Finally Arrived

It is good to finally be here at Morningview Baptist Church and have my feet on the ground. It is even better to be part of the Mornigview family. As part of that family, I am excited about the opportunity to get to know everyone better. I am proud of they have held things together during the interim, and am encouraged by their openness to change. Mt friend Randy Breedlove had long and very successful ministry here and I know he will be missed. However, I am honored to follow him here and I know God has opened a new chapter in the life of this family.

That new chapter offers all sorts of new opportunities and adventures. We have a chance to rethink everything we do, how we do it and why we do it. We have a chance to rethink what family and student ministry is, should be and can be. We have a chance to be the best we can be, and do the best we can do to honor God and glorify him through our lives, our families, and our ministries. When we set our hearts and minds on that, we will find ourselves being transformed by God in our lives, used by God in our families, and delighting in God in our ministries.

In the next few weeks, we will have a great opportunity to get to know each other as God challenges us to rethink what is normal, through Disciple Now 2011. I will be meeting with all of the adult leaders at a Students Leaders Lunch on the 27^th and with the SALT Team on the following Wednesday (March 2), during the small group time (7-8 pm). In the weeks following that, I will be meeting with the Sunday School Leadership Team, FUEL Small Group Leaders, Drama Team, Worship Band, FUEL A/V Team, and other individual teams and leadership groups in order to begin to evaluate each ministry element and develop a comprehensive strategy for moving forward. We also hope to get a chance to meet each family individually over the next few months and we will have a Family Meeting with all student families each quarter beginning with the summer (sometime in May).

I pray this gives you a vision of how we are going to move forward and what we all have to look forward to as a church family as we transition to a Student and Family Ministry Model with family equipping and spiritual leadership as its focus.