Last night our Ministry Leadership Team got together for its monthly meeting. While it still is offically the Local Board of Administration, I believe the name better reflects what we do. Yes, administration is part of the job we do and there are the usual reports (pastor, secretary, treasurer) but there is the greater job of setting the pace for who we are as a church.

I shared with the team a devotional from Hebrews 12:1-3. It’s been going through my mind alot lately. “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us press on and cast off the sin that so easily entangles us.” How do you want to be remembered? Our church was founded by a few faithful people almost 60 years ago. Several of our people have been praying for several years about young people. We now have a unique opportunity to minister to the young people of Martinsville and Henry County. Last night I said that there is no shame in being a small church, if we are building Christ’s Kingdom. I also believe that if we are building Christ’s Kingdom, growth will be a natural result of building. My prayer for our church is that we are a church that desires to build the Kingdom of Christ — to love our Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength — and to love each other — and to love our neighbors — and bring the hope of Christ to a community that so desperately needs it. I just found out last night that possibly 200 more people will lose their jobs in our community. This is in addition to the 1,000 we have already lost in the last year and the 1,000′s of job we have lost over the last 5 or 6. That is one reason why our community desperately need to hear the reason for the hope that we have. That is my soul desire.