The First Congregation

Before any pulpit, the room that shaped the pastor was a marriage.

A husband is asked to love as Christ loved the church — which is to say, with a cross in view. That is not romance as a feeling. It is a long, open-handed yes.

Shurece and I have walked this for more than three decades. We did not become a family after the ministry was built. The family was the first congregation, and it still is. Sons, a daughter-in-law, grandsons — this is the work that keeps a preacher honest.

If your house is the hardest place to be holy, you are not failing. You are in the right school. Stay. Keep washing feet. Let the people who see you last also see you kind.