What’s on your agenda?
Spring is finally here. For many of us that means evenings filled with all sorts of activities. What do you have planned for tonight? Mowing your grass? Taking a bike ride? Baseball practice for the kids? Grilling out and then chilling for a while on the deck? The possibilities are practically endless. What a great time of year.
Have you thought about your deacon lately?
Each of our church members is placed on a “deacon care team.” That man along with his family provides oversight and care for 20-30 individuals and families. Have you ever thought about how that responsibility affects his schedule?
Let me tell you what your deacons will be doing tonight. All 33 of the men our church family has elected to this important position of leadership in our church, along with our 7 pastors and 8 pastoral interns, will be gathering for our monthly pastor/deacon’s meeting. Month after month, these faithful servants of God gather to try to serve our church and provide godly, biblical leadership for our congregation. Their families will also give their husbands and daddies up again so they can sacrificially serve God.
What’s at stake?
What do deacons do at these meetings? We always start by sharing praises and prayer requests with one another. We thank God for His abundant blessings and cry out to Him about issues that are burdening our hearts. We hold one another accountable for the tasks we’re responsible to complete. We laugh–a lot–because we are group of men who really love God and enjoy serving Him. We also communicate well and solve problems quickly. That cultivates a climate of guys who really have a good time whenever we are together.
However, there are always significant decisions to make. Here are some of the items we will be discussing this evening:
1. Finalizing and approving our 2011-2012 annual budget which charts the course for managing nearly 3 million dollars of our church’s family’s generous giving.
2. Deciding whether we should encourage our church family to pursue only one building project during our next construction cycle, the Student Ministry Center over at Purdue, or two by adding the Ministry Center for Faith Bible Seminary and Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries on our SR 26 campus.
3. Finalizing plans for the 4th service which begins on August 14th and addressing all of the ministry and financial decisions involved in such a significant undertaking.
4. Reviewing plans for all our summer ministries including Vacation Bible School, the Community Picnic, and our special emphases on Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and July 4th.
5. Determining the best way to shepherd our church family through the possibility of changing our church’s name.
6. Planning the capital campaign to raise approximately 3 million dollars over the course of 2012-2014 to complete our new construction project(s).
7. Hearing reports of recent missions trips and planning our summer missions emphases.
What you can do for your leaders
1. Pray for them
In Hebrews 13:17, the writer explains the relationship between church members and the leaders they elect. The next verse sums up the thought by saying, “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things” (Hebrews 13:18). Whatever you have planned for this wonderful spring evening, please take a moment and pray for your leaders who are seeking God’s will together on a number of very important issues.
2. Honor them
Another important passage in God’s Word on this subject is I Timothy 3:1-12. It is instructive to note that Paul ends that discussion by saying, “For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:13).
I remember talking to an elderly deacon from another church who said to me, “People just don’t honor their deacons anymore”. It’s not that he was serving for the applause of people, but he was disappointed that men and women were not more cognizant of and thankful for all the work they did to serve the church family. I do not think our deacons here at Faith would say what this dear man from another church said, but it is important to never take one another for granted. So the next time you see one of our deacons, thank him and his family for the way they faithfully and sacrificially serve our Lord, and our church.
