Journeying Into a Hopeful Future
Posted on April 1st, 2009
Pastor’s Column published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for April 2009)
Easter is once again around the corner, and lately, I have been pondering that first Easter day. For us, more than two thousand years on this side of that miraculous morning, Easter is a celebrative reminder of the living power of God, and a confirmation of the wonderful future that we have in Christ. But as I read the Gospel accounts of Easter, I sense that there was not only joy and celebration, but also shock, confusion and doubt as the disciples grappled with the impact that Jesus’ resurrection would have on their futures and the future of their community. On that morning, those followers of Jesus embarked on a Easter Journey into an unknown but hopeful future.
I feel that we at Farmville Baptist Church also are about to embark on an Easter Journey that will take us into an unknown but hopeful future. On Sunday, March 22, a taskforce consisting of Mc Amoss, Anita Lynn, George Carter, Jim Davis and I looked over the nominations submitted by the congregation for our initiating leadership team of our Spiritual Transformation Journey. We came up with a list of church members to contact, and after personal conversations with each person on that list, I’m happy and excited to announce that Ken Copeland, Crystal Cupp, Don Kyper, John Slade, Doris Weaver and Elizabeth Whiley have all agreed to serve! They will join me in an all-day training session with Bill Moore at Farmville Baptist on Saturday, April 4. Later, we will join the leadership teams of West End Baptist in Suffolk and Patterson Ave. Baptist in Richmond on an overnight training retreat at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond on April 24-25. Please pray for the members of this team as we seek to lead Farmville Baptist in the Spiritual Transformation Journey. While I don’t know exactly the future may bring, I am excited and hopeful that this journey will lead us toward a wonderful future that God has in store for us!
On the journey with Christ, Michael
Tags: Spiritual transformation journey
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Spiritual Transformation Journey to Begin
Posted on March 1st, 2009
Pastor’s Column published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for March 2009)
On Sunday, February 15, those in attendance at our called Church Business Meeting formally voted to begin the spiritual transformation journey. At the end of the worship service on that day, during the time of invitation, twenty nine people filled out a response card that indicated that they would pray and support the church in this journey. Of those who responded, five indicated that they were willing to be considered to serve on an initiating leadership team, and five more indicated that they would like to participate in one of the three-person prayer groups that will be setting up in a couple of months.
I was greatly encouraged by the response of the congregation. In the coming weeks, we will ask members of the deacon body and the congregation to nominate individuals whom they consider to be very positive and passionate about Farmville Baptist and who have the spiritual maturity to possibly serve as a member of the initiating leadership team. The church staff, together with a deacon and a church trustee, will then take the input from the church and prayerfully identify seven from that list to ask them to serve on the leadership team.
Members of this team will attend a six-hour workshop at Farmville Baptist to learn more about the “nuts and bolts” of this spiritual journey. Then they and I will attend three overnight retreats (from Friday 4 p.m. to Saturday 3:30 p.m.) during the course of the next sixteen months. At these retreats, we will join the initiating leadership teams from Patterson Ave. Baptist Church in Richmond and West End Baptist in Suffolk to learn from Bill Moore, our congregational coach, and from each other about how to lead our respective congregations in this spiritual journey.
Please be in prayer as we begin this process of discerning the makeup of our leadership team. If you would like to be considered to serve in this capacity, please let me know. May God bless Farmville Baptist as we take this step of faith to journey with Christ toward a new future!
Yours in Christ, Michael
Tags: Spiritual transformation journey
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“Spiritual Transformation Journey” Update
Posted on February 1st, 2009
Pastor’s Column published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for February 2009)
After worship on Sunday, January 11, close to thirty people attended our “spiritual transformation journey” meeting with Bill Moore. At the meeting, Bill shared with the group what the journey was all about: a process that fosters a transformation of our lifestyles so that we as individuals and as a church will walk closer with Christ and live into the preferred future that God has for us. It is a future that includes a deeper walk of faith and a closer sense of belonging among our members so that we can better be the presence of Christ here in Farmville.
Bill briefly told us how this journey begins. After the church formally decides to embark on this journey, the congregation will choose among our membership seven spiritually mature individuals who are positive and passionate about the church. This group will form a leadership team that will work closely with me in this journey. During the next 16 months, this leadership team will go on three retreats (joining leadership teams from three other churches) to receive training and coaching on how to lead our congregation into a season of prayer, a season of congregational discernment of God’s vision and call, and a season of writing down the “future story” of Farmville Baptist based on the collective input of all members who participate in this journey.
We have scheduled a called church business meeting on February 15 to vote formally to undertake this journey. I pray that you will support this endeavor. I’m excited about what God has in store for us!
In another matter, Amanda Johnston resigned from her position on January 7. Let us keep Amanda and John in our thoughts and prayers as they go through a challenging time of transition and change. I want to thank them both for their service and ministry to Farmville Baptist, and I wish God’s blessings upon them as they seek God’s direction and call for their lives in the weeks and months to come.
Yours in Christ, Michael
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“A Journey for the New Year”
Posted on December 25th, 2008
Pastor’s Column published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for January 2009)
Last September, I attended a retreat in Richmond that turned out to be a spiritual wake-up call. During that retreat, I came to realize that my work at church was close to burning me out and spiritually depleting me. I was too wrapped up in doing things for the church at the expense of being a child of God and abiding in Christ’s presence.
The leader of the retreat was Bill Moore, a congregational coach who introduced us to a process called “Pursuing Missional Faithfulness.” This process is basically a spiritual transformation journey to help church members embrace a new lifestyle with Jesus under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. When that happens, the hope is that the congregation as a whole will begin to walk with God, to discern, and to live into God’s future by being the Church and doing the work they are uniquely called to do. This is not a church-growth “program” because it is not something we just start, do for forty days, and then bring it to a close. This is a process that begins a transformation of our spiritual lives through intensive prayer so that we will not only seek experiences of God (through worship services, special programs or youth camps), but we will joyfully journey with God every day into the future that God has for us as a church.
I experienced a taste of that joy during the times of prayer at the retreat, and those times gave me a greater desire to know Christ and to forge a deeper spiritual connection with members of Farmville Baptist. I came back from the retreat excited about the possibility of Farmville Baptist embarking on this spiritual journey for the new year. Our first opportunity to learn about this will be Sunday, January 11, after morning worship. Please see the article below for more details.
As we come to Christmas, my prayer for myself and for the congregation is that not only will we experience the hope, peace, joy and love of the Christ-child on December 25, but that we will also commit to journeying with that Christ-child throughout the new year.
On the journey together, Michael
Tags: journey, renewal, spiritual transformation
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1/11 – “Spiritual Transformation” Mtg
Posted on December 25th, 2008
On Sunday, January 11, there will be a meeting in the Fellowship Hall immediately after worship for those who would like to learn more about embarking on a “spiritual transformation journey” as individuals and as a church. Bill Moore, a coach who has led many congregations in Virginia and North Carolina through this journey, will spend approximately two hours with us to present more specific information about this process and to answer our questions. A light lunch will be served and we will end the meeting no later than 2:30 p.m. Please RSVP with the church office (by calling 392-5041) if you are interested in attending.
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