New Day
When the meeting ended I was a bit surprised that people were full of energy, wanting to stick around, talk and share their excitement. I was thinking to myself, "Don't you all realize we went 1 hour late? It's 10 p.m. for crying out loud." Then Pastor Richard Caballero told me that the clock I was looking at was 1 hour fast. Nice, that is a pleasant surprise. The meeting was exciting, prayerful, and on time.
What made this meeting so great was it began with powerful worship led by the Longview's worship team. Pastor Agustin Hubert set the tone by preaching a message from Nehemiah, who upon hearing about Jerusalem's ruined state, was called by God to rebuild the walls. Agustin encouarged us to fall on our knees in prayers of mourning as Nehemiah did, and then be strengthened by the Power of God to rebuild. And that is what we did, we prayed.
From there it felt like the Classis was renewed, and of one mind to pursue God's mission together. We heard of Mission Southwests call to make 400 new disciples by the end of 2017. The Church Health team layed out two new initiatives that are leading towards every church being encouraged towards health. Church Encouragement teams are being developed to walk alongside each consistory to encourage them as they lead their churches into mission. Randy Weiland also introduced a Church Health tool called, "The Vitality Pathway," and invited each church that we pursue that processes together.
Of course those are just a few of the highlights. There was much more to this Classis meeting, yet it all gave me that sense of a new day. What a great way to kick of ministry together in 2014.
Gary Jarvis