Pastor's Circle - Gil McKee

Gil McKee, Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, joined the Pastor's Circle today to discuss how fatigue affects our relationship with God

What makes a good church service?

Just the presence of God. When you walk in a place with the expectation that God is going to be there and meet you, it's just a great thing.

Of course, there are going to be people who come with agendas other than to worship Christ, and I think those people will be out there until Christ returns.

But that doesn't keep us from worshiping and giving God the glory.

I think a lot of people are just tired. Do you ever run into that?

In fact, I run into that myself.

I think what's happened in the church is we've gotten so busy doing church, rather than refreshing themselves by simply being.

I think it's really easy to get locked into that if you're not careful.

What deadens our spiritual sensitivities?

I think we have to simplify our lives. We live in a culture that's packed with so many things we can be a part of, yet we still have the same number of hours in a day that we've always had.

People have to prioritize and make choices between a lot of good things.

A lot of people just don't have time for church, or when they get there, they're just worn out from everything else.

What can we do fix that?

God knew what He was doing when He created the Sabbath, the day of rest.

Very few of us know how to take advantage of a Sabbath, to rest and be prepared for the work the Lord has prepared us for.

We need to evaluate our schedules and priorities, and figure out what we can put aside .

What do we put back into those slots? Some time with the Lord. Time to meditate, time to read the Word.

Would you make the case that prayer and Bible study is invigorating?

No question. And the reality is every day isn't one that you hit a spiritual home run.

But if the first thing you do every day is spend time with the Lord, it's always feeding, always invigorating.

And in the long run, it will make your relationship with Him better.