Chaplain
I was given a great title. The best titles are the ones given, not the ones taken. They are sort of like nicknames or call signs. The best ones are given to you by someone else.
Sometimes the nicknames we get are not great. I was given a few in school I won’t be sharing in a public forum. They were hurtful and somehow leave a mark, even today but this is a story about one I love.
I think it was January 2008 when 12Stone Church opened the central campus on Hwy 20 in Lawrenceville, GA. We were one church in two locations at that point. That has changed today with 8 locations but this is a story about central campus.
I got a call a few days before we opened and the topic was the coffee ministry. Yes, coffee can be a ministry. With a big church and a desire to get folks to engage in conversation, the leadership asked us to figure out how to serve coffee to 2600 people all at once. We can seat that many at one time and we didn’t want everyone to feel like they had to pay for coffee at the Starbucks in the church (yea, we have a Starbucks). Practically there was no way a single coffee shop could serve that much coffee quickly so they called me to lead a ministry to deal with it.
We worked out the mechanics, practiced brewing and tasting and testing to make sure we could pull it off. It took a couple of weeks to work out the kinks and get the lines down to a couple of minutes. We got it done but this is a story about a title I was given on opening day.
Dan Reiland is the Executive Pastor and on opening day he came to me with a gift. A title. He handed me a name tag that said “Jerry Robertson, Chaplain of Caffeine”. No kidding, an official name tag. I was honored and humbled all at the same time. I led that team of about 80 volunteers for several years and recently resigned the leader position to move to another campus to serve. I lead a much smaller team, we brew and serve coffee on Monday night to a much smaller gathering. Coffee is still a vehicle for conversations. We gather for a few minutes and connect over that cup and I love seeing that happen. It’s why I did that job and why I still do.
I was a Chaplain before that too with Christian Motorcyclist Association. I was elected 5 times to the office of Chaplain until I resigned that post. I was off the bike for a while and it just seemed time to leave but today it seems like a time to pick up the ‘badge’ again.
I am a Chaplain in a lot of ways and I’m still the Chaplain of Caffeine. RealtyCaffeine to be exact.
We won’t be going overboard but we will certainly be sharing thoughts some might call religious. I don’t like religion because I think it’s the sort of thing that gets in the way of the relationship with our Father in Heaven, our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that dwells in us as Believers. It’s a relationship and that is where I’ll carry this idea as we go along. Once in a while I’ll share a thought or idea and explore it deeper to see if it can help explain things that cross my mind.
You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to but if you do I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts when the time is right. I’ve been doing this a while and I have a few things that might surprise you if you think you know how religion works. I’m not a judge, I”m not officially a pastor or anything like that but I am a Chaplain. I do ask you to examine what I offer up and make sure it’s consistent with God’s Word. Test for yourself and hold me accountable.
Stay tuned for more and watch for posts under the category of ‘Sunday Sermons?’ No preaching but just some thoughts as I process the path I’m on. Stay tuned. I’ve got a couple of things bouncing around in my head now.
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Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
Chaplain (again).