Lots of thoughts

I am glad for every comment on yesterday's blog. Each comment represents an important and valuable thought.

This is a very complicated issue. The stakes are high. One of the reasons that we love our church is that there is a sense that we are in pursuit of our best efforts for the Lord and his work. Churches that are unable or unwilling to navigate such moments find themselves feeling as though they have "missed the mark." They look back and say, "It got too hard, so we gave up, we did the easy thing."

I do not enter this discussion with any preconcieved notion of the outcome, I just know that we need to have the discussion and come out on the other side with a plan that will continue to reach others for Jesus Christ.

Each of the ideas that are on the table have their challenges......

1. build a sanctuary....very expensive. need to find some very large gifts before we go down that road.

2. start a new church.....would 150 of our people really be willing to leave? Are you one that would be willing?

3. satellite outpost.....50% of them fail. Weekly set up and tear down. Again, would you be willing to go?

4. ask folks to go to Sunday night. Most folks are wired for church on Sunday morning. It is a good idea, but I dont think we will ever get 400 people to the service. People want to go to church in the morning for the most part.

5. add overflow in the chapel.....bandaid

6. folks move to other services....bandaid, buys us a couple of years at the most

7. start a service in the gym at 1010. Noisy. Set up issues. Sharing of space issues. Sound challenges, sitting on a folding chair.....could be done. Buys a few more years.

8. some idea that we have not thought of yet.......

Each of the above ideas has merit and brings challenge with it as well.

We are thinking, that is good. Now let me ask you to do something else. Pray with me. Pray that the doors will open, the wisdom will be received, and God's purpose for our church will be made known. Regarding how all of this will be resolved, my preferences are not nearly as important as our need to be in God's will.

Some day in the future we will have a big meeting to discuss where this is all going. It is my hope and joy that many members of WCC will attend, and the meeting will be dominated by a spirit of caring, daring and prayering. Prayer changes our hearts and helps us to find the heart of God. That is where we want to be.

it's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.