Preaching and eating at St Paul UMC...

We made our second visit to St. Paul United Methodist Church today and I delivered the message. I had Shelby snap a picture mainly because this was my first opportunity to preach outside my home church:

All in all, it went well. It wasn't a great sermon, but I think it was about the best that I'm equipped to do and that was my goal: to do the best that I could.

You can read the text of my sermon here if you're interested in this type of thing.

Everyone seemed to be fairly pleased with my efforts. Then they found out that I had brought home-made barbeque to the covered dish dinner that followed the service. At that point, I became quite popular:)

I had intended to smoke one large picnic on Saturday but I could only find a large butt. I decided to go with two medium sized picnics instead because I like the flavor and texture better. This produced a huge pile of pulled pork. I'd estimate about eight pounds of meat. My first thought was that this was going to be way too much. But no, apparently they liked my cooking at least as much as my preaching. If I was put on the spot, I'd have to say rather more. But I was afraid there would be a lot of barbeque left over. There wasn't. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, it actually worked out perfectly. We took home just enough left-overs for supper. Nice.

And my barbecue was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There was a huge spread besides: fried chicken, baked ham, turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, hash brown casserole, all manner of vegetables, desserts galore. You name, they had it. Awesome.

The best part, though, was getting to interact with the folks at St. Paul as we ate. What a great Church. We felt so welcomed and included and appreciated. I'm looking forward to going back.

Despite the nagging feeling that I might could have done a better job preaching, the whole experience was just a wonderful blessing.

I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity. I can only hope that Brother Jim and the folks at St. Paul feel half as good about it.