1) Church Life….We have a wonderful church. We have wonderful fellowship…But people still fall through the cracks – members and visitors…

Part of this is because we have been growing and because we are a transitory church.

Also, our demographic is changing…More college students, more newly married couples, more singles, more internationals (3 new international members as of tonight).

All this means that each of us needs to have a mindset of reaching out and building relationships with those we don’t know especially well and who are at different stages of life than we are…

Suggestions:

• After service, instead of first talking to those you know, make it a point to meet and greet one visitor and one other member you don’t know….
• When a major event happens in the life of a member, good or bad…like the birth of a child or the loss of a family member…even if you don’t know them very well…make it a point to send them an email or a card, letting them know you’re praying for them….
• Strategically consider ways you can serve another member who is at a different stage of life….

2) Church Leadership and Administration…As far as paid staff…We’re too big not to have more staff help; we’re too small to hire it….Regardless, we clearly need it…So, if we continue to grow and we have the resources, I hope we are able to add man power to help us be stewards of our opportunities and resources.

As far as elders…our goal is to bring on 1-3 new ones over the next year.  So being praying for this.

3) Church Ministry
Outreach to Old Louisville beyond the UofL…Riley’s done a great job of getting some traction on this through St. James Art Fair, etc….I think we should pray for more presence and relationships here…Now that I’m living here, and viewed by the community as the official representative, there’s a huge opportunity for me in this….So pray that I’d be a good steward and that God would bless me especially in this.

Direct involvement in international missions…
Many ways to foster this….approach to budget, what we pray for, etc…
Ultimately, I want 3rd to be an active sending church….
And I believe we don’t have to wait 10 years to be a sending church…that There are opportunities now to take advantage of…

The elders have discussed the possibility of our church sending our own team to Asia through the IMB.  There are several reasons for this:

• We have many mission-minded members with interest and experience in Asia, and as a church, we want to be a good steward of his blessings.
• The IMB is moving more toward a model where it works with churches to do this very thing.
• Sending our own team with established relationships, similar approach to ministry makes good sense.

To do something like this takes time and requires people with knowledge and a vision to see it through.  So this May, me, Riley and Adam will be taking what’s called a Vision
Trip to Asia that is being coordinated through the IMB.

The goal of the trip will be to get a sense of the work going on over there…to visit different types of settings — urban,
rural, unreached — and to get a sense of the different challenges each sort of setting poses. The places we target will places where we could possibly send a team.

There’s much more to say here and much more will be said in the days ahead. But I wanted to get this tremendous opportunity on your radar so that we can begin praying
together that God would guide us, give us wisdom, and use us to bring him glory as we proclaim the gospel.

Posted in Articles | Comment on this »