…wherein your humble, hacker and plodder blogger, a non-golfer, gets to smugly drop the info that he has been to the Masters several times.
Yes, indeed. The world’s premier golf tournament, under way right now, and the world’s most famous golf course is 110.5 miles from where I type and everyone around here has been, at least to the practice rounds. This is where I casually mention that I was chatting with Gary Player on the 12th tee a while back…blah…blah…blah. Player is always friendly with spectators.
I did play a couple of rounds of golf (not at AN) but quit after the condos on the course begged for mercy. I just fish and bird watch these days.
Here are five things your church could learn from Augusta National and the Masters:
- Ban cell phones. Yep. Such is the power of the Club that they banned phones. Use your phone and get caught and your badge is revoked. Tournament badges, high class word for tickets, are precious items. You don’t have the guts to do this in your church, primarily because millenials, that demographic you have been trying to “reach” by making all kinds of compromises, would rise up and smite you. Your wife and kids probably would also.
- Cut the grass and fix broken stuff. Watch the tounamint. Every azalea is blooming. Every pine needle is in place. It’s a perfect golf course. There is nothing that betrays a dead church more than unkempt grounds and broken windows. Pay the money. Keep it looking nice. When my wife and I did a drive by on a church where I was being considered for pastor, we counted over two dozen broken windows. Ugh.
- Treat members and guests with respect. Many churches excel at snobbery. Try and tamp that down while being respectful of your members and guests. If you have a member who asks a guest to move because they are sitting in the member’s regular seat, take the member out and execute them. No second chances on this one.
- Don’t nickel and dime your members and guests. At Augusta National, you get a sandwich for, like $1.50, not $8. You think it isn’t noticed that you take up dinky offerings in your church for every little thing? No, don’t put a donation jar on the coffee bar to guilt folks into paying. Preach on stewardship but don’t go to the well too often.
- Run a first class church. Golfer or not, anyone who has been to Augusta National knows they run a first class tounamint. No periscopes. No cell phones. No backward cap punks. The members act like the golf tounamint is important and means something. Maybe your church should act like the worship of Almighty God means something.
Fore!
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If you think this article is mostly so I can brag about having done, several times, what is on many bucket lists…your’re right.
