Recently, we commissioned two cross-cultural missionaries from West Bradenton. They are friends. They are family. We’re sending them to work among a hard people in a hard place. With God’s mission, we should celebrate the sending, even when the leaving hurts.

I sat in an empty conference room going through church files. One box contained hundreds of leads from a long-gone Tuesday night outreach program. I called in a couple of deacons.

“What should we do with these?” It may be the dumbest ministry question I’ve ever asked.