Here’s my quarterly update for next Sunday’s business meeting…

Last month’s election was very eye-opening. We saw two states legalize marijuana, several more states redefine marriage, and a President be re-elected who openly supports homosexuality, mandatory abortifacients, vast government expansion, and a liberal Supreme Court. The results of the election were like an x-ray revealing a body full of cancer.

The days are increasingly evil (Eph. 5:16), but God has raised up our church for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). In a nation plagued by spiritual disease, we have the remedy – the healing power of the gospel. Let’s stay focused on our mission to “make disciples of Jesus Christ by reaching and teaching everyone.” As we love God and love others, we can help many more people find hope in Jesus.

God is faithful and mighty. He is not bound by the government, by the media, by terrorists, or by the economy. He is sovereign over these things. In fact, since the “Great Recession” began in December 2007, our church’s weekly attendance has nearly doubled (from 44 to 83) and our financial situation has dramatically improved. We have watched God do the impossible, and all glory goes to Him.

But I pray this is only the beginning. As a tree becomes strong and healthy, its fruit should multiply. This next year, we hope to expand our missions support, community outreach, youth ministry, music ministry, Spanish ministry, and leadership development. As you will see later in our business meeting, our 2013 budget changes reflect many of these emphases.

On a different note, I asked everyone at our last business meeting to pray about what you can give to support our ministry. I am pleased to report that September and October were very strong months, though November was down a bit. As we approach a new year, let’s all take time to review our budgets and ask how we can increase our offerings to the Lord.

Finally, I would ask your prayers for me as I plan next year’s California Southern Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference. It will be on Oct. 21-22, 2013 in El Cajon, CA. Our theme is “Betrothed: a Call to Sanctification for Christ’s Bride.” My goal is to encourage pastors to persevere. Ministry includes many trials and setbacks along the way. But we must always keep in mind the ‘big picture’ of what Christ is doing. He is daily sanctifying His Bride through the water of the Word. This is a gradual work often measured in years and even decades. Like the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 11:2, ordinary pastors have the joy of serving Christ by preparing His bride for a glorious reunion. I currently have Dr. Russell Moore and Dr. Walter Price as keynote speakers, and have a request in with Dr. David Jeremiah. Please pray for God’s wisdom and provision, and that many pastors will be encouraged.

Every October 31, hundreds of kids walk through our neighborhood with their parents for trick-or-treat. (We weren’t prepared our first year, but we quickly learned to stock up on candy!)

We’ve always seen this as a great opportunity to reach out to our neighbors and be generous toward them. After all, it’s not often that 500 people walk down our street and knock on the door. We want to seize this chance to talk with neighbors and represent Christ in our community. Occasionally, we even see kids who have visited the church or attended our VBS program.

Last year, we tried something new, and it was a big success. With the help of a couple volunteers, we set up a table in our driveway and added free bottled water and hot chocolate to our standard fare of candy. Many parents responded, “Wow! Thanks so much! What a great idea!” One mom said they were looking for a church and visited First Southern.

This year, we’d like to do it again. We plan to have a table set up with water, hot chocolate, candy, and gospel tracts. We will also put a label with church information on each water bottle and on the back of each tract.

Please pray that we will be able to have some good conversations and that we can be salt and light on a typically dark holiday.

If you would like to donate toward this event, you can bring water bottles and candy bags to the church, or simply donate online to the church and write “Halloween Outreach” in the comments line.

Here’s an update I shared at our quarterly business meeting last Sunday, including some praises and upcoming prayer needs for our church…

Fall is here! As the days grow shorter and students head back to school, fall is a good time to stop and review our ministry goals for the coming year. A couple weeks ago, I met with our deacons for our annual prayer and planning retreat. Here are some opportunities we see on the horizon and invite you to pray with us:

• With Gordon Gill and Dan Bentley stepping down from deacon ministry for health and scheduling reasons, we plan to add one or two new deacons to our ministry team next year. We look forward to presenting these names for consideration as we get closer. 
• Shepherding and care for the Body of Christ is a high priority for our leaders. We have updated our Care Group Ministry and Prayer Chain, and are encouraging every member to belong to a Small Group at the church (e.g. Life Groups, Wednesday night study, 29 Palms Bible Study, Men’s or Women’s Fellowship). We also hope to add a Young Adults Bible Study to our list of available Bible Studies on Sunday mornings.
• It seems the Lord may be opening the door for a Spanish Bible Study sometime soon. This is an exciting development that would help us share Christ’s love with an entirely new demographic of our community. 

With Natalie’s improved health, we’ve been able to show more hospitality in our home. We host lunch on the first Sunday of each month for any young adults and singles. We’ve also been hosting several equipping classes in our home, and this seems to be working well. Our Sunday afternoon Baptism Class wraps up next week, then we’ll begin another New Members class in mid-October. Several attenders have already signed up. We’ve also been meeting with several young couples for marital/pre-marital counseling. It’s a joy to connect people together and to equip families in our church in a more relaxed setting.

After our study of the Lord’s Prayer concludes, I plan to preach a series on the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah has been called “The Gospel of the Old Testament.” He is quoted more by Jesus Christ than any other prophet, and is essential to our understanding of the Messiah. I’m excited to dive into this series later this fall and into the Christmas season. On Wednesday nights, we’re wrapping up our study of the Spiritual Disciplines and are beginning a new series on Basic Christian Beliefs. You won’t want to miss it.

Lastly, I encourage you to keep giving generously to the Lord’s work. Though attendance remained strong through the summer, our giving noticeable declined. We have some exciting opportunities for ministry growth and facility improvement. Often, money seems to be the only thing holding us back. As soon as funds are available, we are ready to fix our sanctuary ceiling, patch our Bldg. C roof, improve our sound system, repair bookcases in my study, increase missions giving, and create a permanent line item for internships. The church has also fallen behind several months in paying my family health insurance. If giving could increase by $2,000-3,000 per month, all these goals could be met. Please pray what the Lord would have your family to give. Every dollar makes a difference and brings glory to God.

Whenever I teach a membership class at our church, I encourage each member to get involved and not stay on the sidelines. If you have a humble and teachable heart, you will grow rapidly by doing three things in the local church. We call these the “A-B-Cs” of church membership:

Attend our Sunday morning worship service (Ac. 2:42; 20:7). This is the highlight of our week. it is a time to express our love for God as a corporate body, listen to expository preaching, give our offerings, observe the ordinances, sing, pray, and fellowship together.

Belong to a Small Group. Sunday worship is great, but we also grow through deeper relationships and relevant teaching in a smaller setting (Heb. 10:24-25).

Connect to a Ministry and use your spiritual gift to serve others (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11). Find at least one ministry where you can begin serving as soon as possible. These may include music ministry, office help, maintenance, ushering, audio/visual, social coordinator, children’s ministry volunteer, visitation, etc.

This fall, the deacons and I are spotlighting the letter “B” in this list. We want to encourage every family to get involved in a small group. Several of these are are available. Life Groups meet every Sunday at 9:15 am. Bible Study & Prayer is Wednesday at 6pm. Plus we have Men’s & Women’s Fellowship one Saturday morning per month. I don’t expect everyone to attend all of these. But I do encourage you to choose at least one.

Our Sunday morning Life Groups are especially strategic because everyone is already at church and youth & children’s programs are available. If the Lord wills, we hope to add a Young Adults Life Group and a Spanish Life Group in the coming months. But don’t wait to get involved. We already have two great adult classes on Matthew and Mark for you to attend. Come join us this Sunday at 9:15. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help your family get more involved.

Related Posts:

• 10 Ways to Cultivate Fellowship
• Sunday School in the 21st Century
• Life Groups at First Southern Baptist Church

Here’s my Pastor’s Update from our quarterly business meeting yesterday…

Praise the Lord, we’re making progress in our mission to “make disciples of Jesus Christ by reaching and teaching everyone.” Worship service attendance is growing and we have several who are moving toward baptism and membership. More people are participating in Wednesday night Bible Study, and we have an average of twenty visitors to our website or podcast every day. We are also reaching our community by handing out free water and flyers at local events and have been able to minister to grieving families by hosting memorial services.

Four issues that need our special prayer are: children’s ministry, spacing issues, leadership development, and mercy ministry. We are noticing more and more families visiting the church looking for a children’s program and we need wisdom how to minister to these families. As attendance grows, we’re also feeling the space limits of our sanctuary, and that our current leaders are getting spread very thin. These are wonderful problems to have! Long-term, we also need to find a way to show the love of Christ in our community and find a holistic, biblical approach to help people with financial need (Soup kitchen? Homeless shelter? Rehab ranch? Food pantry? Job skills training?) Please partner with us in prayer over these opportunities.

As you know, we’re approaching the end of our series through 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings. I have enjoyed this book immensely and am praying for where to head next. Some of the top contenders are Ecclesiastes, 2 Corinthians, and Titus. Look for a series on Prayer in late July, then a brand new expository series to begin sometime this fall.

March and April were a challenging time for our family as Natalie began to experience fatigue, shakiness, dizziness, and dangerously high blood pressure. This led to many doctor visits, tests, and two late night visits to ER. I’m reminded how blessed we are to have family health insurance. Insurance is a significant cost to our church, but it has saved our family tens (maybe even hundreds) of thousands of dollars. Thank you for obeying God’s word and giving “double honor” to those who labor at preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17) so I can care for my family and give adequate attention to the ministry. We will continue to keep everyone updated as Natalie meets with the endocrinologist and we learn more about her condition.