Little Things Mean a Lot

So, I started doing an interim pastorate at a church here in Pasadena called Church of the Foothills. It is a small (35-45 on Sunday morning) here is Pasadena, about 2 miles from our house. We have traded in a 45-50 minute commute to Santa Ana for a 3-4 minute drive down the street. Hooray, just in time for the NFL!. Service starts at 10:30 and I'm home before noon. Sounds good to me!
I am preaching about 3 weeks out of the month and the Associate is preaching once. The church is small and loving. I went into the office last week for the first time. I am planning on being there part of one day per week. I was in the office for about an hour when we received a call that a lady in the church had died. So, I did a funeral my first week. I called Joanie and told her about it and she said, "Sounds familiar" (My last three pastorates have all begun with a funeral my first week). It did give me a chance to get to know some of the folks rather quickly.
Being at the church gives me a chance to continue plying the preaching trade while studying at Fuller. That means that I can continue to have practical experience while studying the theory, history, and theology of preaching. By doing this, it solves one of the concerns that was shared with me by the man who has influenced my understanding of preaching more than any other person - Dr. James Earl Massey. In a phone conversation, Dr. Massey and I were talking about my PhD program and I told him about meeting, at a conference in Florida, some of the professors of preaching from various institutions around the country. Dr. Massey reminded me that not all of them (actually, not many of them) are practitioners of the preaching craft. They teach it but do not practice it very well. He was grateful to know that I would be one who would be able to both teach homiletics and put into practice in the life of the church the very principles I will be teaching.
Having a young man as my Associate gives me a chance to mentor someone, one of the major tasks of being a teacher in a seminary. Having a small church gives me the opportunity to concentrate on my studies at Fuller. Having an office gives me a chance to get some things done that are hard to do at home. It gives me access to a copier and that could be very handy. You know, sometimes it's the little things that mean a lot.