12 Witnesses

Our church, Skelly Drive Baptist Church, is at a crossroads, of sorts. We have experienced the departure of staff and we are in the beginnings of transitioning our church toward a more Missional engagement on an Acts 1:8 structure.

On Sunday I gave to Skelly Drive Baptist Church a “State of the Church” address to give us an honest evaluation of where we are and where we needed to be heading. Before the message, we joined together in the Lord’s Supper.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t post the evaluation part of the message. That’s an internal look at ourselves and not necessarily something that is for public consumption.

The end of it is that we need to turn our minds and hearts toward what God wants for the future of the church, and not what we want, that we need to spend time before Him seeking His will and that the worst thing we could do is anything other than what He leads us to do.

As a result, SDBC was called to commit to pray and fast through the month of April in order to fulfill our call to be where we need to be. I want to post the notes from the conclusion of my sermon.

The turbulence you are now feeling is the actual experience of change occurring within our church.

Jason’s departure has brought us to the point of being able to address our Pastoral Staff in a way that was not feasible for us to do prior. As a result of having two major concentrations of responsibility, Music and Youth, both areas felt that they did not get as much of Jason’s attention as they needed. This was not because of a deficiency on the part of Jason, as no person can adequately fill the needs of both such demanding areas.

In addition to the changes in staff leadership, we are currently pursuing a missional strategy that will actually allow us to be engaged in areas of ministry here, around North America and to the ends of the Earth, in compliance to the command of Acts 1:8, something that I have talked about for two years, but we are only now beginning to expand upon.

These two questions about our future sum up the major changes on our plate, in a general sense:

1) What staffing do we need to obtain to help us grow into the church God wants us to be? and …

2) What does a Skelly Drive Baptist Church need to do to become a local body of Christ that is reaching those who are living apart from God, discipling those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus, fellowshipping with the saints gathered, worshipping together in the Spirit of Unity and ministering to the hurting of this world in the Name of our Savior, Jesus Christ?

These simple questions get even further reduced when we realize that as God has certain people in mind to fill the roles of leadership that are currently vacant at SDBC. He is bringing us people in answer to the first question that will help us to answer the second question. Moreover, our understanding of structure informs us of who we need on staff.

In other words, we need to seek the leaders that God has already chosen for us to help us formulate a church structure that will mobilize our members to engage people in a way that makes sense to those people, each in their cultural context. On fields that are not local, seeking cultural relevance is a given, but local cultural relevance is yet to be determined for us and we need bright minds, motivated hearts and gifted leaders that can help us attain this framework.

Clearly, then, the first step is for us to pursue God’s choice for additional pastoral leadership in our church.

Yet, we cannot wait until leadership arrives to pursue the mandates of the church: Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship, Worship and Ministry. Therefore, we must cautiously proceed on both fronts.

We will pursue future staffing and a future structure. As we pursue these things, we will also pursue short-term leadership to help us in this current time to get us to our more long-term solution.

In that process, I call the church to adhere to several Biblical principles that will guide us through this process.

1. Romans 8:28 - If we believe Scripture at all, we must believe that we are not in our current situation by accident, but by deliberate mechanization of God as He works to bring about His own glory through us. Therefore, do not fear the future, but trust the God who is our future and trust that He will provide for leadership and a sure foundation.

2. Ephesians 4:29 - Guard your tongue. Unwholesome and destructive talk is the tool of the enemy, who seeks to divide the church. If you use your tongue to tear down the body of Christ, you have willingly participated in Satan’s plan for our destruction. If, however, you speak in a way that is encouraging and builds up the body, you willingly participate in God’s plan for the furtherance of His Kingdom through this church.

3. James 4:13-15 - Don’t presume on the Lord’s will. Just because something looks good to us, plain to us, obvious to us, doesn’t mean that it is what God wants for us to be doing. There are many times God has asked His children to do what seemed nonsensical to them and yet it was exactly what He wanted them to do (remember Jericho?), and their doing it resulted in their blessing. This means that we must all humble ourselves and ask for God’s leadership from this point forward.

4. Ps. 35:13 - Humility before God is often reflected in fasting and genuine prayer. I am asking for this church to enter into fasting and prayer during the month of April, as we seek to make decisions about what our pastoral staff should look like and how we should go about reaching the world.

Realize that fasting and prayer is about giving up things that consume your time and attention and re-focusing your time and attention on God and our needs here. Skipping a meal, but giving the time you would have spent eating to completing some work assignment is not fasting.

If you have dietary needs that govern your health, you might choose to forego hobbies or television in order to focus on the Lord and His will for us.

This is something that I would also encourage everyone to consider, even if you are able to fast from food.

As to how you fast from food, it may be that you are able to fast from a meal a day, or you may fast for one day of solitude during the week, or even both. This is my commitment to you as a church. I will fast for one meal a day, every day and for an additional day of solitude every week, where I will spend almost all of the day in prayer seeking God’s plan for us.

Remember some basics about fasting.

1. It’s not a diet. By definition, it is not physically healthy for you, but it is spiritually dynamic.

2. It doesn’t impress God. You can’t buy God’s favor by avoiding food and He is not obligated to do what you ask because you jump through an imaginary hoop. It is self discipline that tenderizes you to Him and His leading.

Finally, I encourage you to journal through your fast. Record how you feel and what you sense God is doing and telling you.

Commitment: Invite people to come to the altar to commit to pray and fast for the future of our church. Remember Ananias and Sapphira. God does not take lightly a false commitment to Him that is made to make an impression on others. Don’t commit lightly.

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