On the Diving Board

Our church has pledged the money to expand our facilities, plant a new church, and give to a mission project. That is awesome! But…what are we supposed to be doing now?

When I was a kid, I loved to swim. My mom would take me and sisters to the community pool, where they had a couple of diving boards. There was the low board, and then there was … the high board. It was scary. I remember the day I decided to conquer the high dive. I walked up to the ladder. I slowly climbed the steps up. When I got to the top, I thought, “This looks a LOT higher from up here!” I put my toes to the end of the board, and took a deep breath. And then – I jumped. It was thrilling. I went back again and again.

This season in the life of our church is like that high dive. There is work to climb the ladder. There are moments to pause and catch our breath. And soon it will be time – overcoming any fears – to take the leap! This is what we have been waiting for. This “diving board” season means a few key things:

• Stay on mission – our mission is to see lives transformed by Jesus. There have been over 30 first time visitors to our church in June. God is moving in people’s lives. We will never stop focusing on this.
• Walk with the Shepherd – Psalm 23 says that the Shepherd leads us to still waters. There are times to take a breath (before the jump). This is a time – before the doors open on expanded facilities – to grow closer to Christ and dig deep roots.
• Develop third level leadership – we have great pastors and leaders. Our next level to develop is leaders in training. We will be working in this season to invest in those who will be ready to step up as our church grows.
• Strengthen the infrastructure – the wider the foundation, the higher you can build. We have been working to strengthen our policies, financial systems, administrative support, and more. In this season we will continue this important (but often unseen) work. A healthy body has healthy systems.

A few years ago, our church was on a different diving board. You could call it the low board, but it felt plenty challenging for us then! God raised a bunch of money, in 3 months, and we moved into our facilities. Now we are a larger church. A larger church can make a larger splash, but it takes more time to get ready. We are getting ready to make a huge impact for the Kingdom of God. We are climbing the ladder of the high dive!!

We are not taking the summer off. Ministry is in full swing and lives are being transformed. Systems are getting strengthened. Devotion is growing deeper and people are being encouraged to rest before the next crazy season. New people are joining our church family and we are having a ton of fun. Take a minute to breathe … then get ready to jump!!