Are we there yet?

Dear LTCC Family,

Are we there yet? 


If you are a parent who has ever taken your kids on a trip, you have heard those words. I got used to telling my sons, “Yup – get out!”.  If you were ever a youth pastor you heard it even more driving the church van. My answer was, “No but we are stopping here for gas and a bathroom break. Be sure to get back to the van soon.” If you are an interim pastor, the conversation can be similar to this. Adults are more patient and diplomatic. They tend to ask when is it we are going to get there? Loosely translated it means when do you think we will get our permanent pastor? My answer is: “It’s in God’s hands, so I don’t know when exactly, but most likely when stage 5 is done. As an “intentional” interim pastor, the plan is for me to take us as a church through 5 intentional stages. They are:

  1. Connect with people/ building relationships: This our foundation - building relationships, clarifying the process to the church leadership, doing listening interviews (our goal was 70-90. we have done 94), forming the transition team (we are finalizing that team now).

  2.  Assessing church health: 

    1. We have received a demographic study on the area within a 20 minute drive of LTCC. 

    2. The ministry inventory report which most of you filled out, just got finished this week. 

    3. The transition team is to begin meeting the 3rd week of September to discover and celebrate where the church has been and what it has done up to this point, as well as celebrate God’s work here. We will delineate existing issues, patterns, the reasons and any unresolved issues that might be impeding LTCC’s progress. The transition team will make recommendations about proceeding. We will be at this stage in mid-September.

  3.  Facilitate action: Using the info from stage 2, the transition team and leadership will determine how to address those recommendations.

  4.  Strategic Planning: The church leadership will work to develop or clarify mission, vision, values and craft a strategy that implements a model for the church going forward. We will be answering as a church – Who are we? Where are we going? How do we get there? This sets the goals for the first year church ministry under the new pastor.

  5.  Pastoral Search team: At this point, we will be prepared by achieving sufficient health, unity and a clear vision for the future. We will put together a search team, train them, bring resources and help get / interpret helping the team where needed. Then we will call and install a new pastor.  

 

You might have heard these steps already, but hopefully this is a helpful recap and also a page you can refer to in the future. We will also have a church meeting on October 1st to update the church body on our progress and to answer questions.

In addition to those intentional steps, we have spent July and August looking at reconciliation and the pursuit of peace in the Sunday morning sermons. It can be helpful to look at the main “take-aways” (Not the titles) over those months:

  1.  We have been changed from worshippers of self to worshippers of God by Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:11-15

  2.  To worship Christ most fully we must show Him in our shared life with the church. 2 Cor. 5:16-21

  3.  Show Christ to those who treat you worst. Mt. 5:43-48

  4.  Forgiving and repenting. Mt. 7:1-6 and Mt. 18

  5.  Make sure you love God’s people sacrificially. Col. 1:24-29

  6.  Fixing conflicts in the church is the business of the people of the church. Phil. 3:17-4:9

  7.  To love as Christ loved is to foster forgiveness as He does. Philemon 1:1-25

  8.  Pray for everyone in your church as if you love them like the most lovely people in your life. 1 Thess. 3:9-13

  9.  Every aspect of our life would be for His purposes. 2 Thess. 1:1-12

 

This Sunday we are wrapping up the Pursue Peace series as we look at Acts 2:42-47. We are looking at what it means to live lives devoted to God and His church. 

Starting Sept 10,  we will begin a study on the book of Titus. This book talks about the basis for Christian living; that our faith is rooted in Christ’s incarnation.  God’s son taking on a human body makes our faith as believers certain and trustworthy.  God poured out His grace on us in Christ cleansing His people from their sin and setting us apart for His purposes. This doctrine points us as a church to right living through theological truth. We want a solid foundation in Christ and to be moved by His grace, to live truly for Him.

Love in Christ for the elders and deacons,

Bob

  

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Bob Slack