A few weeks ago, when we were talking about our powerful freedom in Christ (Romans 6:16), and the concept of being slaves to righteousness, I took the opportunity to explain the fresh works of faith that are on the horizon for this church. I want to take a moment to touch on those again for any of you who couldn’t join us that Sunday.
My calling as a pastor is to be in the word, teach the word, to pray for you as individuals, and to pray for God’s vision for this church family, this valley, and the world.
People are giving of their time, their talents, and their money to help make Sunday mornings happen. But I think there is more that the Lord wants to do. I think the Lord wants us, as a church, to raise up the next generation, and to be a light in this dark world.
As a church our goal is to know Jesus and make Him known. We gather together on Sundays to grow in our relationships with Him and each other. But our goal is also to equip our body to go out and reach their families and communities with the gospel. We want to make an impact in our church, and outside these walls in Glenwood Springs. As I share you will see that the vision the Lord has given me includes a little bit of both.
- Unlike many well-established churches, we don’t have a staff. I am the only full-time staff member at this point. God has been faithful to raise up volunteers and elders to support me in all the details it takes to run a church. He has also brought us two interns. Justin Castro has been with us for a year and served faithfully on our worship team. Now we want to invest in him and send him off to Bible college for a semester.
- Radio. If our radio station encouraged one believer in the word and reached one unbeliever with the gospel each week, that would add up to 104 people impacted every year. And that number looks a little low when you realize our station will be broadcasting 24/7. With radio we have the unique opportunity to expand our impact exponentially. But we still need some funding for proper equipment. We will be praying for a radio station manager, too.
- Something else on my heart is to reach the children of this valley with VBS and Summer Camp. It takes a great deal of resources to be able to hire staff and run that camp. But maybe we can start off smaller and do VBS in town for a week, ending in an overnight at the camp. There are some options available, but we need people with a vision and a heart for reaching children to step up and help out with this.
These are the things the Lord is revealing to me. And I just want to ask you to pray about them and see if the Lord gives you similar vision. Regardless, I know that God wants to do a work in our church and in this valley. I pray that we would all be open to follow His leading and to think bigger than ourselves. After all, we serve a great God.