plans and more plans

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. This is an interesting verse and like so many other verses we can take it completely out of context. I am praying hard for 2014, I am excited about the change for another year of ministry. If I commit to God my plan to fill our sanctuary up by the end of next year it will succeed going by this verse. But here's the problem with that. Last year I set goals for myself, I spend most of December praying over goals for all areas of my life. I have set long term goals for myself, and I use each year to create steps for short term goals that will get me to my long term goals. Ministry: 1 - Find leaders to help reach this community and be truly invested in our ministries at Freedom. 2 - Get the church's attendance to over 100 consistently. 3 - Make the transition from church to ministry. Family: 1 - Teach my children to love God first, to put God first. 2 - Reach the community thru the sports and schooling of my children. 3 - Teach the girls the importance of giving 100% to anything they do sports, school, chores. 4 - Teach the girls to get better in all areas of their lives every day. 5 - Stop living paycheck to paycheck. Work: 1 - become more involved in teh community through the Betty Griffin House. 2 - Do more on campus stuff with sports coaches. Hobbies: 1 - Win a division championship 2 - Win a wally 3 - Win a Track championship Let's look at ministry first today. I was at times depressed and fully beat up at the lack of attendance at Freedom. The number of people that we minister to on a weekly basis that don't go to church on Sunday. I get asked all the time what our numbers are for attendance and then I am quick to cower and say we we are reaching a lot of people most of them don't come on Sundays though.I tell them things like if everyone actually came to church this Sunday we would have X amount of people there. But then, I look at my other goals and yes as a pastor I am motivated and driven to reach our community. But, let's look at number 1 find leaders to help reach this community and be truly invested. That has happened, I no longer mow the grass and I no longer vacuum the church. I am no longer doing all of the outreach for the church like years past. I have families who are taking care of those things. The last few families to join our ministry have been pivotal in taking Freedom from a church to a ministry. Pivotal in assisting me in reaching our community and a huge blessing. I quickly realized last February that if we did have 100 people at church I wasn't ready. We didn't have our childrens' ministry where it should be, I cannot meet all of their needs working another full time job as well as coaching high school softball just to make ends meet. I was exhausted and run down. God knew that and my heart and my prayers shifted quickly to number 1 on my ministry goals list and to number 3 I didn't focus on number 2 at all from April til now. That one can wait, and realize that getting to teh point that we are at now is such a huge blessing and knowing that we have prospered in teh areas that God knew we needed to and not just where my ego wanted to. So you can commit to the Lord whatever you do, but you need to realize that your goals will change as God uses you in the ways that are possible, and He helps you avoid the headaches of accomplishing what YOU want to. I wnat to take a few minutes to thank a few families and people. T.J. Weedman has stepped in and taken the reigns on our music ministry. He is there every sunday morning at 9:00 and I never doubt whether he will be there or not. Phillip WOrthington and Tori are a huge addition to what T.J. is doing and a huge blessing as well I am so grateful for all three of them blessing our hearts every Sunday morning. THe Nix and Gause families for joining our ministry, serving whole heartedly and humbly in so many different capacities. The Rhodens for not only joining and becoming a part of our church family, but for welcoming my family as if we are part of theirs. For their serving in every way they can and taking a huge load off of my plate every week to them I am eternally grateful. To Hali WOrthington for taking over the childrens ministries and giving them direction. Every week we have a different group of kids and knowing that she is there consistently every week loving on them, serving their families and providing them with a message from God's Word on their level is one of the things I have prayed most heavilly for the past 4 years. My mom and dad serve in many ways, my dad is huge because he takes care of my yard, my vehicles and my family when I can't sometimes. He also plans a lesson and leads our small group every week for us and I am so grateful to Him. My mom also pays all the bills, balances the checkbook and helps out in many ways. Jordon and Kyle every week have the power point and sound taken care of. We don't have to worry about any of that and it is huge. The funny thing is sound and power point is the least thanked position in teh church. If everything goes smoothly(99% of the time it does) no one even thinks about sound or power point. If there is a mess up then everyone thinks about it so to those two thank you. Amber Lowe and Hali Worthington opened up their home so that we have somewhere to meet every Monday night for the Bridge. Tanya takes care of the giving records and makes the deposits every week while working more than 40 hours raising an awesome little girl and taking care of a sick brother(who is getting better and better thanks to everyone's prayers). To all at Freedom I thank you for another great year, for another opportunity to serve God here at Freedom. And for those who are wondering, my long term goal is not to pastor a mega church. I have two goals at Freedom long term. 1. To share the Gospel with, pray with and baptize three generations. I want to be able to preach to and baptize the grandchildren of the young people that we have baptized. I don't know what Gods' plans are for me but I would love to say that I have reached three generations of families all in one spot at one church for several decades. Thanks for reading and God Bless! 2. Be full time and be able to minister all week long. I know I left a lot of people out but I am thankful to all who have done so much.