When you're having fun...

...my how the time flies! Well, we are officially coming to summer's end and have had a decent amount of time to see how our 'summer of service' ministry format with no Sunday PM 'big church' services would go. Our groups, families and clusters of individuals have tried a variety of service/outreach/fellowship activities both on Sunday afternoons/evenings and at other times through out the week and, even though some activities didn't pan out completely, for the most part, a lot of great things have occured and have moved us as a people to a new place in our thinking about ourselves, the 'work of the church' and of God's Kingdom as a whole.

Our shepherds have officially said that we'll be continuing on with the new format and are looking forward to seeing how each Life Stage Group and other ministries develop through this new direction. In the weeks ahead we'll begin giving more complete reporting of ministries, activities, etc that have developed through our new format in this short time period that began in June.

We're also spending a lot of time as a staff (and soon with the entire leadership) working towards getting clarity on our vision and mission as a congregation in Little Rock. Yes, we know what the Great Commission is, but we also need to spend time as a church looking at what it means in the actual day to day lives of us as disciples who worship, mature and reach out to serve as a group under the direction of the shepherds at Central. Very soon (i.e. August 27) we'll have a meeting as a group to begin this discussion that will last for several months and help us move toward better clarity, movement, alignment and focus as a leadership team.

Remember that Harvest Sunday is coming up and that each person who is a leader at Central is asked to be thinking ahead of time how much they and their family will commit toward missions and/or Harvest Sunday so that we can set a (hopefully very) powerful example of what we want all members of Central to do on Harvest Sunday (Sept. 17). Please be ready at our August meeting to say what your family will commit to.

Also remember that the fall is the time we put together our ministry plans, budgets, etc for the New Year. You'll be receiving some reminders of when this is due (Oct. 1) and if you would like it, some pointers about how to go about writing your ministry plan for 2007 and how to arrange your budget.

What a blessing it is that God has poured out resources and opportunities on us as His people at Central! Let me encourage you to let God spark your imagination for what He can and will do as we let Him set the bar/goals for us and provide for us as He opens the doors. Blessings...