Every Journey Starts With a New Beginning
An old saying goes “every journey begins with but a single step.” After January’s Town Hall Meeting and my first meeting as president, with our new Vision Team, this saying kept coming to mind. As New Spirit begins to look at who we are, what we do well, where we need to do better and where we might be going as a church, the feeling of the journey continues.
As we are baptized and we commune during worship, we are all blessed with what Pastor Alan calls that, “powerful presence of God within us, right now.” It is truly that presence that accompanies us on our journey and gives us all the strength to carry on God’s work in this place. For many of us, that work is a much focused calling based on our own gifts and talents. For others of us, it is a routine calling that keeps us participating just as we always have done in our “church life.” Others of us are still struggling with how we might “fit in” to God’s plan. And if you’re like me, it may be all of the above.
All of the new Vision Team members identified the reason they accepted the calling to be on the Vision Team as simply a leap of faith. Not knowing exactly what God may be calling them to do; they felt the need to participate in the elected governing of the church’s business as well as planning for what lies ahead. In the months ahead, you will be reading articles written by these members and I hope you begin to feel comfortable with them as your church leaders.
What lies ahead of us will require that all of us give not only financially, but also our time and talents towards the growth and operations of our church. It’s a challenge for sure, but it begins with these few new steps knowing that we are not alone, for we carry within us that “powerful presence of God within us, right now.”
~ Tom Bartels
Email the Vision Team President: NewSpiritLutheranVision@yahoo.com