Our New Preacher and Joshua's List

So, our new preacher has been at our church for 2 Sundays, and we are loving him!

Not because he's an awesome speaker/teacher...which he is. Not because he's preaching on fluff that doesn't step on our toes...because my toes are SORE. And not because he's come in there like gang-busters and is gonna change up or fix any-and every-thing that he doesn't like....because he's not.

He's come in humble. And he's come in bold.

Most importantly, he is bringing us the word of God, leading us in prayer, helping us focus on the mission and ministry of our church. It's been a smooth transition, because our church spent 10 months praying and searching for God's man for our church.

Joshua is IMpressed with Pastor Jeff.

He came home this past Sunday, and said, "pretty good sermon Pastor Jeff had today." He said this several times, so I thought I would pick his brain. I love to hear what he gets out of the message. I asked him what was so good about it, and he said, "it was very well put-together."

Which, this is high praise from Joshua. He likes to follow along with the bullet points on The Big Screen, and fill in the blanks on his sermon notes. He writes sloooooooowly. If it's a word he knows, it's not a problem. But, if it's a word like "enthusiasm," well, he'll write a couple of letters...look up at the screen...write a couple more letters...look back up at the screen. Until he gets it all written down.

Unless he gets frustrated.

One time, the fill-in-the-blank answer actually was "enthusiasm." Joshua tried to write it 3 different times, but he kept messing up. He set his jaw and stuck out his lip...if you have someone who has Down Syndrome in your life, you know the stubborn look I'm talking about. Finally, I saw him writing something. He put his pen down, and folded his arms, and got his "proud face" on. I looked over on his paper. Where he was supposed to write, "enthusiasm," he had written, "joy."

Well played, son.

Joshua also gets verrrry frustrated when the preacher goes too fast, or they change the slides too fast.

But if you want to hear him mutter every Downsy bad word he knows...AND SLAM HIS BIBLE SHUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A SERMON, let the preacher put a Greek word up on the screen, and then talk for 5 minutes about it's meaning and what "tense" it's in.

Joshua.will.go.nuts.

Anyway, Joshua said that Pastor Jeff was "taking some getting used to," but that he thought Pastor Jeff had every quality on his list.

If you remember, I wrote here about the list Joshua made for our Pastor Search Team.

Joshua said, "it's obvious Pastor Jeff has a passionate heart for the Gospel."

I don't think there could be higher praise for a preacher.

"Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching." 2 Timothy 4:2