Anonymous Notes

During my first week at the last church I pastored I received an anonymous note. The note was written on a blue card the church used to gather information from visitors, prayer requests from the congregation and a way for people to communicate with the church staff. The card came after my first public prayer and said, "Why didn't you end your prayer saying, 'by the blood of Jesus, Amen?'"

My first reaction was to throw the card away thinking it was from the Sr. Pastor, who was kind of a prankster. As I got to know the church people better I understood this was not a joke, but a real question! Someone doubted the effectiveness of my prayer that monring because of its ending!

From that experience and many others to follow, I learned to look first at the bottom of all notes, cards or letter to see if they were signed. If they were not signed, they were not read.

This week, my first week pastoring at The Next Level Church, I got my first anonymous note from someone in the church community. As a matter of fact all the pastoral staff received cards from the same mystery writer (I sorted the mail that day). Having forgotten my rule and being in a new and different church, I read the card without checking if it was signed. This time, however, I didn't found criticism or critique, but encouragement and welcome.

This was nice.

Someone I don't know and maybe haven't even met yet, took the time to express their excitement and joy about my family and I being part of TNL.

This anonymous note was a welcomed and appreciated entrance into a our new family.