Vision Sunday (updated)
Vision Sunday is a yearly staple at our church. This year, however, will be the year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of our church. It causes me to stop and evaluate just where we are after so much time. Without a doubt, God has blessed our church! I can honestly say that I could not have scripted where God had brought us and how He has provided.
However, my mind (and it works in a strange way, I know haha) tends to move on to the next year even before we experience 2023. Actually, it goes to 2033. What do our next ten years look like? Will we be thriving and growing, or will we be in existence at all? I hope and pray that answer is growing and thriving! But during this 10-year celebration, I am acutely aware that in order for our church to be thriving in ten years, I need to be doing a lot more than what I’m doing right now, this very day.
I need to pray more than I am now. As a whole, our church needs to pray more together, something that we rarely do outside of the praying we do to start or end a service. I was burdened by the outcome of the last prayer meeting called, which was right before our Revival started. I remember Ed Ward, who is now in the presence of the one he prayed to that night, looking across the table to me and saying “well I guess it’s just you and me!” It was a sweet time of prayer! I know many had things going on that evening, but I do wonder about our view of prayer at Family Baptist. If worry that it’s a “take it or leave it” sort of thing. Is it a ceremonial thing we do at the start and close of service? Jesus is recorded in the NT praying at least 38 times! If the book of Matthew is the longest book that speaks about the life of Jesus, that means that on average, when a chapter was written by Matthew, Jesus prayed at some point during each chapter. Incredible! Our church needs more prayer. Not the “bless the food, bless the services” type of prayer. The “calling our church family out by name, please bring growth and revival to our church” type of prayer.
I need to serve more at Family Baptist. Yes, I’m the pastor and am at the church working almost on a daily basis. However, I still need to SERVE more, outside of my Biblical job as a pastor. We need to start giving back to the church we love so much. Our ministries are working with skeleton crews right now, barely hanging on. Our church building is in desperate need of attention. Our grounds are in serious need of cleaning and repair. We haven’t passed out invitations together as a church in a very long time. The responsibility for all these things rests on our heads, as members and beneficiaries of the blessing of Family Baptist Church. I love Family Baptist. I love what God has given us. However, if we don’t come together and pour our lives into this blessing of blessings, that blessing will be gone. Here is another way of looking at this. This Sunday when you pull up to the church, become a first-time visitor! Act like you are seeing the church building and property for the first time! Act like you are meeting the people and learning about the ministries for the first time! Then ask yourself this question: did that church have its act together, or was it lacking in some areas? If the latter is your answer, then find a place to jump in and serve!
Let me tell you the truth about our church. We have enormous potential. Over my years of growing up in a church ministry home and going to Bible college, I can safely say that I’ve personally visited somewhere between 75-100 different churches and have seen their ministries. I’ve spoken to and heard from hundreds of pastors all across the nation about their churches and ministries. I’m convinced that our church has a potential that most churches do not have! I’m convinced that our church has an attitude and spirit that most churches do not have. I’m convinced that, if we come together and invest in this church, we can see God move and work in a great way that many churches will never see. And maybe we will not only be around in ten years but be twice or three times the church we are now! I hope that you prayerfully consider what you need to do this year and in the next ten years to keep Family Baptist strong and thriving! Vision Service always helps me do that very thing.