{"id":65,"date":"2014-09-30T13:48:42","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:48:42","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-09-30T13:48:42","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:48:42","slug":"blessing-goats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2014\/09\/30\/blessing-goats\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blessing of the Goats"},"content":{"rendered":"

I often have moments that make me think, “I love my job!” One of these was meeting Will Christians, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Michigan. He shared this story with me, and I’d like to pass it along here:<\/p>\n

“After a whole year of collecting small offerings, the Sunday school class was able to raise the $178 needed to purchase a pair of goats through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog<\/a>. The church wanted there to be some sort of special recognition for their patience and accomplishment, so we planned a “Blessing of the Goats” to be a part of a Sunday service. To make sure the kids wouldn’t forget to come, we told everyone, “It would be very ba-ba-ba-bad if you missed it!”.<\/p>\n

\"Blessing<\/p>\n

When the kids got to church, there were a pair of stuff animal goats sitting on the chancel, and most assumed that was the surprise. After several children read a minute for mission about the Presbyterian Giving Catalogue and how the goats will improve the lives of a family in need, we had a blessing. Instead of blessing the stuffed goats, however, out from the back of the sanctuary came a real live goat from a local farm! So we all gathered around this surprisingly well behaved, large adult goat and said a prayer together that the goats that we purchased would become a blessing for others just as God has been a blessing to us.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

I love the work I do and the people I meet through the Special Offerings program. If you are interested in joining me in spreading the word about our programs, please let me know here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I often have moments that make me think, “I love my job!” One of these was meeting Will Christians, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Michigan. He shared this story with me, and I’d like to pass it along here: “After a whole year of collecting small offerings, the Sunday school class was able… Read more »<\/a>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4,25],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-presbyterian-giving-catalog","tag-solsn"],"yoast_head":"\nA Blessing of the Goats - Where Your Heart Is...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/centernet.pcusa.org\/weekly-offerings\/2014\/09\/30\/blessing-goats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Blessing of the Goats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I often have moments that make me think, “I love my job!” One of these was meeting Will Christians, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Michigan. 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