The last two weeks have been … weird. That is a good word for it. There have been so many strange things happening. Two weeks ago, a friend of mine (who was my friend before he and his family came to Ebenezer years ago) informed me that they would no longer be attending EBC. In so many words, he told me (and I quote) “Ebenezer is one of the most unfriendly churches I have ever attended.”
Honestly, that was a blow to me. I still wish there was something I can do, but I do believe there is more to that story that I know. Anyway, last Sunday (n0t yesterday) there was a special visitor in the 8:30 service. He is a professor at a local college and also a Methodist minister that has been commissioned to write a book on homiletics (preaching). He and his significant-other (in other words, girlfriend) heard about the immense talent that is David Wike and knew this is where the book had to start.
Ok, not really. They’ve been visiting churches all over our area and then he’s been interviewing pastors afterward for the book. He asked me if I could sit down with him later in the week and I agreed. I did this last Thursday and it was interesting. And he told me something that had to be a message from God. To make a long story short, he told me they found Ebenezer to be, by far, the most friendly church they’d visited to this point. I think he said they’d been to 20 or so at this point. I then told him the story of what had happened and how much it had been bothering me. He had no idea of that story before he told me what he told …
And that brings me to this point: How could one person tell me EBC is a horrible church when it comes to friendliness and another tell me it is by far the most friendly??? I’ve mulled this over a good bit in the last few days, and I think I know the answer. Much of how friendly ANY church is lies in WHAT YOU TAKE INTO THE DOOR. In other words, how friendly are you??? How open are you to meeting new people? Telling them YOUR name??? At the very least, we all have a responsibility to bring our best to worship.
And I thank God for sending me that message. He knew how much I’d dwelt on that and He knew exactly how to let me know it might not be what it seemed.
The Random Thinker 
David, I agree with you that what you get out is most often directly correlated to what you put in to any given situation. When we first joined Ebenezer 15 years ago, I realized that since we had moved here from Florida and didn’t know anyone, it would be best to get involved in the activities of the church to get to know the people. That made all the difference! My best friends now are members of this church. I truly thank God every day for this church and ask Him for the continued health and growth of it.