West Cocoa Chat

There is a scene in one of my favorite movies, Hoosiers that reminded me of what took place in our church this past Sunday. If you remember, Gene Hackman takes over as Head Basketball Coach at small, rural Hickory High School in basketball crazy Indiana. The best player in the school, Jimmy, mourning the loss of the previous head coach refuses to play for Hackman. The season starts off rocky and it reaches a boiling point with a town meeting for the purpose of firing Gene Hackman.

An initial vote is held and the Coach is fired but just as the vote is read, Jimmy walks in and announces he is ready to play basketball again, provided the Coach stays. A re-vote is called for and the Coach is reinstated. The unifying factor most likely is the town’s best player agreeing to play for the Coach and yet there are still a few “fire him” votes in the second vote.

A vote can be tricky at best when it comes to decisions made in the life of a church. This past Sunday we held a vote to install 2 new elders. Our church had been given 3 weeks to bring concerns or praise concerning two brothers who we felt not only met the qualifications set forth by Paul in Timothy and Titus, but also in many respects were already acting as shepherds of our church.

Since my brother Ray, is at home recovering from his back surgery, the vote and the counting thereof fell on my shoulders. Now remember, our church is in Florida so you can now insert jokes pertaining to hanging chads and re-counts.

Any way, when the votes were tabulated the results where: Brother #1 – yes - 99%, 1% - no.
Brother #2 – yes - 98%, 2% - no.
Is that phenomenal? Sometimes if I talk (I know this hard to believe) too long in class I’ll ask my students, “How many of you would like me to shorten the assignment?” Do you know that I usually have some students who raise their hands to vote no! I was blown away by the unity and sweet spirit that seems to pervade our church. I look forward to elders’ meetings that are a little more crowded as we attempt to effectively shepherd this precious church.