Once a month, the elders meet with Pastor Tim at the Liberty Diner. There are only two elders–me, and Russ, who was a year behind me in college. We were both part of the core group that left Emmanuel Community Church in 1998 to restart what is now Anchor Community Church (and was then called Third Street Church). There were about 30 people in that original group. Some went back to Emmanuel (having fulfilled their short-term commitments), and some moved out of the area entirely. Only a few couples are left. Me and Pam, along with Russ and his family, always pretty much intended to stay.

The Liberty Diner is blessed with a waitress named Wendy who has a Master’s Degree in Sassiness. We’ve been meeting at Liberty for about four years now, and she’s been there the whole time. She’s 50-something, been divorced, has kids, and wields a very sharp wit. Lots and lots of fun. She never fails to make me laugh. I think she gets in trouble with the management for talking to us too much.

It’s been kind of fun watching her spiritual journey over that time. We’ve been a good influence on her. She’s told about getting back into church, always with amusing observations of church life. One time, she showed up at Anchor (having been prodded by us to do so for many months), and she enjoyed it. We always pray (of course!) before eating our breakfast. One time Wendy was standing there, and Tim asked her to pray for our meal. I’ll bet you’ve not seen that happen before–the waitress praying for the patrons’ meals. She offered a marvelous prayer.

I don’t know what all is going on in Wendy’s life, but I’m confident that we either awakened or reinforced a relationship with Christ that had gone dead or dry. It’s nice to know that, as the three of us talk about our church, we’re also invading a little piece of the world.

Pam and I went to the hospital to see Joanna last Thursday night. She had been mugged in our church parking lot the Sunday before. Her purse was stolen, and in wrestling with one of the two thieves, she fell to the icy lot and broke her femur in two places. Now she’s on the 9th floor of St. Joe Hospital and will be there for over a month in rehab. We found her in great spirits, as is always the case with Joanna.

I wrote about the mugging earlier. Some new details were interesting. The two muggers had been walking down the alley when Joanna pulled into the back parking lot, the first car there. She was a greeter that morning, and was coming early. As the two men approached her, she joked with one about his trouble staying on his feet on the ice. As she approached the steps leading up to the back door, the other man, the taller one, was suddenly in front of her, blocking her path. He grabbed her purse, and she immediately screamed–not in terror, but to draw attention. Which worked, because a woman inside heard her.

Joanna wouldn’t let go of her purse. Ultimately, she fell to the ice about ten feet away from where the scuffle started, but she took the other guy with her. The difference is that he was able to get up, and she wasn’t. In the hospital, a Catholic chaplain, a woman, came to see her. Joanna, though not Catholic, told her, “Can I confess something to you?” “Sure.” She said, “I shouldn’t feel this way, but I hope the other guy has a sore knee.”

The police haven’t turned up anything. Her purse remains missing.

Last night we had our regularly scheduled board meeting. One agenda item was a general discussion about church security. We obviously don’t want people to be afraid to come to our church. But at the same time, we want them to be wary, to notice things. This mugging has made us all much more aware of goings-on. I commented that I’m surprised the church hasn’t been broken into during our six years of operation. Traci, our youth director, then told of an experience I hadn’t heard about. She arrived at the church one day, the only person there, and noticed the garage door up. She circled a couple times in the parking lot, wondering if she should go in. Finally, a neighbor, who goes by the name Sixpack, came out and told her he saw two guys run out of the church.

We’ve had things stolen (like my wife’s purse), and some simple vandalism (graffiti on the garage door, feces smeared on the back door). One troublesome kid threatened to go home, get a gun, come back, and shoot us (which drew the police there, and a six-month suspension from involvement in our activities). I suppose we should expect more of this. Just the cost of doing business in our part of the city.

One of our ministers in Oregon is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, and has been in Afghanistan for about a year. Last summer he wrote a list of “Lessons I’ve Learned” from Afghanistan. It was quite fascinating. One was, “When the nearest church is three hours away through ‘Indian country,’ it’s still worth the drive.” I hope people feel that way about coming to Anchor. It’s a place to worship, to fellowship with great Christians, and to minister to a needy community. It’s worth coming to.