Today I will stand in the pulpit of Cross Road Baptist Church as their pastor for the first time. Just a few weeks ago I preached in view of a call (which was unanimous!). Today is different. Now I must begin vision-casting. This is a two-fold process. One is to place a vision before them, to fling it out there like casting a lure into the water. That's the easy part. Just like with fishing, casting is pretty easy but catching is much harder.
Vision-casting also involves shaping the vision so the people can understand it. Like an artist might use a form to cast an image, I must give shape or life to the vision. A great artist (Michelangelo?) said the image is locked inside the slab of marble and he just had to chip away what didn't belong to the image could be released. Today I begin chipping away in an effort to release the vision to God's people.
I hope to lead this church to grow in five ways: the depth of their relationship with Christ, the warmth of their fellowship with one another, the breadth of their service to others, the strength of their devotion to God, and the effectiveness of their winning the lost. The success in reaching these goals will be seen through increased attendance, baptisms, offerings, and missions involvement.
Impacting eternity at the cross road of life!
No comments:
Post a Comment