July 4, 2026

 Just a couple of weeks ago, I walked in the Pride Parade with St. Matthew's and Grace Episcopal; Fr. Hofer generously took pictures that really highlighted me and posted them online. I'm waiting for the Shelby blow-back.

Still no real thinking about keeping the parish rolling. They are very Shelby, participating enthusiastically in Bicycle Days, etc., but no effort whatsoever to either grow the parish or to ensure their survival. (I notice as I write this that it's all "they" not "us.") What can happen? For a very low-impact beginning, at least do something about the website and let me start writing a blog again. There really are some visitors from time to time.

For deeper stuff, consider answers to some serious questions:

• What have we got that the neighbor churches don't have? (One possibility is "welcome to LGBTQI+ people," but that would absolutely lose two or three members. It's what is saving both Grace and Ashland, though, and it's part of the ECUSA (which probably explains why Shelby isn't too thrilled with the ECUSA.)
• Old Spokes is a tremendous asset, but the church does nothing to capitalize on it.
• All that Champion Fund money is anonymous (or nearly so). The checks vanish into a void. Ditto for the Ignited ministry. We send out the money, but we never invite those people to become part of us.

We need to answer some very basic questions: "Why should I come to this church rather than one of the others?" "Why should I come to church at all?" 

Note: In the past and in many Baptist churches, growth came from the Sunday School. Parents wanted some sort of moral upbringing for their kids and the Baptist church was very willing to bring them in by bus and do a program. Then the kids wanted their parents to come to Christmas pageants, etc. And then the parents ended up in the church. And, not to be discounted, when a 12-year-old kid falls in love with the church, there's a possibility that in ten years he will want to be there with a spouse and his own kids. St. Mark's Shelby won't cooperate with other Episcopal churches that way because they aren't in Shelby. Much better to send kids to the local Catholic church, so in effect, we are feeding the local Catholic parish.