A Picture is Worth

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for my voice!

About ten years ago, I noticed that occasionally I sounded hoarse and had trouble with a raspy-sounding voice. I didn’t realize that it started with preaching. It was most apparent when trying to conduct a meeting, but ultimately it did affect my ability to speak in public.

People had their theories:

“You must be preaching too much (four services on the weekends).”
“You must be straining it by talking too loudly.”
“You must have allergies you don’t know about.”

Well, eventually I went to my doctor and then an ENT specialist, and then to a speech therapy clinic. The therapist told me my problem was most likely a combination of diet, posture, and lack of vocal exercise. So, I followed her prescription and started exercising my vocal cords any time I felt an attack coming on. (You won’t hear me doing it…the exercises are just too weird-sounding!).

Thankfully, these exercises have done the trick for about ten years. Unless I have had a cold that affected my chest, my voice has been pretty strong. UNTIL, this year! I’ve had three flair-ups since Christmas, the latest being the night of the Urgent Covenant Meeting. One of our newest Covenant members is a speech therapist, and she suggested that we take a look at my vocal cords.

Getting a picture of my cords would show whether I had an infection, or nodules, or lesions down there. It would reveal if the vocal cords were not closing correctly and would point out any swelling. Mostly, the picture would remove all the doubts and uncertainty about what I had been experiencing.

Good news, by the way! I do not have anything that requires surgery. My vocal cords (My doctor calls them “my instrument” since I use them so much professionally) looked pretty clear. There was evidence of a little swelling, which explains why I have been a little hoarse lately. I’m now on some medicines, AND I am getting tested for some allergic reactions that might cause my throat and nasal passages to react negatively. The picture made things crystal clear.

In a similar way, we invited everyone who calls Covenant home to something called an Urgent Covenant Meeting last Monday night. The response was overwhelming. We had between 600 and 800 people come out on a Monday! What was it about? Simply put, we needed everyone to see a picture. The foundational piece of the presentation was a video called “A Three Circle Story.” Everyone who attended the meeting got a clear picture of our continuing vision as a church as well as our challenge for the next 12 months. We all left with a sense of unity and with a “take away” in our hands.

It’s not too late for you if you were not able to attend the Urgent Covenant Meeting. We are having a series of TOWN HALL MEETINGS this week, so share the picture with those who missed it. We want everyone who calls Covenant home to understand our corporate challenge for the next year. You can choose any of these three to come to…I will be there to make a short presentation, and we will show you a few clips from the Urgent Meeting. At the end, there will be time for Q&A. I do not anticipate these meetings will last longer than an hour.

Here is the list of Town Hall Meetings with times and places:

Wed, Mar 24 @ 7pm (West Campus Student Center)
Thu, Mar 25 @ 7pm (Main Campus 203)
Sun, Mar 28 @ 6pm (West Campus 102)

By the way, if you came to the Urgent Meeting and still have questions, please come out to one of the Town Hall Meetings. I, or one of my teammates from the C-Team or the Steering Team, will do our best to answer your questions. I hope to see you there!

And one last thing. Easter is next weekend, and we have a very special and powerful experience planned. Our big question to folks is simply, “Who will you invite this year?” All the advertising in the world couldn’t replace the simplicity and sincerity of a personal invitation from a friend or colleague.

Thanks.
Branson