No that wasnt how bad the Cowboys lost today…although they did lose today. 82-18 represents the percentage that our church voted to relocate the church out toward the east. Amazing outcome! I am pumped. I know there are those that are scared, worried, confused, but they are all natural reactions/concerns.
A couple of thoughts:
- Pursue Excellence. We do so many things, my question is are we stretching ourselves to thin? We may want to take a look at what we do and release ourselves from doing some things in order to simplify where we minister and become excellent in ministry.
- Nothing is sacred. Over the years, our church has accumulated a lot of stuff. Let’s make sure that we only keep what is vital for ministry and the rest…sell/give away/trash what we dont need.
- Follow the Leader. We’ll all have ideas what to “we should do” or “what we should try.” And I am all for making suggestions, but from here on out…WE FOLLOW THE LEADER. God is the leader of everything, Christ is the head of the church, and OUR PASTOR is the Leaders of the church. Therefore…what our pastor says or where our pastor leads…we follow the leader! Make sense?
- Be willing to try something new. Not a new thought from me, but worth repeating. Just because we have done things certain ways…let’s get outside of our “comfort box” and do what will make us successful. That may require to worship differently, teach differently, meet off site vs on site, and it might mean that we do/try things that make us COMPLETELY uncomfortable. Something to think about.
- Learn the word U-N-I-T-Y. This will be a challenge when you bring people with different worship styles together. But when we unify our congregation to a single vision, we will worry less about how everyone likes to worship and work harder to reach those who have no vision, no hope, and no future. We have been called to come together…will we pick up the phone? As of day one…yes!
There is more to this I am sure, but this is a start! I, for one, am looking forward to the challenges that we are about to face. Sure, we are going to fail at times. We might even lose people along the way. But if we are kingdom focused and passionately driven, then God will make a success of our efforts. But we simply need to rely on his wisdom, strength, love, compassion, and grace.
2 Comments
October 21, 2008 at 2:26 am
Amen brotha,
I’m reminded of the all the churches that lost there buildings due to hurricanes, robberies, fires. You always here of them meeting for church Sunday morning at parks, members back yards, or donated buildings.
I’m also reminded of Moses and the great exodus. I wonder how many people wanted to stay put but kept having to move. I wonder how many people came up to Moses and said I love this place, my kids love this place…etc, but Moses not knowing Gods full plan new he had to keep moving. I wonder how many people he lost along the to the promise land. Maybe God was weeding out the people of weak faith & doubt.
I wanted to say this the day we had the open discussion but for what ever reason I was scarred. Being one of, if not the last families to join Casa View we really felt like God was at work. We tried several churches around town before God LEAD us to Casa View. Being new to Mesquite we prayed that God would lead us to a church where we could involved, a church that had true God fearing Christian (not posers), a church where our kids can grow in the Lord through study as well as meet some good Christian friends, we prayed for a church where Bri & I could meet people with similar situations as ours I.E. young married couples with kids…etc. We prayed for inspiring God filled preacher. Sure we could have gone to a nice big church with all new buildings & stuff, sure we could have gone to a church right down the street, but God LEAD us to Casa View. We knew that Casa Views numbers we’re diminishing, but this is where God wanted us to be. We love it at Casa View, Bri & I have made some wonderful friends. Casa View is, and feels like home, know matter if we’re in a multi-million dollar building or in someone’s back yard.
-Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;
he will never let the righteous fall.
Psalm 55:22 NIV
-So do not worry about tomorrow;
for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 New American Standard Bible
October 21, 2008 at 2:49 am
No…”Amen Brotha” to you!
I wish that more people had your perspective on the church. It will always be about the people. I love the attitude that you possess and there is a lot that I can learn from you!
Always a neat thing that you dont have to be a preacher to teach biblical truths!
So glad that you and Bri (and the kids) have made our church your home!