Ministry With Florida City & County Managers

It was a pleasure for me to be in Panama City Beach to speak on Wednesday evening to participants at the Florida City and County Managers Association. Randy Reid,the County Manager for Alachua County (Gainesville), invited me to be a part of this event. He and other Christian City and County Managers in Florida began this event as an opportunity for those who are interested to learn more about and be encouraged in understanding how faith is a viable aspect of public service.

I spoke about Nehemiah, who seemed to assume the role and responsibility of a City Manager, as he oversaw the rebuilding of the broken down walls around the city of Jerusalem. My topic was "Grace In The Marketplace." I specifically showed how understanding the divine purpose in our work and acting with dedicated passion in the workplace are expressions of grace in and through our lives.

It was a pleasure to speak to this group and to find such interest among them concerning how faith relates to their own work in the public arena.

I am in the process now of recording a three part series called "Grace In The Marketplace," which will be available in June. I am convinced that one of the most effective roles a Christian can have is to be light and salt in his work environment. How it encouraging it is to know that we have leaders in our cities and counties in Florida like those I met this week.

Ministry This Past Weekend

The Family Church in Gainesville, FL is one of my favorite churches where I speak. I first met this congregation about four years ago. Three years ago, before their current pastor, Max Wilkins, came to the church I spoke there every week for several months. They were generous enough to offer me a place to stay during the week, so I would stay and work on my book, The Godward Gaze, during the week and then preach in the church on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I have developed a genuine friendship with this congregation.

The church ordained new elders yesterday and asked me to speak in the service. I spoke from Acts 20, where Paul called the elders of the church at Ephesus together and gave them a final word before his leaving them. As always, the church warmly received the preaching.

These two guys are Steven Jones and Pat Callahan, both dear friends with whom I had breakfast before church yesterday. Steven is on the Board of Directors for Grace Walk Ministries and is a member of The Family Church. Patrick is the Associate Pastor at the church. Everybody in ministry needs a few close friends to whom they can pour out their heart. Steven and Patrick are those kind of friends. I have shared personal burdens and matters with them and have benefited from their advice many times over the years.

It was good to be back at The Family Church again. I always feel relaxed and sense a complete freedom to preach without reservation when I'm in this church. God's hand is on these folks in a unique way.

Sunrise Over The Bay

This is a picture I took of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (between St. Petersburg and Bradenton,FL) at sunrise. Since we moved to Florida, I often begin my day at Desoto State Park watching the sun rise on the other side of Tampa Bay.

I love the early morning hours. When I was young you couldn't drag me out of bed by dawn, but the older I've become the more I enjoy the stillness right before dawn. Then, as the sun begins to creep up out of the water and into the sky, the terns, seagulls and sandpipers all start hurrying around like they're excited about it being morning. I never see it that I don't think how much it looks like a celebration. (I suspect it is.)

I pretty much follow the same routine every morning. As I watch the sun rise from my car, I listen to the songs "Come Rest In Me" (Heritage Singers), "A Mighty Fortess" (Steve Green), "Beautiful Savior" (The St. Olaf Choir), "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" (Maranatha), and "Oh God, Our Help In Ages Past" Lately I've often listened to "You Raise Me Up" - sung by Celtic Women, not a "Christian song," but it has become a worship song to me.

People sometimes ask me what my favorite Christian music is. Truthfully, I don't care much for contemporary Christian music. It all sounds the same to me. I love the old hymns I grew up singing. My favorite singer these days is John G. Elliot, who I first heard and met when I spoke at the Billy Graham Training Center (The Cove) a few years ago. His music can (and often does) bring tears to my eyes. Check him out at http://www.johnelliott-music.com/.

The Theology of Goober Pyle

I love The Andy Griffith Show. I have watched it since I was a small child. I suppose it has remained popular with so many people all these years because of what it stirs up inside us all -- feelings associated with the innocence of simpler times. The show is a Norman Rockwell painting put to drama.

I was watching an episode last night that revolved around Goober Pyle. (You know, Gomer's cousin?) Goober had participated in a discussion group on American history. In typical Goober fashion, he couldn't get anything right. His comments about the historical events the group discussed were the bumbling, disjointed, self-conscious ramblings of a man who didn't know what he was talking about. He embarrassed himself in the group.

The next day Goober left Mayberry to go hunting. When he came back a few days later, he had grown a beard. Andy told him it made him look like a deep thinker. Aunt Bea said, "It makes you look like a scientist or ambassador or something." When he went into the barber shop to have it shaved off, Floyd (the barber) absolutely refused. "Shave it off? Never! I'll never be a part of that. It's magnificent! Makes you look brainy!" From that point on, Floyd began to oooh and aaah over every word Goober spoke, despite the fact that his remarks were completely silly. (Example: "My theory is that we all carry our weather right in our own body. That'll give you something to think about." and "Even great philosophers can be wrong. A man's best friend is not his dog. It's people. Of course, I still love dogs.")

As Floyd continued to affirm Goober's newly discovered wisdom, Goober waxed more and more "eloquent." It was at that point that he spoke the line that jumped out at me. It was a statement about identity. He said, "The me that is really me was being held back by the I that I am, [but now] it's coming out all over my face." "The me that is really me was being held back by the I that I am." Deep, huh? :) His statement reminded me of a statement made by the comic strip character, Pogo, who said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

The thing that struck me as really funny was that Goober's statement reflected the theology I held for a lot of years. It is the mind set that who I am is what has been holding me back in life. For a long time, I looked for something to change myself so that I would see myself differently. Just as Goober believed that growing a beard had made a new man out of him, I believed that there must be something I could do that would cause me to become the person I wanted to be. When we don't know our true identity, we are always on the lookout for something to change us and make us become a better person.

I'm glad I finally became comfortable with myself. It's tiring to try to remake yourself when you feel like you don't have much to work with anyway. Trying to act like somebody we aren't defines the meaning of hypocrisy. It was a real release to me to find out that my Father adores me just like I am. I still act and feel like a Goober at times, but I'm pretty much okay with it now. There are things I don't like about myself, but I can't change them. Maybe, in time, God will do it. Maybe He won't. Either way, I'm encouraged to know I can just be myself without worrying about how to improve myself. I am learning to become comfortable living with my weakness.

The me that is really me is not holding back that I that I am. That's a Goober theology. I am God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. I think I'll just hold on to that truth and relax.

The McVey Family

Sometimes I've been in a group setting where one of those ice-breaking exercises intended to help people become better acquainted is done. It's the one where folks are asked to tell something about themselves that would surprise people. I love to tell this one:

My wife, Melanie, is the only girl I ever dated. My first date with her was when I was 16 years old and she was 15. She was on the Homecoming Court at her high school and I would have run a stiff campaign for "Class Dweeb" at my school across town. We met at church one Sunday. The next week, with perspiring palms and a pounding heart, I worked up the nerve to ask her out. To my surprise and delight, she said yes. We went to see a Barbra Streisand movie (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever) and ate at Pizza Villa afterwards.


Melanie and Steve in high school . . .

I thought The Beatles and Hermit's Hermits were really groovy!





AND PEOPLE SAY THERE IS NO GOD!




We dated only each other for three years, then I married her on July 28, 1973. For the untitled Class Dweeb in one school to end up marrying a Homecoming Court Beauty from another demonstrated abundant grace in my life even then!

Just short of two years later, we had our first son, Andrew. Then came Amy, David and Amber. They all were born within a seven year period. Today, all of them live in the Atlanta area while Melanie and I live in Florida. Only Amy is married. Her husband, Cliff, is a wonderful son in law who isn't hard to love and respect. They have three children -- Hannah (8 years old), Jonathan (6) and Jeremy (4).

Andrew, Steve, David and Cliff




Amy, Amber and Melanie



Our grandchildren: Jonathan, Jeremy and Hannah

Well, that's the short version of the McVey family! We love and adore each other and thank God for His blessings in our family.

The Reason For This Personal Blog

Ocassionally, friends and family will say to me, "We miss reading about your personal life in your newsletter. We used to enjoy finding out through it how you and Melanie were doing, what was going on with your kids, some of the details of your personal life, etc."

When Grace Walk Ministries started, the only people on my mailing list were those who knew me personally. Today over 10,000 people receive "The Grace Vine" each month. Many on our list are those who have read my books, heard or seen me on radio or TV, or attended a conference I taught. They aren't acquainted with my family or my personal life. I've assumed these folks aren't really that interested in the kinds of things that my friends would want to know. Nonetheless, family and friends have continued to express their interest in hearing more personal info. So -- it hit me one day that a blog would be a great way to do just that. It allows me to talk about personal things, without putting information in front of people who may not care about it.

So, the fact that you're reading this blog causes me to assume you have at least some interest in what's going on in "McVeyLand." This blog format allows me to feel more comfortable about sharing personal, day to day stuff without feeling presumptous in assuming people want to know. My thoughts are, "if they don't want to know, they won't be reading my blog."

So, in future posts, you'll be reading about whatever interests me or is going on in my personal life at the moment. I'll probably do the next blog with a little info on myself and my family for the sake of those who do care about that kind of news, even though they may not know me personally. After that, I'll write about whatever the mood strikes me to write about. This will be a sort of freestyle type of thing, from my heart and head, without edits.

This may be good for me too. My personality is an extroverted, sociable one, but at the same time I tend to be fairly closed with people about personal thoughts and feelings. I served as a pastor in local churches for almost 21 years and pastors often learn to be guarded about personal matters as a sort of self-protective mechanism.

I'd love to hear your responses to the blogs I post here. This is the first time I've done this sort of thing, so we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, thanks for caring enough to read this first post. I'll try to stay on top of it and write new postings regularly. If you aren't familiar with me, you can visit my web site at www.gracewalk.org to learn more.