ReDreaming the Dream -- A Vision As It's Supposed To Be!

On Sunday the church will vote on a new vision that our Vision Team has been working on for nealy seven months. We knew going into this one that it was going to be different from the last (2003). Maybe harder. You see, the last time, the church was in a kind of "jump start" mode. Their new co-pastor team was still fairly new (3 years, and there were lots of "systems" that needed to be repaired or created. Everything from the phone system to the outreach system...

That 2003 process was begun because about a two years prior a church consultant, called in to give us advice about a "Master Plan" that was in the works, had made this striking statement: "I hear you saying what you want to do. I don't hear you saying who you are." So that Vision began, as all visions must, with a commitment to define who we are, which we accomplished in a mission statment that truly spoke of this church: "Becoming disciples through worship and service." That statement guided the the remainder of that process, and has led us as a church ever since. And that vision also set us on a track of completing some bricks-and-morter systems that needed to be put in place. In December, 2007 we dedicated a new Community Center, which will always stand as a kind of symbol to the 2003 Vision.

But we knew when we started in March of this year there would be nothing as tangible as a building to come out of this process. So it would be harder. It was. It is. Harder to see... harder to explain... harder to grasp (especially if you've not been in seven months of meeetings!) But it has the same potential to guide this church, define this church, change this church, as "Commitment Made Real" did, in 2003.

I hope you have taken the time to read and reflect, ask questions and study "ReDreaming the Dream: Reaching Up... Reaching In... Reaching Out...," which we will vote on as a church this coming Sunday. The document can be found on the church website (www.parkroadbaptist.org). Please take a look. I wanted to share with you the presentation that LeDayne McLeese Polaski made to our Deacons on Sunday morning. Her words mean something to me because of how well she knows The Church, and because they capture the excitement that this vision should. Amy and I hope that if we move forward on Sunday, we'll do so with this much enthusiasm -- it will virtually be required to make "ReDreaming the Dream" the success it deserves to be.

Here are LeDayne's remarks:

"In my job, I work with churches throughout North America. And because of that, I think about churches – what they do and why and how – and how they work or not – pretty much all day and every day – so I want to start with a very brief professional assessment.
PRBC is a healthy, vibrant church with excellent clergy and lay leadership – This expansive vision plan is both proof of that and reason to believe that it will continue as such. That’s my professional opinion.

But I think that Crystal (Crystal Smyth, Chair of Diaconate) invited me today to offer my personal opinion -- so here’s my personal option – I’m so excited that I just cannot stand it!

I had no idea of what to expect from the Vision Team and wasn't, to tell the truth, all that invested one way or the other. I’ve been in churches that created vision plans – I’ve watched churches create plans – and usually, to be honest, it isn’t very interesting. BUT – when I attended the presentation of the Vision Team a few weeks ago -- well, I thought it was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen in my 42 years of going to church. I already LOVED PRBC – but I was blown away by how good, how exciting, how visionary, how comprehensive, and how energizing this plan is. And – oh, by the way – by how faithful it is to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My Sunday School class has been reading Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution – a book that makes me wonder if its possible for me to live a truly Christian life. I’ve been fretting about it, actually – wondering how I might move myself closer to being what I want to be – a faithful disciple. And then I went to the vision presentation and found the answer. I don’t have to do this alone – I have a community to help me – to support me, to challenge me, to walk with me, to care for me all along the way. And this community has a vision as big and deep and hard as I want mine to be. It makes me feel that I am in the right place to help me live out the call to discipleship. It makes me grateful to be a part of The Church and this church. It even makes me ready to give more and be more – and I would have sworn that I was already doing as much and giving as much as I could.

I am excited – energized – grateful – and ready to get started."

Thanks, LeDayne, so am I!

The Real Meaning of Church

It happens occasionally. maybe only occasionally. Even for those of us who spend nearly every waking hour within its doors. So when church really happens, it's worth remembering. It happend this week.

(I told this story with her permission on Wednesday night, but for the internet I won't disclose any names.)

She came by the office early one day last week. She seemed excited. For more than a year there have been health questions for her husband. Tests here. Anxious waiting. Tests there. More waiting. They've both been amazingly upbeat (he probably more than she -- not surprising for an anxious spouse!). Not unrealistically cheery, but healthily optimistic. Hopeful.

And they'd gotten a report from the doctor that once again sounded like good news. I'm not at all being skeptical, just saying what we all know, namely, that listening to a report from the doctor can be notoriously difficult. There's the polysyllabic medical lexicon (the big words!), the complicated, often contingent procedures (this one if this... that one if, well, something else...), and the doctor's understandable need to be positive, even if realistic, and yet somewhat hestitant (they do call it the practice of medicine -- since no one has absolute answers when it comes to our health). What she heard (along with the other four listening ears from their family -- always a good practice to take along several extra sets of ears for doctors' conferences!) sounded good. Very good. and she just had to share.

So, standing in the church office, she did just that. We could hear the excitement. The absense of tension in her voice, for the first time in a while. (That's how you spell relief.) We asked a few questions, though there was little we needed to know other than the smile on her face. And then she said, "And I need a little thanksgiving prayer."

So right there, we joined hands. Our whole ministerial staff. The office staff. The office volunteer. And Amy prayed. (She knew I wouldn't have made it through such a tender moment -- and she was right! I hardly made it through her prayer!) It was a beatiful prayer of thanks and grace and community. Just what she needed. And what a gift she had given to us. Sharing life's difficult moments. And life's joys. Together. Wrapped in a spirit of prayer.

I don't know when I've had a more meaningful experience of church.

But I trust there will be more.

Russ