It’s your birthday. The phone rings. While it could be a family member or a friend wishing you well on your special day, the last thing you might expect to hear is a 99-year-old man on the other end of the call singing “Happy Birthday” to you.
But that’s exactly what happens to those who attend Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Carl Webb has found his purpose, his “call” so to speak, in serving God. And that “call” is to be the birthday crooner of the church.
The letters with an individual check of $50 from Stewartsville Presbyterian Church, made out to every teaching elder in Newton Presbytery, came in the mail in May 2016, near the end of the church calendar year.
Yet six months later, the pastors who received the letters, and those who made the decision to give them, are still talking about them in ways that get at the heart of the gift of giving.
A congregation provides a lesson in extravagant grace
I was having trouble following the conversation of the church vestry. They were speaking rapid Nyanja, and while I could pick out a few phrases, I was unable to keep up with the discussion. I could tell that they were speaking about a man in prison who would soon be released. And as the vestry continued the heated discussion, I filled in the blanks.
