I love Pastor Tim. Wait a minute. Love is not the right word. I overuse that word as in I love the Texas Aggies; I love Blue Bell Ice Cream; I love my Lufkin High School classmates; I love Rudy’s Barbecue.
Instead of love how about enjoy, admire, appreciate, get a kick out of, delight in, think highly of. You get the point: I look forward to hearing Pastor Tim preach.
Pastor Tim is the main minister at Pine Valley United Methodist Church in Wilmington, North Carolina—the church Brad, Andrea and their two children attend. There are about 400 families in the congregation, roughly 1600 people give or take a few hundred. The church spreads out over a large city block. There’s not enough parking so cars throng side streets and cram next-door bank and real estate lots.
The church has a formal sanctuary, but we go to the contemporary service held in the gym/auditorium with a stage at one end. Volunteers put out folding chairs that swell the gymnasium with people of all size and description—white people, black people, some brown people, the elderly, teenagers, kids, mothers and fathers, the lonely, the lost, the looking, the found and the fallen.
I’m a snob—a big-time snob—a Highland Park, River Oaks, Alamo Heights snob. I like a church where men wear Brooks Brother suits and women carry Ferragamo handbags—where three ministers wearing full cut vestments sit in oversized leather chairs as they listen to a Bach fugue played on a pipe organ flanked by a 100-member purple robed choir.
Pine Valley United Methodist Church is not like that. It’s a nice church, but without adornments. It has no snobs. I go because I am a family guest.
In the contemporary service four blue jean glad guys play guitars while a couple of gussy-upped women backed by a squeaky synthesizer and an acoustic shielded drummer lead the congregation in 7-11 (seven-word, eleven-verse), two-note rockabilly church warbles. You couldn’t find a melody in those toneless hymns with a flashlight and magnifying glass.
But it is all worth it when Pastor Tim gets up to preach. The first thing you notice is his broad smile and his accent, a cross between an east Texas twang and a Mississippi southern drawl. It’s mesmerizing. He is a humble weaver of stories laced with self-deprecating humor. Most important: Pastor Tim preaches Jesus and Christian living.
He gives examples stocked with Bible verses, glory-hallelujahs and amen-brothers. It’s invariably a 20-minute beat-the-Baptist-to-lunch sermon and at all times you leave feeling warm-hearted, inspired and wanting to live a life that’s pleasing to God.
Last week Pastor Tim preached on FOMO, an acronym for Fear of Missing Out. I wasn’t familiar with the acrostic, but I knew the feeling. I’ve made many mistakes, mostly financial due to fear of missing a deal.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram exacerbate FOMO. We see our social media friends touring Europe, skiing at Telluride, attending a wedding in Hawaii. Our cheerful friends appear relaxed and stress free. Deep in our unconscious we know that our friends are just as conflicted as we are, but when we see them in front of Buckingham Palace we have FOMO attack.
To illustrate that point, Pastor Tim projected an Easter family photo—perfecto! Then he showed a picture taken just before the Facebook version. His wife’s Easter hat cantered over her eyes, his children looked as if they had eaten cauliflower for breakfast and Pastor Tim had an Alzheimer’s gaze.
Pastor Tim pointed out that as time’s swift foot speeds toward the grave most of us have three desires: We want to know that we have been loved; we crave connection with our community; and we hope that our lives have been significant—that we have accomplished something of importance.
Pastor Tim preached that Jesus Christ is the answer to FOMO:
- Jesus assures that we have been loved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall have eternal life (John 3:16). Love given, returns love.
- Lasting connection comes from Jesus. I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener…. Remain in me, and I will remain in you (John 15: 1, 4).
- Significance comes from serving Jesus. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…. This is my command love one another (John 15: 4, 16-17).
Pastor Tim concluded with this reminder. When our kid hits a home run, we stand up and shout, “That’s my child.” We want to live a sanctified life so God will stand and announce, “That’s my child, just like Jesus.”
I suggest that when you vacation in Wilmington, NC drop by Pine Valley United Methodist Church, 3788 Shipyard Blvd to hear an inspiring sermon. You can also see Pastor Tim’s sermons on YouTube. Let me know if you fail to be blessed, and I will put $20 in the collection plate for you.