Present now. Embracing Hope for the Future.
Celebrating with Josh Goodlett! I'm so thankful for Josh! More than that, I'm thankful for his obedience to what the Lord is doing in his life right now! What an honor it was to get to celebrate his baptism! Welcome brother! Let's keep joining Jesus on the outside.
Growing leaders are a huge source of encouragement! Marideth did a great job communicating our next step of being part of Love Shelbyville Day on July 27! She's grown a lot this summer! It's encouraging when people grow and step into leading themselves and others well. We're looking forward to another intern this fall. And that has me thinking about several new Community Group leaders who are growing as they prepare for the fall. I could keep going! And that's encouraging! If you want to get in on the action, know that any good leader has to first lead themselves well.
One last word on commitment.. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't find myself sharing with someone not a part of our church how thankful I am for our church. You love me. You extend grace to me. And you sharpen me! All of those are great gifts! I'm commited to loving you and serving you all to the best of my ability.
That reality with some helpful feedback left me needing to communicate one last word on commitment after yesterday's sermon.
I would never want to cheapen Christ’s love for us - he modeled commitment for us because he loved us. Not the other way around.
Any commitment we make or keep is only possible because of Christ enabling us; so any growth in your ability to commit will come only because you’re depending on the Messiah more.
Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB) frames it well:
1Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Pace of Progress Several weeks ago we announced that we were preparing to make some renovations to the building that converted our office space into a nursery to accommodate the growing preschool ministry. (Statement I read in the Gathering). As with many renovation projects, the pace of progress is slower than we might have imagined, but it continues to churn forward. Thank God for the reminder that our timing is not his. So often in spiritual leadership we can be tempted to run at our pace and miss the opportunity to minister to people in the process.
With all that said, we're hoping to start to "see" some of these next steps in the space soon!
Routine is on the Horizon I woke up this morning, and whether I liked it or not, I started feeling the reality of all the things coming with the start of school. I ran into a former elder this morning and we chatted about the reality that routine is on the horizon as we start embracing the end of summer. No need to rush through any of that! Just staying present in now while embracing the hope of the coming days. For the church, I'm getting excited for several things..
Community Groups will re-launch.
We're preaching through a vision series entitled "The City that is to Come" starting August 17 that I'm incredibly excited for.
We're working on several projects to help celebrate 15 years of ministry for CCC this October and dream about the next 15.
Our leadership teams are envisioning ways to better work together to serve and care for our church family while moving the mission forward.
2 more international mission trips.
It's just an exciting time! So with routine on the horizon, let's prioritize Jesus. Both personally and with one another. He's worth it.
