A lawsuit filed by members of a closed parish, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Salem, Ohio, has been settled by mediation.
The ex-parishioners formed a nonprofit organization called St. Joseph Salem Heritage Society that will be able to use their old church and property but with restrictions. They will need to get permission of the pastor of another local, active parish if they want to hold any sacramental services.
The suit had been filed in Wyandot County Common Pleas Court.
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I spent all of last night at a church board meeting. It's a tricky time trying to plan 2009 budgets when the economy is falling apart right before our very eyes. Do you step forward in faith and trust God to provide, or do you use (biblical) wisdom and scale things back, anticipating a down year?
I think I've spent too much time reading and writing about Joel Osteen lately. He really believes you can talk yourself into a down year, or you have a good year by thinking positively.
Our church came up with a great plan, I think, where we keep the '09 budget the same as '08 but with some discretionary budget items that can go unspent if the money's not there. A wise compromise, in my opinion.
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We watched a video of Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch.tv that he gave at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit in August. I watched it live in August but truly enjoyed it the second time around.
Groeschel is a gifted speaker, speaking spiritual truths and saying them in a contemporary and entertaining way. He's got a great sense of humor and oddly enough looks a lot like Tom Cruise when he smiles.
Put that all together and it's no wonder his church is growing rapidly, and also in innovative ways. He preaches in Oklahoma and his message is broadcast live via satellite to about a dozen churches across the country. LifeChurch.tv gets more than 23,000 people at their weekend services even though the largest facility they have seats 1,700 people.
He's spoke about a new book he's written, which I have yet to read but would like to, called "IT: How Churches and Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT."
He ended his talk by quoting a Franciscan benediction that was so profound and beautiful I just have to share it with you:

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with an anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."

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Sarah Palin is in Bowling Green this morning. I would have gone if I didn't have so much work to do. Too bad work gets in the way of so many things ;-)
I put in a request for an interview with the GOPVP candidate to talk about faith, to no avail. It doesn't hurt to ask, though.
"You have not because you ask not." (James 4:2)
Sylvania, Ohio
October 29, 2008