When Every Silver Lining Has A REALLY Dark Cloud was, again, one of my favorite messages to deliver. It had a title I really liked, a noun-centric metaphor (a harp), and a closing section I was able to deliver with considerable conviction because I've been on the receiving end of what I was talking about. The message was also a detour from the rest of BrainWashing in that it came not from I Corinthians but from I Samuel 16.  We moved from the letter section of the library back to the history section. The bottom line was really a question:  Who's got your harp? With a secondary, supplement question that governs the conclusion:  Have come to hate the one who came to help?   ----------------------------------------- So: a lot of you know David. He’s the one who slew Goliath with the slingshot (AV). He’s the one who seduced Bathsheba while she was taking a bath (NO AV!). He’s the one who was bow and arrow friends with Jonathon. He’s the one who ruled a united nation. He was a king. He was a warrior. Sometimes he was a mess, but he was a man. A man’s man. Giant slayer and lady killer. A he man, you could say. But I met most of you didn’t know that this giant-slayer & lady-killer, this warrior-king & nation-builder, this he man . . . also played the harp. Yes! A he man on a harp! We think harpists look like this – AV, lady in flowing dress – or this – similar – but we don’t think they look like this: AV body builder on harp. Yet that’s exactly what he does.   And I know all this about the he man on the harp because of this incredible tale in I Sam 16:14-23, a story that, believe it or not, I see played out in one way or another all the time these days. And it’s a story that especially gets played in the lives of those people who for whatever reason are able to lock on in the dark cloud that surrounded by a silver lining. Some people focus on the lining; today I’m talking to those who zero in on the cloud . . . and those who have to live with them.   Because here’s what’s going on. It’s about 1000 BC, 3K years ago. A man named Saul is king Israel. And Saul is a mess. In part because of his own pattern of disobedience to God and in part because unknown to Saul the prophet Samuel has already anointed David – then just an adolescent – as the once & future king of Israel. David’s been anointed king in a land where there’s already a king – Saul. And look at what I Sam 16:13 says about David: ¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. So the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Which is the exact opposite of what has happened to Saul in 16:14a: ¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul That’s the kind of contrast that ain’t by accident! But then comes one of Scripture’s most problematic verses: and an evil^[a] spirit from the Lord tormented him.  16:14b. Huh? And I just have to deal w/ these words before I do anything else, because how in the world can God have & send an evil spirit?!   Look at the language closely: of the Lord in 14a and from the Lord in 14b. In the ancient mind, there were no secondary causes. If people got sick, if a natural disaster happened, if Satan lurked around . . . all that ultimately came from God because it passed through his sovereign hands. We say sickness is due to germs and storms are caused by low pressure systems, but the ancient mind knew of neither of those.  We are more likely to say that God allowed an evil, bedeviling spirit; the ancients would say that since he is sovereign over all and we don’t think in secondary causes, it’s ultimately from him. Maybe it lands us here: God’s not the author but he is the allower. But why? Especially in this case with Saul, why? Ah, that’s an ancient question and I don’t have all the answers, though in this case (as you’ll see later) I might just have an idea.   But the clear implication from 16:14 & beyond, based on both what the text says and the behavior that Saul exhibits, is that Saul was suffering from some kind of deep despair, some type of major melancholy, perhaps a version of clinical depression, and quite possibly what we might today call bi-polar disorder. Because we know from I Samuel that he had enormous mood swings – from buoyant to brooding to brutal & from euphoric to melancholic to murderous. Manic and then depressive. And an inner turmoil that often led to outer trouble. That was Saul then and Lord have mercy is that not people today? Here? Now? You?   Because I know you. I hear you. One of my dearest friends here tells me that sometimes REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCES, a deep depression will grip him and not let. And there are times in his life – again, having nothing to do with job or family or appearance – that depression’s grip will not respond to meds or counseling or anything. Some of you know what this is like. Others of you live with someone who knows what this is like. Barely able to get out of bed in the morning. Things look nice on the outside but they are a mess on the inside. And you’re not sure if it’s an evil spirit from the Lord but you wouldn’t doubt it. You know the wide swings in mood and affect like Saul.   And you know how at times the inner conflict erupt into outer confrontation and the ppl you should love the most have learned to keep their distance from you. But in all that, you know what really interests me today in Week 4 of BrainWashing?   The connection between obsessive thoughts and depressive emotion. How it is what what you think translates into how you feel. Do people get depressed because they think negative thoughts or do they think negative thoughts because they are depressed? Answer: YES! Thought patterns at the very least REINFORCE despairing, depressed emotional state and I don’t have time to settle that particular chicken & egg question. But listen to Dr. Martin Seligman: The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault . . . One of the significant findings in psychology over the last 20 years is that individuals can choose the way they think . . . and depression is caused in large part by negative thoughts . . . Emotion comes directly from what we think . . . depression results from lifelong habits of conscious thought. If we change these habits of thought, we can go a long way towards curing depression.   And there’s truth there whether you’ve got clinical depression or occasional despair. Think about it: who do you talk to more than anyone else? YOU! You are the most influential person in your and so the way you talk to yourself & think about yourself has GOT to impact your emotional state.   Because I know all about irrationally negative thoughts. I remember that day several years ago, early on a Sunday morning, fixing to turn left on Moss from 49 and I thought: “No one will be there today. The church is done & it will be empty.” Or if I hear of a new church anywhere in our area: That’s it. There’s NO POSSIBLE REASON for anyone to come to GS ever again now that they have that younger, hotter option. And I’m not alone! There are people whom I know and love: I’m going to get fired at work (despite positive reviews). Or I’m going to get sick and I just hope I handle death well. Or My mate is going to stop loving me, I just know it. I have seen the brutal effects of these obsessively negative thoughts first hand. Samuel then, us now. It’s why the worst, most profane word for a Xn to utter is . . . hopeless. (GULP! You thought I was going somewhere else!) Hopeless is profane for the Xn because it takes God right out of the picture.   Which takes us back to Saul. The mess. The clinical. Look at the solution one of his minions has for his melancholy: 16:15-16: ¹⁵ Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶ Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre (harp). He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.” You’re hopeless and a harp will fix ya! And then in 16:18 someone knows a name:   ¹⁸ One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”   Hilarious. It’s like one of those John Irving novels where the narrator arranges all the pieces so that the most improbable events become inevitable. In this case, it’s that David has to befriend Saul & get in his inner circle. In this case God the narrator is using the “Oh! I just HAPPEN to know a harp player!” to make the improbable become inevitable. And the irony of David’s qualification – the Lord w him – is lost on Saul.  David's qualification is Saul's disqualification.   Because look at 16:21-23:   ²¹ David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. ²² Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” ²³ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.    Ahh! The he man on a harp and healing happens! On the book level, this is ironic intrigue at its highest as Saul unknowingly is bringing his replacement to work with him!, but for you & me & all of us who have obsessively negative self-talk that fuel our powerfully depressive emotions, it leads to a question: Who’s got your harp? Who is it who God provides you to get out of your melancholy and into your ministry? Who is your harp player? I remember that time in Monroe, I was certain I’d KILLED that church (because it’s MINE & not God’s, you know) & I’m blue & crying and who comes over? Wade Broome . . .    . . . and he asks “what’s wrong?” and I’m crying so hard I can’t even talk and so what does he do? Starts crying himself! No advice, just comradeship. He had my harp. And God had his church.  Who’s got your harp?     Or the guy I told you about earlier who has these episodes where depression grips him. Well, I was there that night when he shared his journey with his LifeGroup and they listened & loved & laughed with him and I saw room of guys be my friend’s harp. Who’s got your harp?    Who has yours? Your harp is that someone or something from beyond you who enters into your life as an agent of relief. It may involve medication – no shame in that. In my mind, it’s no different than what I take for allergies. It may involve music. It may involve exercise. It may involve therapy. It may involve a LifeGroup. Get this: it will likely involve a ServeTeam. Why do I say that? Because what better way is there of getting out of your head, leaving the obsessive self-pity behind, than to get out of your life so you can get into someone else’s. So: serve a lunch at the Rescue Mission. Spend a night at Room In The Inn. Teach the children at the CAH. You might just find that those whom you are serving are the best harpists you got. Wherever you locate it, find it. Don’t settle. Don’t assume. Don’t utter Xnty’s most profane word about yourself: I am hopeless. Don’t.  Who’s got your harp?   Because I have an odd theory about why God allowed/sent an evil spirit to Saul. Why he sometimes renders us helpless. So we will reach out for help. Lord, any recovering addict can tell you that the first step is the most important: we admitted we were powerless and that only a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Same with obsessive thoughts & depressive emotions: maybe, just maybe, those are in your life so that in feeling helpless you will reach out to the one true Helper. Who’s got your harp?   And I so wish that 16:23 was the end of Saul’s story. Got his David, his harp, and he is all better. But it’s not. Look at 18:10-11: ¹⁰ The next day an evil^[a] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand ¹¹ and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice. What? Throws a spear at the harp that heals?! No mistaking it; it happens again in 19:9-10:   ⁹ But an evil^[a] spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.   Do you see what has happened there?  (First of all, David's not that smart for letting it happen a second time!)  But Saul, consumed by jealousy, overcome by his own melancholy, comes to hate the one who came to help. And if there is any pattern among people who wrestle with depression and despair that CONTINUES TO THIS DAY, it’s this one. People with relentlessly negative thought patterns beg for help, intervention, a listening ear … and all too often after they get it, they turn on the helper. Sometimes in ways that are passive aggressive; other times in ways that are all too public. I’ve seen this. I’ve been on the receiving end of it. Who knows? I may have even dished it out.   Have you? Honestly? As you look back in your rear view mirror of life, have you? As you reflect on those who brought their harps to help you, can you now see the ways you turned on them?  The ways in which, like Saul, you have come to hate the one who came to help?  You thought you were justified at the time but in this moment God is giving you clarity into what was really going on. And very likely you need to approach that person this very week with a mea culpa. Because you now see that you came to hate the one who came to help. And if you see that pattern in your past, that you’re pretty good at lashing out at those of loved well, oh, hear this: STOP.   Yeah. I said it. That way. STOP. This is a pattern and these are attitudes over which you are not helpless. You have control. I’m so passionate about this because I know all too many helpers, healers, enablers out there who have become victims at your hand. Put down your spear. Let them pick up their harp. And continue well that process by which God delivers you from you.  

If you are even a casual follower of the sports landscape, you know that the French Open tennis tournament is currently taking place in Paris. In fact, as of this writing, it looks for all the world like Novak Djokovic is on his way to claiming his first title on the red clay of Roland Garros stadium. What I'm sure that you are less aware of is this: back in the day when I played competitive tennis, I was terrible on clay. I did well on hard courts, a bit better the few times I could play on grass, but was simply awful on the dusty, slippery, granular clay court surface.  The low point of my tennis career, in fact, came on the two occasions my college team played up at Columbia University, who at that time hosted their matches on indoor clay courts on the northern edge of Manhattan.  I lost badly -- dreadfully -- both times. Why so bad on the dirt?  In a word: patience. Clay court tennis takes patience.  Points are constructed, not seized.  Consistency is rewarded while power is blunted. And in tennis terms, I had no patience.  Point construction was a foreign term -- I wanted to serve hard, get to net, and overwhelm my opponent. If I got stuck on the baseline trading forehands and backhands, I'd usually end up on the losing end of that trade. The way the experts play these days on the red clay of Paris is almost incomprehensible to me. So what's the paradox of patience? In life away from the courts, I am pretty patient. My work life is regimented, consistent -- scalable and repeatable as management experts say -- and not given to wide swings of either mood or productivity. I don't rush decisions. I rarely give up on projects or relationships just because they aren't going well. I pay attention to detail on the things that matter to me. I'm content with incremental improvement and slow-developing projects. I almost never lose my temper . . . a far cry from my tennis days when I could swear and/or throw a tennis racket with the best of them.  (On really skillful days, I'd do the swearing / throwing simultaneously!) So why did my generally patient nature become so impatient when I stepped between the white lines of a tennis court? I believe it has to do with self-talk.  For whatever reason, early in my teens, I told myself that I was inconsistent with forehands and backhands but very good with serves and volleys. I told myself that I needed to finish points quickly because otherwise my opponent would outlast me. My self-talk then became some thing much worse: a self-fulfilling prophecy. That which you say to yourself often enough ends up happening. You can likely convince yourself that you are patient. Or not. As I process this by writing it out, I realize that I could have used a Good Shepherd style BrainWashing a long time ago.  

There are some things in life that, no matter how often you do them, never get old.  It's almost like every time feels like the first time. That's especially true of many facets not only of ministry at Good Shepherd, but life in our little corner where Mecklenburg and York Counties intersect. So here are five things that just never get old for me: 1.  Celebrating Believer Baptism With The Whole Church.  We love it around here when folks "go public by getting wet." 2.  Singing the worship tune Sing To The King with the people of Good Shepherd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qGlwSYJr0 3.  Topping Off Lunchtime Meal With . . . You Guessed It, A Nutrageous   4.  Appreciating A Gorgeous One-Handed Backhand.  These days there are about as many one-handed backhands in pro tennis as there are Democrats in Utah.  And that's why the few that remain have a signature beauty.     5.  Wordsmithing My Way To The NEXT Sermon Series.  God has been so good that I haven't run out of ideas yet.    

I am pretty sure I had more fun preaching yesterday's sermon than any I've ever preached before. I had a title I love -- "A Dirty-Minded Church." We sang some of my favorite songs, including "Not To Us" and "Jesus Paid It All." I got to follow an announcement from our Board Chair regarding a Head Scratchers Book Release Party. I was able to lift up Led Zeppelin and Whitesnake side by side. And I had a bottom line I really, truly believe in:  Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed. ------------------------------------------------- I remember that one of my very first weeks on the job in Monroe, back in 1990, one of the really nice guys at that church said to me, “You know, we’re preacher people here at Mt. Carmel. When we like the preacher, our church & attendance is UP & then when we don’t we’re down.” Intrigued by that, I went and checked the records and sure enough, that’s what they were. As an old-timey UMC, they received new preachers every few years, and their attendance records looked a roller coaster on graph paper (AV). Ascending with one pastor, descending – quickly – with the next. At the time, I was a young man and I didn’t think too much about it; I just wanted to make sure that if I was on that graph, it darn well better been on an ASCENDING plane!   But now, with the perspective of 25 years and by studying I Cor 1-3 and doing this series on BrainWashing, I realize something very different is going on with “preacher people.” Because if you’ve been with us in I Co and BrainWashing (if not, OK), we’ve seen together that the whole reason there IS a I Cor is that the church there was in crisis. It was super divided (and actually, the reason your bible has a 2nd Corinthians is that the first one didn’t work!). And the divisions in the church were not based on the carpet color, not on the music style, not even on worship times (830, 10, or 1130!) but on personality. Look at 1:12-16: ¹² What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas^[a]”; still another, “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)   (I love the dictation evidence and the Columbo-like, "Oh yeah!" there.) So: factions, rivalries, cults of personality dominated the church at Corinth. Whereas we might be all “You might be Carolina blue but I’m NC State red,” THEY were “I love Paul’s teaching, but you go sit under Apollos.” Maybe the closest parallel here would be “Oh, I just LOVE that Chris & the music but then when Talbert stands up, I just hit snooze. I’m all about the Chris.” Or “I tolerate the music just so I can get to the Main Event: the message! I’m a Talbot guy!” So the phenomenon at Mt. Carmel – preacher people – started in Corinth & continues through the 90s and into today. We tend to identify churches/movements by the one who proclaims there.   You know how I know this is true? You say to me SO & SO’s church. Or SO & SO’s church. Like in basketball: the name on the BACK of the church jersey has become bigger than the name on the FRONT. It’s even something a lot of you have lived with or through – where your faith, your living relationship with Jesus Christ, was so heavily invested in the one who proclaimed it to you that you lost a sense of perspective about it all. And it’s not just preachers – for some of you it’s LifeGroup leaders, for others, it’s authors, for still others, it is even parents. Your faith is so tied up in the one who brings it to you that it’s almost not yours anymore. Well, Paul says something much serious with all that than an oscillating graph. Look at 3:18: ¹⁸ Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  So there’s that pattern again: the wisdom of the world (the culture, these leaders) is foolishness in the eyes of God. We’ve been seeing that throughout this series, which is why in the first week we learned that when you realize the world killed God, you never trust its wisdom again and then last week some things only make sense when you make Jesus Lord. Only in Christ is there this genuine eye opening that allows you to see the world for the folly it is and the Kingdom for the beauty it is. And then Paul – a bar mitzvahed Jew whose mind is soaked in OT imagery, quotes both Job and the Psalms in 3:19-20: As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”^[a]; ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So this kind of thinking, the kind that is convinced that conventional wisdom is all that, is ultimately futile. It goes nowhere. And in light of all this you are good to ask, “well, what thoughts appear to be wise but are actually headed nowhere fast?” And Paul answers THAT question with something that makes TOTAL sense in light of the overall direction of the letter in 3:21: ²¹ So then, no more boasting about human leaders! Doh! Everything thing he has said up to this point is merely to build a foundation for this one instruction: No More Boasting About Human Leaders! So the kind of thinking which divides into factions of personality and proclaimers is worldly, so common, so natural, so easy, so destructive. And as I think about it, Paul’s wisdom here makes perfect sense. The easiest and most natural way of thinking is to identify your cause with your leader and to divide up accordingly. Some of you are Duke; others Carolina. Some Ford; other Chevy. Preacher A, Preacher B. Candidate 1, Candidate 2 (Lord, I have folks I know who are so politically oriented, so dialed into political leaders, that they won’t be friends with other side!)   But Paul is telling us here that that kind of thinking and dividing – both in church & out – is not just natural or easy. He is saying it is the natural by-product of an unwashed brain. A brain not cleaned up by Christ and his spirit. You know what that means? If you are a preacher person? You’ve got a dirty mind! Yes! If you mix up proclaimer with the one proclaimed, if your faith is too wrapped up in its messenger, you have a dirty mind! Yes!   Dirty minds follow proclaimers. But Paul, who has been striving with the Corinthians to abandon their old thinking and grow the “mind of Christ” wants to wash their brains of the filth that over-identifies with proclaimers. Because with that simple No more boasting about human leaders! and what follows, here’s where Paul lands us: Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed. Yes! Dirty minds are all about the messengers. People whose brains are being washed by faith zero in on the message. Dirty minds love the revealer. Washed brains love the revelation. Dirty minds take up sides based on the representative. Washed brains unite around the Represented. That’s what I want as we move into week 3 of BrainWashing: Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed. Now: can I acknowledge the built in irony here? Here I am standing on a platform delivering a sermon . . . telling you not to identify too closely with proclaimers. With me. And I want this sermon to be good. Honestly I want it to be better than the one you can hear across down or down the street. And in my flesh, I want so many of you to come here because you just. love. me. In my flesh. But when I am operating in the spirit, there exists a much different motivation. That I would daily and weekly live out JtB’s words: I must decrease so that he might increase. That when you leave here on a Sunday the talk isn’t what a great sermon or a great song but it is what a great Savior. Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed. And you know why this is so essential? Because proclaimers let you down! I remember talking with a pastor guy YEARS ago about the addictive nature of so much sex & porn in our culture. He dismissed the notion that it was addictive. He instead told me about his favorite preacher . . . Jimmy Swaggart, who a few months later in the famous “I have sinned” confessed to what? Sex addiction. You know JS let my preacher friend down. You know this. You’ve lived this. Some of you are here because a previous pastor let you down. Some people are there because I or another leader let them down. Some of you are waiting, suspicious, wondering when the other shoe will drop (again) and your feelings will be hurt. Face it: whenever someone starts a sentence with “did you see my preacher in the news . . .” you don’t expect a happy ending! Mug shot, plane request, mansion on a hill, something.  Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed because those proclaimers let you down. And guess what? The primary reason all those proclaimers let us down is that they’re all gonna die anyway. Every great proclaimer is either dead now or headed that way. Paul? Dead. Peter. Dead. Mother Teresa? Dead. John Wesley? Dead. Billy Graham? Gonna die. Your LifeGroup leader? Gonna die. And when they die, they will ultimately disintegrate to dirt. In fact, did you know that a decomposed body results in a pile of dirt worth, in dirt dollars, about $3.57? Whether that is St. Paul’s dirt or you crazy uncle who never went to church. All equal dirt. We’re all headed towards dirt bags! Look at your neighbor and call them a dirt bag. But NOT GOD. He. Still. Lives.  Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed because the one we proclaim has never been nor will ever be a dirt bag! But there’s more, and there’s better. I love love love how Paul concludes this section in 3:21c-3:23: All things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas^[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. You know what he is saying? Why settle?! If you become so connected to a proclaimer – whether pastor, LG leader, author – you are really just settling for a cheap imitation of the real thing! Why would you settle for the knock off when the real thing is so available? You know what he’s saying . . . ? It’s like you could have a private concert with Led Zeppelin (we played brief clip of “and she’s buying a Stairway To Heaven.”) and you take a date with Whitesnake (we played clip of cheesy crappy song) instead! You’ve taken a cheap imitation of the enduringly authentic! Or it’s like you could have a Morton’s steak (AV) and you take a Salisbury steak instead (AV)! You’ve taken the cheap imitation of the delicious original. . You’ve settled for the pretend when the real is so much better. And Paul is saying that the real is YOURS. When you are his, he is yours, and all the power & truth & reliability of his kingdom is at your fingertips. Oh, don’t let your faith hinge on personality of a leader but on the Person of Christ. Dirty minds follow proclaimers. Washed brains worship the Proclaimed. So: how? I may well have you convinced of all this, but how? Well maybe you’ve heard about how you can eat scrambled eggs without ever cracking the shell? How? By having someone else crack the shell for you. But that’s not how it goes. You’re gonna have to crack your own shell, have your own faith, and soak up the Word for yourself. But we want to help you. That’s why we have this laminated card with a selection of the best verses describing Jesus the Proclaimed One.  We want you to prop this up at your breakfast table. We want everyone in the church to recite these out loud first thing in the morning this week. Can you imagine how much Satan will hate that? 2000 people verbalizing the glories of the risen Christ! The Proclaimed One! The message!  Together we'll experience what it is like when Satan is vanquished and Jesus is King! You know why? Because in 10 or 15 years, when a new pastor comes to GS and he’s meeting with nice folks, they’ll not need to say, “Oh, we’re preacher people because we’re Savior people.”