Working at the Church

Working on projects at Grace Fellowship Church (GFC) have a peculiarity all their own. It usually means that no one else has volunteered to do the job.

It used to bother me that certain things never got done or seemed to languish in disrepair at the church, but then it occurred to me that no one else has the same view of the place as I do. I don't mean to infer that I alone have a singular vision for the church facilities that no one else can measure up to. Instead, no one has been either engaged or married to the defacto church/camp cook for over thirteen years. So, when I see that the steel pot-rack is rusting and flaking onto the large central cutting board in the upstairs kitchen, I assume that it should be (not just repainted) sandblasted and given several coats of good quality glossy black paint, not forgetting to quiz the local office ladies and the cleaning woman about the astetics of chrome chain hangers vs. matching black ones... and then painting the chain to match.

Perhaps, that has been one of the major problems with jobs around the GFC lodge. With only a few people involved previously with the day-to-day activities of the church, naturally, only a few had a special view of needs and could literally see them. Further, even if they could see the problems, they didn't have "ownership" of the building and processes built into their consciousness enough to feel empowered to fix them.

Having grown up in GFC, I have a paticular view about this place that most who come later in their lives and become members don't have; this is a second home to me. It's a place I've grown spiritually, but also mentaly and physically. It's a part of my permanent life memories and, as such, I know how it works. I've become a doer at GFC.