Let's give thanks to the Lord!
Dear LTCC Family,
Let’s give thanks to the Lord!
⚠ Long, exciting read ahead!
Long, because we are being very intentional in this process and seek to communicate the information well.
Exciting, because God is doing a great work and we have the opportunity to watch Him provide the next Pastor at LTCC.
1 Chronicles 16:8 “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!”
We have a choice to make about saying thank you to God, early and often!
Galatians 6:9 "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
We are all anxious and excited to know when God will provide our next Pastor! Let’s emphasize the Sovereignty of God to determine when we are healthy enough to be ready to submit to the leadership of a new pastor and the new pastor, his wife and family are ready and prepared to re-locate.
In the meantime, look at
Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Let’s take a quick look at and celebrate where we have been, where we are and where we are going:
WHERE WE HAVE BEEN
The Interim Pastor Ministries Intentional Process: 5 Stages
Stage 1) Connection - Completed! (Interview, Explanations, Relationships) Thanks for the time to allow me to interview you! What an inspiration that was for me!
Stage 2) Assess church health - Completed! We started the Transition Team. We gave and explained results of MIT Survey. The congregation “did” the Journey Wall and identified LTCC values (existing and desired). We discussed and explained “Life Cycles of Churches.” We ordered and looked at a demographic study of the area. We have also made assessment of the needs/challenges of LTCC with the transition team, the leadership, and the church. We have maintained a relationship with Village Missions, now speaking with our District Representative each month since July 2023. We studied the IPM information on “Why Churches Struggle.” We did a SWOT analysis (Strength/Weakness, Opportunities/Threats). And we prayed together in Prayer Triplets for several months!
Stage 3) Facilitate Action - In Progress! The Transition Team is making recommendations to leadership. For example, we are voting as a church on our recommendations for the Bylaws and Constitution this Sunday. We have recommended action on Intentional Discipleship. That is why we are presently voting on Matt Moench as Family Ministry Deacon who would lead us in Intentional Discipleship as part of his job. This also motivated us as church leadership to account for this in the new proposed budget.
Stage 4) Strategic Planning - In Progress! Clarify new Mission and Vision. Make plans to use this to craft a strategy to implement them. This is an exciting time to shape the future of LTCC together!
Stage 5) Create and Coach the Pastoral Search Team. God knows the timing, but we pray we can start this by the end of June. The process of calling a Shepherd of our souls is so different from hiring an engineer.
We want a man of God who is walking vibrantly with the Lord and meets the qualifications of First Timothy 3 and Titus 1.
We want a man and his family who will become part of our community.
We want a family who will become an integral part of our church family.
We want his wife and children to be delighted to move to Lake Tapps.
It is a prayerful process. It takes time to prayerfully discern the direction of the Lord. We strongly affirm that we trust the Sovereignty of our Lord to guide us in His perfect timing. Keep praying that we will be ready to love and accept a new settled pastor and that He will prepare that man and his family right now to come according to God’s timing and purpose.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
As the Transition Team works through Stage 3 (Facilitate Action) and Stage 4 (Strategic Planning), they are meeting every Monday night for two hours to pray, study and plan. They are eagerly working through the following challenges that became apparent during Stage 2, the assessing church health process:
Breakdown in compatibility. Elders, deacons and all the church need to be in alignment with the specific mission, vision, and direction of that church. When they are not, you can only resolve it by either aligning with or changing those things. Before we started this process, there reached a point where there had been some misalignment. Looking ahead, it seems that our Leadership and TT are in great alignment! Rejoice in what the Lord is doing in the life of the congregation. Pray that we continue to do that and make compatibility a goal as a church.
Confusion / lack of clarity for some regarding our governance model. We are working on bringing clarity to our governance model, explaining how that the lead pastor is “first among equals,” and specifically how he will function as part of the elder team. The Transition Team is working on recommendations.
Wrong order of operations to solve a conflict. The first thing necessary in conflicts is to make sure we are following what the Word says to resolve them. Then we work within our governance until or unless that would be changed. We can always pray and discuss things. We plan to explain and make clear in our documents how we will follow the model of Matthew 18 and 1 Timothy 5 to resolve conflicts. The Transition Team is working on recommendations.
Lack of comprehensive intentional discipleship ministry. This is where Matt Moench comes in, within the context of his job as Family Ministry Deacon. We are also being more intentional already in discipling men to serve as elders. It is exciting to see and participate in the Elder Cohort training that Brian Peterson is doing! 6 men!!
Lack of clear understanding (by some) of the practical ramifications of the need for forgiveness and closure. This seems to have caused some resentment and lack of trust. Our analysis of the results of the tools we have used show that it may have been very small part of our congregation who felt this way!! That is awesome! Still, we have and will continue to help forgiveness and closure be overwhelmingly true of LTCC. We have been praying, preaching, and working to help this happen.
Need for more instances of true forgiveness. Many have resolved conflicts and extended Christ-honoring forgiveness like Ephesians 4:32. We want to do all we can to be able to more easily resolve conflicts and extend that forgiveness. Again, we have been praying, preaching, and working to help this happen.
We are confident that God is leading us in the process of addressing these challenges! The Transition Team has developed the following list of tasks to define when they are done:
When the Transition Team is done making recommendations.
When the church has more elders. We want to have enough help the elder team function to maximum potential without putting the burden on a smaller number for the long haul.
When we have addressed all of the above challenges, equipping the church to make progress to further address any Biblical relationship issues.
When we have completed the first 4 stages of the IPM process.
When the manner in which our elder structure is to operate, is completely clear.
When we have defined church staffing structure clearly. Who reports to whom and how.
When we have clarified the elder vetting process.
When we have developed / adopted a new Mission Statement. This is on the docket for the coming meeting.
When we have developed/ adopted a new Vision Statement that encompasses the time before the pastor gets here through at least his first year. This is meant to help us focus on how we will live out our church values both presently, and in the future.
WHERE WE ARE GOING
The next and final step for the church is to prepare for Pastor “Next” by clearly documenting the title and job description, forming a search team and finally, on-boarding our new Pastor.
In the meantime, don’t “wish away” this journey. If you are not a member yet, join now so you don’t miss out on this exciting time. And together, let's look back at
Ephesians 5:15-17 "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Come to the Annual Member meeting this Sunday January 28th and let’s celebrate together what God has done, is doing and will do.
For the Elders and Deacons who love you,
Pastor Bob