happy new year
Welcome to the New Year with all its hopes and dreams. Becky and I are delighted to be entering 2010 as part of this congregation that we find easy to love and appreciate. Thank you again for welcoming us. Thanks to you who have stood by Faith during these last three years when times became challenging. And, thank you for your ongoing financial support of Faith. Nothing received by this church, whether the gift be great or small, is ever taken for granted. I promise you that your leadership team is praying fervently that each dollar we spend will be ultimately used to lead others to salvation and growth in Christ.
I’d like to share with you a few of the things I plan to devote significant attention to at Faith in the upcoming year. I don’t know if all these things will occur in the next twelve months, but I do believe they are part of the near-term future plans our Lord has in mind for this church.
One major prayer of my heart right now is for the Lord to fill two crucial staff positions. To be honest, God is impressing upon me that this is to be my top priority. The first opening is for a front office administrative assistant with a huge love for Christ’s church, topnotch computer experience, strong people skills and a definite calling to assist pastors in ministry. This person will play a major role in all aspects of office ministry including materials production, scheduling and organizational facilitation. The other position we are asking the Lord to fill is that of a pastor of worship. This individual will work very closely with me and, most particularly, will allow Pastor Greg to assume his new role as executive pastor. Once this new pastor arrives, the complete pastoral team will be in place and all of us (Aaron, Angie, Gary, Greg and me) can fully focus on our specific areas of oversight while best supporting one another as a team.
Another huge desire in my heart is to see Faith develop an effective model of follow-up to visitors to our church and of evangelism in our community. We will combine these efforts with intentional discipleship. We are seeing new people enter our doors weekly. Therefore, it is essential that we create a strategic follow-up ministry that will lead them to a saving relationship with Christ and into the discipleship/fellowship of our church. This will, of necessity, mean taking steps like starting an ongoing new believer’s class; getting church-wide involvement in small groups; strengthening our current adult classes and creating new ones. Everything we do at Faith needs to have a strategic commitment to both reach those who don’t know Jesus and spiritually equip those who do know Him to become more like Him. God’s plan is to transform us into a church family where we truly are lovingly helping people everywhere become fully devoted followers of Jesus. Indeed, this is our purpose statement. Now it must become who we really are and what we really do!
In this next year, we need to complete the shift from a deacon board to elders. Leadership is always key to the health and vitality of any organization, including the church. God’s Word has given us the pattern of leadership He wants operating at Faith. I am so grateful for our team of current deacon leaders who serve our church very faithfully and who had set the course for this leadership transition prior to my arrival. One of the many aspects of my “call” to Faith from the combined deacon, staff and search teams is that I would lead in developing elders to work with our pastoral staff in guiding Faith to follow the ultimate leadership of Jesus. So, as 2010 progresses, I will be communicating with you what this will look like and how this will all take place.
Most importantly, because it is the key to everything else, in 2010 Faith must take major strides toward becoming a “house of prayer”. This is unquestionably the will of the Lord for us (Luke 19:46). A vital component in this process is the growth and development of our Sunday prayer ministry from 8:15 – 8:45 AM. My dream is to see this 1/2 hour time of praying for Faith become as large a gathering as any worship service we have. Can you even begin to imagine what God would do if we all came to pray and ask Him to “rock the house” (Acts 4:31) each Sunday? Recently I had a first-time participant in the prayer time say that he was moved to tears as he listened to our people ask God to unleash a fresh flow of the Holy Spirit at Faith. This brother is more convinced than ever that the Lord is preparing us for something magnificent in the service of Christ. If you would like to further understand my vision and passion for the ministries of Faith to be ‘prayer powered’, please read Jim Cymbala’s book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. As the book jacket states – You’ll discover what happens when God’s Spirit invades the hearts of God’s people. Please, I’m all but begging you to do everything possible to regularly join with me and the growing band of praying believers on Sunday morning. If we want to see revival fire sweep over Faith then we all have to realize that it will only come from God when we are collectively gathered, united before Him, seeking a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon this people and place! He will send revival, which will be followed by a great harvest of souls, but only as we faithfully and fervently meet Him at His throne of grace.
Whew! You know what? I just read back through my letter and now I am really charged but also really scared. These are huge undertakings! Hey, I need your patience, prayers and participatory partnership. If you aren’t hearing me then let me make it clear … HELP! Seriously, I mean that. Faith is on the brink of being caught up in something that only God can do. Please become part of the great army of people that He will use to do the miraculous … all for His glory and all by His grace!
Happy New Year!
John K. Nagle
Lead Pastor
