I collapsed in laughter this morning when I saw the picture on page one of the newspaper. I live in Long Beach, California, home of the Queen Mary. The great ship sailed the oceans regally for many a year, it carried the world's elite and during World War II it carried troops. In 1969 the grand old ship was retired to Long Beach. It is now a tourist attraction, not a really good one, but it continues to draw patrons from around the world. I have been out to the ship a few times, it has restaurants, a beautiful hotel, and an interesting tour if you like the musk of a once majestic lady. -What caused me to spew my coffee was the picture of a fine gentleman in a Naval Officer's uniform, he was the current Captain of the Queen Mary. That is right, the Captain of a ship that never sails. I can see him on the bridge now, barking "left starboard 15%" or " lower the life boats," like an old fool playing Captain even though nothing happens. Below the Bridge there are people eating in the restaurants, dancing in the ballroom, they are gathered in the bar, they are sleeping in their beds, doing all the things people on a ship at sea do. If you didn't go up on deck and looked out to sea, you might never know you weren't going anywhere. This is too easy, but what a metaphor for the church. The Captain-Pastor busies the congregation with all appropriate religious activities and then gets up in the pulpit and talks about what it is like to live and work on the high seas, yet not leading them to take mission or transformation seriously. You take it from here..........
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About Bill Hull
Bill Hull’s passion has been to help the church return to its disciple making roots and he considers himself a discipleship evangelist. This God-given desire has manifested itself in twenty years of pastoral service and the authorship of ten books. His first book, Jesus Christ Disciplemaker, is celebrating 20 years with a new edition. The Disciple Making Pastor and the Disciple Making Church are two successive books which make up his popular disciple making trilogy. These books have provided the church with a new paradigm for disciple making.
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