Endings & Beginnings

Today was my final day at the Tomball Church of Christ. It was a little bit emotional, especially all the hugging, well-wishing, and good-byes from folks. The Elders prayed over our family during the service; that was nice, although it caught me a little by surprise.

It was a strange final Sunday. I thought our worship time went quite well (although I'm probably not the most unbiased to judge it), but the unusual thing today was when the Elders presented the results of a survey done back in November and then told some new directions the church would be heading. I was personally quite surprised for how little support there really was for the three major changes; I expected a fair number of people to object to some of the changes, but I thought there'd be at least 2/3 or 3/4 clearly in favor of the change. My own opinion is that maybe the survey showed a need to wait a bit longer or do some study/teaching before moving ahead. However, what was announced was that the Tomball Church would be changing their name (dropping "Church of Christ"), adding instrumental music (perhaps as soon as next Sunday!), and expanding women's role as ministry leaders and in public assemblies. Though I'm praying for God's blessing on the Tomball Church and it's leaders, I'm left wondering a little about where they're headed. I think it will be a tough road, at least in the near future.

Then, later in the afternoon I attended a "Congregational Meeting" over at the Spring Woodlands Church of Christ (where I'll begin leading worship next week). Five of their Elders spoke and it was all really positive and well-received. They encouraged the church with a number of Scriptures, they recognized and honored each staff member, and then they presented some upcoming changes. At the end they even introduced me. They announced that they are going from three services to two, changing their Sunday night format to a prayer time, holding firm on a closing date for the sale of their property to Walmart, presented a budget summary, and then handed out some "feedback" or "response" cards. All in all a very positive experience. And the people that visited with me before and after the meeting were all so kind!