I am about to go to the Y. Something I do almost every day. But before I do, I want to tell you a little story about some things that are going on and hopefully shed a little truth about some things you might hear in the coming months …
YES, it is true that the national Y organization is changing their logo and some of their emphases. And YES, it is true that our local Florence Family YMCA is a part of the national organization, just like every other YMCA on the face of the earth.
The rumor that is out there right now is the Y is taking the “C” out of the YMCA. That a concentrated effort is being made to remove Christ from the YMCA. And that has some people riled up. Angry. Ready to drop their memberships and go to other gyms.
IRONY #1: What other gym in the area places such an emphasis on Christian, family values than the Y?? Many other fitness centers in Florence are very successful, and have many Christian members, and place NO emphasis on Christ whatsoever.
I attended a meeting yesterday with Jerry Dixon (our Y CEO) and SEVERAL pastors from churches in our area who, like me, are regular Y attenders. Several things were discussed:
We DO and plan to CONTINUE to emphasize the CHRIST in YMCA, no matter what happens with the official logo or name. And I’ve been in several Ys across South Carolina … NOBODY does it better than WE DO!! And our plan is to CONTINUE!!
Apparently a local Christian radio station broadcasted that all Ys are taking Christ out. Well, I can’t speak for others, but I wish you guys had taken your journalistic influence seriously enough to investigate this before you broadcasted it. Because that is NOT what is happening in Florence.
IRONY #2: Some people hear something like this on Christian radio and take it for the gospel truth. SEEK OUT THE TRUTH FOR YOURSELVES!! The things broadcast DO NOT APPLY to the Florence Family YMCA. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I AM IN THERE EVERY DAY!! Would love to talk to YOU about it one-on-one if you’d like.
Our discussion made its way around to the fact that so many Christian people, members of OUR churches, are members of the Y. Hear this well, Florence: THEY WILL NEVER TAKE CHRIST OUT OF OUR Y UNLESS THEY TAKE US OUT, OR TAKE HIM OUT OF US. And according to the very words of Christ, NO ONE IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO SNATCH US OUT OF HIS HANDS!!!
Did you ever think that WE are the C??? WAKE UP, FLORENCE. THINK FOR YOURSELVES!!!!
Well, enough of this … time for me to go be the C at the Y!!!
The Random Thinker 
David maybe what the Christian members ought to do is bring more of their Christian friends to the Y and have them join. The more Christians using the Y means you definitely aren’t taking Christ out.
If Christians leave the Y and go to other gyms they are leaving their space open for non Christians to fill. Not that this would be a bad thing, the Y has always been a friendly, family place to go. It is not so big and that keeps the family feeling alive. So keep going and using our great ymCa.
This morning I read in Acts 4 about the Sanhedrin trying to silence the apostles when they were healing performing miracles in Jesus name. The prayer of the people after Peter and John were released was that the Lord would “enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”. Peter and John also told the Sanhedrin that they couldn’t help speaking about what they had seen and heard with Jesus. So powerful – talk about being the “C” 🙂
That is very interesting and good to know. Kudos to you for finding out the truth. There are many things I would like to know your thoughts on!