Good morning. As you can see, I’m Andy’s sucker of the week. Like everyone else, he’s asked me to speak to everyone about why I’m faithful to Saint Matthews. In fact, Andy actually asked me to speak over a month ago and I’ve successfully put it off until the last possible Sunday. I was hoping that maybe he forgot about me.

Like Jennifer Byrd who spoke two weeks ago, I also find public speaking to be very uncomfortable. My initial reaction to Andy when he asked was, “That sounds terrible. I don’t want to do that at all. I kind of hate you for asking me.” Then, after my wife, Casey, spoke at INTERSECTION in early October, I thought, “Surely this absolves me of any responsibility to speak. Everyone heard her story already.” And if you know Casey, you’ll know she is more than capable of being the mouthpiece, the spokeswoman, the one making her opinion known. So, having the lesser Farmer speak would surely be a farce. No one will want that. But no. Andy persisted. So I went back and watched Jennifer’s stewardship speech to sort of hype myself up, I relented and said I would come speak this week.

So here I am trying to think of reasons that I’m quote unquote faithful to St. Matthew’s, and the first thing that came to mind for me was, of course, my family. I have a six-year-old and a three-year-old, James and Alice, and they absolutely love being at this church. Alice asks if we are going to WNL about three times a week. Days of the week aren’t really her strong suit right now. She’s still figuring that out. But she’s just dying to get into that gym on Wednesdays, visit with Anne Travis and Allegra, get ice cream from Alan, and go see Ms. Dot in the nursery.  Believe me when I tell you that Wednesday nights are the highlight of her week every single week.

As for James, I don’t think he’s ever left this church where he wasn’t drenched in sweat from playing snag with his buddies. For both of my kids, their best friends are the friends they’ve made at this church. And it’s not just the other kids that are having an impact. It’s incredible to see how much they learn from all the different people at this church who serve in the music ministry and Sunday school. Just the other day, James was literally teaching me about the literary parallels between Daniel and the Lion’s Den and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In James’s eyes, those are the same story, just with different characters. Apparently, Daniel had to recycle some material during the writer’s strike of ancient Israel. But, this church forms such a strong foundation for my kids, and they absolutely beg to come back here every week. And it’s the people here that have had made all the difference in their lives. That reason alone is enough to make me want to give my time to this church and make sure it succeeds in every possible way.

But beyond that, a big reason that I help out at church is just because I see that there is a need. And there always has to be someone who steps up and fills that need. Sometimes it’s inconvenient. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. But our church can’t succeed without people, without you, being willing to inconvenience yourself. Or to make yourself uncomfortable. You often won’t really want to do it or you think you don’t have the time. Believe me, with two small kids at different schools, both playing sports, being involved here, I can relate to the feeling of not having enough time to do anything else. But really, you do have the time, and you’ll be glad you did when it’s through.

I think God demands that of us. To find the time. It’s in our vows to faithfully participate in the church – through our presence, and our gifts, and our service. To find the time. I think deep down we all know that. When Andy’s asking for volunteers, and you’re like me and start thinking, “No. I don’t want to serve on that committee” or “I don’t want to stand up in front of everyone and speak at church,” but that guilt sort of hits you a little bit in the pit of your stomach. I think that’s God’s way of telling you that it’s time to step up. He’s trying to pull you deeper into the community. And you have to answer the call. That’s a commitment that we all made, and this church has never needed our presence, our gifts, and our service more than it does right now.

So talk to John Frasier about how you can help at WNL. Talk to Jennifer Landress about how you can help with Birthday Gift.  Talk to Drew Howard about joining the Honduras mission. Talk to Laura Rivera about how you can help corral small children. Talk to Andy about what committee you can contribute to. Use your gifts and find your way to contribute.