Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday had much excitement. We celebrated the 100th Anniversary of our denomination. We had pointed toward this day for a month. We had Sunday School lessons that dealt with our history and theology for the past month. It was very interesting and thought provoking. We focused just on our worship service. We had a carry in meal after worship and provided the meat, drinks and dessert to make it easier on families and new people. There a lot of excitement and anticipation as the service began. We opened with a very upbeat special song by a trio and people really got into the song. Our music went well and the band sounded good, even with 2 key band members gone.

My message was about glancing back and moving ahead. We looked briefly at our history, the foundation laid for us and then focused on our plan to move ahead. The focus was on our discipleship process that centers around 4 words, reaching, connecting, growing and serving. Everything needs to be measured against these words. We must reach the people around us through relationships, genuine relationships. We must connect to these people, help connect them to others and most importantly move them toward connecting with God. There must be growth, spiritually as individuals and a church. If these things are happening then there will be some numerically growth as well, but that is not our focus. Serving is the key. We must have servant hearts and truly look to serve others, especially those outside the church. All of these interconnect and are a continuous cycle. The challenge was on whether or not we will commit to this process. The wonderful history we enjoy is because of those who made this commitment before us. The question is what we will do with the opportunities in front of us.

We had all kinds of technical problems and last moment adjustments because because of technical or people issues. That made for me being frustrated, but the bottom line for the day was good. Our attendance was disappointing given the build up for the day. But again, it was a very good day.