Date: 8/4/2009
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Doing it all wrong
<br><br>My buddy Bill Perkins invited me to come down to Athens, Alabama last Wednesday to speak to the adult classes at the Central Church of Christ where he is now the pulpit minister.  As he got up to introduce me, I was certain that he would shower me with praise and accolades before his congregates.  I figured he would tell them that he had ask me to speak because of my wonderful talent and ability to expound on God's Word, because of my infectious personality, and because I just might be the best preacher he had ever heard . Well, as you might imagine, that's not exactly how Brother Perkins' opening remarks went.<br><br><br>Bill's introduction of me went something like this ..... “I want to introduce to you tonight Devin Pickard, who is the minister of the Fairfield Church of Christ in Centerville, TN.  The reason I wanted Devin to come speak to you tonight is because he is part of a Church family that is experiencing tremendous growth in every imaginable way ..... but for the life of me, I can't tell you why.  You see, Fairfield is doing nothing right.  They don't have a full-time minister ..... they don't have a full-time youth minister ..... they continue to cram pack their auditorium on a weekly basis after having long-since gone beyond the “if you are at 80% capacity you need to start tearing down walls” rule ..... and they don't have near enough parking space as is evident on Sunday mornings by all the vehicles being parked out by the highway.  Of course, I'm sure he mentioned some other reasons that I didn't hear because at the time I was so irritated that he wasn't introducing me in the way that I mentioned above in paragraph one, but alas, I quickly got over it. (ha, ha should be inserted here)<br><br><br>Bill went on to explain why he felt like the Fairfield Church of Christ was growing “in spite” of all our shortcomings.  In his opinion, it was simply LOVE ..... our LOVE for God and our LOVE for all those around us.  That's pretty much it.  I know, it seems almost trite, but I think he hit the nail right on the head.  The theme verse I was given by Bill to speak on was John 13:34-35 ..... “A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  In this passage, Jesus did not give his followers a difficult equation to decipher or a deep section of scripture to interpret.  Folks will know that we are being lead by the Creator of the universe when they witness us being a blessing to those whom he created.  Jesus did not place a restriction, border or condition on those who we are supposed to love ..... he simply said that we are to “love one another”.<br><br><br>Statistics tell us that roughly 85% of churches in America are plateaued or declining in attendance.  Albert Einstein said the the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.  Over the last few years Fairfield has tried to not travel the path of insanity. Our methodology has taken us over roads less traveled though we travel with the same gospel message that dates back over 2000 years.  We figure if love was a good enough platform for Jesus, then it's a good enough platform for us.  Only through the blessings of God can each member of the Fairfield Church of Christ tell you that it's pretty nice being in the top 15% .  It's amazing where love will take you.    <br>                                                                                                                                                                                 <br>Go the extra mile - Devin<br><br>