when does a church become a country club?
hannah and me (part five)


this one's going to be a little touchy, because i am sticking my nose in someone else's business, but i am hoping that getting it off my chest might relieve me of thinking about it constantly. we'll see.

i started this blog several months back when i had some pent up frustrations with my church, huffman united methodist, and that probably wasn't completely fair to huffman. why? because i've chosen to vent here (as it relates to the halloween carnival, i felt justified only in that if i had still been on staff, i would have been even more vocal in my displeasure and with my thoughts), but i haven't given the church props as often as i probably should have. for instance, with huffman's facilities, our youth center (boy scouts, girl scouts, youth, kids, blood drives etc.), education building (all sorts of community meetings, boy scouts and girl scouts again, interfaith, etc.) and our run down ivy league gym, huffman has always been more than accommodating and gracious when allowing people outside of our membership roles to use (and abuse) the campus. i am reminded of that graciousness currently because its example shines out loud compared to a church that employs my brother from another mother, andy rickles.

hopewell baptist church, in the last several months, has cut andy off at the knees when it comes to his own recreation ministry. no longer can hopewell have youth basketball teams. no longer can hopewell host the northeast birmingham church basketball league. no longer can hopewell field a men's basketball team. no longer can any team that isn't constituted by church members or their families practice in the hopewell gym. why? because some "higher-ups" don't feel comfortable with the thought of people patronizing a gym that was constructed with their hard-earned money. now, i get that. i get that feeling of selfishness. we all have it. but you're a freaking church. remember, the gospel asks us to rise above that inner selfishness and use whatever means that are at our disposal to reach those that may not be aware yet of how glorious and peaceful a life with God in Jesus can be. to have this wonderful tool, this beautiful gym, and to blatantly forbid others outside your walls to come inside is a most egregious act of hypocrisy.

during my several year stint at huffman and as commissioner of the nebcl, several churches (hopewell, clearbranch, imani, fellowship baptist, hueytown) used huffman's gym to practice and i was always proud that we could offer them a place. when i asked andy to take over as head of the league that i held so dear to me, never did i imagine that his own church, one that had been kind to the nebcl for two years, would be the one to get in the way of that. never did i imagine that his own church and it's country club stance on who can use their gym and who can't would make him wonder if hopewell was where he was supposed to be.

there are good people at hopewell. andy, april, josh, blake, matt and countless other names that don't immediately come to me but that i've had the pleasure of knowing the last few years. but there are also misguided people there, as there are everywhere at every church i suppose. people that infect the lifeblood of what church is supposed to be about. people that don't know how silly it sounds to pray "Thy will be done" and then turn their back on that prayer with their actions.

hannah, whatever is at your disposal, that it what your mother and i will teach you to use and give back. it's only right. it's only fair.