Letter to our Precious Seniors
Dear Friends:
I wanted to take just a few minutes this morning and share with you your pastor's heart.
There's so much I want to say and we never seem to have enough time. Most of us are only here a couple of hours a week, but I want to assure you that I am thinking and praying for you, our church, and God's plan for us ...40, 50, sometimes 60 hours a week.
Tho I have been doing ministry 35 years, there are a lot of things I don't know. There is no manual for navigating some of the things we encounter in our world, especially for how to deal with it when it comes to the church. I look back at Covid and thank God for how He navigated our church thru that experience, with great support and adaptability from everyone, especially our senior adults. Many of my fellow pastors lost their churches during the pandemic. The truth is covid was only one experience that caused us to have to change. In fact, it was a stark reminder that the world, our culture, and frankly, how we reach people and how we communicate, is changing daily. Most of these changes come without an invitation from us. They are just a part of life. And HOW we navigate them will determine what kind of future we have.
While as the lead pastor, I want you to know I am deeply concerned about the destination God has for us--I believe He has a great future for us--I am also equally concerned about the journey to get us there.
My heart would be that we would all be happily along for the ride, full of smiles and all of us getting what we want. My heart would be that I would be able to please all of you. But, unfortunately, that is impossible.
I can't please all of you. Our new worship leader, Brandon, can't please all of you. Our new facilities person, Steve, won't be able to please all of us...
One of my mentors growing up used to say, “If you please God, it doesn't matter whom you displease. BUT If you displease God, it doesn't matter whom you please.”
I want you to know that I believe that to be true. My heart is to please God. Even tho, sometimes it hurts because not everyone gets what they want., at least initially.
The heart of your staff is to please God. I believe that your heart... is to please God.
One of the ways in which the enemy can cause dissension is to cause us to NOT believe this about the other person, to believe instead that the other person has an agenda of his/her own. Please believe me when I say, there's nothing here that causes me to stay in this position of ministry more than that one desire to please God. There are a lot of other places I could be.
Another way the enemy can cause dissension among us is to believe what we hear around us, instead of (as my granddad used to say) "getting it from the horse's mouth."
Back in early November, over the course of the first 2 Sundays of that month, 40-50 of our church leadership met together --small group/SS teachers/ board members/ deacons, etc. and we talked more about the TOP 10 things I believe our church needs to do to follow God in to the future. Some of those leaders had asked questions like:
"Why can't we grow over 200 people? What are we doing that is keeping God from blessing us? What do we need to change to reach more people?"
All great questions. After all anything that is truly alive, is growing. And...if we are reaching people with the gospel, we will grow, numerically AND spiritually.
I walked through those things (that TOP 10 List) I believe God had shown me, during a November worship service and it was made available, in print, to the whole church as well as sent out in email. The deacons and staff gave their support of beginning to address those things that were on the list.
(Over the next few months, my plan is to address each one in more detail during the services.)
One of those items on the list was EXAMINING OUR CURRENT MINISTRIES and another was HAVING ONE CHURCH AGENDA. For a church of less than 200 people, we have had some of our leadership teams running ragged doing things that sometimes have had little to no ministry value attached to them. And we have the opposite, where some of our ministries are doing too many things. Someone has to help navigate the effectiveness (or lack of) and help our church steward our resources for maximum gospel impact and discipleship. That is one of the roles of the pastor. Additionally, I want our church to have an increased commitment to multi-generational ministry. That means EVERY age group.
How do we do that? Sometimes it requires stopping for a moment and examining/evaluating what we are doing.
illus : CANT WORK ON A CAR WITHOUT A PIT STOP
Sometimes it requires changing some things, adapting, much like we did during Covid.
illus : NETFLIX/BLOCKBUSTER
With that said, I want to address a few things I have heard and hope to bring clarification on. If EVER you have questions, please ASK.
Ever play that game TELEPHONE as a kid??
1-Bible Study on Wednesdays-Originally when I came to CRBC, we had Wednesday night Bible study; it was ill attended. Someone said "I wish we could do it in the daytime." We did. For a season, pre-covid we would have 22-26 people. Since Covid, we have rarely- even when I was teaching- had more than 8-10 people.
2-Meals-We added some meal times hoping to increase our attendance. It did. For a season, we had Bible study, AND when we would have a meal, we would have a special guest/devotion, etc.
What we had soon morphed into, in the last year, 5-8 people spontaneously for Bible Study and 40+ sometimes if we had food.
What I have said, that has become misconstrued is this:
IF YOU CAN SHOW UP TO EAT, YOU CAN SHOW UP FOR BIBLE STUDY.
CROSS ROADS is NOT the S&S CAFETERIA. While I want us to have fellowship, AND we can, if we are going to gather, we should also be HAVING something of sustenance spiritually, besides the pound cake, which I love.
It's ok to have a meal, occasionally (maybe not once a month), but we should spend the same amount of time/energy/money to grow our spiritual minds/hearts as we do our waist size.
Some have asked or said:
'Who's teaching Bible study?"
'What are we gonna study?"
"How longs it gonna last?"
Beginning January 17, THIS WEDNESDAY, we will meet in the Chapel at 11am. Heath and I will be tag-teaming a study for 4 weeks that we are calling PASSING THE BATON to the next GENERATION.
After 4 weeks, we will be having a VALENTINES LUNCH on February 14.
My prayer/my hope/my request is that we will have as many commit to Bible Study and Prayer as we do show up for our lunch together.
One of the marks of being an older mature person is the assumption (by people) of also being spiritually mature, and I have always treated our Cross Roads seniors with that assumption, right or wrong Many of you have many stories, years of walking with the Lord, wisdom, leadership, testimonies....
as such, let me say this to you....
**Look at this worship center....who in 20 years will be sitting here, if the pastor asks all those who are 55+ to remain after worship??
We who are older have a God-given responsibility, a generational legacy, and an unspoken mandate paid for by the sacrifices of those who have gone before us, to think about that question.
Of all the questions I ask myself every week here in this church, that question is one of the top ones. "To whom we will pass the baton?" That is the definition, by the way, of discipleship.
That doesn't mean our usefulness is over. On the contrary. We are the models that the next generation is looking to. What do they see? Do they see us being faithful for Bible study? Do they see us having a hunger for the Lord? Are we willing to do whatever it takes short of sin to reach them? Are we willing to adapt?
We may change our methods to reach them, but we will never change our message. Jesus is the way.
While we celebrate the legacy of the past here at Cross Roads, I also want to encourage you that God is doing a new thing. He is ALWAYS working. He has not stopped working.
In his kindness, he does NEW things. He has sent us new members.
He has sent us a new Worship Leader.
He has sent us a new Facilities Manager.
He is doing something new. His mercies are NEW every morning.
I want you to know that I can't do what God has called me to do alone.
Every person in this church is needed. I just wanted to tell you this morning that I love you and that you are needed.
By the way, I know the distance to park is a temporary issue, but needs to be addressed.
In case you were unaware, we have had some water issues in the children's area that have flooded some classrooms. We are trying to address that issue so that we can then figure out parking.