Carpet Cleaning Preacher

The preacher of a small church decided it was time for him to move on and pastor a larger church, one that could afford to pay him more money. He gave notice that he was leaving only after he had already secured a position in another church, in another town. Now it was up to the church members to find some one to take his place. The pastor’s new job required that he start immediately.

The little church contacted their Association for help. But the Association said they didn’t know of anyone the little church could get. They said, there were already 9 churches in that county alone without pastors. All 9 of them were offering higher salaries than this little church was. It seems- all the pastors are leaving the little churches for bigger ones. They said, most of the big city churches are offering salaries of more than $44,000 a year. What your offering is not even in the race for a pastor anymore.

The little church ran ads in every newspaper they could, advertising their need for a pastor. Not a single response came from running daily ads in multiple newspapers for a whole month. They decided to hold a special prayer session and this time actually get down on their knees while asking God to send them a pastor. Many didn’t show up for this special get down on your knees while praying to God session, but a few did. God heard their prayers and answered it.

A pastor wrote a letter and mailed it to the church saying he would conduct services for a few months if they still needed a pastor, but only as a fill in. Also in the letter he stated that his salary requirements would be fulfilled by God. They called him up on the phone and asked him to confirm the part about not having to pay him? He said, I know most pastors wouldn’t agree with me on this one, but this is how I believe- “Preach on Earth and collect in Heaven, or collect on Earth and have no reward in Heaven.”

They felt there was little choice left to them but to try him out for a while and see how he done. If he wasn’t any good, maybe they could suffer through it until a better pastor came along. It wasn’t as though any of them had ever had to endure through a poor sermon before. Even a boring sermon would be better than no sermon at all.

In his first service the new pastor said; People ask me all the time why I work 6 days a week cleaning carpet instead of pasturing a church 2 days a week? I love it when they do that. I can almost hear the smile as it comes across the face of Jesus when people ask me that question.

I say; The word of God is free. Jesus fed the people that came out to hear him speak; he didn’t say “Pass the collection plate.” He said, “Pass the fish.” Jesus worked for a living. No pastor of any church that ever lived is better than the Son of God. Any man able to work- pastor or otherwise- needs to work. If not, then you’re setting yourself up as a better man than Christ.

Jesus sat where they sat, walked where they walked. He could have had a nice house on the hill, but most of the time he slept on the ground. He could have had a fancy $100,000 chariot with 6 white horses to ride around in, but he walked. He could have been born in the finest maternity ward of the finest hospital on the face of the planet and laid in the finest bed with the finest linen that man has ever known, but he was born in a stable- wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger for a bed.

Each of us live like Kings compared to how people use to live, think about it the next time you get in your car and flip on the air conditioning or wake up to a warm house in the middle of the Winter. When you look around there are many things that each of us needs to thank God for, but we don’t.

As a carpet cleaner I’m allowed in houses that a Pastor would be turned away at the door. People call and schedule a day and a time for me to come into their home and clean their carpets. How often do people call a pastor up and schedule an appointed for him to come into their home, and would one come if called?

I don’t say; Hi, I’m a preacher. I’m here to clean your carpet and talk to you about Jesus. I go in and do the job I came there to do, which is to clean their carpet and talk to them about Jesus. If you work hard and get all sweaty cleaning their carpet and doing a good job like they’re paying you to do, most people will bring you a cold glass of water and say; “Take a Break.” Sometimes that opens the door for you to talk to them about Jesus.

By that time you have already noticed if there is a Bible on the coffee table or anywhere else in plain sight or any pictures of Jesus on the walls of their home. You would be surprised at the number of Christian homes I go into each week that have no visible signs showing they are Christians. You would also be surprised to see what else I see in Christian homes in plain sight for others to see. Some of these things are lying right on top of the Bible they carry to church each week.

Do people think God can’t see inside their homes, that he sees’ only what they do in church? Do people think God only hears what they say in church? God hears every word that comes out of your mouth, not just the ones you say in church on Sundays. You can tell everyone you meet your a Christian. You can act the way you think a Christian should act in church. You can even tell yourself that you have a spot reserved in Heaven. Jesus has the final say of who enters the Pearly Gates or the gates of Hell.

Jesus warned us to beware of false prophets. I say confirm every quote you hear read out of the Bible and read what it says before and after it so you know what it is pertaining to. “Judas hung himself, in him God was well pleased, go ye and do likewise and do it quickly.” All these words are in the Bible, but not written together to say this or mean this. God does not want you to run out and hang your self as quickly as possible to please him!

Don’t take verses out of one place and add them to other verses and say; See here, this is what God really ment to say. God didn’t say that and that’s not what God means. Don’t let others fool you by doing this. Read what it says and don’t skip verses. I have heard preachers say countless times; “Follow along with me in your Bible as I read Chapter:22, verses 5,6,7 and 12 in this book then turn with me as I read chapter: 4 verses 19, 24 & 29 in another book, then I’ll explain what all this means when you put these verses together.” Who told them to add this verses together- God or Satan?

Satan will try his best to hide the truth from you, any way he can. Ask God to show you the truth, then fast and pray until the truth is made known to you. Is this not what Jesus done? But you still have to read the Bible on your own, sometimes even in your own home. I’m sure it will be alot better for you than some of the stuff that you’re probably reading now. A-men.

Now let me tell you how I use my job to witness to people. When I arrive at a home for a cleaning appointment, I knock on the door. I go in and look at the carpet they want me to clean, sometimes people admit their carpet is dirty and others refuse to believe it is dirty. Those people usually say; “I don’t really need my carpet cleaned, I always run a sweeper over it at least once a day whether it needs it or not- and as you can see it still looks brand new.”

Then I pick up a throw rug and find a stain. They say; “Oh I forgot about that being there, but the rest of it still looks brand new.” Then I move out the couch and the carpet under it really does look brand new. When all the furniture is removed out of a room, they can see for themselves how it really looks and they are usually very surprised at what they see.

They say; “I didn’t know my carpet looked this bad. Hurry up and start cleaning before anyone comes in and sees’ my carpet looking like this. I’m going to have to get new carpet.” You would be surprised at what a good carpet cleaner can do. Alot of times when I’m done cleaning it looks brand new again. Now I can’t get every stain out of every carpet. But I know some one that can remove every stain, his name is Jesus! A-men!

I see cleaning carpet as a chance to witness to people in their own homes. Each person is different and you have to use different approaches or they won’t listen to anything you have to say. Timing has a whole lot to do with it, you can’t rush in and say; “Your life is like your dirty old carpet. You need me to clean your carpet and Jesus to clean up your life.” That would immediately get you kicked out of most homes. But this is how people try to witness to others because it is the way they were taught by others. Who teaches us?

Do the people that teach witnessing show up each week with a bunch of new people or do they show up with the same people-just like always? If they bring new people into church on a regular basis- listen to how they do it. If not- why should they try to teach you? You can’t teach others how to witness if you don’t know yourself. First you have to go out and learn how to witness before you can teach others. Churches are not half empty because its Gods will, they are empty because Christians won’t do Gods will. And A-men.