Sample Mission Statements

If you have come up with any sample mission statements, please leave them here. I will be writing some at church camp, and will post them in the next couple of weeks. Soon, we will meet and see what we have received already (both here and in the last post about mission statements), and then begin seeking what our mission statement should look like.

Retreats and stuff

I would still like for us to have a retreat as a committee. So, I've decided to try to have it at Camp Copass instead of Possum Kingdom Lake (Associational Retreat Center-ARC). The ARC site is on the other side of PK, and it takes forever to get there. Plus, it is in the middle of nowhere. I want for this to be fun, not a survival skills exercise! Since I know the area around Camp Copass, and it is a fantastic facility, we'll try for there. It will be a little more expensive, but it will be worth it.

As for the date of the retreat, I'm looking at October or the beginning of November. The summer is too busy, and September is the revival. When I am at Camp Copass with the youth, I'll line up a date for us.

Also, I'd like to have the committee and families over to our house in the next month or two for dinner. I don't know if we'd get anything productive accomplished, but it would be fun!

So, please tell me personally, not here, if you will be out of town anytime in the future. If you tell me here on this blog, any random internet surfer will also know. :(

Summer Reading

As our summer continues, as any good teacher might do, I am giving you some "summer reading" to do. No, there will not be a test. But, we will discuss it as it pertains to our work in moving us forward as a church.

The book, entitled "The Unchurched Next Door: Understanding Faith Stages as Keys to Sharing Your Faith," is by Thom S. Rainer. Rainer is the President and CEO of Lifeway in Nashville, and was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The book breaks down the unchurched, after an extensive national survey, into 5 stages of faith. It will help us to better visualize the intended recipients of our ministries in our church as we plan.

I have already started handing out the books, and I'll get the rest of you your books in the coming weeks. We'll discuss it, and any ideas that come from it, in a couple of months.