Ministry Blunders

You've planned hard. You've gone over it at least a dozen times. You've practiced and rehearsed until it hurts. You've got it just right. And then the service starts. It's called, "ministry blunders." Like a tornado that drops out of the sky without the sound of a preceeding siren or warning, so too comes those darn moments in which a blunder comes swiftly upon the pastor.

In our second year of ministry, we wanted to honor our moms during a Mother's Day service. During the week our staff decided to honor three types of mothers. The first mom was the oldest mom. The second mom was the mom with the most children. And the final mom was to be the "newest" mom. We were pumped up about this - and we had some pretty good gifts to hand to these moms as well (spa stuff). So, we sent our associate pastor to deliver the message to the congregation that morning. Dave (our Associate) got off to a great start. He honored the oldest mom first. It went off without a hitch. Next was the mom with the most children. Pow! A woman with eight children won hands down. The cheers were getting louder and momentum was definately on our side. Remember that one little verse in the Bible that reads, "After pride comes the fall?" Well, it's true. As we approached the last gift for our mom, Dave cleared his voice and said,

"We have one more gift to give out to you moms out there. And this gift is for the "youngest mom." Ouch! Ouch! Instead of the "newest mom," Dave said - "the youngest mom."

Seated in the third row was a 14 year old girl who had gone through a terrible relationship with a 17 year old boyfriend and had become pregnant. Her parents encouraged her to give the baby up for adoption. And this was her second time in a church - period. And even more amazing is this fragile young mom raised her hand. By now Dave caught on that something was terribly wrong. Our congregation didn't know if they should clap or cry. But what happens next is the F5 of all tornados. Dave looks out at this young lady and he says, "Wow. You really are young." Can anyone dig a whole big enough for him to escape? It was awful and awkward. We never really did recover that Sunday. You might say it was a pretty good ministry blunder.

OKAY... so what about you? Do you have a ministry blunder or two that you could share with me. Love to hear it.