LEARNING TO TIE YOUR SHOES

One of my kids made an achievement this morning. It wasn’t a remarkable achievement in fact I thought it was something she had already accomplished. Jasmine my 6 year old learned how to tie her own shoes. I know that is not a big thing for a six year old, like I said I thought she already knew how to do it. A lot of her shoes have been the Velcro type through the years and I guess without really thinking about it I have just always tied her other shoes, usually because we are in a hurry to get somewhere. She demanded to tie her own shoes this morning and I was like okay, so how long is this going to take, I am not known for my patience when trying to get my kids to school in the morning so I had to take a deep breath and say to myself, “Breathe deeply it’s going to be okay”. I had already been told by her mom that she had asked the same thing the night before and the lesson hadn’t gone so well. So once the shoes were on the feet I took one foot and showed her how to do it. She tried it a couple of times and just couldn’t get the concept. That was the end of my patience so I very quickly tied both and said, “Okay let’s get going we are late.” After I took Charlie to his classroom I went to Jasmine’s class to check on her. I found her sitting on the floor trying to tie her shoes again. She was not giving up. So I sat down next her and said, “Okay let me show you this again.” She watched and then successfully did it herself. Learning to tie your shoes might seem like a minor thing in life, but I still remember when I first learned to tie mine and how proud I was, I could see that same pride in Jasmine’s eyes this morning. Plus there is a freedom in knowing how to tie your own shoes; you are no longer dependent upon someone else to do it for you. I also experienced a little sadness because what’s next? What else is she soon going to learn that I will no longer have to do for her? Before I know it she will have a driver’s license, then she will be out of high school, graduating from college and moving to some other part of the country. Okay maybe I am being a little dramatic, but the fact is I want my kids to always need me. It’s a stupid worry because no matter how much we achieve in life we still need our parents in some way. Even when we are completely independent we still value their advice, their wisdom and their amazing love of us. The fact is no matter how old we get we are still the kids and they are still the parents, even though the roles may be dramatically different.
My children have provided me with a different view of God lately. When I look at the relationship I have with my children and how much I love them, no matter how bad they act at times, it brings me comfort, because God the Father loves us even more than that. No matter how much we love our children, God loves them more and loves us more, I personally find that comforting. I also realize just as my children learn to be more independent they will always in some way be dependent upon me, even if it is just for emotional support. In the same way we are even more dependent upon God. We may think we can handle everything on our own, but that is not the truth. The big difference between our children and us as children of God is that we never really grow up. We are always dependent upon God for everything. We never really learn to tie our shoes. We are perpetually children before God the Father. As much as my sinful nature rebels against that thought, my new nature relaxes in that knowledge that Dad is always there handling things. In many ways I still provide all of that for Jasmine. I may have lost the tying the shoes job, but I am still her ride to school, at least for another 10 years.

Pastor Fred

What's The Fusion About?

Fusion is a new old chic word that most people thought they knew the meaning of. Well I should say they knew what the idea was, maybe not the actual definition. When you used to mention fusion people would immediately think of nuclear fusion. Again they may not have understood it well but they had heard it enough to recognize that the two went together. Today if you mention fusion you will get a number of different responses. People may talk about a car or they may talk about business or they may talk about food. The dictionary definition of the word is that it is a fusing or melting together. A union of different things by or as if by melting; blending. Nuclear fusion is defined as, “The process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or fuse, to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy.” And here I thought nuclear engineering was supposed to be complicated. I mean it’s not rocket science, well then again maybe it’s harder. But I digress. For foodies fusion has become the new word that gets everyone excited. Fusion Cuisine is defined as the combining of elements of various culinary traditions which not being categorized per any one cuisine style, and can pertain to innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970’s.” Quite clearly not nuclear science, but it tastes a lot better.
Now if you have read this blog before you know I am not going to talk about nuclear fusion that would just lead to confusion. You know that I am going to talk about fusion cuisine. If you are going to talk about fusion cuisine you have to mention the name of Richard Wing, who in the 1960’s combined French and Chinese cooking at the former Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, California. Unfortunately for Richard he was not good at marketing himself and so has become a footnote in culinary history. I mean have you ever heard of him? Here is a name that you have heard, Wolfgang Puck. Wolfgang, the short chef from Austria, is the most famous pioneer of fusion cuisine. Puck’s restaurants are known for combining foods from different countries into new dishes. From Chinese and Italian, to Japanese and French you name it, Puck has probably done it. The result of fusion cooking has been new recipes and new tastes that people had never experienced before. Where cuisine used to be regional it is now becoming global. The lines between Italian, French, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, and whatever regional food you want to name, have begun to disappear. Another good illustration of this is Bobby Flay who has never lived outside of New York City and yet cooks Southwestern U.S. food with a California – New York understanding. This movement has traveled down to those of us who cook at home as well. My wife and I have taken her fantastic spaghetti sauce and have southwesternized it by adding chili powder to it among other things. I won’t tell you the other things, that’s a secret.
Fusion also applies to the human race. If you live in a larger city like I do you see this all the time. The Europeans are not just hanging out with Europeans anymore and neither are the Asians or the Hispanics or the Africans. To take it a step further the Europeans are not purely Europeans anymore and neither are Asians or the Hispanics, or the Africans purely Asian, or Hispanic or African anymore. In my family we have seen a wonderful fusion happen over the years. My close family of my wife and children and brothers and sisters-in-laws and nephews and nieces includes people with ancestry from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Many of those family members are products of at least two of those different regions. The result, a very interesting blending of cultures, languages, music, art, and yes food. I was eating Japanese noodles with a side of baked potatoes and a salad containing seaweed long before Puck came around. I love the fusion in my family because it makes life interesting.
So what’s my point? Fusion is important in the church as well. The early church struggled with that. It was primarily a Jewish church. It was not an easy thing to let the Gentiles in because they were different. Their food was different, their music was different, and their choice of words was very different. God had to perform a miracle to convince the church leaders that God wanted this done. This fusion thing has been a hard thing for the church to swallow throughout its history. Many of the church bodies that we have today came into existence because of ethnic differences instead of doctrinal differences. That is why you see historically black churches or historically Polish churches you name it. People groups through the years have found it easier to worship with people like them, but this is not the way God intended it. Jesus’ constant prayer for the church is that it be one. Paul talks about how now because of Christ there is no difference between Jew and Gentile and you could apply that to every people group. I have worshipped in churches that were primarily full of people from Africa, from Poland, from India, from Mexico, and I have spent my life in churches that are full of people primarily from Northern Europe. I have enjoyed all of those experiences and learned from them, but at the end of the day I have always thought something was missing. God was there, but the representative church as a whole wasn’t. It needed some fusion. Even though I grew up in a part of the country that is primarily of European stock I have always loved diversity, probably because from an early age my family was diverse. I really love diversity in the church. Unfortunately diversity is largely lacking in the church today. As someone once said, I forget who, Sunday morning is the most racially divided day of the week in America. I hope someday that will end. I don’t know how to end it, I don’t have a plan, but I do hope it ends. I love walking into a church and seeing people from all around the world in it. I think it is a little glimpse of heaven. In heaven there is only one church and it is the ultimate fusion church, everyone thrown into one pot and stirred up. Fusion, let’s let it happen.

Another School Year of God's Grace

Today is the third day of the new school year for us here at Family of Christ. My son and daughter, who are first graders and therefore too old for our school are actually in their third week already. They go to a school with a different calendar which leads to some confusion every year in our family. Today was our first big chapel at Family of Christ and I was Bible Man who had “come to save the day” with his huge Bible. I wear a disguise but I think the kids have figured out that it’s really Pastor Fred who is Bible man. At the same time it is exciting for them and it’s a good way to lead them into thinking about God’s Word. Our chapels are very energetic with lots of singing and dancing and praising God. We have a truly amazing staff and director who keep the kids on the edge of their seats. As I have walked though the classrooms the last few years I have observed this energy and joy that the teachers bring. One word I have never heard about our school is boring. Education should be exciting and the presentation of God’s word should always be filled with hope and grace.
At Family of Christ we have two things we want to accomplish with our kids. The first one is providing the best quality education that we can. The second one is presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to every student and family in our center. We want to give head and heart knowledge at the same time. We want to have an eternal impact on the children that pass through our doors. We see that impact many times in how God moves in the children’s lives and in their parent’s lives. It is one of the reasons there is so much energy and excitement around here on a daily basis. God is at work and we get to watch. So we rejoice at the beginning of yet another school year, another year of God’s grace and love, another year of growth.
Pastor Fred

To Compromise or Not To Compromise

In the last month we have heard a lot of talk about compromise and we have seen a lot of people not willing to compromise. The result, a stalemate. The way the stalemate got solved, compromise. I am referring here to the recent debt ceiling issue that our government has dealt with and also the negotiations between players and owners in the National Football League. Thankfully both of those issues are solved, no one wanted to see the effects that a default would have on our country and I think we all want to see a little football this year. These stalemates though have brought up another issue, compromise. Some people say that compromise is always good, and some say that compromise is always bad. I think we should compromise and find a middle ground between both of those statements. I think they are both equally wrong and I won’t compromise on that fact. I am not going to get into the political issues going on in D.C. and I personally couldn’t care less what deal the owners and players came up with I just want to see them play, but I do want to look at what God says about compromise.
For God the issue of compromise depends on the situation. There are some situations where compromise is called for and there are some situations where God clearly says there can be no compromise. The trick is figuring out where what applies. For instance in Ephesians 4 Paul calls for us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. He follows that up by telling husbands and wives to submit to one another as well. In other words compromise with one another when you have different ideas of what you want to do. When there is not compromise in personal relationships you do not have healthy human relationships. You either have two people who can never get along and are constantly fighting or you have one person controlling the other person, neither of which is good. We have all dealt with that person who refuses to compromise on anything and we know how impossible they are to work with or be around. I have usually either walked away or ended that relationship. To compromise with someone is to show respect for them. Most successful businesses and all healthy relationships practice compromise. Without compromise most things do not get done.

At the same time there are situations where there can be no compromise whatsoever. God clearly says there can be no compromise when it comes to his word or the doctrine that comes out of it. There are situations where the lines need to be drawn in the sand. When Scripture for instance says that something is immoral there can be no leeway given. It doesn’t matter if the culture has changed or if society has accepted it or if we are related to a person doing the immorality it is still immoral, end of argument and not an inch of ground can be given. For instance where there might be compromise in a business deal over price, there can be no compromise if one party asks the other party to do something that would be defined as stealing or otherwise unethical. In the church there might be compromise on how a worship service is conducted but there can never be compromise on the doctrine that is taught in that worship service. In the church there may be compromise on how programs are carried out but there can never be comprise on the mission and vision that God has given to that church. In the family there might be compromise when a child is going to clean their room but there cannot be compromise on the fact that the child is going to clean their room. In the family there can be compromise with the kids on when and what church they are going to, but there can never be compromise on the fact that the child is going to church, whether they like it or not is not an issue, it is a Scriptural command to parents to make sure it happens.
To compromise or not to compromise, well let’s compromise and say it depends on the situation. Wisdom is knowing when each applies, on that fact there is no compromise.

Pastor Fred

PROCESSED FAITH

American cheese is very un-American. Yes you read that correctly, American cheese is about as un-American as you can get. America is the land of opportunity; it’s the land of self starters with original ideas. America has even been called the “great experiment.” What is the experiment? Can you put a whole bunch of people from different races, backgrounds, and beliefs together in one place and have them get along and actually be successful? Although we have had our share of bumps along the road, I think we would have to say that so far the experiment has been producing good results. One thing about America is that it has never been boring; it has never been a copy of something else. That is why American cheese is un-American. If you were to read up on your cheeses you would find that of all the major cheeses that we consume, American cheese is the only one that is processed, some would say it isn’t even a real cheese; it’s made in a factory. It is complete and utter garbage in my opinion. I love cheeseburgers but the cheese has to be something else than American cheese. I personally think the name should be changed because it is so bad it is an insult to our great country. It is unoriginal, boring and bad for your health. American cheese though is just a symptom of a larger problem, and that is processed foods.
When I refer to processed foods here I am talking about how industry takes natural good foods and puts in additives and preservatives to make the product look better and give it a longer shelf life. Processed foods do provide convenience and if you are in the middle of nowhere it does help the food last longer. The problem though is that is destroys the true taste of the food, and it puts chemicals in your body that medical research has shown to be harmful to you. Processed foods also contain a lot of salt and fats to make up for the loss of taste in the pure product, hence the obesity problem in America and the rise of diabetes. The biggest problem though in my opinion is not the health issue; everybody is going to die of something some day whether it is processed food or stepping in front of a bus. No the biggest problem with processed food is that it is boring and unoriginal, two cardinal sins in my book. This boring and unoriginal processed movement has taken over just about everything, from the supermarket to a lot of so called restaurants. Many restaurants today do not make their own food, they just mix together some ingredients they got out of cans at Costco and then heat them up and serve them to you as if they made it. All I can say is boring! My purpose here though is not to take on the processed food market but to talk about another thing that is sometimes processed, and that is our lives.
In particular I am addressing our spiritual lives. The basis of our spiritual lives as Christians is the Word of God and nothing else. The Bible is the Word of God in its pure form without any additives or preservatives or other stuff to make it taste or look better. From the Bible we get God’s grace and love and forgiveness and salvation through the Gospel. We also get all of our doctrine that teaches about who God is and what he has done for us and how he expects us to live in response to that. Doctrine is extremely important but it needs to be doctrine that is drawn from the pure Scriptures. Unfortunately people want to process the Word of God to make it look better to people, to keep people coming back to hear it and they want to add stuff to it thinking it will go down a little easier with people in our world. There is a huge demand for this so there are many out there willing to provide it. The original food, the Bible gets thrown to the side.
What do I mean by this? People have always wanted to modify what Scripture says because they are afraid that it might offend people, so they change the word to fit what sounds good to most people. They take out the things it says about sins that we like or lifestyles that are popular. People also like to add things to the word and make it address issues that it doesn’t like politics or bizarrely enough, what you should eat. The result is a processed faith that doesn’t resemble what the Bible teaches at all and gets in the way of providing the necessary spiritual nourishment that we need. One of the biggest culprits of this movement, although certainly not the only one, has been the modern Christian bookstore which at this time is by and large going out of business thankfully. It has provided books to Christians written by athletes and business people who teach their philosophy and lifestyle instead of what Scripture teaches. It has also provided the jewelry and t-shirts and other stuff that Christians are told that a good believer should wear. They have also been the leading promoters of pre-formatted one size fits all church programs. Just buy our DVD and you don’t have to read the Bible, we will tell you what to think.

The result has been disastrous. Cookie cutter Christians who dress alike, vote alike and quote their favorite authors and teachers more than they quote the Bible. It has also produced churches which have nothing original about them, they are just knocks offs of another popular church in another city. It is the spiritual version of obesity and diabetes. This processed Christianity is killing the church in America. So maybe it’s time to get rid of the all the additives and preservatives and go back to the original source. My family has slowly been making the transition from processed foods to fresh ingredients. As we have made that transition we have been pleasantly surprised to find that the food tastes better, we don’t eat as much and we feel better. Our taste buds have also been revived and we are experiencing new things in natural flavors. We rarely eat at fast food restaurants and have stopped eating at some other restaurants after we discovered that they were just heating things up. It’s time to do the same with our spiritual lives. It is time to go back to the Bible alone. When we do we will find that there is no Christian look, there are no Christian politics, and no Christian food among other things. It is time to stop consuming processed Christianity. It is time to stop doctoring the Bible to make it less offensive or more inviting and just let it speak for itself. When you do you will find that you will be closer to God and you will experience him in ways that you never imagined.

THE HABOOB FROM HELL

Throughout the years of living and traveling throughout the country I have experienced some very interesting weather. A week or so ago though we had a storm here in Phoenix that some people have called a hundred year storm, meaning you only get one like that every hundred years or so. The city of Phoenix basically lies in a bowl in the middle of the desert. Most of the time that just means we get some really hot days like 115 to 118 in the summer. Phoenix is basically known as a hot and dry place which is it is most of the time. I say most of the time because we have a thing here called the monsoon season. Now when I think of monsoons I think of Southeast Asia and places like that, but certainly not the hot dry desert of Arizona. So I was surprised when I moved here and found out about it. Now admittedly our monsoon season is nothing like those in other wet places in the world where it rains for days and weeks on end. Our monsoons come out of nowhere packed with rain that falls for 5 minutes or so and then is followed by a huge wind bringing dust and dirt. Usually the whole event takes 15 minutes and then you go outside and start to clean up the mess it left. These dust storms are called haboobs. The one we had a week or so ago though was the Haboobs of all haboobs. When it arrived it was daylight and the sun was brightly shining. I live in the very southeast corner of Phoenix bordering the city of Chandler so my house was one of the first ones hit. My neighbor took pictures of it coming and they are amazing. At 7:23 you see it looming in the background of a beautiful sunny day with everything at peace. One minute later it is looming over my house like an angry monster looking to devour everything. One minute after that the sunny day has become pitch black the trees bowing in the wind and things flying through the air, absolutely terrifying. The storm went on for over an hour without letting up. The aftermath thankfully to my house was just a lot of dirt and dust everywhere. In other places there were trees down, power lines taken out and people without electricity. Overall for such a monstrous storm it did very little damage. The images of the storm though are other worldly. I spent that storm in my office working and watched it at times through the front windows of the church.
Yesterday we had another haboob, this one not near as bad. I was home and saw it coming and took several pictures which I posted on Facebook. Although it was a minor storm compared to the monster it was ominous watching it come. Here is my best description of it. The sun is shining and then you start to see a brown cloud in the distance. You walk outside and realize it’s not a cloud but a haboob. As you are watching you realize that it is taking in everything. You look to the right and to the left and it takes up your whole view. Suddenly the wind picks up, and your phone rings and it's someone you know telling you to be prepared that a haboob is on the way. You say, “Yeah I know, I’m watching it.” By this time the cloud seems to be right in front of you and the palm trees are bending and the dust is starting to fly, so you step back into your house and watch it through the glass. In ten minutes, it’s gone. It’s an amazing thing to watch, exciting and yet terrifying at the same time. Watching the one yesterday got me to thinking though. Is this how the end of the world is going to be like? Many people in the last few weeks have told me they have also thought about that. It’s a good question. I don’t know the answer of course. I do know from what Scripture says that one day the end is going to come.
As a Lutheran I don’t subscribe to a rapture or to anything everyone read in the Left Behind series of books that came out many years ago. Although I will have to say unlike so many of my fundamentalist friends who do hold to those teachings I actually read all of the books of the Left Behind series. I found them poorly written and a horrible twisting of Scripture, but I gutted it out and read the whole series just so I could tell my fundamentalist friends that I had read the whole thing when they hadn’t, so there! Actually I love my fundy friends and look forward to spending eternity with them in heaven, where I will jokingly keep pointing out how wrong they were. As a Lutheran I believe that Scripture teaches that Jesus will come back someday, I don’t know when and neither does anyone else, and the end of the world will happen. Scripture tells us it will come when we least expect it and it will be sudden. Jesus even told the people to look up when the end came because their redemption was drawing near. I thought about that as I looked up at the haboob the other day. Is this how the end is going to come, with Jesus in the front of a storm gobbling up everything? That would certainly be a scary sight. And yet from what I read in the Bible I am not afraid of the end of the world. No believer in Christ should ever be afraid of the end of the world; it just means we are going home to be with God. So many church leaders though try to scare people with this, they write books, do movies that lead people to fear the end. As a believer in Christ I look forward to the end, I know where I am going because of Christ’s death and resurrection. I once said in a sermon that to try to scare a Christian with the end of the world is like trying to scare an overworked guy with the fact that vacation might be coming next week.
I don’t like the Haboobs we experience here because they are a pain to clean up after, so the fewer of them the better. At the same time I look forward with great anticipation to the final great Haboob that Jesus will bring. In the words of John from the book of Revelation, “Amen, come Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

FINALLY A GOOD USE FOR CHURCH PEWS

From the last entry in my blog you know I am a foodie. I love to cook, I love to read about cooking and I love to watch others cook. I recently found a restaurant that makes a dish that brings back old childhood memories. I grew up on pasties. Pasties basically consist of pie type dough filled with things like meat and potatoes and some root vegetables. My mom grew up in Butte Montana where pasties are famous as the food that miners took into the mines with them. They kept well and they tasted good. My mom made them all the time when I was growing up. I thought everyone ate them so I was surprised after I left home that nobody seemed to know what a pasty was. Therefore I have always longed for pasties. I have even learned how to make them myself. When I found out that there was an authentic pasty place in Mesa well I had to go. I was not disappointed. They have taken the basic pasty and have found ways to come up with a variety of different favored ones.
I love this new place called The Pasty Company for a number of reasons. First it makes great pasties. They have the basic Oggie which is steak and potatoes, onions and root vegetables. I personally like the Lamb and mint which has lamb, potatoes, rutabaga, onion and fresh mint with a side of wine gravy. They also have Bangers and Mash. Secondly it reminds me of many of the pubs I spent time in when I lived in England. You can get Strongbow Cider, Franziskaner Hefe and even Oak Creek Nut Brown Ale from Sedona. Thirdly, well it has spunk, a little bit of rebelliousness with a tongue in cheek attitude about it. For instance since the owners are from Northern England you can get Car Bombs as a drink for 3$ or Skull Splitter Ale. Not to mention that happy hour is from 3 to 6 and 10 to close everyday and its happy hour all day on Sunday. How can you beat that? I have joked to my wife though that if we are going to keep coming here we are both going to have to get tattoos and some nose piercings to fit in better. The entire staff looks to all be in their twenties. They are all tattooed, pierced and have various shades of hair coloring and at first glance a hardness to them. You soon discover though that they are also very cheerful and warm to their customers. But there is an edge here and it is in the customers as well who are an assortment of people, many looking just like the staff, and still others from various walks of society, but there are no suits here, no ties. If you’re going to come here you better leave that at home. I love this place so much that I thought about writing Guy Fieri about it so that maybe he could come out with his Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives team and do a show on them. But then I realized this is not a Guy Fieri place. In fact if Guy were to walk through the door with his phony spiked white hair and sunglasses and over the top attitude he would soon be grabbed by the ear and shown out the other door and told to get lost. And it probably wouldn’t be the male six-four bartender doing the honors but the close to six foot female waitress wearing a t-shirt with some band’s name on it that no one over thirty has ever heard of. No this isn’t Guy’s place; no this is the land of Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations fame. Anthony would be loved here, he would be invited into the kitchen here, this is his type of place from the tattooed waitress to the Church pews for seating.
Yeah that’s right I said church pews for seating. The first time my wife pointed that to me I responded well finally someone has found a good use for church pews. Anyone who has spent anytime around me knows I hate church pews, at least in churches. I have led worship in a multipurpose room that looks nothing like a church for eleven years now and have enjoyed it. I am not a fan of the traditional church building. I figure why spend money on something you are only going to use a few hours on Sunday when you can spend money building something you will use all week. I really don’t have a good reason for my disdain, except well, other people’s attachment to these things. I grew up in a traditional church setting and I like most things about the traditions of the church. They provide stability and they keep things constant. The traditions also carry with them good practices that have endured hundreds even thousands of years now. I like things like times of prayer and good order and flow in the worship service. I am not against tradition in the least. I guess you could say I just have a problem with furniture. Well it is more than that. I have a problem with any tradition that has outlived its usefulness but people still keep demanding that it be kept because, well that is the way we have always done it. I have found that most church people have no idea for instance why we have pews, why we have flowers on the altar, why we have altar rails, why we have stained glass, why we have altars, or eternal lights. They could not tell you why those things exist, but if you tried taking them away they would throw a fit because it would be change.
Maybe that is why I like the Pasty Company, they are very traditional and yet living outside the box. Notice I didn’t say thinking. They are not just thinking outside the box, they are living outside the box. There is a big difference. They are making the traditional pasty and serving traditional English food, but they are doing it their way. They have invented new recipes; they have challenged the status quo. Most of all they are having fun serving food that I remember when I was kid. It’s a taste of my childhood with a twist. Jesus himself was a bit of an Anthony Bourdain. He spent a lot of time hanging out with the Pasty Company crowd and he loved them, and they loved him. Jesus was not concerned about furniture or a steeple, he was concerned about people. I think he would laughed at the church pews as well. Jesus isn’t concerned about what you are sitting on when he is talking as long as you are listening. Jesus interestingly enough provided meals many times with his preaching, and did much of teaching between bites as he was eating with the people. Maybe we should build a restaurant like the Pasty Company to have Church services in, but then I would want to get rid of the church pews.

Pastor Fred