I finished putting together my ministry calendar for 2015 and I am very excited about what the Lord has in store for me individually as well as corporately in serving at Millington FBC. God has given my family an awesome church to serve and lead in its education and adult ministry. Still even in the midst of this planning I have to be reminded how it is the Lord who directs the steps of man. So I have to be very guarded in making sure that these plans are first surrendered to the Lord's direction and then implemented with His discretion. The opposite which is trying to set my own course into motion leads down a path of destruction and pride.
Before all this it is understood that my personal theme for this year is Breakout. I truly want to see a breakout occur in my ministry. This may mean seeing a personal revival occur in my life. This may mean being able to see a corporate revival occur at our church. This may mean seeing lives come to know Christ through personal interactions and evangelism. This may also mean the deepening of my fellowship with Christ through personal soul care and discipline. Whatever it is, my prayer is for breakout to occur.
I wanted to give you a few highlights though of what my ministry calendar includes:
1. Times for fun and family! The reality is that I can only minister as effective if I am serving the Lord the most effectively and this begins with how I live as a follower of Christ first. I desire to schedule in more time specifically to spend with my wife and girls. Even though this shouldn't be announced of when I am going out with my family, it should be understood that all the plans sit second class to my relationship with Christ and then my relationship with my wife and then my relationship with my daughters.
2. Leadership training. We often think that leadership is an osmosis process only, where just by sitting next to someone then we will become a leader. I believe that the training of leaders is something once again that has to be planned. I am looking at offering during Refuel a leadership group that is intended to train teachers and any Life Group leader of how to lead a group. I also am following the model of having monthly meetings with our leaders for ongoing group ministry. This bleeds over as well to our First Impression ministry as there are opportunities to develop leaders that can counsel and minister to those that have made decisions for Christ. There will also be the time to develop my own personal leadership skills by finding round-table discussions and opportunities to guide in leadership principles.
3. Guest and member orientation. If you never plan to share the expectations of membership in the church body, there will be many that will fall into the Judges 21 model of "everyone was doing right in their own eyes." My prayer for 2015 is that we broaden and intensify our education of new members for this coming year. When we share about our expectations, we are setting the course for future members.
4. Events with a purpose. Events are healthy for a church because they raise the ceiling of your church's prospect base and can be effective ways in order to share the Gospel on a mass basis. Events though cannot be the only means of ministry. Because if the events stop then people will think that ministry stops. This means that there are going to be events to be planned for this year and their effect may be broad, but my prayer is seeking for our events to have a greater purpose in connecting families into discipleship opportunities. This is why guests will be assigned from events to Life Groups intentionally. Because we want to move people from one connection point to our strongest connection point. If the statistics show that people will stay longer in a church if they get connected to a Life Group then this must be a part of our mission through any event that we offer.
5. Creating new groups. If you never plan to make new groups then it will never happen. There are many things that education ministers can be known of but I feel that making new groups is essential to the work of ongoing group ministry. I am not limiting myself to it being new groups in just our Life Group area (Sunday School), but we are also asking for new groups to be involved with our Launch group ministry that is intentionally about multiplying disciples. Once again I have to be intentional and provide the opportunities for new groups to occur.
6. Time for personal soul care. My plan this year is to set aside some personal time to just get away and be with God. It will probably be once a quarter, but I have to be intentional in this. I have to plan this out and budget for it. My personal time for intense soul care will be critical in the coming months.
Before all this it is understood that my personal theme for this year is Breakout. I truly want to see a breakout occur in my ministry. This may mean seeing a personal revival occur in my life. This may mean being able to see a corporate revival occur at our church. This may mean seeing lives come to know Christ through personal interactions and evangelism. This may also mean the deepening of my fellowship with Christ through personal soul care and discipline. Whatever it is, my prayer is for breakout to occur.
I wanted to give you a few highlights though of what my ministry calendar includes:
1. Times for fun and family! The reality is that I can only minister as effective if I am serving the Lord the most effectively and this begins with how I live as a follower of Christ first. I desire to schedule in more time specifically to spend with my wife and girls. Even though this shouldn't be announced of when I am going out with my family, it should be understood that all the plans sit second class to my relationship with Christ and then my relationship with my wife and then my relationship with my daughters.
2. Leadership training. We often think that leadership is an osmosis process only, where just by sitting next to someone then we will become a leader. I believe that the training of leaders is something once again that has to be planned. I am looking at offering during Refuel a leadership group that is intended to train teachers and any Life Group leader of how to lead a group. I also am following the model of having monthly meetings with our leaders for ongoing group ministry. This bleeds over as well to our First Impression ministry as there are opportunities to develop leaders that can counsel and minister to those that have made decisions for Christ. There will also be the time to develop my own personal leadership skills by finding round-table discussions and opportunities to guide in leadership principles.
3. Guest and member orientation. If you never plan to share the expectations of membership in the church body, there will be many that will fall into the Judges 21 model of "everyone was doing right in their own eyes." My prayer for 2015 is that we broaden and intensify our education of new members for this coming year. When we share about our expectations, we are setting the course for future members.
4. Events with a purpose. Events are healthy for a church because they raise the ceiling of your church's prospect base and can be effective ways in order to share the Gospel on a mass basis. Events though cannot be the only means of ministry. Because if the events stop then people will think that ministry stops. This means that there are going to be events to be planned for this year and their effect may be broad, but my prayer is seeking for our events to have a greater purpose in connecting families into discipleship opportunities. This is why guests will be assigned from events to Life Groups intentionally. Because we want to move people from one connection point to our strongest connection point. If the statistics show that people will stay longer in a church if they get connected to a Life Group then this must be a part of our mission through any event that we offer.
5. Creating new groups. If you never plan to make new groups then it will never happen. There are many things that education ministers can be known of but I feel that making new groups is essential to the work of ongoing group ministry. I am not limiting myself to it being new groups in just our Life Group area (Sunday School), but we are also asking for new groups to be involved with our Launch group ministry that is intentionally about multiplying disciples. Once again I have to be intentional and provide the opportunities for new groups to occur.
6. Time for personal soul care. My plan this year is to set aside some personal time to just get away and be with God. It will probably be once a quarter, but I have to be intentional in this. I have to plan this out and budget for it. My personal time for intense soul care will be critical in the coming months.
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