Last Sunday as I drove back from our state convention in Ocean City I passed the time by listening to a message Bill Hybels delivered at this year’s Leadership Summit. In part of the talk Hybels invited his hearers to compare two purchases made by his late father. The FIRST happened when Hybels was a little boy and his father, who was very wealthy, heard about a racing yacht that was for sale in Ireland. The senior Mr. Hybels decided to buy it sight unseen and, taking some friends with him, he flew to Ireland and sailed it back home—all the way across the Atlantic, then up the St. Lawrence River to Lake Michigan where they lived in the Chicago area. For decades that sailboat became a source of great family fun. Summers were spent on that boat. Hybels himself learned to sail on it. When his father died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 52 the family decided that keeping and maintaining the boat would be too costly so they sold it. The boat passed from owner to owner and one day about twenty years later Hybels saw it in a boat yard. It was in very bad shape. In fact the man who owned it said Hybels could have it for a dollar. All he had to do was haul it away. It would have far too costly to fix it up—so he let the offer go.
The SECOND purchase happened a few years before his father’s death. By then his son was the pastor of Willow Creek and the Mr. Hybels senior bought a tract of land in Illinois—he gave the land to Willow Creek in the hopes that the church could build a conference center there—like our Skycroft—which they did. Hybels said that over the years retreats and conferences were held there. Hundreds of people gave their hearts to Jesus on that campus. Families made special eternity-impacting memories on those retreat grounds. People were called to ministry there. People grew in their faith there.
Now—let’s do what Hybels asked us to do. Compare and contrast the purchase of the expensive sailboat—with the purchase of the land. The sailboat—even though the family enjoyed it—ended up rotting in a boat yard, worth less than a buck. The land—well, it still impacts eternity to this day. Which is worth more? It’s obvious to anyone with eternity in their hearts that the purchase of that land has had FAR greater value—because the things that happen on that campus impact eternity.
Next year we—the people of Redland Baptist Church—will celebrate five decades of doing things of eternal value together on THIS property—THIS acreage. We will celebrate fifty years of the special caliber of fellowship that comes from doing God’s will TOGETHER—using this campus as a place where things of eternal significance have happened over and over again. Like that acreage in Illinois our campus it literally priceless.
We’ve set aside a special weekend to rejoice over this fact—September 29-October 2. Put on your calendars or smart phones or I-pads or whatever—because you don’t want to miss it. We’ll enjoy great food in the way that fosters times of sharing memories of all that God has done these five decades. We’ll enjoy a concert by the National Christian Choir. We’re inviting all former staff back. It will be a great time—more details to follow.
But my thought is that since this is such a milestone—half a century—we won’t limit this to a three day CELEBRATION. No—we’ll take the entire year—not to have a lengthy party—but rather as a time to remember the things that helped Redland Baptist Church to take root and grow—while at the same time looking at the new heights of ministry God is calling us to in the next 50 years—hence our vision theme for 2016: “Roots and Wings.” With that in mind, take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians 3:14-21.
Ephesians 3:14 – For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 – from Whom every family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name,
16 – that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 – so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 – may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 – and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
20 – Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
21 – to Him be the glory in the church—and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
This week I looked up the history of our little hamlet—Derwood—and I learned that it was born as a stop on the B & O Railroad in 1886—a stop called “Derwood Station.” Here’s a picture. The area was first referred to as “Deer wood” for understandable reasons but somehow when they named the station an “e” was dropped and the words were combined to become Derwood. Well, apparently some of the people that got off the train at the DERWOOD station STAYED because gradually a small community took root and began to grow. But then in 1954 a fire destroyed the station and it was never rebuilt. Derwood’s growth slowed. In fact, you could say fairly accurately that Derwood didn’t start REALLY growing again until another “train” came here—the SHADY GROVE METRO.
I share that bit of our REGIONAL history because in the same way that Derwood grew as a “way-station” Redland Baptist Church has done so. For most of its five decades families have come and gone from here as Uncle Sam or contractors that worked for him have moved them around—and this accounts for our very high turnover rate.
I thought of illustrating this fact by listing some of the families who have transferred out just this year but let’s do something else. How many of you have been members or attended here less than 5 years? Could I have a show of hands? How about ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years? Forty years? Do you see my point? I think it’s pretty obvious that the vast majority of you were NOT around fifty years ago. Sadly, we only have three charter members still with us—Buddy and Barbara Young and Margaret Peters.
With that in mind—I think it would be good for us to review our history as a church. So, here’s a quick summary that I pieced together by looking at old directories and by leafing through some dusty files. As I review our history I want you to listen for our ROOTS—the things that helped Redland to grow into the vibrant community it is today. Okay—here goes.
Three years before our church was planted—in 1963—The First Baptist Church of Rockville borrowed money from the Home Mission Board of the SBC—to purchase six acres on Muncaster Mill Road for use as a future church site. The land sat there for three years and then in March of 1966 the seed that would become Redland was planted in a “home fellowship” that was started by a small group of Christians—believers who felt called to share the love described in our text—God’s love that is so great it “surpasses knowledge.” The first Sunday School was held three months later on June 5th —at the home of Dee and Joe Scott on Parkmill Drive in Derwood. This time not a handful—but 21 people were present.
Well, by October of that year the Sunday School—that “seed” had grown such that it no longer fit in the Scott home so they “transplanted it” to Mill Creek Elementary School—and at the same time Morning Worship began. Worship necessitated a pastor, so Redland called their first—a man named Hinkley—hopefully no relation to the presidential assassin! Hinkley resigned in March of 1967 and Redland was without a pastor for 15 months.
Even though they were without a pastor Redland knew they would need one so early in 1968 in faith they borrowed $50,000 to pay off the Home Mission Board and build a parsonage—their first structure—which is our current office building. This explains why Bobby’s closet is cedar lined! In June of that year Bob Rich was called as the first FULL-TIME pastor. To help cover the first pastor’s salary Redland received financial help from other churches—FBC, Rockville, Wiley Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas—and the Abilene Baptist Association. I believe pastor Rich must have helped secure these funds because he was from this part of Texas.
Well, that fall Redland continued to grow—such that Sunday evening services were held in the parsonage. And by the time winter rolled around the mission was constituted as Redland Baptist Church with a charter membership of 75—a healthy-sized “root” indeed! In February of the next year, 1969, the church sold $75,000 in bonds and borrowed $50,000 to build its SECOND unit—the old sanctuary—what we refer to as the chapel. The building was dedicated in August—which I consider a LIGHTENING FAST BUILD! Surely they didn’t have the permitting issues back then that we have today! By September of 1971—when I was a junior in High School—Redland had grown to the point where they started holding TWO Sunday morning services—8:30 and 11. Youth SS was held at Redland Middle School. RBC was rooted well—and growing!
In February of the next year, the church voted to build the educational building—where our Preschool and Adult SS meets today. So we have three separate buildings at this time—the parsonage, the chapel, and the educational building. In September of that year a visiting youth choir—remember choir tours?—this touring choir from Abilene Texas introduced a brand new song that had just been written. It was entitled, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit.” The members of Redland loved it so much they embraced it as the church’s theme song. And it is STILL a song that is near and dear to our hearts to this day because it symbolizes the special caliber of fellowship we have come to enjoy here in spite of our transitional nature. It’s the kind of fellowship that keeps former Redlanders who came through this way station, coming back to visit—much as we visit our families who live in other parts of the country.
In 1972 the church both broke ground on that educational building and at the same time decided to support a new church start in Thurmont, Maryland. I like that kind of two-handed faith! Speaking of faith steps that year the church also bought an additional three acres—what is now the parking lot. In 1973 Redland voted to help start a church in Poolesville, MD—a church that became Poolesville Baptist where Jace Broadhurst now pastors. In 1974 Redland started a SECOND Sunday school because one wasn’t large enough. That year they also started the Puppet Ministry—aka THE CARPENTER’S HANDS. That puppet ministry would thrive for over 30 years performing all over the country—and every summer at our county fair. How many of you remember the puppets at the fair?
In November of 1975 Redland had outgrown its facility so worship and Sunday School for all ages was moved back to Redland Middle School. In 1976 they broke ground for the multipurpose building—our current sanctuary and warming kitchen linking it to the chapel building which could be used for needed Sunday School space. They held the first service in the current Sanctuary in June of 1977. Again—quick build! In 1977 – Bob Rich resigned and October of that year saw Tommy Grozier called as pastor.
By the way that dusty file I found tells me that in September of 1981 Redland had the largest music ministry in the state convention—228 enrolled. AWESOME! I’m thankful to say we STILL have the largest music ministry in our two state convention. God has always richly blessed this church with musical talent. AMEN?
In March of 1982 Grozier resigned and 16 months later Brian Connor was called as pastor. How many of you remember Brian? The number of hands raised is increasing. In 1984 a Korean Mission that had been using our facility was constituted as Rockville Korean Baptist Church. That October the Shekinah mission took their place in our facility. In June of 1985 the first Community Appreciation Day was held—over 4,000 attended. I was on staff at FBC, Damascus at the time and I remember reading about that event in the Gazzette and thinking, “I would love to serve in a church like Redland some day!”
In August of that year another Korean Mission was started using the chapel. Then, in June of 1986 the church held its 20th anniversary and the gravel parking lot was paved. Women were able to wear high heels and they rejoiced with exceeding great joy! In July of 1986 the church began supporting Quince Orchard Mission. In September the Rockville Korean Church moved out of Redland into its own facility. In August of 1987 the church offices were moved to the old parsonage—and the Child Development Center was opened. I guess the staff at the time felt it would be too noisy to stay with all those children around! In any case the CDC operated for 12 years and was closed for various reasons in 1999.
In 1988 the church voted to start a new church in Germantown—a church that became Germantown Baptist. That year ground was broken on the connector building—the structure that united the Educational building with the chapel/sanctuary. Jimmy Dean headed up that project. I am sure he has some stories to tell! In 1990 the church sent four individuals on a mission trip to Rwanda. In 1991 Redland voted to support a new church start in West Virginia—which became Berkley Heights Baptist Church. In 1992 Redland helped start the Philippine International Bible Church. In 1993 the Fraley property was purchased. This is the land to the right of the driveway where we have the youth house, the youth barn and the missionary furlough house. In 1996 Brian Connor resigned and eighteen months later I was called as pastor.
In 1998 we followed up on the Rwanda mission trip by beginning ANNUAL adult mission trips—sending adult teams to Mexico, Romania, New Orleans, West Virginia, the DR, Ocean City, New Hampshire—where for eight summers we helped with another church start. That year we also started our church WEB SITE. It quickly took the place of the YELLOW PAGES and funneled lots of people to our campus. In 1999 after a great deal of prayer we adopted our purpose statement. We heard God calling us to be a Grace Driven Church for a Grace Needing World.
Now—I’ve shared a lot of historical facts thus far—and I want you to understand that they are FAR MORE than facts. I mean there’s a powerful story behind everything I’ve shared. And—this year I would encourage you to seek someone out who was part of that “fact” and ask them to share the story with you. Have them give you details on what God did. Find someone and ask them about when the connector building was dedicated—or about starting Baker Heights Baptist or about the New Hampshire Mission Trips. Get the story behind the fact! In fact, I want to do that now—briefly—with the story behind our purpose statement’s origin. Our staff and church council had been praying for a long time about how best to describe our unique calling as a church. We had noticed that several of our members had come to Redland from grace-less—more legalistic churches. Others had come from church splits and were hurting—in need of God’s healing grace. One day, as I was shaking hands at the end of a service Dean Peters told me, “This is a grace-driven place.” I shared that with Bill Wehunt and others—and it helped us realize that GRACE was what drives us here. We were at our house for a Church Council meeting when the purpose statement came to us. I remember it was a HIGH HOLY moment—one of those times you know God is present and speaking powerfully. I’ll never forget that.
Bill was always summarizing our church’s five facets with the word “wofdm” so he took the word “grace” and used it as an acronym to remind us of those facets—the things God’s grace drives us to do: worship, outreach, fellowship, discipleship, & ministry. It’s been a while since we said our purpose statement together—so let’s do that. Look at the screens.
“We believe Redland Baptist Church is to be a Grace-driven church for a grace-needing world, where people: GROW in the love of Christ REACH in the name of Christ AFFIRM in the body of Christ CARE in the nature of Christ and EXALT in the glory of Christ.
Great job! We must never forget this—for these are the things God’s grace will drive us to do until Jesus comes to take us home! One reason we have VISION Sundays is to remind us of this. I mean in spite of catchy annual visions—we will keep doing the same things until this world ends and the next one begins!
Okay—in 2000 we took the far white house—a house that had no walls and had been used as a showroom for a furniture store—and with the help of Kyle Donohue, made it a house again. Since then dozens of missionary families have stayed there free of charge while here on furlough. And our church has been blessed by their staying with us. This is how we’ve met families like the Tiedemanns and the Streets and the Freeses and the Phans and so many others. In 2003 we helped start a new church in Milford, Delaware—and things went well for two years but then the mission pastor left—and a few months later it folded. In 2006 we broke ground on the ROC—the goal of which was to use Recreation as a way of building relationships with lost—and or unchurched people. We felt led to become more than a waystation church for Christians. We wanted a tool to help us lead more indigenous unchurched people to faith in Jesus.
That is a lightning-fast review of the past fifty years. If you listened you heard of several things that were ROOTS for our church’s growth. But before I talk about that I want to draw your attention to the insert. As I finish this message I want you to prayerfully fill it out—recording how you will be involved in our fiftieth year. During our invitation hymn I’ll invite you to bring your completed card up and lay it on the altar.
By the way Peggy Peek did some excellent research for me to help us understand literally how many volunteer hours it takes to make all Redland’s ministries and missions happen. It takes 49,584 hours to do everything from manning the nursery to leading worship at Brooke Grove—to teach SS—prepare music for worship—do ROC ministry and so on. So as I talk about the coming year—ask yourself, “How many hours on average am I involved at Redland? Is God calling me to increase my hours?” I know that many of you have a VERY high “hour involvement.” You’re here almost as much as I am. But I also know that some of you have a LOW “hour involvement.” This means you aren’t experiencing the joy of joining us in God’s Work—and ministry isn’t getting done that could get done—so pray about how God would have you fill out that card. Look at the things listed on that card and make it your goal to be involved in at least one MISSION outside our church and one MINISTRY within it!
(1) Okay—one common “root” I see in our history is a commitment to BIBLE STUDY.
In fact, that is literally our “tap root” because this church started as a Bible study. I think it is important for us to keep that root healthy—keep that our central focus because that’s what makes every church grow and mature. As Paul says, it must be “rooted and grounded” in the WORD—this book that tells us about God’s incomprehensible love in sending Jesus.
This week I read about the 137-mile long Atchafalaya River. It is a distributary of the Mississippi River and it meanders through south central Louisiana—before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The Atchafalaya River serves as a significant source of income for the region because of the many industrial and commercial opportunities it offers. Yet as scenic, productive, and enriching as this river is, it owes all its strength—all of it—to the mighty Mississippi because a distributary doesn’t have its own direct water source. It is an overflow of something else. So when the Mississippi is high, the Atchafalaya is high; and when the Mississippi is low, the Atchafalaya is low. All the Atchafalaya accomplishes depends wholly on something other than itself. The church is a lot like the Atchafalaya River. Anything of value she accomplishes is always tied to her source. So if she somehow loses connection with it—with her first love, the Living Word—she loses all power. She dries up and empties. I want us to FOCUS on this ROOT in 2016 because truth be told—Sunday morning Bible study is not as healthy as it once was. Growth has declined in the past few years. We used to consistently be above 300—now it’s more like 270 and that’s not good. We need the TRUTH of Bible study to flow into this body of believers if we are to remain healthy and growing to new heights of ministry. So in this next year I want us to commit to growing our Sunday School by starting at least TWO new classes. Now—what will that take? First it will take INTENTIONALITY. Saying doesn’t make it so—we have to PLAN for growth to happen. Also—it will take many of us being willing to leave our comfortable LARGER classes to help start these new ones. AND—it will take some of us to answer God’s call to TEACH a class. We’ll have to go from BEING fed—to FEEDING ourselves so we can feed others.
Making a new class grow may require some of us to go from LECTURE only classes to DISCUSSION based classes. It will require us to look around and see—what kind of “people groups” is our Sunday School NOT reaching and one prospective group is SINGLE young professionals. In fact, it’s the largest “people group” in our area. I’m talking about career people aged 25-35.
Another UNCHURCHED harvest field is literally right under our noses because it meets in our ROC every Monday night for basketball. TONS of young men come every week. In fact, this past Monday I saw a young man walking to Redland in the cold rain—just to play. To reach these young men for Bible Study will require more of us to be willing to take a Monday night and come host—get to know these guys—build friendships with them—and then invite those new friends to Sunday School. I mean, how great would it be for someone with a love of the Bible—and a love of basketball—to follow God’s leading and start a SS class for Monday night basketball attenders!
But listen, starting a class is not easy. It’s a commitment to do whatever it takes—to grow a class. It’s like our predecessors who moved back and forth to Redland Middle School for SS—because that’s what it took!
(2) A second ROOT I see in our history is FELLOWSHIP.
The deep caliber of friendships that we make here is another source of our health. We have come to cherish the sweet, sweet Spirit of this place. We’ve learned that life is better when we are CONNECTED to other Christians. To quote the old hymn the tie that binds us is indeed “blessed.” The fellowship of “kindred minds is like to that above.” Sing the last verse with me:
“We share each other’s woes, our mutual burdens bear; And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.” Listen. There’s a reason why old-fashioned things like Sunday School classes are still so important. You see, it’s not just about what we LEARN from the lesson. It’s ALSO about what we EXPERIENCE in community with others as we learn. This is the community the first church experienced as they: “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” (Acts 2)
With that in mind, this year our own Betty Summers is resurrecting DINNERS FOR EIGHT. I encourage ALL of you to check the blanks on the card that correspond to this. Let’s all TASTE of the sweet, sweet Spirit that binds us together here.
(3) A third root I want us to address is MISSIONS and MINISTRY.
In our history we can see that one thing that made Redland grow was a commitment to help others grow by sharing the Gospel in word and in deed. I mean, we began as a new church start—and have started ELEVEN churches over the years. We’ve also sent mission teams all over the world. We host missionaries and have staffed ministries like the Carpenter’s Hands and OCC and the Soup Kitchen—Kairos and Manna—we’ve helped foster children through BFCS. This outward focus is another source of our health and vitality. This year we will continue that with multiple mission trips to Morocco and D.R.—and with multiple local ministry opportunities—like Baltimore. MORE about that in a moment.
But a new way we will minister is through striving to answer God’s call last year to begin a THRIFT STORE as a way of both ministering to the under-resourced in our area—and building relationships with them through which we can share the Gospel. This year our Ladies’ Bible Study heard about a ministry need through former furlough house residents, Bill and Joyce Johnson. The Johnsons had befriended a needy Muslim families in Jordan and asked if our ladies would like to partner with them in providing funds for much needed clothing—which they did. Let me read you the thank you note Joyce sent. Hello Ladies! As you know, back in April, I sent this request below about a family. There are 10 kids ranging from 6-19 years of age. They live in pretty destitute situation, looking for shoes in the trash, and unable to meet other basic needs. The father had a work accident 5 years ago—and has been in a wheelchair ever since and unable to provide for the family. You guys prayed for this request and felt compelled to give money to buy the family shoes. We set goal of $150 and you guys far surpassed that goal!!! Exciting!! You gave $402 to spend on the family! A big THANK YOU to you all for this generous donation! Bill and Mark (our intern) made the trip last Saturday to visit the family. The family was so excited about the new items that they were going to be getting that day. Bill said that it was like Christmas times-3 for them! All the boys and several of the girls piled into our van and drove 30 minutes to the city where the shops are. The four boys needed shoes badly as they were wearing cheap generic crocs that weren’t even as good as a generic pair. They each got a nice pair of tennis shoes. The four oldest girls said that they needed Abaya’s (the traditional dress) more than shoes, so they each got one of those. The boys were in need of a warm winter jackets so they each got a winter vest. The boys also got a pair of jeans for school and two soccer balls. What boy doesn’t need to play ball, right?! The little girl needed a pair of overalls for school and the Mom got two scarves and the Dad got some comfortable pajamas because that’s what he wears mostly. A cash donation was given as well to help with school supplies and some food items. They were all very thankful. The Dad can only sit or lay down. He is unable to stand except with crutches. He is unable to work. Your donation has brought some light into their dark world. Thank you…truly, thank you. There will be another trip to visit the family and share more in depth on a spiritual level. This cannot always be done on the first or second trip. At least now the family knows that we care about them by meeting some of the physical needs.
Blessings and love to each one of you, Joyce Johnson (and the family)
Isn’t that exciting! I share this story because we could do this kind of thing all the time with a Thrift store. It would be like non-stop shine-the-light projects! I mean experiencing the joy of helping others tangibly—building relationships with lost people through which we would share the Gospel would be a common occurrence. A couple weeks back I went with Sue to a Christian thrift store in Ellicot City Maryland. I met the founder and owner, an 81 year old woman named Aileen Shields. Ironically, the same year Redland started—50 years ago—she agreed to work in the store as a volunteer. She committed to work there for seven months—and she never left. Just hearing SOME of her stories thrilled my heart. Their store began in a SS class room. Then a friend leased them space in a ware house for a dollar year. After several years there they raised enough money to buy land and build their own store. Last year they gave over $130,000 to help people with car repairs, school costs, utility bills, not to mention food and rent money. And they built friendships with these under-resourced people. Aileen said that numerous times the people they helped would come into the store and simply ask their new friends to pray with them. She’s shared Jesus with countless people. The Thrift Store even helped put one through Bible College
As you know we have a THRIFT STORE team—about 30 Redlanders passionate to get this ministry off the ground. They had a very successful yard sale and have nearly $5K in savings to cover start-up costs. They have a LOGO and a place to store things thanks to the Jenkins. I hope you will covenant to pray for our THRIFT STORE this year.
I am also praying that God will open the door this year for us to adopt a SYRIAN refugee family—and that God would use us to lead them to Jesus. More about that later.
Another ministry/mission we will start this year is in Baltimore’s Inner City. You may remember that after last year’s riots we sent an offering of over $6000 to help. Those funds were administered by a local pastor/church starter named Michael Crawford. Bobby met with him recently and will be heading up our work with Michael. Bobby come and share.
Do you remember the story of the star fish? A man walking on the beach noticed hundreds of starfish washed upon the sand. Without help they would dry up and die. The man began picking up one starfish at a time and tossed it back into the water. One observing noticed the man’s efforts were in vain. There were simply too many starfish to help. So the observer yelled to the man, “it doesn’t matter, there’s too many starfish to help.” The man continued to toss starfish back into the water and yelled back to the observer, “it mattered to that one.” What took place in Baltimore this year felt a lot like that starfish situation. There are just too many people in need of help. It can seem overwhelming, because we do not know where to start. Leaders from our State Convention began the “Love Baltimore Campaign” as the first step for churches to offer help. Many Redlanders gave money to the Love Baltimore Campaign. The funds were sent to a local church plant called Freedom Church. This coming year, we are taking the next step. Redland is partnering with the Freedom Church located in the heart of Baltimore, MD to change the life of ONE child. We are forming a team to do a room makeover of a child’s room, who lives in the city. Through this simple act we can share the love of Christ and change the living environment of one child. We are still finalizing plans with Freedom Church. Our target date is the Spring 2016.
(4) Another root in the past 15 years or so has been our WEBSITE and that root needs some tending.
With that in mind I’ve asked our own Kevin Freeman to come and share.
I bring you greetings from the tech-savvy whippersnapper generation! If there’s one thing we can all realize about technology, it’s the rapid constant change that comes with it. As we look at our own roots in this area, we see some real positives. Chief among those is our website, which draws hundreds of visits on a daily basis. Add to that our emailed newsletter and a few scattered ministry social media accounts, and we have a church that understandably takes an interest in reaching people where they are. As we look to the future, we want to take what we’re doing well and improve it. We also want to take what we aren’t doing well, and really improve it. But before we talk about that, I’d like to provide you with a very loose paraphrase 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 to make this point.
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the smart phone users I used Face Time on my iPhone, to win the Apple fans. To those on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram I posted, tweeted, liked, and favorited all sorts of posts (though I myself am not that big on social media), so as to win social media users—hashtag #plentifuldigitalharvest. To the tablet users I became a tablet user, to win the tablet users. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
We have the life-changing message of the gospel, which will never change. We have a mandate to make disciples of all nations, and that will never change. The only thing that changes is the cultural setting, the medium of communicating the message or how we communicate it. I’m not sure if I have ever heard a youth or young adult talk to me about our Sower newsletter articles. I’m sure I have never seen them ever pick up a paper prayer list. But I have seen them sign up for events online or “favorite” my posts of what is coming up. I have seen them share prayer requests on Facebook, too. I could go on, but you get the idea. Nowadays when we get visitors through our physical church doors, they have already been through our virtual doors, our website. So what needs to change? Well, as much as I love our website, it’s time to redo it, giving it at least a facelift, perhaps even an overhaul. When people navigate our site they are doing a lot less clicking from their PC’s and a lot more tapping from their tablets and smart phones. That means the look needs to change to be friendlier toward the mobile browsing experience. We also have the opportunity to use our existing church management software that is so crucial to our office use and unleash it for your use—so you are able to do more with your own online account, including a members-only directory, and improved ability to see what is offered at church. And yes, it’s time to get a mobile app, one that complements what we are doing. In about the past 18 months, there has been a shift in our culture. If an organization or company came out with an app, we might think, “Oh neat, they have an app!” Nowadays there’s an expectation for one to the extent that its absence has us asking, “Why don’t they have an app?” But aside from simply having an app, why do we want one? Well first, there are some initial possibilities you might already expect, like an events calendar, ability to sign up online, view a members-only directory—and yes, stream the audio from sermons – something we also want to do. Beyond that, we could actually look a lot more like the church in Acts 2. Do you remember how they were praying for needs together, giving away possessions, and having all things in common? Our compartmentalized society has gotten away from that—even if we continue to have willing hearts. With the right tools, you could have an app that could show you a prayer request as soon as it is offered, giving our body a chance to immediately pray for each other’s needs. When people have a physical need, they can share it and get fast responses. Need the use of a chainsaw for a day? Post the request and you might have someone loan theirs to you. Have a bed you are getting rid of and want to offer it through the church first? Post it and be a nurturing part of the body of Christ. All these changes I am sharing will take significant time and resources to pull together. Do we have to have these changes? In one sense, no, we don’t. We can be the church without a website or an app. We can also be the church without a ROC gym, education wing, Sower newsletter, printed bulletins—or, if I’m honest, without a Minister of Students. But we rightly recognize our responsibility to be good and faithful servants, investing the talents and resources our Master has given us, so that we can bring him a greater return. As for me, I’m looking forward to where these future “wings” take us.
Well, that’s it. That’s the plan for this year. And I can think of no better Sunday for a Christian who is looking for a church home to attend because today you have heard the plan. If after hearing all this, you feel God leading you to join us in helping us strengthen our roots and follow God’s leading to new heights in the coming year—then we invite you to walk forward during our closing hymn and ask to move your membership here. Others of you attending this morning may not be Christians and you are seeking purpose and meaning in life. That is only found in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We invite you to make that decision this morning and to share it with us. Won’t you come as we sing? As for the rest of us—I’d like you to bring your completed Vision Sunday Commitment Card and lay it on the altar as a public commitment. Let’s all respond right now as God leads.