In the Trinity church family we often refer to ourselves as "The Weird Herd." Here's the story behind that, from a 2008 sermon by Doug Dean...
Just up the road from Four Corners in New London, there’s a field where, once or twice a year, they bring in an odd assortment of grazing animals. Llamas. Miniature horses of some sort (“stubby burros” seems to fit). Some surely-exotic species of sheep. Not your average pasture population.
One morning a couple of years ago as I drove by that field, something besides the makeup of this menagerie caught my attention. Instead of their usual random pattern of grazing, every animal was standing at attention, perfectly still, every one of them pointed in the same direction across the meadow like weather vanes. Instinctively, my eyes followed their gaze to see what had put them on alert. At the far end of the field, running along the fence line, was a deer, a big buck who had gotten himself into the pasture and was trying to find his way out. It struck me how effectively this “weird herd of animals” directed my attention off of themselves and onto “someone” else.
What a great picture of the Church, at least the Church as God designed it. A strange collection of people, with different backgrounds and from different walks of life, a sometimes odd mix of the most unlikely people — a “weird herd.” But to the extent that we all align ourselves to Christ, focusing our hearts and orienting our lives towards Him, the collective impact on those around us will be to direct their attention away from us and onto Him. And that’s the way it should be. In Jesus’ day, John the Baptizer said it well: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) We’re most effective as Christ-pointers when we do that together.