Pray for our Ministry Leaders
As you receive this today, be aware that this evening (Friday February 26) and tomorrow (Saturday, February 27), twelve individuals will be meeting to sharpen their leadership of Christ Community Church.
Each February, those elected to the Missional Leadership Board (MLB) gather for a short weekend of encouragement, prayer, and thinking ahead. We call it a “board Advance” (instead of “retreat”).
According to our ministry’s bylaws, the members of this board are responsible to our 450+ members for the health of the following matters:
- our doctrine: is what we believe consistent with God’s word
- our direction: are we accomplishing our mission as a church
- our dynamic as a congregation: are we making healthy decisions as a body
- our deployment of staff (holding the lead pastor accountable for his team)
- our development of leaders (through the Leadership Pipeline
Church health doesn’t happen automatically. It requires prayerful, Biblically-informed watchcare. It is sobering to understand that without a diligent and prayerful leadership board, our ministry’s health could decline. Christ Community Church has enjoyed a long season of sustained health and growth. The annual MLB “advance” is a key investment to that outcome.
Here are the leaders who will be gathering:
- Pastors David Staff, Mark Henderson, Kyle Bartholic
- MLB members Pat Rundall, Jonathan Compton, Mark Peterson, Wei Zhu, Tom Greenwald, Jim Ryken, Matthew Cooper, Stuart Helming
- Stewardship Team Chair Henry Grayum
The Board will also be receiving sharpening inputs from Dr. Howard Hendricks, Carey Nieuwhof, and Pastor Tim Keller. Time will be given to understanding Pastor Kyle’s first year ahead, beginning June 1, as well as discussing a number of critical issues facing a church like ours seeking to represent the Lord Jesus Christ and his word faithfully, while loving people fully.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
In the “Advance” booklet the board members will receive, included is a powerful sermon by C.S. Lewis, delivered during World War II, entitled “The Weight of Glory.” Lewis’ point is that our future destiny as Christians carries a “weight” to it. The coming glory beckons us to see people the way God does, and thus do everything we can to urge them to faith in Christ and a future with Him. Here is a short excerpt:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”
Today, and tomorrow, as the Holy Spirit brings it to your mind (like through this communique), please pray for our leaders as they meet. May we hear from the Lord and learn from each other over these hours, that Christ Community Church be a bright lampstand of the gospel, especially for those whose eternal destiny needs a turn around.