For some time now, I have been wondering exactly what my role should be during this time of transition in our church. My wife and I are planning to move to Lafayette, Indiana to plant a new church, but Northwest Baptist is letting us stay here for some time during our fundraising efforts.
I’m truly grateful for them allowing us the freedom to minister here and do our fundraising too. I think it is providing a great opportunity for this transition to go well.
Therefore, I have been really wondering what God’s will is for us during this transition, and I think I have received an answer from him.
Tonight, I was just taking my 30 minutes in prayer, and as I was praying, I was asking God why I am so drawn to distraction. Really, computer programming has captured my attention in the last year, and I keep coming up with ideas for ways to improve the church’s computer systems. Then, I really want to implement them ASAP.
So I was asking God why it is that I am so drawn to that, and he reminded me that computer stuff is fun for me, and it is an easy way for me to get a sense of accomplishment, but tonight, he revealed something new to me about it. You see, the way it works for me is that I will get a flash of an idea for something that should be done to improve something, and then I will start brainstorming ways to make it happen, and then I will be so interested in it that I will jump into it and put all other responsibilities on hold while I work on that.
However, the real thing is that computer projects like that give me a sense that I have a mission, and so God asked me, what my mission in the church was? Was my mission to improve the technology of the church office?
Instantly, I had a thought in response. My mission is to leave a legacy of spiritual hunger for God.
Now, that is an incredibly bad way of wording it, but the point is that I want to leave this church and the people of this church with a strong sense of hunger for God. They don’t need to feel hungry for my ministry, for sermons, for a particular song, or anything else. They need to feel hungry for God.
I feel energized and ready to tackle this challenge. And knowing that I have this challenge in front of me, I feel empowered to avoid some of the distractions.
To that end, these are some initial thoughts for what I should be doing over the next couple of months.
- Invest energy in making sure the Sunday service is a great experience for people—that it leaves a good taste in their mouths for God.
- Teach messages that proclaim the greatness of God and our need for him.
- Spend personal time giving people individual challenges to evaluate their own need for God.
I may have to add to this list as the weeks progress, but let me ask you to pray for me that I will keep this mission in front of me, strategize it well, and be an agent of people becoming more hungry for God.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled!”
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