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DRIVING DIRECTIONS

I want to begin by thanking everyone who attended the Town Hall meeting on August 13th.  I appreciate your willingness to share your desires about the ministries of our church.  As a staff we began kicking around some ideas shortly after that meeting, and we will continue to use the information you gave us as we seek God's guidance in making plans and decisions for our future.

I believe that God has brought together a great group of people at Hartford First United Methodist, and as a pastor it is a blessing to be able to work with such a great group.  Also as a pastor, I have a responsibility to cast a vision for the church and to lead the church in the fulfillment of that vision.  In saying this, I want to make a few points of clarification as to what I mean when I say "the vision."  First of all, I do not mean my vision.  What I am referring to is God's vision for our church.  I could list all kinds of things that we could do as a church; we could start new programs; we could hire more staff; and we could have planning meetings to brainstorm for good ideas.  Many times when we do these things we come up with good ideas.

But when I refer to "the vision" for the church, I'm not simply looking for good ideas, but for God ideas.  When I talk about "the vision" I'm not referring to our mission or mission statement.  I'll say more about these later.  Suffice for now to say, I see our mission as our purpose for being here and the vision, as how God is going to use us to fulfill that mission.  So, as your pastor, I am in the process of seeking God's vision for our church.

You may ask, "What can I be doing about this?"  You can make this a specific topic of your prayers.  First pray that your pastor will be led by the Holy Spirit as he leads the church.  Then pray that God will give me, as your pastor, a vision for the church and the courage to lead in that vision.

What I'm asking is that you simply begin to pray with me about the vision for our church.  I thank those of you who are already praying for these things, and I thank in advance those of you who will begin now.

Blessings,