When you speak in publicly as regularly as I do, you're bound to make mistakes.

Whether it's failing to finish a thought, mispronouncing a Bible word, or worse, saying something really embarrassing (you can easily find many examples on youtube), preachers are going to have an ever-growing number of unfortunate gaffes.

After an hour of preaching and teaching on Sunday I committed error number one above.

I was speaking in the context of financial giving and the gist of what I said was, "if you're not able to give sacrificially to Intown with enthusiasm, then let's talk about finding somewhere that you can because I'd rather have another church receive an abundant gift than for you to give sparingly or reluctantly to Intown."

I stand by this. I believe that Jesus is at work outside of Intown and I'd be thrilled for another church, as well as for you if you were able to fully and enthusiastically support Jesus' work in another venue.

However, what I failed to say was that moving on to another church certainly isn't the only option!

There are any number of reasons why you might be less-than-thrilled to give to the mission and work of Intown: maybe you don't really understand our vision, maybe you're unclear about our budgetary priorities, maybe you've never experienced the challenge and joy of systematic giving, or maybe your personal spiritual life is suffering.

Whatever it may be, these certainly aren't reasons to immediately look for another church!

Perhaps what is needed is just for you to share a cup of coffee or lunch with me or Steve, or one of the Elders so that we can work through these challenges together. We would be beyond thrilled to be invited into your life in this way!

So, let's talk!

In the meantime, in case you missed the launch meeting, the audio can be found here.