Granted the plethora of inappropriate words that might be used, there’s room for debate as to whether these are categorically the "most evil words ever spoken."

But before I actually share the most evil words themselves, I need to paint a picture of the context in which these evil words are used so evilly.

At all levels of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, decisions are made that affirm or destroy human lives––at least emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. When a member or church employee is charged with misconduct, the matter is usually addressed by some duly authorized body.

Of course, the duly authorized body works behind closed doors. The information is privileged, after all. Under no circumstances would any member of such a body even consider sharing the facts with those who aren’t duly authorized to know. That would be unethical. It would betray the trust inherent in being part of such a group.

So the members of the group––be it a church board, a school board, an institutional board, a conference executive committee or an array of other church decision-making entities––remain circumspect in what they’ll tell curious onlookers.

After they’ve in varying degrees played the game of "20 Questions," they’ll often––far too often––make a statement such as: "There are things that I’m not at liberty to say." And this statement comes in a variety of permutations.

For my money, using such words should lead to on-the-spot summary dismissal from employment for any church employee. And using such words should lead to either censure of disfellowshipping for church members (if there’s no repentance). Using such evil words should be on a par with adultery, embezzlement, child molestation and a long list of other evils that no one but the devil himself would try to excuse.

"Oh, come on! Don’t be silly!" I hear you say. "It’s not that big a deal to hint at things you can’t––for ethical reasons––actually say." Maybe it’s no big deal for you––when you’re not on the receiving end, that is. But think about it.

If you’re accused of a specific misdeed, you can at least try to refute the allegation. Both you and all who’ve heard about it know what you’re being accused of. I’m not saying openly stated allegations aren’t bad. But at least they’re concrete. And you may even be able to win a defamation suit, should it come to that.

Innuendo is a different animal altogether. I mean, what is the hinted-at accusation, actually? Is it that the alleged miscreant murdered his mother? Abuses puppies? Or simply takes too much delight in killing mosquitoes? There’s no way of knowing. That’s why such open-ended words are so evil.

Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor

Background Point 1. Being a pastor comes with certain occupational hazards. One is that you’re on public display.

In an area like Orlando, with so many Adventist congregations and so many Adventists, a lot of people recognize me who I don’t recognize. Which means that anything I do, anywhere and at any time, may be observed and "evaluated." (I wouldn’t say judged because that might imply that the onlookers were acting out of harmony with scripture!)

Although I’m not nearly as concerned about being observed and evaluated as I once was, I still try to be careful not to give even the appearance of evil.

Background Point 2. A few years ago I was talking to John Poole, the brother of Markham Woods members Chuck and Roy Poole. John and I discovered that we both live in the same subdivision––Country Creek.

I told him that I often walk on the footpath along the main thoroughfare through the subdivision. He said he’d never seen me there. Since that conversation, I’ve seen him many times when I’m walking or driving, but he has never recognized me.

Background Point 3. Being slightly obsessive-compulsive, I have a habit of picking up trash when I take walks. If I’m walking along State Road 414 en route to or from Lake Lotus Park (which is Orlando’s best-kept secret), I always carry a shopping bag in which to stash my gleanings. But when I walk through Country Creek, I go "bagless" because there are trash receptacles about every two hundred yards along the footpath. I don’t find so much trash that I can’t easily carry it in my hands.

The Story Itself. This past Sunday I was out for my morning walk when I saw an empty bottle of Miller Lite in the middle of the footpath. I was talking on my cell phone while walking (I try to multi-task!), holding the phone to my left ear, since I hear better in that ear. When I saw the beer bottle cluttering up my neighborhood, I reached down with my right hand––the hand closest to, and thus fully exposed to, the main drag through the subdivision––and picked up the bottle.

As I walked and talked, I calculated how long it would be before I got to the next trash receptacle. I also calculated how many people were going to drive by who knew me––even if I didn’t know them. And I imagined the manner in which they might evaluate the fact that I was walking along with a beer bottle in my hand. I had almost reached the trash receptacle when who should drive by but John Poole.

And for the first time ever, he recognized me! Not only did he honk and wave, he turned his pickup around at the next opportunity and came back to chat! By then, I had stashed the bottle of Miller Lite in the trash. But, sure that he’d seen,

I fully confessed and explained in detail. He said he hadn’t even noticed––meaning that I’d bared my soul for no reason! But for a pastor, some things can’t be left to chance when it comes to keeping up appearances!

Sweet Dreams

A few weeks ago when one of our sons was doing some early spring cleaning, he set aside a number of books for Leonie and me to peruse. We could throw them away, give them away or try to find a place for them on our already-filled bookshelves.

In glancing at the prologue of one book, I read these words: "I think too much and do not dream." That was it. That was the entire sentence. "I think too much and do not dream."

Those words got me to thinking. Thinking when I probably should have been dreaming! But I was thinking about dreaming. At least I was thinking about the absence of dreaming. And I had to ask myself if maybe those words haven’t increasingly come to apply to me.

Robert Kennedy said: "Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’" Kennedy recognized that just analyzing what already exists isn’t nearly as productive or nearly as inspiring as letting the mind create a vision of what could be.

I remember hearing Pastor Charles Bradford (currently retired but for many years a major mover and shaker in his role as a church administrator) talk about the "paralysis of analysis." In other words: too much thinking and not enough dreaming and doing.

Both the thinking and the dreaming have their place. But it’s the dreaming that puts verve and energy into life. It’s the dreaming that captures the imagination. It’s the dreaming that inspires.

The Bible says: "Where there is no vision the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). The passage isn’t speaking primarily about our ability to see. It’s not saying that people perish if they’re literally blind.

Rather, the text is speaking figuratively. When we spend all our time thinking but never dreaming, we implode rather than explode. We become boring and predictable. We cease to inspire. We wither and slowly die.

Several years ago I read a fascinating book written by a mortician. It was titled The Undertaking. The tagline read: Tales from the Grim Trade. The book’s author, Thomas Lynch, maintained (tongue in cheek) that it’s possible to know at what age you’re going to die.

It works like this: Young people are always looking forward to what’s coming, to some new and exciting experience they’re about to have. They’re always in an anticipatory mood.

Very old people, on the other hand, are always looking back to earlier life experiences. An old, old person whose mind is failing isn’t likely to talk about yesterday’s baseball score. They’re going to talk about listening to the radio broadcast the day some baseball great set a record decades ago.
Lynch’s theory is simple.

The moment you discover that you’re looking back the exact-same amount that you’re looking forward, you’re halfway to death. Double your age and you’ve got a fair idea of when you’ll die. And it all has to do with dreaming and not dreaming.

Don’t spend too much time thinking about what I’ve written here. Instead, dream about something that really has the potential to make your life—and the lives of others—more fulfilling and rewarding.

Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor

Second Thoughts

Being a writer has its pluses. For one thing, it affords the opportunity to take a public stand. It may even influence individual or collective behavior.

Being a writer also has its downside. Once you’ve put something into print, it’s permanent. Even if you change your mind, it’s still there, potentially influencing behavior in a direction you no longer wish to encourage. I know from experience.

More than two decades ago, I wrote a stridently worded editorial titled "Saving the High Heels." There was no doubt about where I stood.

You see, a church at which I’d earlier served had spent a bundle of money to pave its parking lot. The reason? The small gravel of the lot ruined women’s high heels. As they walked from car to sidewalk, their heels slipped down between the little rocks, which cut the leather and made their shoes too unattractive to wear.

Something had to be done. And it was—to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars. So I lamented such a waste of church money. Money that could have been given to the mission field, where needs are so great. Clearly, someone had to stand up and be counted. And who could rise to the occasion better than I?

There’s one problem, though: With the passage of time and a few more life lessons learned, I’m no longer certain I was right. Worse still, I think I was wrong.

Being a person who’s frugal by nature, I’ve been slow to grasp the fact that at times you must spend money to make money. And that’s true in congregations and denominations just as it is in business.

I believe in supporting the mission field. And it may just be that the best way to achieve that goal is to attract people to our congregations who have money to give.

Oh, we can get by with worn draperies and shabby carpets and peeling paint on our churches. And, temporarily, it may free up a little extra for missions. But not for long, because people are going to quit coming to our church.

And we can sneer at those women who want a better parking lot because they’re concerned about their high heels. We can lambaste them for being such slaves to fashion. But the reality is, we’re all slaves to fashion. That’s why men feel appropriately dressed-up only when wearing an inordinately expensive piece of non-functional cloth around their necks and wearing a suit "coat" even when it’s blazing hot!

Even if—and it’s a huge "if"—we could get along without paved parking lots (even up north) because we’ve convinced all Adventist women to quit wearing high heels, high-heel-wearing visitors wouldn’t feel comfortable coming to our church. So we wouldn’t grow as we’d like. And failure to grow means less money for the mission field.

Over the years, I’ve come to recognize that spending a hundred thousand dollars to pave that church parking lot may have been a great investment—both for the church and the mission field.

Two things I do know: The church now has three times its former membership. And we definitely saved a lot of high heels from certain destruction!

Jim Coffin, Senior Pastor