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Mountain-Moving Faith Adapted By Sherry Brandon (Scene is in the senior pastor’s office at a small church. The pastor is meeting with a new associate pastor.) PASTOR: (shakes Ben’s hand) Welcome aboard the pastoral staff, Ben! I trust everyone has introduced themselves? BEN: Yes, thank you, Pastor Anderson. In fact, I just finished speaking with Adam Jenkins. PASTOR: Yes. Adam’s been a trusted advisor of mine for many years. We couldn’t have done all of this without him. The past few months of opening our new church location have been very trying…a “testing” of our faith. BEN: Pastor Jenkins said everyone in the congregation seemed very excited yesterday after your announcement in service that you would be opening the new building in a dedication service next Sunday. I wish I could have flown in a day earlier to be here yesterday. PASTOR: Nah, don’t worry about that. Yes. It’s very exciting. We’ve waited a long time for this. Our little church here has been growing by leaps and bounds, praise God. This new building will be much better accommodations for our members. We’ll be able to grow more than ever before, now. God is so faithful. BEN: (clears his throat and appears nervous to introduce the issue) Um…I’d like to ask you about…something. PASTOR: Sure, son--go right ahead. Don’t be shy. We’re all family now. BEN: Well, it’s about the opening. PASTOR: Yes? BEN: While I was speaking with Pastor Jenkins just now, he told me about the problem with the parking lot. PASTOR: (knowing, nods his head) Ah. BEN: I guess I just don’t understand how you can have the opening next week. Pastor Jenkins said that the building inspector declared the parking lot inadequate for the size of the building. He said the inspector was very adamant about not opening the new church until adequate space could be added to the parking lot. PASTOR: Ben, I’ve been the pastor of this church since it began fifteen years ago. I’ve seen this church and its members go through some hard times. But I’ve also seen God perform miracles for us, too. The land we built the new church on was a miracle in itself. It was willed to us by one of our oldest members who shared in my vision that this church should grow. Yesterday, after I made the announcement about the opening ceremony next Sunday, I told the congregation about the situation with the parking lot. I asked them to come to a prayer meeting yesterday afternoon to pray for a miracle from God on the issue. BEN: But pastor, the miracle you ask for is…well, it’s impossible! Forgive me for being frank, but the land the new church sits on backs up to a mountain. You’d have to move the mountain itself in order to add onto that parking lot! PASTOR: (leans forward) Exactly! Yesterday, I told my congregation that we needed people with “mountain-moving” faith to come to the prayer meeting yesterday. “…whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he say shall come to pass; he shall have what he say”… Mark 11:23. (pause) Do you know how many people from the congregation came to the prayer meeting, Ben? BEN: (sighs, slightly defeated) How many? PASTOR: 23…out of 500! Obviously, I need to preach more on faith! BEN: So you held a meeting yesterday to pray for the miracle that God would actually move the mountain? PASTOR: Not only that, but also that God would provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the opening dedication service next Sunday. (Ben shakes his head in disbelief) Would you have shown up for that prayer meeting, Ben? (The pastor’s secretary comes to the door. With her is a construction worker wearing work clothes and a hard hat.) SECRETARY: Excuse me, Pastor? PASTOR: (rises) Yes, come in Mrs. Brown. SECRETARY: I hate to bother you, but this gentleman wishes to speak with you. WORKER: Pardon my intrusion, Pastor. (takes off his hard hat) Your secretary told me you’d be the one I needed to speak with. My name’s Bill Dawson. (extends hand to shake hands with pastor) I'm the foreman from the Johnson-Smithers Construction Company over in the next county. We're building a large new shopping mall over there and we need some fill dirt. Would your church be willing to sell us a section from that mountain behind the church? (Ben stands up from his chair, astounded) We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge if we can have it right away. I know this is really short notice, but we can't proceed with construction on the new facility until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly. PASTOR: (forms a large smile as he turns to Ben) I think we may have more than just 23 church members with “mountain-moving” faith come next Sunday. What do you think, Ben? (lights fade) (back to the scripts page)