Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the PLANS I have for you,” declares the LORD, “PLANS to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Philippians 2:1-2 – “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and PURPOSE.”
On July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, Florence May Chadwick attempted to become the first woman to swim 21 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast. Ms. Chadwick was an experienced open water swimmer and had already swum the English channel successfully in both directions…breaking the previously held record. Long-distance swimming, like marathon running and other endurance sports, requires athletes to keep good form, technique, and concentration for many hours. To give you an idea of what this entails, most marathon swimmers swim between 60 and 70 strokes a minute. So, a 14-hour swim would require well over 58,000 strokes—which I am sure you would agree is an incredible feat. I mean, that many strokes would cause some of us to HAVE a stroke!
In addition to developing the ENDURANCE required for this many strokes, there are also HAZARDS that are unique to long-distance ocean swimming. Pat Besford talks about this in The Encyclopedia of World Sport. She writes: “Long-distance swimming requires courage…to go through a pitch black night, fog, weed, flotsam, occasional oil fuel patches, swarms of jellyfish and maritime traffic.” Kari Lydersen also refers to this in her book, Just Sports for Women. She writes: “Open-water swimmers have to constantly change their strategy as the race goes on, …evaluating their position, the weather and water conditions, while also dealing with obstacles such as stingrays and kelp beds. Countless hours of training can be ruined by a navigational error, and competitors usually come out of the water swollen and scarred from jellyfish stings, not to mention sunburn and swimsuit chafing.”
Although the distance across the Catalina Channel is 21 miles, the actual distance a swimmer will cover can be dramatically increased by currents, tides, wind, and waves. So—this was not just an afternoon swim! Ms. Chadwick had set a daunting challenge for herself.
Well, on the day of Chadwick’s swim the weather was not very good at all. The ocean was ice cold. The fog was so thick that she could hardly see the support boats that followed her. And on top of that hungry sharks prowled around her constantly. In fact, several times, her support crew had to use rifles to drive the sharks away. In spite of all this, while Americans watched on television, Chadwick swam on—for hours and hours and hours. Finally though, she began to falter. Her mother and her trainer, who were both in one of the support boats, encouraged her to keep going. But after 15 hours and 55 minutes Chadwick gave up. She said she couldn’t go on, and asked to be taken out of the water. When she got into the boat the fog cleared and she could see that she was less than half a mile from her goal. Can you imagine how discouraged she felt at that point!? She told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.” So—it wasn’t that her strength gave out. The sharks didn’t scare her off. It was just that she couldn’t see WHAT LAY AHEAD. The thick fog made her feel like she was getting nowhere.
The principle I’d like us to take from this story is that SEEING WHERE WE ARE GOING is vitally important in life. Many times it’s the only thing that KEEPS us going—especially when we face challenging times. This is why once a year I preach a VISION sermon like this one—to try and help us all see where we are going as a church family. Charles Swindoll refers to this principle of church health and says, “Vision is essential for survival. It is spawned by faith, sustained by hope, sparked by imagination, and strengthened by enthusiasm. It is greater than sight, deeper than a dream, broader than an idea. Vision encompasses vast vistas outside the realm of the predictable, the safe, the expected. No wonder we perish without it!”
Now, as we look out into the future here at Redland, of course the clearest thing that lies ahead is the ROC—our Recreation and Outreach Center. It would take a lot of fog indeed to keep us from seeing that a four-million dollar facility next door. We’d also have to be very forgetful because we have been “swimming” towards it for nearly four years now—and even though we finally have that precious use and occupancy permit…we still have much to do get ready to use that wonderful facility. For example, there are PHYSICAL THINGS that need doing: a detailed punch list of construction work that must be completed, equipment that needs to be purchased…volunteer training that has to be done—and with the help of Allen Kaufman and our ROC building committee…and Bobby and the Rec committee, we’re making rapid progress on all of those things. I am incredibly thankful for their efforts to help us get PHYSICALLY ready to use the ROC. However, as your pastor I must say that in my mind the most IMPORTANT things we have to do to get ready for the ROC are not physical—but SPIRITUAL. You see, in order for us to use this building the way God intends, we each of us must to strive to BECOME the kind of CHRISTIAN…and corporately we must strive to BECOME the kind of CHURCH that is capable of leading the ministries that kind of building will make possible in the months and years that lie ahead.
This leads me to mention our THEME for the next ten months. It’s easy to remember because it is just one word: “BECOMING.” Take our your insert and you can see a graphic of that theme.
By the way this is your personal commitment card—it is designed to reflect your decision to be a part of the vision for this year so get a pencil so you can be ready to fill it out as we go along. n any case, while the ROC committee puts the finishing touches on the building and the Rec committee orders the equipment and sets up the necessary training…I’m going to be doing all I can to help us get ready in the “BECOMING area.” To give you a clear idea of our time table, I think most of the physical things will be done in two to three weeks. Finishing the commercial kitchen will take longer—about four months—but our SPIRITUAL preparation will be an ongoing thing. With that in mind here’s what LIES AHEAD. Here’s the vision for 2011.
(1) First, as I said a moment ago, this year we will strive to become the kind of CHURCH we need to be if we are to use the ROC as God intends.
Specifically, we will spend this year BECOMING a church that continues to affirm each of the basic purposes that belong to any local body of Christ. We’ve talked about this a lot over the years so you should know that there are FIVE specific purposes: Worship, Outreach, Fellowship, Discipleship and Ministry—WOFDM for short. And these five things aren’t something new. They’ve been around since the church was born! I mean, you can look back to the first century and see each of these purposes in the first church in Jerusalem and we still see them in any healthy, growing church today. This is because these are ETERNAL purposes and to be a church that is strong enough to master and use a tool like the ROC we need to constantly commit ourselves to each of them. As our text from Proverbs says, “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)
To help us stay true to the Lord’s purpose, on our retreat last weekend our church council began a study of a book we studied together about 12 years ago, Rick Warren’s, The Purpose Driven Church. We will continue that study throughout the year. We will also look for ways to remind you of the five eternal purposes that keep our church strong. One idea that I like is to post our purpose statement on a well-made sign in the lobby…along with a good-sized current picture that shows Redland doing each particular purpose. For example, next to the statement “Exalt in the Glory of Christ” we could have a large well-mounted picture of a worship service…or a cantata.
Next to the statement “Reach in the name of Christ” we could have a picture taken on last year’s D.R. Mission trip….but for each of the five purposes there would be a picture. We would change these pictures out a couple times a year to make them current. If you have any skill in that area, please let me know by marking it on your commitment card.
I would also like us to be more intentional in lining up everything we do according to our purposes. For example, before we start a Manna Food Bank work day…we would tell everyone who has come, “This is one way Redland stays true to the purposes God gave it. Today we are CARING IN THE NATURE OF CHRIST by working at Manna.” Suffice it to say that we won’t do anything that doesn’t clearly fit into one of our five purposes. We are even re-designing our by-laws to reflect this.
With that in mind here’s a quick run-through of the things you will see us do this year arranged according to these purposes—WOFDM for short.
A. We begin with WORSHIP— but, I’m not going to say much about this aspect of our church’s purpose because things are going very well in the worship realm. Thanks to Bill Archer’s skilled leadership our choirs and orchestra and bell groups are all “firing on all cylinders…” so to speak…including the two new music camps he has added to our summer calendar. But we WILL see a few new worship items this year. For example, Carl Sherman will start “The Redland School of Praise” for people who want to learn to play an instrument for the praise band (guitar, keyboard, drum, etc.) This will take place on selected Thursday nights and is open to youth and adults. Bill also hopes to add a second worship team (instrumental and vocal) this year so our teams can alternate weeks. This is to help our current team avoid burnout. And then one other new thing you’ll see this year in the “worship realm” is a schedule change. Youth WAVES OF GRACE which includes the youth choir and bell group…will move their rehearsals from Sunday afternoons to Wednesday evenings. This will put all choirs and bells on the same night. Only the orchestra will continue to practice on Sundays. And then quoting Bill in describing the year ahead, “The theme for the music ministry will be ‘Becoming Worshipers’ using John 4:23-24 with an emphasis of living a lifestyle of worship. After all, worship is so much more than what we do for an hour on Sunday. The Spirit of worship is all about our relationship with God and how we remain connected to Him. The truth of worship is lived out in our daily lives.” I don’t know about you but I am so thankful to have Bill leading our church in “exalting in the glory of Christ.”
b. Let’s move on to OUTREACH. The first thing I will tell you as that we are doing multiple adult mission trips again this year. Don Mayberry is leading us back to Ocean City, Maryland July 16-23. We’ll be staying at Bob and Ann Michael’s home as we work alongside Terry and Lynn Davis and the members of Ocean City Baptist reaching out to vacationers, life guards, and the thousands of international students who flood the beaches in the summer. We had a powerful experience on that trip last year and I feel led for us to go back. If you’d consider going with us, check that blank on your commitment form. We are also considering a return to the Dominican Republic in January or going to Haiti to work with an orphanage there that is being run by Lyle Shipe. Bob and Ann Michael are going on a fact-finding trip in a couple weeks to help us decide which of these two ministry opportunities to invest in. If you’re interested in that, check the blank. If you are new to Redland I want you to know that we have been doing multiple mission trips each year for about twelve years now and we do them for a couple reasons.
First, Jesus commanded us to. Many of us tend to think that world missions is for world missionaries and that our personal mission is limited to right here where we live. This is a misconception because the Bible teaches that all Christians are responsible for getting the gospel to the entire world. As Jesus said in Mark 16:15 we are to, “Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone.”
And then a second reason we do these trips is because they help us in our evangelistic attempts in Montgomery County. Going on a trip like this hones our skills in sharing our faith. It also puts us out of our comfort zones and into positions where we learn the benefits of relying on God. Plus—Redland is known for going on these trips and that makes people in our community open to coming here and open to hearing the Gospel. They reason that since our missions walk matches our missions talk our talk must be worth listening to. An additional benefit is the fact that these trips actually make people want to join us in God’s work. This past week Bill Jones told me that he had gone to our bank to wire money that had been given to pay for two children we met in the D.R. who need surgeries. Our docs examined these little ones, diagnosed their problems, but didn’t have the resources to help them while there last January, so, they provided money for surgeons in Santo Domingo. Bill has wired money through this same bank employee several times now: money to pay for our lodging in the DR, money for supplies to build that church in Povadencia…money you gave to help Pastor Carlos in his work, and now money for these two surgeries. I mean, Bill, knows her well because of all the currency she has sent south for us. Well, this past week she asked Bill to tell her what these funds were for and when he told her about the surgeries they would pay for she said, “Well, I’d like to help with that!” and she donated $100 of her own money on the spot! So, I feel led to continue this Redland practice, sending teams of Redlanders all over the world whenever God opens the door for us to do so.
But this year we begin ANOTHER mission trip as a church—and it is a mission trip that will never end—I’m referring to the ministries of the ROC.
The ROC will become part of our missions mind set here at Redland from now until the Lord returns! I would remind you that we have invested FOUR million dollars and FOUR years in this project—because we felt God calling us to reach out to lost people in our own community. To quote Bill Wehunt once again, “We are building the ROC to give people what they WANT (time with their families in recreational fun) in order to give them what they NEED…Jesus.”
I have heard of churches putting a sign that people read as they EXIT their campus…a sign like this that says, “You are now entering the mission field.” In fact, I think we had a sign like that at one time. But, I think here at Redland we should do something different. We SHOULD put a sign that says that, “You are now entering the mission field” above the ENTRANCE of the ROC…so that when we go in we remember that this is OUR GOD-GIVEN MISSION-FIELD. You see this building is going to give us opportunities to build friendships with people….who don’t know our Lord:
- as we play basket ball or volleyball with them.
- as we talk with them in the bleachers while they watch their kids play UPWARDS.
- as we work out with them in the exercise room or walk with them in a walking club
- or sip coffee with them at a coffee house.
In all these ways we’ll build relationships with lost people and that is the BEST way to lead them to Jesus. A recent survey asked 10,000 Christians how they came to Christ . 79% said they came to Christ through a friend—and we are going to make LOTS of friends in that building next door!
May 1st we will dedicate both the building and ourselves to that purpose. I know you’ve heard about all the plans for dedication Sunday but this is so important we can’t over announce it so let me give you a run down. We will have Sunday School that day—but we will have only ONE worship service at 11:00AM. It will start right here in this room. In fact, most of our time dedicating the ROC will be spent here. Then—reminiscent of the capitol campaign that helped us fund the building of the ROC we will have a “crossing” as we literally cross over the parking lot…and then cut the ribbon and officially enter the building. We’ll have a brief service inside while standing on the gym floor and then a church-wide reception in the foyer afterwards. Please—no high heels! Wear comfy shoes—but come looking your best in honor of our Holy God Who has been so good to us. By the way, we’ll have lots of guests that day.
- Dr. David Lee, the executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware—and my good friend—will come to congratulate us and to say a few words.
- Ron Blankenship, our director of missions will be here to lead us in prayer.
- We’ve invited lots of former Redlanders to attend from all over the country.
- But our most special guests will be the Wehunt family. Long ago we decided to dedicate the ROC to the memory of our dear, visionary friend, Dr. William Wehunt, and that day we’ll unveil a bronze plaque to symbolize that. I’ve asked Wes, Bill and Sandy’s oldest, to unveil the plaque and talk to us about his dad.
Then we will pray together, committing ourselves and that building to God and then we’ll enjoy a time of fellowship.
But this dedication day is just the beginning when it comes to our use of the ROC. This year I will reactivate the BLOCK THE ROC committee to make plans either this fall or next spring to welcome our community to the facility, letting them tour the building and inviting them to hear about the kinds of ministries the ROC will make possible. Personally, I would like us to see twenty new families come to Redland because of the ROC this year. I would also like to see us baptize 50 people because of the ROC and it’s ministries. You may think that is too high a goal for our first year but I think not—as long as we pray and work to make it happen. Listen friends—the only limiting factor of anything we do for God is FAITH. I’m reminded of the story of two men who went fishing. One man was an experienced fisherman, the other wasn’t. Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh but whenever the inexperience fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back. The experienced fisherman watched this go on all day and finally got tired of seeing this man waste a good fish so he asked, “Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you catch?” The inexperienced fisherman replied, “I only have a small frying pan.” Well, we have a HUGE frying pan next door! Plus there are no capacity limits when it comes to salvation so I’d like us to pray and work with that goal in mind. If you will, check that on your box!
C. Okay…what about FELLOWSHIP?
Our fellowship committee will of course be planning some church-wide get togethers to nurture our sweet, sweet spirit but we will also be doing another very important project to deepen our relationships as a church family. I’m referring to the fact that this fall we will be doing a pictorial church directory. The last time we did one was in 2003. Dorlene Harper and Annette Keith have agreed to head this up. If you’d like to volunteer to help them with that, check that part of your commitment form. Our by-laws revision committee will also finish their work this year, crafting that very important document that helps us work together more effectively in the Lord’s work.
D. Okay…let’s move on to MINISTRY.
Now…this aspect of our purpose is flourishing. In fact it may be a little TOO healthy because we have a calender FULL of ministry projects. So this is an area where I think we need to exert more control and coordination. I mean, it is a good thing that we do so many ministries as a church. In fact, it’s a sign of spiritual health—but too many things can be too confusing. It can blur our focus. Plus, if we’re not careful, we can do so many things that we don’t do any of them well. With that in mind I’ve asked the by-laws revision committee to include a process for evaluating the ministries we do as a church. The idea is that before we would publicize a ministry in Sunday School or worship or the SOWER, the person wanting to lead it would have to apply through the staff and/or church council. They would also have to report about the ministry after it’s conclusion…helping us to evaluate it’s effectiveness. OKAY…that’s my FIRST point. In case you missed it, here it is again. This year I want us to strive to BECOME together the kind of church we need to be for us to be able to use a facility like the ROC effectively. We do this by being true to the eternal purposes that God has given His church.
Now—you guys should be familiar enough with our purpose statement to know that I’ve left one of the five purposes out. Can anyone guess what part of WOFDM is missing?
RIGHT—DISCIPLESHIP! And that leads me to my second point. You see, the other thing that lies ahead is this:
(2) In 2011 we will strive to BECOME the kind of individual CHRISTIANS God needs us to be in order for us to work in the ROC.
I firmly believe the best way for us to prepare ourselves for everything that goes on next door is for each of us to focus on growing to BECOME more like Jesus. So, in prep for the ministry that will happen in the ROC, for the next 9 months we will be focusing on DISCIPLESHIP, and SPIRITUAL GROWTH. Let me put it this way. If we are each to be useful in this new building spiritual maturity must come first in our minds. Do you remember the exact wording of the Great Commission? Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son…and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Did you notice how Jesus structured His commission? He kind of “sandwiched” evangelism with discipleship. Why would Jesus put it that way? Why emphasize discipleship? Why not say, “Go and baptize people in all nations, then disciple them and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you…?” I think Jesus worded it this way because He knows that the best evangelists, the most effective soul-winners are mature disciples. Think of it: the closer we get to Jesus, the better equipped we will be when it comes to answering a seeker’s questions such that we lead them to faith in our Lord. The better we each know Jesus the better we will be at introducing someone else to Him. So—this year we will do things to motivate and equip our entire church family to develop a passion to BECOME more like Jesus. Here are some of my ideas.
A. We will have weekly Discipleship testimonies. They will be like this past year’s Live to Give sharing but this time we will have personal testimonies from people who answer these two questions: “How did you decide to BECOME a Christian?” and “How do you BECOME the person Jesus wants you to be?” Our new deacons are starting us off next week as part of their ordination.
B. There will also be a Church-wide campaign on “Becoming” this fall. It will be based on John Ortberg’s book THE ME I WANT TO BE and will start October 10. It will involve five sermons and Sunday School and Small group studies as well. Here’s a video clip to whet your discipleship whistle.
C. And then in September we will have a church-wide focus on PARENTING. The idea is for us to learn how better to BECOME the kind of Father, mother, and family God calls us to be. It will be geared to lead in to the premier of the movie: COURAGEOUS. Here’s a clip of the film. It’s put out by the same people who gave us FIREPROOF and it comes out in September.
Bobby will of course be working with me on this.
D. And then, this summer, I’d like us to do something church-wide that Fred Tiedeman has led us to do in the mens’ ministry. We’ll divide into groups of three people who will commit to read a chapter of the Bible every day. After the day’s reading, they will text or e-mail each other one insight they gleaned. This not only helps us to grow to be like Jesus as we read His Word—it also nurtures fellowship and fosters church unity. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this with David Cash, Gary Moore, and Alvin Grant the last two months. If you’d like to be a part of this, check it on your commitment form.
E. Speaking of the summer, in July I want us to structure our MASS CLASS in July around a study of the 12 disciples…the first followers…the first BECOMERS.
F. And then here are some fo my sermon plans—messages that I hope will help us to BECOME more like Jesus. I’ve already mentioned two series that address this purpose but here’s a couple more:
- Starting June 12 I will do a series on Spiritual Disciplines that help us each to grow as disciples.
- And then, this summer we’ll do a series called “The Great Cloud of Witnesses” — seven sermons on contemporary disciples like Billy Graham and William Wilberforce. The great thing about this “Great Cloud of Witnesses” series is that you won’t have to hear me deliver each of these sermons. Several Redlanders are going to help me with this!
G. Of course the rest of our pastoral staff will be joining me in this emphasis on discipleship—they’ll be doing things to stress BECOMING.
For example, Bobby will be working to re-energize the Christian Education committee to get more of you involved in planning discipleship. This fall he will also be leading our men into YEAR 3 OF MEN’S FRATERNITY. It’s entitled, “The Great Adventure” and will meet on Tuesday mornings. Year 2 will be offered on Thursday evenings. Kevin is planning a youth retreat in November on the theme of “Becoming.” He’s also moving FUEL — our youth’s weekly worship and discipleship gathering to Sunday evenings to provide a better transition from AWANA to youth ministry. Plus—this fall he will expand his youth ministry to include 6th graders.
Okay—have you filled out your commitment card? If not, take a few moments to do so right now and when we sing our hymn of commitment, I’d like you to walk forward…and place it on the table at the front—publically committing yourself to BECOME more like Jesus…and to help our church BECOME more committed to His purposes. As you complete your card I will say that I can think of no better Sunday for a Christian who is looking for a church home to attend because today you have heard exactly what lies ahead for us here at Redland. You’ve heard all that we believe God is calling us to do. And, if after hearing all this, you feel God leading you to join us in fulfilling this vision, 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. And then I also want to invite any of you who so desire to just come to the altar and pray this morning—pray and ask God how He wants you to be involved in the coming year. Let’s all respond right now as God leads.