Turn on the television these days and what’s playing at any given time, day or night? Adults behaving badly. Screaming in the name of what they’ve decided is right. Yelling over each other. Setting a bad example in technicolor. The worst behavior get the highest ratings. The world has become The Jerry Springer Show. At some point, I started to accept this as the norm. Until last night.
Baptist on Main needs some updates. Built in 1974, there’ve been updates along the way. The building is structurally sound. Although a little worn around the edges, so are we, the members that attend. It’s a high desert church of Northwestern Nevada. Paint peels a little around here. Carpet gets worn. Those aren’t the reasons our membership is growing. God is.
Last night, Pastor C called a business meeting to order at 6PM sharp. Familiar faces settled into their seats to discuss the needs of our building. Everyone was Sunday Morning friendly on a lovely Wednesday evening.
First on the agenda was discussion about a new sign. Our sign is a 1974 model. It’s outdated, with black plastic letters that are changed every other week with our message. As signs go, it’s a nice sign. The thing is, it truly needs updating. I’m not sure if anyone thought of pressure washing the thing and spray painting it. A sparkly new sign will cost $30,000. That’s a chunk of change in a town of 25,000 people. We’re a fixture on Main Street. Everyone knows the building and who we are. Although a bright and shiny sign glowing with electronic messages would be cool, we aren’t the glow in the dark kind of folk.
While viewing Sign #1, #2, and #3, people discussed their favorites. All lovely. Personally, I see a $30,000 target for vandalism. One pellet gun could ruin a big investment with a single shot. With removable letters, the most vandals can do is change the message. One company was located 75 miles to the East. The other company was in Florida. Not much service available when the provider is on the east coast.
The remarkable part of this meeting was how this issue was discussed in a lovingly and quiet way. Dressing up the sanctuary was the goal, not personal victories. The committee put a lot of time and effort into their project. They had their personal favorites for different reasons. They had gotten the very best prices they could using hours of their own time. Sometimes church work is behind the scenes without many thanks. It’s always an offering of time and gas. Without reaching a decision, we went on to the next topic.
Future plans for expansion were discussed. There were the lofty thoughts of a new sanctuary with all the bells and whistles. Then, there were practical suggestions of rearranging furniture to provide more space in the Sunday school classrooms for our 12 students. After an hour of meaningful and respectful dialogue, the membership decided to table everything for right now. A purging and rearrangement of furniture will be first on the list. I’d imagine the same people will show up on our church work days. The church savings account remains untouched for now. After hugs and well wishes, everyone left with smiles on their faces.
I wish this meeting would’ve been televised to demonstrate adults behaving like adults. It was a beautiful example of a goal driven meeting. An example of how to show love for one another. Listening skills and indoor voices were used. No one turned red and stomped out of the sanctuary. After all, it was for the love of our place of worship that we met.
The meeting started with praises for many wonderful things that had happened to members since Monday. Even the weather is looking like spring. As we met, the sun hadn’t set on another bright and beautiful day on the high desert plains.
Then, we prayed for our Naomi. Naomi is 18. I’ve never met her. She is a brave girl making her way in this world. Certainly she’s braver than I was at 18. Her mom and dad work in South Africa while she lives here and works at a factory 20 minutes down the road.
Saturday, she was waiting outside our Walmart for a bus ride to work. Around 5:00 AM, a hooded man was caught on camera. He overpowered her, taking both her and the vehicle. The car’s been found riddled with signs of foul play. Naomi is missing. She wasn’t missed until Sunday evening and by then, leads were fading.
I stopped going to that Walmart some time ago. Right on an interstate, it didn’t feel safe anymore. These days, it’s hard to find things that do feel safe. Just yesterday, Willow asked if I would help her learn to shop online. As a new widow, she’d like to shop from the comfort of her own home. The mall isn’t a place to meet people anymore, but a place to look over your shoulder before you dash to your car with keys at the ready.
Nevada is an “Open Carry” state. My town is a gun town. It’s full of manly men and strong women capable of protecting themselves. For goodness sakes, Pastor C owns his own gun shop. But, on March 12th at 5:00 AM in that empty, dark parking lot, no one was there to protect Naomi.
As you read this, please pray that more people remember kindness and respect. Please pray that our leaders would behave like adults and be quietly helpful. Please pray for the innocents in Ukraine. Please pray for our Naomi. We need her back. She’s one of us. Desert Strong.
More tomorrow.