“COME AS YOU ARE!” We’ve seen it plastered on church signs everywhere. The question is: Do we mean it? Would a church welcome an openly gay parishioner? How about a drug addict? A stripper? Would it be okay for a kid to wear his baseball hat in the sanctuary or would he be told to take it off? If we truly say, “Come as you are,” we have to be ready for some, in the words of the late author Mike Yaconelli, “Messy spirituality.”
Pastor Bob Adams has seen his fair share of the good, the bad and the ugly in the church. Pastors are under siege – and it’s often in the form of “friendly fire.” Pastors are held under a microscope and placed high on a pedestal; one wrong comment, one inquiry about one of the church’s “sacred cows” or even the simple act of wearing blues jeans on a Sunday cause many pastors to be tossed aside.
Join Pastor Bob, founder of “That’s Not My God” (http://www.thatsnotmygod.com) and pastor of Radiant Fellowship in Waupaca, Wisconsin for a transparent conversation about everything from board meetings to Howard Stern.
It’s all about being real. As Pastor Bob Adams often says, “Transparency is the key to true relationships and is the best context for discipleship.”
