Homer Hickam was a high school student growing up in the small mining town of Coalwood, W.Va. There were few prospects for young men like him except to follow their father's footsteps into the coal mines. Too small to earn a football scholarship, Homer saw no way out of his predetermined life -- until the soviet satellite Sputnik flew over the October sky and changed everything for him. With the encouragement of his teacher, Miss Riley, Homer embarked on a dream to build and launch his own homemade rockets with the help of his loyal friends. Though Homer's father resisted his son's pursuit, Homer persevered and eventually won the State Science Fair. This accomplishment opened the door for him to go to college and to eventually become a NASA engineer. This true story, later turned into a movie called "October Sky," demonstrates poignantly the power of a dream born in a person's heart.Just like individuals need dreams, so churches must dream, as well. Every congregation should be asking questions like, "How can we more effectively reach people before Christ returns? What can we do to make an eternal difference in our community? What is the best way to connect people to Christ's purpose for their lives? How can we assist people in becoming devoted disciples of Jesus?" While these aren't the only questions they need to ask, they are central questions to their mission as a church.
Our staff and I have been asking these types of questions for the past year, searching the scripture for God's design for His church, and planning how to be instruments in His hands to accomplish His "vision." Our motivation is solely that we want to see God glorified through people coming to Christ who will know Him intimately, follow Him faithfully, and exalt Him passionately. And what has come from these discussions and periods of prayer has led us to adopt as our theme for 2010, "Catch The Vision." We want you to see what God has been showing us as we prepare for this New Year of ministry in the Tri-State.
As you might imagine, whenever you are following a "vision" that is born out of God's design for His church, there is inevitably some change that needs to take place. This will not be "change for change-sake," but it involves prayerfully orchestrated adjustments that we believe will improve our outreach to our community and provide for future growth in our church. In part, this involves minor alterations to our Sunday morning service times that will allow room in our auditorium for new people to attend, multiplying the number of small group Bible studies that will enable us to reach out further into our community, as well as some new ventures in introducing people to Christ through servant evangelism. While this is not the totality of our discussions and planning, we believe that these specific changes are essential to our mission for the New Year.
I recognize that all of us have preferences as to the way we like things to be done at church, but should we allow our preferences (traditions) to keep people out of Heaven? Or should we allow tradition to trump the truth? Someone has poignantly said, "It is one thing to have a preference; it is another to demand that one's preferences be honored above the needs of those without Christ." But that is exactly what too many Christians will do in the quest to remain true to their traditions or preferences.
There's a funny little story that illustrates comically what I'm trying to say and it goes like this...
"God gave the new pastor an idea about their church's future. So, he excitedly presented it at the monthly board meeting. After giving his most impassioned plea and really 'selling' the idea, the board voted down the pastor's proposed changes 12-1. The chairman of the board looked at the pastor and said, 'Well pastor, it looks like you've been out voted and since time is up for the evening, will you please close in prayer.' The pastor, not wanting to give up on what he felt God was leading him to do lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed, 'Lord - I know my brothers here do not have the same vision you have given me. Please help them to see that this is not MY vision, but YOUR vision!' At that exact moment, a lightning bolt struck the meeting room table, splitting it in two and knocking all the board members to the floor. As the dust cleared, the pastor looked at the chairman and said - 'So, what do you think about that?' He responded, dusting himself off, 'Well, I guess that makes it 12 votes to 2!'"
That story would be even funnier if it weren't so close to the experience of too many churches. I, nor any member of my staff, would never be so presumptuous as to say that we have a direct revelation from God about every aspect of our ministry expansion for 2010. However, I do believe that God has directed us to reach this Tri-State with the Gospel of Christ and make disciples of all men. In as much as we oppose change solely on the basis that we don't want our comfort zone disturbed or our tradition altered, then we may well be resisting God's purposes for LMBC.
Ask God to help you "Catch the Vision" of what He wants to do through this fellowship in 2010 and commit yourself to trying new things for the sake of people's lives being changed for His glory.
