Greg Whiting Highway

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? I didn't think so either. Living in the Atlanta, GA area has given us the opportunity to have access to some of the more well known speakers and worship leaders around. There are many large churches in our area; and there is no lack of churches, period. As we have been looking for a church to attend and plug into as a family, we have visited or heard about a variety of churches, which include some of the more well known leaders and pastors. I won't be very specific here, as I realize that my opinions are simply that - my opinions- and I certainly don't want to put negative thoughts in anyone's mind about any of the pastors out here.

One of the churches we visited has a pastor that is very well known; at least down south. And in our area, we were told often: "you just have to go hear _____________ ____________ speak"; and then they would tell us how amazing he is. So, we went to hear him preach and to visit the church. Every church has problems, so this church's are no different. We also want a church where our children can plug in and be ministered to. Since the adult leader of the middle school group was so busy on her phone, we did not have a very good impression of their children's ministry. I'm sure it is normally great.

We can overlook pretty much everything else, as long as the preaching of God's Word fits where we are, in our beliefs and practice. We may be the only ones who thought this; but it seemed that this particular, well known preacher, was very concerned about himself and all that he had accomplished over the years. He didn't stick with the text of Scripture he introduced (which is one of my pet peeves of preaching); and talked about himself quite a bit. He also seemed to diverge into other areas that he really wanted to talk about. And his style of preaching (I will refrain from details that might give him away) was very distracting; at least for us. Two of our youngest children were with us in the service (since the middle school ministry didn't seem interested in having them); and they also mentioned that it was hard for them to listen because of the way this particular preacher came across.

Then, we noticed, that nearby, there was a _____________ ___________ highway, named after this pastor. It may well be that he had nothing to do with it, and maybe didn't even want it done. But, it just seemed out of place, and along with our visits to their website, it seemed liked much of this ministry was about him. We might be wrong. What we did realize, is that this is not the church where God was leading us.

Bottom line, biblically, I want to have the same attitude the Apostle Paul had, when there were ministers doing things he wouldn't do. He said that he would choose to rejoice if they were preaching the gospel. This preacher is, and God has used him to reach many people. In that, I will rejoice. And if you ever think of naming a highway after me, just call it mercy highway. That's where I'm living these days; and don't plan on leaving.