About 300 of you have read at least parts of The Church Unleashed by Frank Tillapaugh. For ten weeks our Sunday School classes discussed his ideas. About 150 of you came to his seminar last Friday and Saturday. Even more have heard his radio spot on KTIS weekday mornings. Now what?

Possible responses:

1. “When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days; and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). Ministries are born in broken hearts. May God do this in some of us.
2. Last Tuesday the deacons met in special session to discuss the Interim Report of the Long Range Planning Committee. It lays out clusters of options concerning how we might handle the growth God is bringing. The Tillapaugh discussions have a direct bearing on the advisability of these options.
3. As the deacons disseminate the growth possibilities and solicit congregational input, groups can brainstorm and mull over the possibilities that lie before us, and make suggestions.
4. We can ponder the implications of the unleashed church for the governance structure (constitution) of our church. Does the electing of 130+ people each year to 25+ boards, committees and offices really poise us for powerful frontal attacks on the enemy territory? Or does it promote rear echelon busywork?
5. We can press on in the pursuit of cultivating our own future ministerial leadership who are in tune with the philosophy of ministry that guides our life.
6. Hold the course and stoke the engines.

Dedicated to the boiler room
for the sake of the ship
                       the sinking and
                       the distant shore!

Pastor John