The Connection

A monthly publication of the Waimea United Church of Christ

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One sunny afternoon I saw a high school student set himself down on the double-yellow line on Ola Road. He sat there cross-legged as a plastic bag blew by in the wind. He did not move. A car came up the road, and he just sat there as the car had to carefully navigate the narrow between his body and parked cars.

Shortly thereafter one of the cars that had been parked on the side of the road tried to pull out and could not because the boy was sitting in the middle of the road still. The driver yelled at the boy to move. Instead of moving, he laid himself down flat on the double lines. The car kept inching forward until it looked as if the boy would in fact be driven over. I was just about to go out and mediate the situation when at the last possible moment the boy bolted out of the way and ran back towards campus.

I have no idea what the point of this young boy’s antics would have been. He faced down traffic and lost. Still, this has given me an idea for our church. We should lay ourselves down in the middle of the highway and not let anyone pass by until they agree to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Recently I have taken to asking the question of folks: “Am I crazy, or is this a good idea?” Sometimes I have heard the response: “Yes, pastor, you are crazy. Let’s think of something else we can do.” That is fair.

Seriously though, we are facing great odds in our ministry here on the Westside of Kauai. If there are about five thousand people in our geographic area, maybe a thousand know Christ as their Savior. I think that is being generous. What about the other four out of five people? How do we reach them for Christ? This reality makes me want to lay myself down on the double-yellows!

Although we have great island-wide outreach going on, we need to focus in on our own neighborhoods, too. If you know of people who have just moved into your neighborhood, go introduce yourself and invite them over to your house to share Christian warmth and hospitality with them. Share your faith in Christ. Make sure that you bless them with the love of the Lord. Eventually they will ask how it is that you have so much love of the Lord in your heart; then you can mention the worship celebration on Sundays and make the invitation out to them.

Maybe in 2010 we can get up to a 50% of the population accepting Christ! Would that not be a great goal for this coming year? Am I crazy, or is this a good idea?

Aloha ke Akua, Pastor Olaf

“My family and I would like to say a very heartfelt ‘Mahalo’ to everyone at WUCC for the Christmas gift. It was truly a generous and unexpected blessing from all of you and we are truly humbled by the gesture. May we all have a blessed and joyous 2010!”

-Pastor Olaf