This isn't a church...

Yesterday i made a mistake at work. For a couple of hours i had the date wrong. In my mind the date was the 7/5/09, not the 6/6. This meant that for a dozen or so "I couldn't read your water meter" forms, the date was incorrect.

Sure, not a huge mistake, but one i had to go back and rectify later in the afternoon.

But i reminded me of a similar error i made whilst i was new to ministry.

As a community service and to exercise our care over nature, we used to do a huge cleanup. As a change of pace, we sent out thousands of flyers, instead of door knocking for a few weeks to fund raise.

My mistake? I put on my work contact details. The wrong details. On thousands of flyers the phone number wasn't for the youth ministry office. It was for Big W (where i worked before Balgowlah).

It was the only time i didn't desire a response from something that we did.

Why? Because of the following conversation...

Caller: Hi, may i please talk to Graham Baldock.

Big W: Who?

C: Um... Graham Baldock.

BW: Ok... What department does he work in?

C: Youth ministry, i suppose.

BW: I don't think he works here.

C: Are you sure? I'm calling about the up coming clean-up.

BW: The what?

C: You know, Operation S.T.R.I.V.E.

BW: Huh?

C: The thing you advertised about through the flyer.

BW: Are you talking about our catalogues? What page is this Operation S.T.R.I.V.E.? Is it a toy?

C: No, i don't think it is a toy.

BW: Well. How can i help you?

C: Is this the number of a church? I want to give my life to Jesus. I want to become a vibrant member of the church. I want to change the world and do powerful things for God.

BW: No, this is not a church. Goodbye.