I Love the Salad Bar but hate salad

I was studying for our new College Small Group called Deeper on Sunday Nights at Kaffe Bona (91st & Yale) at 8:ooPM (Shameless Plug) and there was a illustration that has been staying with me this week. So I don't get it wrong paraphrasing it I will quote it:

"I love the salad bar. Not the salad, per se, but the salad bar as a whole. There is a huge difference between the two. The salad is green, leafy, and distasteful. That's why I love the (salad) bar. Cheese, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, dressing, ham - all of these things make the salad bearable. Unfortunately, the salad bar dilutes the nutritional value of what is underneath. You have to ask the question: With all the stuff piled on the top, can you really call what is on your plate a salad anymore?

Perhaps, in the church, we have bellied up to the salad bar in terms of the gospel. We have piled stuff on top of the good news, rendering the gospel much less nutritious than it once was, and maybe even making is wonder: Is this really the gospel at all?"
Michael Kelley - The Tough Sayings of Jesus

I have been bombarded from every side today about things that don't matter. We are upset, mad, and fighting about things that God doesn't care about but don't even bat an eye at the FACT that our co-workers, family and friends are going to go to HELL, BECAUSE WE REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM. Please keep in mind that I am not a Pastor, am not called to be a Pastor and really don't care to be a pastor (And The People Said, AMEN) So I really don't care about budgets, WMU, Brotherhood, GA's, RA's; Falls Creek, Super Summer and any other program or new fad that Lifeway, Youth Specialties or Group Publishing wants to put out there as the new flavor of the month. I will use them if they can assist me in ONE THING!

I WANT PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE THE TRUE GRACE AND MERCY OF THE ONE AND ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, JESUS CHRIST AND THEN DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES IF THEY WOULD LIKE TO FOLLOW HIM (PERIOD)

If just want to see lives changed, hearts healed and families restored because of Jesus. Nothing else matters. When it becomes about everything else, we have FAILED and we will continue to fail as long as our focus is on everything else but that.