Bravely Onward!

When I was only 13 years-old, I damaged my knee in a sledding accident and I had to have surgery to repair it. I don't remember much about that day in the hospital, but I do remember learning that my youth pastor came to the hospital during the surgery to see how I was doing and to sit with my parents. I remember thinking, "Wow! He must really care about me because he came to the hospital to see me!" A phone call or get-well card would have been nice, but his willingness to take the time to come to the hospital in person made me feel very special and loved. Being present is of central importance in relationships. It's how we show people that they matter to us. Think of the reasons why you go to your friend's party for her one-year-old. You go in order to show your friend that she is important to you. You show up because you know that you are important to your friend. It's the relationship that gets you there (although the birthday cake might have had something...

Church Family, One of my greatest joys is getting to watch people in our church grow in Christ. The way that we know people are growing is that they obey the commands of Christ.  Consider these expressions of obedience by our people... Many in our church are growing in their faithfulness to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Since January 1, fifty-nine of our church members have shared (or at least attempted to share) the gospel at least once. This is almost 20% of our church! I have watched some of our people share the gospel for the first time. I've seen others make evangelism a regular practice.  These fifty-nine have shared the gospel an amazing 634 times since January 1! People are responding to this evangelism by believing in Christ and being baptized. Since January 1, we have baptized 22 people! This is over 10% of our regular Sunday attendance.  How exciting it is to watch God's people obey Christ and make disciples! This said, we have a bit of an inconsistency....

I am always inspired by the generosity of our church membership! It amazes me that so many people would give so much because they want to see the kingdom of Christ advanced. We want to see our gifts contribute to the spread of the gospel and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We want to see people trust Jesus as Savior and Lord as we have! To all of our members who give faithfully, thank you for giving to the Lord.  For many of us, we are glad to give, but if we're honest, we have little idea what happens to these gifts after we give them. In this post, I want to demystify the process by which our gifts turn into resources for ministry. Today, I just want to talk only about giving which is applied to the annual budget (a.k.a., undesignated giving). As I've mentioned in other posts, our church is an autonomous and self-governing church. In part, this means church members decide how to apply their gifts toward the ministry of their church. The way that the membership does t...