Thoughts From Pastor Steve...

Dear Fellow-Redeemed,

I realized after last month’s discussion at our Voter’s meeting regarding “my” vision for Messiah that there is a need to address this in more concrete terms, so I would like to take a few moments to discuss “vision.”

There are two basic approaches to vision; they are “The Sinai Approach” and the “Team Approach.”1 The Sinai approach is where I, as a Pastor, act like Moses, coming down from on high, stating that I have the vision from God for the future of Messiah!  It’s nice to believe that would take place, but even if it did, the vision would be mine and the only ownership of the vision would be from me.  The second is a process that must take place where collectively leaders from Messiah would come together with me to begin to answer the following question: “What does God want Messiah to be in the next 5 years”.  You see it’s not what “we” want in “our” vision, it’s what do we believe, based upon Scripture, prayer, and the Lord’s guidance that God wants for this church.
(1Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church, “Vision to die for”)

We know the overall marching order for the church on earth comes from Matthew 28 (the Great Commission).  That overall order, as I will restate it, is that we exist only for one purpose: to fully connect people to Jesus now and forever, or as we summarize “Seeking the Lost, Growing the Found.”  But the question of vision is “HOW” do we see ourselves, under God’s direction, fulfilling those marching orders?

The hard part of answering the “what does God want” question is that it takes time, and it is a process that must be invested in.  With that in mind, in the next few months I will be asking specific leaders in the congregation to come together as that team and join me in the process of answering that vision question.  I would like all of you to ask yourselves the same question.  To pray over it, ponder it, to look out over the community and see what need Jesus puts on your heart.  I would like you to communicate those moments to this leadership so that we can see where our Lord might be leading His people.

As that question is answered and begins to take shape, the team will communicate back to all of you to see if this vision motivates and inspires you to take “ownership” of the vision.  This is key to our future here at Messiah because if we as a faith community do not value the vision, we will not be fully engaged in the process of seeing it fulfilled in our midst.  We won’t be willing to make sacrifices in order to see it completed and we won’t be willing to ensure that we can hand it off to the generations to come.

I hope you will take this task for Messiah before our Lord in your prayers.  That you will pray with me that those that are asked to become part of the team will be willing to invest their time in this endeavor.   That you will ask yourself over and over again “What does God want Messiah to be in the next 5 years” and see what answer comes from the Lord.

May we together as the people of God be led in a direction that will allow us to without fear or apology “Seek the Lost, and Grow the Found” for Jesus.