A quick announcement before I start today: If you haven’t taken my survey about your greatest frustrations and joys as a pastor, please click take it… only 12 questions. I will be drawing two names from the ones who take it for two Amazon $20 gift cards… ends today!
THE REAL POINT OF THIS POST
I’m announcing today that I’m taking 2 weeks off from the blog to do three things:
1. Seek God’s direction for the future of the blog.
I started this blog almost 6 months ago, and it’s been quite a learning curve for me. I’ve really enjoyed it, and have met some fantastic people, and been encouraged by many of your comments, that something I wrote was helpful.
Writing regularly has been a stretch, but has been a helpful discipline for me in many ways, and I’ve truly enjoyed doing it. But it’s been much more than just the writing. Trying to do the blog with excellence has meant learning a lot about the behind-the-scenes WordPress things… Additionally, I have been preparing several projects in the background of the blog that I have been working on, including:
- Video coaching programs for young pastors
- A coaching program for small church revitalization
- An e-book on how to recruit more volunteers
- An e-book and coaching program on how to follow up on guests
These have taken up a lot of time and mental energy, and I am really quite close to launching them.
Recently God sent three separate people to me (in one day) with a message from the Lord. As Liz and I prayed over it, it seemed to indicate a change of pace was in order… so we’re seeking what to do about that.
At this point, I intend to continue to write, but we will see what that looks like. I will continue to keep my commitments to those churches that I’m coaching, and pastors that I’m coaching, but will have to wait until after this period of seeking to see if I will open that up to other churches & pastors.
2. Seek God’s power for a fresh season in our lives.
When the Lord sent these messages to us, they also all indicated that God was about to answer some long-standing prayers, and move powerfully in our city. We are thankful, and walking in expectation. Specifically, the message was to be ready, ask largely, rest, and watch God work.
The coordination of these messages (all of them unsolicited, and from people who had no contact with one another) was remarkable. We are waiting with anticipation to see how the Lord will fulfill his Word.
3. Attend the IH Convention in Dayton, OH.
While we are resting & seeking the Lord, we will be attending the IHC in Dayton. If you follow me on Twitter, I’m sure you’ll see some live tweets from that.
If you’re not familiar with the Inter-Church Holiness Convention, you can check it out here. The IHC is the largest gathering of people from the Conservative Holiness Movement in the US. Tuesday thru Thursday, people from the holiness movement gather to hear great preaching, fellowship together, & be encouraged in the Lord.
If you’d like to know more about it, you can find the link to watch live here. The daily schedule is also posted on the site here. I’ll be preaching Thursday morning, but I’m not sure if that will be live streamed or not.
Liz and I went through an excellent conference some years ago called “Family ID.” The conference led us through the process of creating a mission, vision and values for our family. (Sometime soon, I will write about that…)
One of the 80-something values on the list we created is “Valuing the events that gather holiness people.” This is why we go to camp meeting, Outreach and Bus Convention, and it’s why we go to the Inter-Church Holiness Convention.
We believe that there is value in gathering with God’s people, being encouraged in the Lord, sharing the journey with a larger circle of Christian family, and being reminded of the heritage of holy men and women in whose line we stand.
So I’m taking time off for that and for family… and I’ll be back, hopefully with a sense of what the Lord is leading toward next.
I have enjoyed your writings. They are well-written and your blog is very well put together. It is refreshing to have a social media ministry that is top notch in our movement. Your insights are consistently relevant and helpful. I am looking forward to your return.
Thanks, I expect I’ll be around in some form.