One Call Phone System has been a success. I like having the ability to keep people informed about what is happening. Communication is important in the midst of our hectic days. I hope you find my phone messages to be helpful.

I predict that more and more of our members will be communicating by e-mail in the future also. As of now, we don't receive very much e-mail from church members during the week. We haven't promoted the idea very much. Some congregations have church directories that list members' email addresses as well as their phone numbers. I imagine that will be a standard practice in the days ahead.

With all this technology available, I must admit that I still prefer to talk to a person face to face or on the phone. Our society is becoming too impersonal as people spend more time looking at a computer screen than having live, one-on-one conversations. My daily routine includes checking e-mails, home phone messages, church phone messages, cell phone messages, faxes, and snail mail. Every once in a great while, someone shows up in person!

Nevertheless, I want to remind you that I have a personal e-mail address which you are welcome to use in order to contact me. Here are a few rules to keep in mind:

1. Try not to send me back news after 10:00 pm. After a day of trouble-shooting, I look forward to the friendly licks and wagging tail of my dog, Marty. Send me some good news to help end the evening on a good note. The names of people you have invited as guests for Sunday worship are welcome news. Dinner invitations are always welcome. If you want to head the stewardship campaign, contact me anytime!
2. Don't send me any jokes unless I can use them in a sermon. So far, most of the jokes that have come my way would get me kicked out of the pulpit in a hurry! Where do people find that stuff?
3. Don't send me excuses for not being in church on a particular Sunday. That information needs to be given to me face-to-face so that I can force you to look me in the eye when you try to invent an excuse I've never heard before.
4. Don't expect me to e-mail you my sermon for this Sunday so that you can read it in bed over a cup of coffee on Sunday morning.
5. Don't send me any mail that isn't properly composed. E-mail tends to ignore all the rules of grammar, punctuation, paragraph and sentence construction. We are raising a new generation of children who cannot construct a sentence! Proficiency tests will be given in February. A remedial class will be offered for those who fail.

As you can see, my rules are rather strict. It might be better for you to just pick up the phone and call me. Better yet, I'll meet you at the coffee pot on Sunday morning. I'm not giving up on direct human contact as the preferred way for us to be a community of faith. Even in the spirtual realm, I hope God doesn't decide to send e-mails instead of angels.

Yours in cyberspace,

Pastor Paul

p.s. My email address is: pmlcyoungstown@yahoo.com.