When Life Gets Weird

It's been a really weird week and a half at our church.

But you already knew that.

For Jeff and I, 200churches in a labor of love. We started this website and Podcast (which, on this crazy week, will be out on Friday) because we have a heart for small churches and small church pastors, and for nearly two years we've produced a whole bunch of content to help the men and women doing important Kingdom work in small church contexts.

But we're really not professional bloggers or podcasters. We're pastors. And it's been a really weird week and a half at our church.

On Monday, Jeff wrote about how our lives will always speak louder than our preaching. As he's struggled through this period in his life, Jeff has made the decision to share his journey with our church and with our broader 200churches community. He's made the brave decision to open up the most difficult season of his life and share it with others, because he understands the value of his experience for us.


What do we do when life gets weird? Do we open up about our struggles? Our pain? The difficulties we're experiencing? How willing are we to tell our congregations about what's really going on in our lives?


When it comes to our church, Jeff can't really pretend everything is okay. But he's gone beyond his immediate community and opened up to this one, too. His is a great example to follow. How often is our first inclination to hide our pain away? To go full "plastic pastor" and pretend everything is okay even when it isn't.


Here's the truth: it's been a really weird week and a half at our church, and it's made it a weird week and a half for 200churches. We've never missed a Wednesday Podcast, but this week we are. And you know what? That's okay. Because real life is messy. Real life doesn't always arrive on time. Real life doesn't care about whether it's Wednesday or Friday.


I have been so blessed by Jeff's openness during this process, and I know so many of you have, too. This Friday, we hope you'll download our episode with Dave Jacobs because, as usual, Dave knocks it out of the park. We're not apologizing for a few days delay, we're just letting you know. Because part of being open is trusting you to love us through it. And yeah, we love you, too.