Charlie Dean’s Blog

I was meeting with someone today and he asked about how big our church is and if it was meeting our projections.  Truth is, the first answer I could give.  I know how many people attend, on average.  But the second question?  I have no idea.  I don’t know if it meets projections because we didn’t have projections, and I’ve tried, really hard, to not have expectations.

I won’t lie.  In my worst moments I love a full room of people on Sunday morning.  At my most insecure, it makes me feel good about myself.  (fyi: if a pastor says that he or she doesn’t really care about attendance, they are either a) lying, or b) waaaay more spiritual/confident/secure than I!)

I’ve been a pastor for almost 11 years now.  (I’m pretty sure that I started my first pastoral position on June 14, 1999.)  Numbers have always been a tricky thing.  But something has happened in me the last couple of years, leading Imago.  It’s really captured in this quotation that I came across a couple minutes ago:

God’s goal is not a perfect attendance record; it is a community of people who actually want to be in a community.” – J. Ortberg, The Me I Want to Be

I get super-excited when I hear people say things like “I’ve been gone a couple weeks, and I’ve missed the people of Imago,” or “I’ve always seen church as something I just ’show up’ to, but, for the first time, I get excited to come to church and be around these people.”  And I get encouraged when I hear of groups spontaneously gathering to hang out, serve the poor, or discuss a book together – not because we’ve created a program and asked for perfect attendance, but because they want to be a community that is changing the world.

One last “looking back at 2009″ post.  This year was perhaps my best and worst Christmas ever.

I’ll start w/ the best.

I’ve had a lot of church experiences at Christmastime.  I’ve been involved in Christmas Pageants, Quiet Services, overblown productions, no church thing at all, etc.  For the last two years – at Imago – we’ve put a lot of energy into two things at Christmastime.  1.  the “rhythm” of the church liturgical calendar, and celebrating Advent for the four weeks leading up to Christmas.  2.  Seeing the Advent season as a season of “pouring out.”  (as opposed to Lent, which is more introspective).  So, here’s what had me excited this year.  (timeout: I hesitate, because some make take this as me bragging about my church, as if it’s a competition w/ other churches… it’s not, and I’m not.)

• Adopt-a-Block – some of our people went to 2 blocks in the south end and took every resident a plate of homemade Christmas goodies.
• Riverwest – we gave away 140 gifts to the residents of Riverwest – averaging about $50/gift.  The people of Imago are GRACIOUS & GIVING!
• Banquet – we fed 100 poor people a Christmas dinner on china, with a live jazz band and catered food.  It was a beautiful, beautiful event.
• Advent Conspiracy – stories of people beginning to think about more relational gifts.  And, we collected almost $6k, to dig a well somewhere in the world (I’ll be updating in a couple months, when we get news back about “our” well.)

and worst Christmas ever…

By the end of Christmas day, when I walked into our house, I was nearly in tears.  My beautiful wife was sick and bed-ridden, (beginning Christmas Eve) and was stuck in bed all day, so I was “single dad of four boys for a day.”  No big deal… I can handle the boys.  I was just sad to be missing Jennifer for the day.  It was the first time in 17 or 18 years that we didn’t spend Christmas together.  Blah.

But, missing the one you love, makes you appreciate the anguish of those whose loved ones are overseas, or who have recently passed away….

At Midnight, on December 31, after kissing my wife, drinking a little champagne and toasting my friends, I celebrated something else quietly – my 2yr anniversary as an “employee” of Imago Dei Church.

You may not notice, because a lot of this is internal – but I’ve changed a lot in the last two years.  I think about many things differently.  And I think it’s good.  I’d be happy to give details, but you’ll have to buy me a cup o’ joe (at minimum) to open the vault!

So, happy anniversary to me.