goals

What’s Happenin’? I’m writing this at my desk the day after President Obama’s inauguration. It certainly was an historic event for our nation and world. It was very surreal to see President Bush and his wife get on the plane for Texas and to leave their responsibilities as president and first lady. When President Bush was first inaugurated, Pam and I did not yet have any children (we were pregnant with Leah) we had been married less than four years and I was still serving at the first church I had been appointed to. Everything seemed so new to us. I think about all that has happened in the eight years since, both good and bad, for our country and for our family. Sometimes there is just a need for a fresh start, a new direction and bold leadership. My prayer is certainly that President Obama and his administration can bring those things for our country. I also pray that I can bring that to my family and to all those I influence. I pray that you can too. In order to be those kinds of leaders and live those kinds of lives we need to set goals for ourselves. In last month’s issue of the newsletter, I talked about the importance of goal setting in our development as people and as a church community. I told you I would share those with you in this issue, so here they are:

Personal Goals:

1) Be a better self-leader. For me, this means being more proactive in my life. Instead of reacting to life as it comes to me, I am setting the tone for my life. This means scheduling my time – both privately and professionally, so that it is used to its fullest potential. As a parent of young children this is challenging and I’ve already seen some ways that I’ve failed at this. I continue to press on because I know that I am best used for God when I control my time. This includes personal worship time, exercise and family time.
2) Remember that my family is my first ministry priority. In I Timothy 3:5, Paul asks “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?” This really hits home on some days. Sometimes I find myself getting so excited about what’s going on with the church that family gets neglected. For me, this includes regular dates with Pam and Leah and roughhousing and hanging out with Alex. They need to know and understand the abundance of God’s love for them and the world we live in. As co-leader of my household, this must be a priority.

Journey Goals:

1) To truly become a church that sees itself as partners with God in helping to restore the world. We need to understand our unique calling as a body of people – to help bring people into the glorious light of Jesus by who we are and how we live. Understanding that what we do matters and that we can have a great impact. My goal is to make this clear through the vision for ministry that God has given us.
2) To create a culture of leadership. This means helping all followers of Jesus see that they have been uniquely gifted by God to lead and to serve. When people’s eyes are opened to this reality, I believe a movement is created that cannot be stopped. God desires passionate leaders who care about this world and the people in it and who are willing to give of themselves sacrificially for His cause, which is so much greater than who we are individually. When people begin to understand this and live this kind of lifestyle, watch out…

So, there ya go. How about you? What goals did you make? Post them where you can see them regularly and they can remind you of who you are and what you want to be about. The life God has given us is precious. Let’s make the most of it!

a new feeling

It's interesting to me how change on a national level can be so powerful that it trickles down to the small communities that inhabit our nation. Sunday morning was a great time for me and the community I "do life" with - The Journey. It just seemed that with the combination of the recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and the forthcoming inauguration that there was a real sense of hope and gratitude in the air. Worship seemed to be especially powerful (even though our worship leader didn't get home until 4am that morning) and the teaching really focused on the power we have as followers of Jesus when we gather and serve with one common purpose. There really is strength in numbers. There really is power in unity. We remembered the call of Dr. King and of our new president to come together as one people to combat the problems that ail our nation and our world. We also remembered the call of our Lord Jesus to come together as one so that the world might know we are his. In Jesus longest recorded prayer, in John 17, He says: " I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

These are very powerful words. The world will know who we are and whose we are when we come together in unity. Churches talk about evangelism, but I don't know of any greater tool of evangelism than joining together in unity over our one common cause. We know that we live in a broken world and that God has called us to help him heal the brokenness - to heal the sick, to visit the imprisoned, to feed the hungry, to set the oppressed free, to love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable. In all these ways we introduce people to The Great Liberator and Healer, Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church, and we are the body. A body cannot live without the head and the head cannot operate without the body. Jesus has chosen us - yes, us - to be the instruments he uses to bring about his vision for the world. So, can we let go of the things that divide us and concentrate on the one who has called us - Jesus - and what he has called us to - unity? For some people that seems impossible. Maybe I'm just the eternal optimist, but with the events of this past week, I have hope. I have hope that we can let go of the things that are temporary and cling to the things that are eternal. I have hope that we can let go of things that, in the economy of God, don't really matter so that this world can see what matters most. I've been inspired this week, and I hope you have too. Let's re-evaluate what is worth dying for and what we can let go of so that we might become one in Christ, for the glory of God and for the sake of our world.