CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP

I had a good time teaching on Sunday, adressing the first two questions that had been submitted to us for our A.S.Q. series and taking the opportunity to recast vision by saying some things that needed to be said.

We looked at the complaint that seekers occasionally make about there being so many churches who don't agree among themselves, so how should anyone know what to believe. I pointed out that our experience locally is far from that - we have a great relationship with a load of local pastors and their congregations, so there's a lot of agreement.

Then I threw out there the idea that most churches believe the same when it comes to the basics, but what often differs is their style.

That's where ice cream got into the picture. On Saturday evening I was in a local supermarket looking longingly into the freezers at the amazing choices that are available. A lady beside me was searching hungrily for Turkey Hill Banana Split ice cream and I was happy to find the very last half gallon for her. I knew that if I was shopping for Gill there would be no problem, she would just want Vanilla, which is about as much a flavor in my book as white is a color - boring!

But for me, it was a no-brainer Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup is the food of heaven. No doubt it's the food of heart attacks too, but let's not spoil a good thing by getting health conscious. I love it. There's nothing like it. And I haven't tasted it for more than two years. So I bought a half gallon Saturday night, took it home and disposed of the whole thing...

... into the trash that is, because all I wanted was the container, to help me make a very important point the next morning.

Someone may come along and say, I like that ice cream, but I prefer dark chocolate, could you maybe change it a little? Then another says, I like chocolate chips, can we put a few of them in? Someone else wants just a hint of strawberry, the next person some pecans, while orios are on the wishlist for the cookies and cream lover. A hint of mint would whet another person's appetite, while black cherries would make someone else's day.

However, if you pleased all them you would end up with a concoction that in no way resembled what you had started out with and was nothing that anyone in their right mind would want to cross their lips.

Churches are all different, there's not necessarily a right and wrong - all kinds of churches for all kinds of people. Some major on teaching, some on music, others on charismatic experiences,etc,etc.

As for us, we do church for the unchurched. That's our flavor. Has been since day one. We don't add to it, don't apologize for it and won't change it.

If you want Rum & Raisin I'll tell you where you can get it. If it's Neopolitan I can give you directions.

But we are who we are - unmistakeably, unapologetically and unwaveringly Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!