ehm... what time did you say dinner is? i don't want to be late.
Around here it's a minimum of a 90-120 minute drive to anywhere to get to a nice restaurant....
Doesn't mean that people don't know or don't like meals like that....but the talent pool for such things is low. There aren't many restaurants to start with that aren't fast food, fried chicken, or barbecue.
Meaning...I'm the talent as a former professional. And a nice meal is a great draw for people. And a means to getting to know people. Pastors are busy...they get harassed non-stop by members and non-members alike. People preach at them, gossip, and tell them what they or someone are doing wrong.
But I just want to be a friend....ask a few questions. Just talk about fun stuff. Talk shop from a different perspective. Talk about his daughter's upcoming wedding. And all inside the privacy of my home without him having to be on stage and performing. So he can speak candidly and openly without repercussions.
Best way to do that is over dinner....and to be distracted by it to the point he can relax. We are deep in the country....and for whatever reason people do a lot of "close enough" when it comes to things....including food. I don't think that way. I'm extremely militant and exacting. It's either perfect or it's wrong. No worse than putting pornography on a church wall....just wrong as wrong can be.
And....my wife and I are working on a project of a curriculum to teach hermeneutics. Both inductive and deductive methods. Which materials and resources to use and how to vet resources so you don't get caught up in someone's pet theology. To where you can do Doctoral level research on your own of the scriptures. And we will need to teach the first one but then...we want others to teach this stuff. We want him to look it over and promote the class. We are not going to teach any theologies at all. We will assume the class has some.
It's taking time to put this together...and others have tried but done a poor job of it. We are looking at their stuff as a backdrop...but shaking our heads in wonder at it. I have my own library of resources....done things on my own....so people can look firsthand at them.
So....after a nice meal....maybe he will think we can do what we are suggesting we can do.