I want to clarify, though, that I’m not saying be reckless with our finances. I definitely believe there has to be a plan in place for investing in the community. Otherwise, I think it really would be poor stewardship.

For example, teaching a Spanish/English course could bring people in to an environment where we could talk to them toward Christ. So, maybe I wasn’t totally honest with the “no expectations” thing – I think we need to have the expectation that we’ll get to share the gospel with them, and whatever we invest has to work toward that end.

It’s probably a given – but I wanted to make that point a little stronger.

The skateboarding thing isn’t *exactly* my bugaboo, but it’s a sticky wicket. I went to a church before that had a great sledding hill and there were signs posted all the time about people not coming and using the hill, etc. The leadership said it was about liability and vandalism (though I’d guess more the second than the first). It always bugged me that a place that was supposed to be inviting to the lost your first impression was “don’t go in here or else!.” The liability issue is a big deal, though I have some thoughts about that. The vandalism one isn’t, though, to me. I have a lot of kids, and they destroy stuff *all the time* that I would prefer didn’t get destroyed. And so I threw them out of the house. um, not really–I consdier the occasional property destruction to be part of the cost of discipleship–and your thoughts here lend themselves to that.

Thanks for sharing them. I’m confident that this kind of attitude is going to be a blessing to the congregation God has called you to.