This evening I went to a meeting of local Soroptimists. No, it's not a cult. The Soroptimist is an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world. Of course, networking with them seemed like a brilliant idea so I met them at a Chinese restaurant for one of their bi-monthly meetings.

I was immediately blown away by how smart these ladies were. And by ladies I mean 60 years and up. They were funny, personable, passionate, caring, and hilarious. I couldn't help but smile when they passed around the "happy dollar" basket. Everyone could, if they wanted too (and most did) put a dollar or two in and tell the group something that made them happy. Oh man. It was hard not to laugh... but it was so cute.

Another thing that really impressed me was that there was a general sense of trust, fellowship, and unity that came from all of them working together towards a common goal. There was more empowerment and desire to change the world in that room than I find on most mission boards.

Why is that? No one was guilted into being there. No one was putting in their good work for the week because the Bible told them too. They were there because they believed in making the world a better place. They were there because they wanted to be there.

And I could tell. How unfortunate it is that people who give their free time, energy and effort to churches or ministries are not treated like gold. How unfortunate that Christians think that because the Bible tells everyone to do good, they stop appreciating the good that is done. We get used to people being nice to us. We demand people to give up their Saturdays to clean the church. It's commanded and so without thinking we start demanding it.

It's just not right. It's sad to find more acceptance, fellowship and appreciation outside of the church than within it.