Last Sunday's Service

It is such a tremendous blessing to be part of such a great staff here at WBF. It was a double blessing to be able to share the sermon time with all of them last Sunday.

I think the message heard from the pulpit was an important one for our church. We have been growing rapidly in the last few months. There are a lot of new faces showing up regularly on Sunday mornings. (BTW, if it's possible for you and your family to attend the earlier service on Sundays, that would be a blessing to us and to our new folks who are just getting familiar with us. Praise God! We're running out of room in the Later Service!)

As exciting as it is to see God's hand moving in the lives of all of the folks who have been with us a while as well as the new folks that are showing up, there are some adjustments that come along with that growth that we need to be aware of as well. Sunday gave us the opportunity to address some of these matters.

For one thing, not everyone knows who we are and what we do. We were able to introduce our entire staff to those folks that may have heard names but been unable to connect them with faces. Each staff member had the opportunity to share their passion and their calling and how they fit into the big picture at WBF. More importantly, I pray that the congregation saw the tremendous unity and love we have for each other. I pray that the common vision the Lord has given us was apparent. I pray that our commitment to serve and love the Lord and the flock at WBF rose to the surface Sunday morning.

Here's the slide presentation for Sunday's message. The sermon was based on the profound teaching about leadership found in Luke 22:14-38.

Sermon Feb 22

View more presentations from kuvakas.

The key points to the sermon were these, representing the things we believe we do well at our church;

1. Teach & equip with the truth
2. Worship
3. Relationship/Fellowship
4. Minister the Gospel
   

1. All of our teaching and all of our curriculum, throughout the church, is Scripture based and emphasizes the objective truths found in the Bible.

2. Worship is an integral part of all we do and permeates everything we do. Our singing, our praying, the sermon, our classes our studies....even the announcements and offering are part of our corporate worship.

3. Our individual relationship with the Lord and our relationships with each other are a very high priority. That being said, as we grow it becomes more and more difficult for us to fulfill the role that was expected of us when we were a smaller church. We are seeing a transition occur here. The larger we get, the more obvious it becomes that the role of the staff is to provide venues and opportunities in which all of us can establish and build relationships. This still allows us as shepherds, the necessary time we need to attend to hospital visits, new visitor calls, crisis counseling, grief counseling and leadership development all of which increase in size and frequency as we continue to grow.

The bottom line on this issue is this; please don't stop asking us to go out for a cup of coffee! We love that. Don't stop inviting us to lunch or dinner! We love that too. Don't stop asking us to spend time with you....we love you! With that understanding, please don't be disappointed if we have to decline or ask for a rain check. Our schedules can be pretty demanding at times. The great news is that we all strive to operate in His strength, not our own.

4. All the others things God has given us the capability to do well will have no value if we fail to minister the Gospel. This is our highest calling and our highest priority. This is so much more than what the modern church has come to think evangelism is. As a staff, we see our most effective work as being the strengthening and equipping of the body of Christ to live lives that are a reflection of the character and nature of Jesus Christ. Through this, God will reveal Himself in the behavior and love of those that are His children and men everywhere will be drawn toward him.

All of these things flow out of a common passion and calling to serve. I think this is what God is doing among us....establishing that inner fire in each of us to make His work the priority and passion of our lives.

What a wonderful time!