Sad Sunday

At the end of the worship service Sunday morning, Eddie Sharp announced that he is leaving UCC to begin preaching at the University Church of Christ in Austin. It is near the University of Texas. I always thought he would be here long enough to preach my funeral.

The auditorium was very quiet during his announcement, and you could see people crying. After the announcement as he was sitting down, the congregation gave him a standing ovation. I am sure he will joke that we were so glad to see him go that we stood and applauded when he told us. He has been here 28 years. He gave several reasons, and tried valiantly to explain that he was not upset about anything, and that the elders were not upset with him about anything. One of the factors is that he has a grandson living there. Also, he says that people need a new beginning every so often, and in the past he has been able to do that while remaining at UCC. But this time, he was struggling with finding a renewed energy.

Dickie Hill, the current chairman of the elders, gave a very good response. (The elders had known this was coming for a few days.) He said that the Sharps are now a part of our family, and always will be. He said it is hard when a family member leaves home, and we will be grieving for a while. He encouraged the congregation to be patient with the elders, because no one should make an important decision while they are still grieving. Very well stated. He had a hard time getting through his prepared notes.

In the near future, one of our members, Bill Young, will do most of the preaching, with others pitching in about once a month. Bill is a very good speaker, and he will do some of the office work that Eddie had been doing. We will hire a couple of part time people for a while to do some of the other things, and to help our current staff not be overburdened. Here is a link to a newspaper article about Eddie's announcement.

Well, that's the news from desert Abilene, where all the men are bow legged, all the women are good cooks, and all the children are mutant ninja turtles.

In my next posting, I will tell you why this one was a day late. Things are popping around here.