more church and dating.

When I had my first daughter I was petrified. I was scared of the horrible guys that would come and try to date her and want one thing from her and how bad it would be to have to fend them off with shotguns. 

I shared this at a church in my first year of pastoring. 

A lady came up to me after the sermon and said, Ryan, you’re all wrong. Why are you dreading your daughters dating so much? We have three daughters and the men they have brought into our family have been the best thing to ever happen to us. Why don’t you start thinking of it that way? 

I never forgot her words. (I later told her that they changed my life.)

In fact, I took them further. Why was it that I told my daughters that men were pigs and wanted nothing from them but to get down their pants? Wouldn’t that mean if my daughters started dating a guy who was a pig wanting nothing but to get down her pants that she would think… well that’s what dad always told me guys were? 

So, I started talking differently to my daughters(s) and changing my head in the process. I can’t wait for my daughters to start dating. Guys are amazing. Guys are awesome. I can’t wait to see who they fall head over heels for. I can’t wait to see the amazing human being that they bring home. 

And all of this is like church. 

Have you noticed all that articles, blog posts, and comments about how bad the church is lately? When people go to a church and it sucks, doesn’t everyone think, well… I guess this is what everyone said. Churches suck. If I want to go to any church, it’s going to suck so I might as well not go to any or go to one that sucks. 

Self-fulfilling prophecy, I believe, it’s called. 

What about if we started talking about how awesome church is? How fulfilling. How well it spends it’s money. How relevant and inspiring and graceful and loving it is?