Visitors

When Angela and I married, I was a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Asheville, NC. It was (and always will be) the church of my dreams, but the long drive to church (around an hour) made it difficult to stay involved around both of our schedules, so we decided to look around for something a little closer to home.

I began thinking back to all of the churches I had visited in my travels as a singer/preacher. My memories always reflected a church full of smiling people meeting me at the door wanting to help carry equipment, shake my hand, or give me food. It seems, however, when we walked in the door as just another person (and not a guest preacher or singer), nobody acknowledged our existance. it was almost as if we were invisible as we walked into many of these churches. In many cases, not even the Pastor shook our hand. Let me tell you that my oppinions of some of these churches changed drastically in this period.

It's very easy to want to treat a visiting minister or singer with respect and give them special treatment, but we have to remember that they are no more important than the poor man that walked in at the last minute on the back row. Our hand of fellowship just may be the thing that keeps someone from going to Hell. Join OVM this month as we make a special effort to notice every visitor, not just the ones that are being featured in the service.