big media news has been of a vicious, insulting, and racist statement made by radio host Don Imus.  As Imus apologized on Monday’s show, he suddenly seemed old, feeble, and a “has-been”.  I actually listen to Don Imus quite often and I felt sorry for him, although his racist and insulting statement WAS way out of line.  He didn’t “take heed”.

Twenty-two years ago, I “flipped out” and loudly and angrily yelled at a neighborhood kid in the Walpole yard where I lived at the time.   I was loud, and angry, and making a scene, and because of that, neighbors thought I was some kind of a monster.  I lived in that residence for a total of four and a half years, but I think a number of the neighbors remembered nothing of me but those two angry minutes in the yard.  I moved a year and a half later, but my effectiveness in that neighborhood ended that June day in 1985.  

Bottom line:  that “that heed” stuff is really important.

MARATHON MONDAY (invitation)

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?" (I Corinthians 9:24)

Next Monday is Patriots Day and the 111th running of the Boston Marathon.
Almost every year since our church purchased the UAW Union Hall property at 32 South Street (right off Route 135) I have watched the Boston Marathon from a wonderful vantage point there at Route 135.   Usually I set up my chair near Dunkin Donuts on 135 for obvious reasons!  Each year, it's been very exciting.

This year, and from now on, the Boston Marathon is being run two hours earlier than in the past.  This year, the wheelchair racers will start at 9:25 a.m. and the elite runners will start at 10:00 a.m.

Flashing information signs in downtown Framingham are already stating that Route 135 will be closed from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Marathon Monday.
In the past, I used to be out set-up on the sidewalk with my folding chair, coffee, and Boston Herald around 10:15 a.m.  This year, my daughter Rachel and I will be out there at 8:15.  Our church parking lot is a GREAT place to park to watch the Marathon.  Although I'm usually a  stickler about illegal parking in our church lots, I let Marathon Monday be a free day on a "first come, first served" basis.  (Often I've put tracts on the windshields of the cars...a few have been left laying in the lot, but most people have taken them.)  Our paved lot parks 34 cars, and our dirt/gravel overflow lot parks 12 cars.

You're more than welcome to come and join us to watch the Marathon!  If you do come, I advise you to bring a lawn chair or some sort of portable chair to sit on, and to wear sunblock.  One year, I did not wear sunblock and I got a bad sunburn on half my face...I really looked weird!  Since then, I remember to put sunblock on.  Also, even if it's sunny, it CAN get cold out there when you're outside for hours.  Remember jackets and sweatshirts.

If you'd like more information about Marathon Monday, or to let me know you'll be joining me, or "whatever" then feel free to e-mail me at RevRBaril@aol.com

Enjoy Marathon Monday!

FASTING... (Saturday's entry EARLY)

“And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered” (Matthew 4:2)

The “he” mentioned above is Jesus.  He fasted forty days and forty nights at the start of His ministry.  Fasting is one of those TOUGH topics to talk about because you’re not supposed to tell people you’re fasting (according to Matthew 6) and thus it’s dubious whether you should tell what it’s like to fast, how you do it, whether it’s easy or difficult, etc.  It’s kind of like when you’re proud of the fact that you acted in a humble manner...well, then, you defeated the whole purpose!

I just bought a new Christian book from InterVarsity Press about fasting.  The title is:  “Fasting”!  I skimmed through it quickly on Thursday but I haven’t had time to truly read it yet.  One thing that I DID read in that book is that in interviews with Born-Again Christian men and women:  when MEN fast, they tend to fast from everything but water (some MAY drink juice).  WOMEN often tend to do the kind of fasting where they eat fruits and vegetables and maybe even bread but don’t eat meat or candy or heavy foods and then call THAT a fast.  Well,  it IS a fast, but it’s kind of a junior fast, in my opinion.  Of course, Old Testament scholars will point out to me that Daniel did that sort of fast (water, fruit, vegetables) and so I guess I have to consider that!

I’m saying all this stuff about fasting because (and here I go breaking the Matthew 6 rule!) Saturday, April 7 has been called as a Day of Fasting and Prayer for our church.  Usually, if there’s going to be something like that it’s my decision, but this time my wife called for the Day of Fasting and Prayer (although I fully agreed with her).  This Saturday’s focus is our church’s finances.  Without going into all sorts of detail, they’re really bad.  Well, when attendance is down by 30% from a year ago and financial income is down by 40% from a year ago (and we were just about staying afloat a year ago); well I guess that says it all.  Ironically, we’re having great services and great Bible studies at our church, but creditors, utility companies, etc. just don’t seem to be impressed by great services and great Bible studies.  In the past, I’ve put out desperately pleading letters to our mailing list asking for money for the church...sometimes those mailings have brought in an extra $1000-$2000 !  Mary Ann has been insistent that I NOT do that this time...that we fast and pray and see what God does.  You may think I’m cheating by writing about this on the blog, but I really don’t think I am.  I’m not asking for money...I’m really not.  I AM asking for prayer, though, from any who might feel so inclined.

I don’t fast as much as I’d like to, in all honesty.  I usually fast a few isolated days out of a year.  I think the last one I did was in January or February.  It’s going to be a discipline, but I’m going to TRY to fast all day Saturday except for water.  We’re leaving our church open from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 7.  People will be able to come and pray for as long or as short as they like- during that time.

Mary Ann felt it would be good to do this between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  Our church has really been “to the brink” several times before.  In the 1990s, the Town of Framingham tried to close us down.  At other times in the past the finances got so bad that (even with my hysterical mailings) unless we’d have a major miracle, we’d close.  Somehow, the miracles always came.

Sometimes people ask me, “If you’re SUCH a good speaker, and you’re SUCH a good teacher, and you’re church has SUCH good music, WHY don’t you draw MORE people, and WHY are you frequently on the verge of closing?”

That’s a tough question.  I AM admittedly very eccentric and very unique.  I tend to be a lousy businessman.  All that said, I really AM a phenomenal public speaker and an excellent teacher!  And, our little church has some of the BEST, most upbeat exciting contemporary Christian music around! Friends who visit tell me there are good-sized churches that DON’T have anywhere NEAR the quality of the speaking and music that we have!  Unfortunately, people are “consumers”.  They are attracted to:

crowds; beautiful buildings; places with lots of “programs”; and most of all, places that have outstanding ministry for their teenagers.

If you are trying to run a church and you DON’T draw a big crowd (we sure don’t!); and you  DON’T have a beautiful building (we DON’T!);  and you DON’T have lots of “programs” (well, it takes lots of people to run lots of programs, so for the most part, we DON’T!);   and you DON’T have an outstanding ministry for teenagers (actually at one time we did, but right now, we DON’T) .... then most Baby Boomers and Gen Xers don’t care if the speaker is the best speaker in America, nor do they care if the music would make the music at the best concert you can think of sound lousy...if the church DOESN’T have that stuff I just wrote about, MOST Baby Boomers and Gen Xers just WON’T come.

Is that discouraging to me?

Honestly, at times, it’s been absolutely devastating.

BUT, I’m just crazy enough to believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and that God raises the dead!  I believe in miracles!  Call me Don Quixote- but I’m STILL  at First Assembly of God of Framingham preaching and teaching my heart out, and my kids and a few others are still offering some of the best praise and worship music around!  Will God work miracles at First Assembly of God of Framingham?  I believe so, and, well, I’m not going anywhere!

I know this piece may seem almost contradictory and like it has gone all over the place.  I guess in some respects it has.  But life can be hard... fulfilling and deep and meaningful; but hard.  There’s a big role for prayer and fasting in the Christian life.  Anybody wanna fast and pray on Saturday?  Join us!

Anybody wanna attend a very simple but VERY REAL church on Easter Sunday?  I’ll see you Sunday at 32 South Street, (off Route 135) in downtown Framingham!

THE "NEW NEW STORY" AND THE "OLD OLD STORY"

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:58)

That chapter concludes one of the great Resurrection chapters of the New Testament.  In fact, I’ll be preaching from I Corinthians 15 for my Easter Sunday sermon.  My theme today, however, is more about “labor” or “labour” as the King James Version says, than it is about resurrection...well maybe a little of both.

First the “NEW NEW STORY”.  (Well, if you’re not someone who has been a born-again Christian for over thirty years, you won’t appreciate my play on words with an “old time Gospel song” which is entitled, “Tell Me the Old Old Story”. )  Anyway, back to the “NEW NEW STORY”:  To some I realize this is a yawn, but like my namesake “Bob” in the Bill Murray/Richard Dreyfus film, “What About Bob?”  I took some baby steps this Tuesday.  With help from AG website services technical support, I launched First Assembly of God of Framingham’s first true website at www.agframingham.org.  The first step took place last week when I registered a domain name at NameCheap.com for a nominal (annually renewed) sum.  I’m not technically savvy at all.  People THINK I am because I have a blog, but let’s face it, today, “everybody” has a blog!  It took a number of steps but the website got launched.  The national Assemblies of God established “AG website services” which makes available free websites for its churches which can be customized as the church sees fit.  Thus, again like “Bob” in the movie when he said, “I’m a sailor- I sail!” and then added that the boat really did all the work for him...I can claim to be a webmaster or something, but the AG website service really did 90% of the work for me- but it’s still COOL.  Our church website will get much better and much more sophisticated in time, but this fulfills a dream I’ve had for well over a year for our church to have a REAL website.  (For three or four years, we’ve had a free page on www.framingham.com which is better than nothing, but it’s just not the same thing.)

Now for the “OLD OLD STORY”.  Well, most of you know that the “Old Old Story” is of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead. This year, I’ll not only be conducting a Good Friday evening service at our church and an Easter Sunday morning service, but once again I’m participating with the “Christian oriented” clergy of the Framingham Interfaith Clergy Association in their Good Friday service held at Edwards Congregational Church in Framingham’s Saxonville Section.  That service is at 12 Noon and runs until around 1:15.  This year, we’re doing several “tableaux” (still life dramatic presentations as Scripture is being read).  Originally I was just supposed to be playing Pontius Pilate, but today I was asked to be Pontius Pilate, a Roman Guard, and Simon of Cyrene.  I guess I’ll feel a bit like Clark Kent changing into Superman or something!

So whether it’s the “NEW NEW STORY” of a website or the “OLD OLD STORY” of the Gospel, there’s never a dull moment!

CARS

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:  but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (I Corinthians 13:11)

After over five months, on Saturday I attended my first classic car show/”cruise night” of the 2007 season.  It was at Riley’s Roast Beef at Edgell Road and Water Streets in the Nobscot section of Framingham's northside.  (During the “summer months” those shows are held every Saturday evening at Riley’s “weather permitting”.)

A number of months ago, I wrote about selling classic collectible Massachusetts auto inspection stickers so I won’t retell all of that.  These windshield stickers from the ‘50s ‘60s ‘70s and early ‘80s are very colorful and distinctive.  Some include drawings, photos, catchy slogans, or all of the above.  (In comparison today’s inspection stickers are boring and functional.)  Many “classic car nuts” love to buy these stickers.  During the summer months, it’s a very nice little moneymaker for me.  I was happy to sell some stickers on Saturday!

My classic car experiences on Saturday actually started BEFORE the Riley’s show.  In traffic on Bishop Street Framingham, I noticed a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 sedan.  At a traffic light, I actually got out and spoke to the driver about buying a sticker.  He followed me to our church parking lot and purchased one.  In fact, a friend of his also showed up and bought a 1961 sticker for his classic Buick Special.  To some it must have looked like a drug deal going down, but it was a perfect legal transaction involving collectible auto memorabilia!  

On Saturdays in the late afternoon there USED to be classic car shows at the Gold’s Gym parking lot in Millis.  I went down there on Saturday and hung around for around an hour.  There was no show.  Well, a guy came by in a 1958 Ford, swung through the parking lot, and gave up and left.  I wondered if he stayed if it might spark some interest and others might show up, but he didn’t wait.  He reminded people who get discouraged when they visit a small church such as the one I pastor...instead of giving the church a chance,  they’re GONE!

After the fruitless trip to Millis I was glad to go to the Riley’s show.  I’m not very mechanically inclined at all but I know enough car stuff that I can talk about 429 Ford engines and 350 Chevy engines and actually  know something about what I’m talking about.  The thing I like about the cars of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and very early 1980s is that they are so distinct looking and so easy to identify.  I knew the car on Saturday afternoon was a 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 just by taking one quick look at it.  (Incidentally, those ‘63 full-sized Fords were HUGE.  They were much bigger than a modern Ford Crown Victoria.)  Speaking of Fords, perhaps the prettiest car I saw was a two-tone black and white 1955 Ford Fairlane sedan.  Just eight years older than the ‘63 Galaxie 500 it’s a much smaller and simpler car, but it’s just a very smartly designed, attractive vehicle.  There was a very good looking 1958 Pontiac at the Riley’s show.  There was a two-tone yellow and white 1955 Chevy Bel-Air...the car wasn’t completely “stock” but it WAS in very good condition.  I sold a sticker to a guy with a white ‘66 Lincoln- another HUGE car.  

When I was a very little kid, my father knew an Edsel dealer and he used to bring home toy Edsels for me to play with.  They were all two-tone turquoise and white.  Like most little boys I would crash them into walls, etc.  Those toy Edsels (in good condition) would probably be highly valued on the “Antiques Roadshow”.  I guess I began to fall in love with the look of cars of that period DURING THAT PERIOD and that love has never left me.  If I were “loaded” I might own a classic car instead of selling inspection stickers to guys who do own them!