Ever wonder how your minister feels at the end of a Sunday? It is about like being run over by a room full of hyper kindergarten students repeatedly. Imagine at least 20 of these precious children launching themselves at you at full speed at the same time. That is as close to a description as I can give you. This is not to say that it is a bad or negative feeling. Tonight is honestly a pretty good feeling. There are more than a few Sundays where it is quite the opposite. Thank goodness tonight is not one of those occasions.

Trust me, I feel as bad or worse on those days when the sermon is not quite up to prophetic standards. You think it is hard to listen to a bad sermon? Just think about being the one delivering such a pathetic effort. It is so not a pleasant experience. We knew going in that we were dealing with a three day weekend. People who have Monday off tend to head for the hills, valleys, beaches, mountains or anywhere but church. Such behavior used to bug the daylights out of me when I was younger. Now I can keep my mellow perspective on such Sundays.

We face real obstacles in terms of the future of the church. What I mean by that is not this one particular church. My reference is to the church in general as we know it. I see the research as well as the reality and we face legitimate difficulties. Rick Davis is on his way to be Pastor of Brock Baptist Church. He writes about the bleak present and future of the church in general over at aintsobad.typepad.com. Many of his writings say the very things that got my attention a few years ago. The church will survive without a doubt. But, be clear to know that the church as we know it probably won't.

How will the church that survives look in the future. For one, it will be biblically simple in its faith. It will be a place that values all people and relationships. For sure the church that thrives will not get hung up on types of music. They will do music well no matter the style. It will be a church where the pastor guides people to discover their gifts and then turn them loose. It will be a place where all ages blend together with no sense of superiority in any fashion. Sounds great doesn't it? Why don't we see more of it now? We are the chief obstacle to all of this. This is why we tend to deal with conflict more than we do anything else.

Ok, so how did we go from how pastors feel on Sunday night to the future of the church? Honestly, it beats me how it happened. I know that the possibility is very real for this one church to be better than ever. It isn't something that I can control however. My role is to guide, lead, encourage and more for us to be open to God's hope. I don't mind being weary on Sunday nights as long as we are moving that direction. I still believe we are doing just that.

Bro. Trey