A New Call to the Same Place

Dear Friends in Christ,

On Sunday, January 13, I told the congregation that Heidi and I had decided to decline the call to Tree of Life Lutheran Church in Conroe. Tree of Life is a great congregation with the potential for an exciting future, but after much prayer and feedback from many Lakesiders, we were able to discern that God’s call for me, and for our family, was still here. I regard the discernment to stay as a new call into a new season of ministry.

We had a good congregation meeting last Sunday, January 20, 2008. During that meeting, I shared three special emphases that the council (including myself) agreed upon for the first six months of 2008. We do not believe that work will be completed on any of these emphases during these months. However, we will be persistent and intentional in pursuing them.

Spiritual Gifts. Starting with the Day of Pentecost (May 11), there will be a sermon series on the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gives every Christian at Baptism. Every member will have the opportunity to discern his or her gifts and to learn about them. We will create a congregational database of spiritual gifts so that when a ministry opportunity arises, we will be able to match the ministry to the people with the gifts needed.

Worship Renewal. We will take the opportunity our two-service schedule affords us to differentiate between our early and late services. The pattern of Gathering-Word-Meal-Sending will be maintained in each service. The beauty of the four-fold order is that it offers infinite possibilities for variety within the pattern.

New Building. During More Space for Grace last year, the congregation demonstrated its support for building the south wing, so that we can house more youth and educational ministries than at present. We will share the progress of the New Facilities Team at our MSFG Recommitment Celebration on Sunday, May 4.

At the meeting, we also heard from Paul McRae, who has agreed to lead our Evangelism Team. Paul has a passion for evangelism, as anyone who knows him can tell you. Paul believes that there is an evangelism component to everything the church does, and I agree. Inspirational worship, solid Christian education for children, youth, and adults, well-maintained building and grounds, fellowship, social ministry, and communication all impact the invitation and welcome we extend in the name of Jesus Christ. I’m excited about the leadership and vision Paul brings to our evangelism ministry.

After the congregation meeting, your stewardship team met over lunch. That team decided that we will have a financial stewardship emphasis in April, culminating in the invitation to make new pledges for the ongoing (General Fund) ministries of the church at the MSFG Recommitment celebration on May 4. The original plan was to wait until the fall for this financial stewardship emphasis, but since we are going to a July 1 fiscal year, your stewardship team thought that the spring would be the better time to do this.

All told, there’s a lot of positive momentum at Lakeside right now! There’s a place for every Lakesider to come and impact our part of the world in Jesus’ name.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Jim Fowler