The Pastor’s Note: House Cleaning

Recently Terri took a tip to visit her sister. With all the instructions she left me, you’d have thought she was leaving a child at home instead of a full-grown man. She left me prepared food in the fridge and the number for 911 in case I used my power tools. However, what she neglected to tell me was that the house would not clean itself.

They say that housework can’t kill you, but I say “why take the chance”? After a few days I noticed a strange odor coming from the kitchen. I discovered the best way to get rid of kitchen order was to eat out. This house cleaning thing wasn’t going to be so hard. As the week progressed, I came up with many reasons not to do housework. (1) Vacuuming too often weakens the carpet fibers. (2) Layers of dirt on windows and screens provide a helpful filter against harmful and aging rays from the sun. (3) Cobwebs artfully draped over lampshades reduce the glare from the bulb. And (4) if you keep several get well cards on the mantle; visitors will think you’ve been too sick to clean.

Normally when I feel the need to clean house, I’ll just sit down until it passes. But Terri was due home, and I knew she would not understand my house-keeping excuses. It was time to get busy and get the house in order.

Now, how does this fit in with Antioch’s summer? We’re all familiar with the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple in John2:12. Simply put, God’s House was not being treated as it should be, and our Lord was clearly not happy. In verse 17 we see a startling statement: ¹⁷ When this happened, the followers remembered what was written in the Scriptures: “My strong love for your Temple completely controls me”. We at Antioch recognize the Lord’s zeal for the House of God, and as such we are determined to honor Him through the repair and upgrade of His House. Therefore, I am pleased and very excited to tell you about our Church’s “OPERATION 9”!

Operation 9 is a program to restore our building in such a way that it is honoring to God. The restoration involves a makeover of the sanctuary and children’s class room. It remodels the hallway, pantry, and kitchen, and restores the playground. It is a project that is worthy of God’s people coming together to complete!

Operation 9 culminates on our Back-To-Church Sunday on September 9th (that’s 9-9 when we reach 9% of our area-hence, operation 9). Once our facility has been restored, we intend, through various strategies, to reach 9% our population in area codes 80864 and 80833. That is 220 people. On September 9th, we will rededicate our facility and ourselves t the work of the Lord, and we shall do so with an overflowing Church!

I look forward to working side-by-side with you as we4 honor God by getting His house in order this summer.

Pastor Randy