10/23/2020
Tomorrow, your elders will be having an all-day Session retreat. I had hoped to have this retreat right after I became Senior Pastor, to start my tenure off on the right foot with our elders, but COVID kept us from gathering. Now we’re able to be together, distanced and even possibly outside since it looks like it will be a beautiful day.
We plan on talking about where we see the Lord leading Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church in 5-10 years, what we need to focus on to accomplish that envisioned future, how to communicate that vision clearly to the saints, and some other miscellaneous items. These sorts of longer horizon conversations are vital to the work of oversight that is a chief calling of elders (another title in the Scriptures for an elder is “bishop/overseer,” from the Greek word episkopos - we not only oversee individual sheep, but this particular church of God as a whole). We want to have a clear view of the direction in which we’re seeking to shepherd the flock, though we realize we must hold our plans with an open palm instead of a clenched fist: “The plans of the heart belong to man but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:9); “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
Please pray earnestly for the Lord to guide our discussion and give us wisdom, unity, and good fellowship together. Pray that we will be able to listen well, speak our thoughts clearly and graciously, and come to one mind on the issues before us. There are many strengths of Pear Orchard, many good ministry opportunities, so we need your prayers to discern how the Lord would want us to keep moving forward. We don’t expect to come away from Saturday with answers wrapped up with a bow on top, but I do pray that we will have a solid start as we engage in this planning process together. Pear Orchard is blessed with godly and wise elders, and I look forward to spending the day with them.
I also ask you to pray for me as I spend next week in study, prayer, and planning the 2021 preaching calendar. I will be mapping out what we will be preaching through next year, and who will be preaching each text. The preaching calendar helps the staff know their responsibilities for the new year, and helps in the planning of worship. I’m excited to think about the needs of the congregation and which books of the Bible I believe we can preach with fruitfulness for the growth of the body in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our highest calling as ministers of the gospel is to feed Christ’s sheep with the word of God, and Paul’s words to Timothy ring loudly in our ears: “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching… Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you…Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (I Timothy 4:13, 15-16; II Timothy 4:2).
May the Lord continue to use His living and active word to search the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, to shatter our hardness and thaw our coldness to Christ, to root us in grace, and to bear fruit for His glory!