A time to physically get some things in order and an important phone call

 


The screenshot is my typical morning walk around Betmar Acres mobile home park.  It is 4.63 miles long and usually takes me about 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete.  For those mph people out there, it is a pace of 3.7 mph.  It offers me some physical exercise that I need but also a time to think and pray and meet other walkers of the park.  Scroll down to the bottom if you want to see the satellite view and get an idea of how many mobile homes are in this park.  On Sunday mornings I shorten it up a bit so that I am ready for Sunday School and Morning Worship but I'm trying to create a habit I will take with me again.  I was so thankful for the 2 mile walks from our provided home in Marshfield, Maine to the Machias Valley Baptist Church and especially on Sunday mornings.  

Another thing in order are the sheds.  At one point in my life, I possessed a 40x60 pole barn!  Now I have a couple little sheds that store our "downsizing" possessions.  It is amazing what you can put in these sheds when you take everything out of them; clean them from top to bottom; paint the cement floor; outfit them with shelving units from floor to ceiling; and purchase enough weatherproof totes and even label what is inside of them.  I can now get to my work bench and organize my tools that are like old friends.  Part of the motivation was to ease our coming and going from "home base" with what we use "on site" with our IPM assignments.  It will help with the hectic-ness of our departures and returns.  I find myself visiting the sheds to get motivation to keep going with ordering other things in my life.

After 6 weeks of "actively waiting," a ZOOM phone call put myself in touch with another church facing a pastoral transition.  It allowed me to share the 5 stage process of IPM but also to hear another story about a local church striving to reach its community with the gospel.  My call is to see local churches focused on the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and also supplied with pastors who love God's word and God's people.  An important communication to local churches going through these types of transitions is that it can be dealt with very purposefully and much can be accomplished while "actively waiting" for God to reveal that new team member.

What I do is very orderly like the sheds.  I used by in-laws as guinea pigs to listen to my presentation to prepare for this ZOOM call.  Their response displayed again how much the church world doesn't realize what an intentional interim pastor does.  So let me give you the rundown.

Stage 1 - important interviews with the congregants - note similar concerns and use this time to get to know this local body of believers

Stage 2 - utilize a church health assessment tool - note if interview concerns mirror the tool's revealed weak areas and develop a list of personal observations

Stage 3 - create a transition team - spend time openly discussing the concerns and weak areas to seek reconciliation, restoration and redirection if needed

Stage 4 - develop some action steps to implement improvement - prepare the congregation through communication and instruction

Stage 5 - create a search team - prepare community, church, and pastoral profiles - take all that has been learned during this transition and use it for discernment in this decision

Personally I have learned over the last 18 months that my first discipleship responsibility is the leadership team of the church.  It must happen there if it is going to become the "new norm" and be sustained throughout the church body.  I put laser focus on the leadership team.

Do I believe in this process?  The answer is "yes."  I pray about the next local church that God will put me in touch with.  Each local church is part of His bride and can be beautifully adored when we seek after His will.  Connected to each local church is a local community that needs a body of believers and a pastor who are committed to live a God honoring life before them.  The local church is God's ordained tool to see the Great Commission played out and therefore time invested in each one is vitally important to me.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

  1. Dick56February 24, 2021 at 12:29 PM

    I agree. Churches should devote themselves to the Great Commission

    ReplyDelete

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