El $15,000 los por favor (Dude, that costs $15,000)

Anyway, why would anyone be reading my blog after nearly a month or more of silence, what could be so compelling to recapture my faithful reader's attention. So in an effort to regain my lost audience and spur Vince to blog once more, I created a meaningless title and an intriguing story with a valuable moral to it!

So, as you've gathered I work at a small Christian Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. Most days we make around $2000 in profits. So I was stunned one day to discover that we had made $17,000! I was like, what happened! I found out that a nearby church had spent $15000 silver cartwheels on not building a church, or a missions trip, or a ton of Bibles to give away, or VBS supplies, or facility renovations, but on




yep....choir robes!

I was dissappointed! And discouraged. Now, I'm not dissing choir robes, I always loved the way they made you feel like you could praise the Lord with freedom and joy! The way the sleeves just kind of slung off your wrists in a way that always made me feel holier! But I do think that a church could have spent that money on a much more noble and worthy cause. I know pastors in Tanzania and Romania who would be blessed by one-fifth of what this church spent on choir robes, which will be eaten by moths! Imagine how many churches, orphanages or what-not could be blessed by such an investment. The reason many churches across America are dying is not because of the culture, or lack of religious freedom, (although that can certainly be an issue) it is because they (we) have failed to be Kingdom-minded. How can we expect a church to grow when its focus is on itself and its pursuits. The church will never survive as an institution because that is contrary to the nature of what Jesus called it to be. Now I'm not propagating "anti-all-institutions." But I am saying that the church is an organism and is most healthy when its focus is on community and family, because Jesus has always been about the family and relationships. Not institution and organizations. Now Christ has and can use Institutions but I believe he called us to spend out smackaroos on widows, orphans, trips to starbucks to answer an unbeliever's questions, or building the church worldwide!

Next time you consider buying that item that you think will contribute to your further happiness and comfort, consider the $15000 that church spent on choir robes. We could spend our bucks on more worthwhile activities!

?No habla espanol?