Todd's Preaching and Slurpees

Todd has been preaching at Hinson for the past few months. We are without a pastor and while the search team is looking for a candidate, Todd has been the lead preaching elder. Going to church and listening to my husband preach each Sunday changes the Sunday morning experience for our family in good ways and in not so good ways.

One change is my children lean over and whisper to me more. Today it was "mom..mom... mom...where did Dad get that tie? I've never seen it?" I put my finger to my lips and said "Shhhhh." (This is my usual response so I don't know why they keep talking to me.)

In our family there is an agreement that if Todd mentions us in his sermon, the person mentioned gets a "Slurpee" on the way home or in my case, a coffee. I instituted this so that my children would not cringe if they were used in an illustration or had attention drawn to them because of their dad's role. This had backfired a bit on me. Todd might say something offhanded with the words "kids" in it and immediately my three are leaning over whispering "Does that count mom?' (No, it doesn't.) Or if Todd mentions just one of the kids, that child sits up straight, grins at his siblings, and gloats throughout the remaining service and then I hear about how unfair it all is on the way home.

Another change in my church experience is where I sit. I used to sit in the 2nd or 3rd row. I think being up close to the action helps my kids to pay better attention and it helps me not to be distracted by "people watching" which I am tempted to do. Now we are either in the back row or up in the balcony. I am proud of my husband and think he does a wonderful job preaching but there are times I will think "I can't believe he just said that" and not having a poker face, I think it is more discrete for me to be out of sight.