It's been a while since I posted to this blog, but I have some good reasons.

First was a vacation.  After the ESCN Conference in Knoxville TN, my wife and I spent a few days in the Smoky Mountains.  One of our favorite places in Smoky Mountain National Park is Cade's Cove.  Today it's an eleven-mile loop drive with a few cabins, but a hundred years ago, before the federal government bought all the land, it was a community of over a thousand people, served by several churches.  We walked an obscure path and found a little cemetery.  Many graves were only three feet long and only a few had readible stones. I though to myself, "The preachers in this community must have been pretty busy with funerals."  The work of the small town preacher in bringing an eternal message of hope in the midst of such community sorrow hasn't changed.

Then I spent a weekend with the congregation at Bone Gap, Illinois.  Now with a name like that it just has to be rural--and it is.  The church was celebrating their 121st anniversary--in the same building!  Most of Bone Gap's streets turn to gravel roads at the edge of town; the school closed a decade ago.  You would think not much could happen there, yet I saw a church that currently has three young people in Bible college or seminary, and is doing a great job attracting the kids in the village.  You can't judge a church's potential by its context.

Next came the Illinois State Ministers' Retreat.  Preachers, many from rural communities, came to campus to refresh their spirits and to sharpen their skills and learn from each other.  I was reminded that the size of your context doesn't limit your skill or passion as a preacher, nor your desire to always minister effectively wherever God sends you.

OK, those are my excuses for not posting here for almost a month.

So, what's kept you busy in rural ministry this past month?  What sorts of things crunch the time of a small-town preacher in the late autumn?

Next time, Congress and the Country Church.