You are giving my offering back?

We had the memorial service today for a man who had suffered several years in the nursing home and then finally died.

There are several things that stick in my mind about Jesse, but the one I think of most is that he was the occasion of us giving money we had raised back to those who had given for the cause.

Our auditorium was build in the early 60's and by the time I got to Crescent Heights it(the auditorium not the church) was moving in several directions. Now, I am not a carpenter or the son of a carpenter,but I generally feel it is not a good thing when a fixed building on a foundation moves south, west and north over time at glacial speeds. The church had already poured a concrete bank to stop the westward movement, but south and north were still a bit of a problem. Then the laminated beams started sinking. Ever so slowly, over time, they were moving closer to the floor and it seemed through the floor.

I could imagine a time when one would stoop to enter the sanctuary or perhaps we could encourage the congregation to enter and stay on their knees through the service. That would add to the reverence of worship. The chandelier lighting would be no problem to change out, and well the custodians would have no problem dusting the ceiling. Somehow, none of that seemed desirable.

We called in an expert(someone whose guess costs more than your guess) and he said, "I am not sure what is happening here but it will be at least $80,000+ to fix it. At that point I am mentally thumbing through the cardex of my mind thinking of any pyromaniacs that I knew.

We discuss and discuss and then elect a task force to deal with the problem of the sinking beams. Task forces are a step above committees in Baptist hierarchy. Committees are where you meet to talk about a problem. Task forces are charged by the church with talking about a problem until someone gets tired of talking about it and decides on a course of action. Jesse as I recall was not even on the task force, but came in and took over the meeting and said, "Here is what we need to do. We need to punch a hole in the floor and see why this beam is sinking." Churches should not have such logical people in them, but Jesse set the agenda for the first stage.

I on the other hand, could only hear $80,000+ so I did what pastors do best, I started taking an offering. Got up to $16,000 in the special fund. We decided not to call it a "sinking fund" because--well it hit too close to home. Anyway, we were $16,000 on our way to who knows how much.

Jesse punched through the floor, found the problem to be termites and water, and said, "Why we can fix this problem easy. And easy he made it. Jesse made a prosthesis for the bad timbers, cut out the rotted part, put in the metal legs,concreted the floor back, relayed the carpet, fixed all the other beams so they wouldn't sink, and all for a little over $1,000.

Very few church members have ever had the financial secretary call and ask, "Do you want your money back, we don't need it!"

That was Jesse!