Here is an email I had in my in box yesterday.  It is powerful so I wanted to share it.  I have removed the names for sake of confidentiality.

Jimmy,

Hey just wanted to say I loved the point you made yesterday about how each and every individual’s decisions or actions  impact the church.  I don’t think that can be said enough about the body of people in a church.  We all need to hear that on a regular basis!  I don’t think as humans we can really grasp the master plan God has laid out for all of us.  It’s so heavy the impact small decisions we make can alter the lives of so many without them even knowing.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that time several years ago that I came to your office and presented you with that letter I received.  The letter was about a conversation someone overheard.  Three men in the church “supposedly” said I was caught drinking.  You probably don’t remember that but that was such a pivotal time in my walk.  Satan was really working on me and I was losing faith in everything I had ever loved and been taught.  That was the final nail in the coffin having these these guys that I totally loved and respected gossiping about me with people in the church for something I didn’t even do.  I completely lost faith in the church and the people in it.  You nailed it a few weeks ago when you said you hoped that if people had a problem with you doing something that they would came directly to you instead of gossiping.  For a long time I used that instance as an excuse to not attend any church and when you said that a few weeks ago all those negative feelings rehashed.  That was the same day you called me and asked what I thought about your sermon.  Strange how God works!!  You guys probably had no idea the impact that had on my life just by those tiny actions.  I harbored ill feelings toward you all for the longest time; up until that week I made a decision to give myself up a few weeks ago.  Felt good to let it go and ask for forgiveness.  I just wanted to apologize to you for my part in that.

Also I just wanted to let you know you are doing an incredible job conveying messages to me right now, and I can’t be the only one.  God is really using you!

I appreciate you man,

Confidential

We all need to be reminded how dangerous gossip is.

James 3:4-6 (New International Version)

⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.