HATE MAIL

The following transcript is from a voicemail message I received last week:

Ryan May, this is Rob Alderman. I just heard that you are going to be planting a rival church in Chattanooga. I want you to know this is not good, that the Lord will be very upset with you for this. And I plan to do everything I can to stand against it and to make sure that it does not prosper. And that your evil ways will not come to fruition.

My phone number in case you’ve forgotten it because you don’t ever call me anymore is…. But, I’m not certain that you’ll be able to get though because I don’t think my phone allows heretics to call me. Congratulations on the baby. I hope he turns into a person that won’t go and plant churches right next to their friend’s churches. That’s all. Bye.

I shamelessly put the above transcript before what I'm about to write for mere shock value... the reality is that Rob is a great friend who left this message in complete jest. But, I told him I was going to post it, so there it is.

Rob pastors a church group called Bridges Community that, to my understanding, meets in bars throughout the Chattanooga area. A very cool ministry. When I called Rob back, we had a good conversation about how different our ministries will be and he assured me that we can be associated with him so we can claim our church has an "urban" ministry. :)

Rob, I'm looking forward to ministering in the same town as you and have no doubt we will each be reaching a different audience, while still having the same mission: to reach those who do not know Christ.

After all, that seems to be God's plan...

"All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27)
"He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Ephesians 4:16)