From the Pastor's Desk

It is Labor Day Weekend. It is more than just the unofficial end of Summer. It was intended as a day to honor workers. Work is not part of the curse. We will spend a significant portion of our lives at it, and God intends to bless us in it. He does not want us to hate our jobs and be miserable.

In fact, in the last several years, there has been much talk in the Christian world about seeing our jobs as marketplace ministry. The concept comes from the Apostle Paul in Athens. "Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there" (Acts 17:17). Is your marketplace a place of ministry for you? How could God use you to make it so?

Times have changed. We no longer know our next-door neighbors. It has been said that people now congregate in tribes, often along business lines. There is an education tribe, a medical tribe, etc. In other words, people tend to affiliate and have relationships in the flow of their occupation. A tribe often has its own language and customs. Are you introducing Jesus to your tribe? I may never get the opportunity to preach to most of your tribe. So I preach to you, doing my best to equip and enable you to reach your tribe with the Gospel (Eph. 4:12). You may never share the Gospel with a tribe in the Amazon. But you will probably run into one every Monday morning. Ask God to show you how to touch them, one life at a time.

Pastors Mark and Jennifer