Letters to My Congregation
More Boring Business Meetings, Please
Each week (usually Tuesday afternoon), I send out a letter to the congregation at ClearView Baptist Church. It’s a tiny way I hope to shepherd them during the week. Perhaps it might encourage, help, or challenge you as well.
ClearView Family,
My first church business meeting in 11 years was boring.
And I love it. Hallelujah.
In fact, to quote the great theologian Tim McGraw, “I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.”
The meeting was so boring that, 20 minutes in, I started getting text messages. Some of you in the room asked, “Next time, can we eat lunch during the Business Meeting?” That is code for: “I’m bored. I’m hungry. Let’s move this thing along.” Or another interpretation: “There’s no action. No bickering. No arguing. Everything’s good. Let’s eat!”
For those of you who may not be aware, once a quarter, we have a Sunday called “ClearView Together.” We have one worship service at 9:15 AM. After the service, we have a church business meeting. After the church business meeting, we enjoy a meal together. Therefore, what stands between a bunch of Baptists and their lunch is a business meeting. Some of you can already detect why we don’t eat during the meeting. If we hold Baptists hostage from their meal, things will move along a bit quicker. If we eat during the meeting, why would we need to hurry through the agenda? In other words, there is a method to the madness. Had we served the meal and tried to eat while the meeting was held, we might still be there. But let a few Southern Baptists smell fried chicken and pineapple upside-down cake... we can make motions to accept reports real fast. I dare someone to ask a question or bring up new business after the hospitality team has uncovered the food in the back of the room. That person will need security to escort them to their car.
Yes. We hold business before lunch. And, yes, this past quarter’s business meeting was boring. May God be praised.
You’ve heard me say that I’ve been in church for 9 months before I was born. More specifically, I’ve been in a Southern Baptist Church since then. My entire life. Needless to say, I have endured my share of Business Meetings. And, dear ones, I have witnessed some doozies. And from what I hear, there have also been a couple of doozies at ClearView in the not-so-distant past. As a child and a teenager, my eyes would glaze over (or shut down) during boring business meetings. I dreaded them. This was before cell phones. To my 12-year-old intellect, it was torture. As a pastor, I LONG FOR BORING BUSINESS MEETINGS. Not for the sake of being boring. But because most of the time, a boring business meeting means things are rocking along pretty well. When I say I love boring business meetings, I am not saying the material being presented is boring. I’m not saying the presenters are boring. Oftentimes, the content being presented is wonderful. It means there is much to celebrate and be grateful for. When I reveal my affection for boring business meetings, I mean that I love that there was no drama. No arguing. No bickering. No selfish agendas. No ridiculous motions. By and large, when a church business meeting is boring, it means there is peace, unity, joy, and life in the church. And that’s why I like ‘em, love ‘em, and want more of ‘em.
Can I promise that every meeting between a worship service and a meal on a “ClearView Together” day will be boring? No. Does this mean I don’t desire you, the church, to voice your concerns, opinions, or desires? Of course not. There will be meetings when understanding will need to be sought out and frustrations aired. We will have differing opinions and perspectives. It’s the nature of being a congregation. It’s what ultimately brings true peace and genuine unity.
However. I hope for a whole bunch of boring business meetings. In my mind, boring means there is trust from the congregation in the leadership and committees. It means there is full transparency about what is going on at all levels of the church. It means members are giving, inviting people to come with them, and the baptistry water is staying warm. It means we are growing in holiness. It means there is gratitude for what God has done and hope for what He’s up to next. It means we like each other. Usually, in my experience, a boring church business meeting means there is extreme excitement everywhere else. When a business meeting is the primary drama a church experiences, decline and death aren’t far behind.
Our moderator, Robert Bedenbaugh, recommended we call these meetings “Celebration Meetings.” I like that. I really do. I hope the majority of our meetings in the future include massive amounts of celebrating the work of God. But let’s also be okay with boring meetings. In an ironic way, a boring meeting implies there is much to be celebrated.
I’ll see you tomorrow night for our First Wednesday time of prayer and again on Sunday with my Bible open to Revelation 2:18-28.
Hoping for Boring,
Pastor Matt
[By the way - speaking of celebrating. . . I am guessing you noticed this on Sunday. There were 3x as many desserts as side items. It was like 4 of you thought it was a good idea to make a salad. 180 of you felt led to bring a decadent sweet. I don’t know about you, but I’m here for it. Tim’s right, “I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.”]