I grieved when our church began chaining our parking lot to keep out the cars of parents who were dropping children off at the adjacent school. The school's parking lot was miniscule, and I saw many near-accidents. I mentioned this to our church leaders, but they told me they'd just repaved the lot and wanted to keep it clean.

The youth pastor and I suggested that we open our lot anyway and offer breakfast bars to the parents. There was no response from the Board.

Our leaders' minds changed when a church across from another nearby school put up this sign: PUBLIC PARKING WELCOME, EXCEPT SUNDAY 6:30–11:30 A.M. JOIN US SUNDAY AT 8, 9:30, OR 11 A.M.

Keeping places neat and clean can become more important than meeting the needs.