Planning for Growth: Where are you going?

From the D.O.M.: Glenn Davis
Sunday, March 1, 2009

Remember Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat. Alice asked, "Which road do I take?" The Cat replied, "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know," Alice answered. "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

Where are you going as a church? We have all heard it said, "If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you got." I heard Cody Busby, pastor at First Baptist Mulvane, say recently, "Your system is perfectly designed to yield the results you are getting."

Do we know where we are going? Are we getting the results we desire and that the Lord intended for His church?

Often when we do not get the results we want, we think the solution is to work harder. Working hard is a part of what God intends. One of my favorite Proverbs says, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat." Hard work is a part of the answer, but if that is the only answer needed, then maybe we all ought to go dig post holes. That is about as hard of work as I can think of.

I suspect that the answer is more involved than that. How can we as local churches begin to move a step closer to being all that God designed us to be?

First we must know where it is that we want to go. Then we must change our system to one that will produce the results that God desires. Then the hard work begins.

As your Director of Missions, it is my desire to help churches and pastors determine where God would have them to go, and to offer them help in moving in that direction.