HOME-BASED HOSPITALITY MINISTRY. Some years ago, the Read family decided on a mission statement. The center of that statement was that our priority is home-based hospitality ministry. There are so many worthwhile programs to throw myself into, that I often revisit my ministry philosophy. Is home-based hospitality ministry the most effective?

Most weeks, I can FEEL like I am being much more effective when I touch 100 other lives for one hour a week, rather than gambling to pour all of me into my wife and children and those to whom we can minister as a family. We seem to say no to so many good broad ministries by this choice, and our church has lost many good families because they are looking for "a church that's more outreach oriented," meaning more programs.

How many lives might we have touched had we worked at summer camps every summer for the last 25 years, for example? But then it occurred to me today: both Daniel and Cora are working full-time all summer this year, and Becky has done that for two summers, as well. Becky will be a dorm mom for Solid Rock, and works at handi-camp often. Katie has worked as a swimming instructor to special needs children for three years. Add all that involvement up, and in the last five years, Ellen and I have had more impact in camps than we would have had over the last twenty.

I think of what Jesus said about his disciples doing "greater works" than He did Himself. There may be other layers to His meaning, but maybe it's at least partly because our Lord poured Himself into eleven lives, and now there were eleven men, not just one, to do the work. We have invested ourselves primarily in our children and their contacts, and I feel affirmed here on Father's Day that we made the right choice. Light touches of the masses pale in comparison to deep life change in a few.

So, what's next for Ellen and me? We could jump into pastoral work, or we could volunteer to create or do outreach programs, but this is not the season for us to work too much outside of the home. If you see the kind of traffic we have in and out of our home, you will realize that we have our hands more than full already.

So, we will stay the course. I will focus on being home as much as reasonable, focus on disciplining the younger boys, and reach out to their friends. The time has come for a Sunday baseball league; perhaps the time has also come for another Backyard Bible Club. This summer I would like to host a men's camping retreat. But that's about it. And I will have to trust that in the end, when we look back on a lifetime of service for Christ, we will be satisfied that we have made the right choices.