From building up to moving forward... from affirmations to prayers... from prayers to action... from

In eleven months we have seen God moving with us at each step of our transition process here at Spring Creek. We began our journey together with anger, anxiety, chaos, and disillusionment through staff changes. We shared our stories, as individuals and as a community of faith, and then we proceeded to dream of where we would like to be after the transition period.

Through deep listening, we were able to find some common ground in dealing with the above stated feelings. By doing that, we were able to look forward with hope instead of fear and trepidation. So, we spent time building up to move forward.

Moving forward... now we have started the church profile part of the journey with people volunteering or confirming their intention to help in this part of the settled pastor search process. During this period, we will have the opportunity to not only complete the church profile, but also use it and other means to discern God's vision for Spring Creek. It is important that everyone use this opportunity to do some "deep listening" to one another and to God. Our Moderator, Barb, has called on us to be in prayer for moving through this point of our transition.

Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to pray for each of our Council members which we affirmed at our Congregational Meeting in June. Each person in worship had the opportunity to pray for one of our Council members for this week. At this point, we have moved from affirming our leaders to praying for them.

One of the things we made aware of that while our congregation is smaller than last year, we still have many vital ministries to support with our resources — time, talents, and financially. It is one thing to pray for miracles to happen like getting a windfall of money, or get more "butts and bucks" in the pews, but that misses one of the most important things that Jesus has always asked of his followers — make disciples! Jesus never asked us to simply "survive" but to thrive as his ambassadors of the faith. Therefore, each of us has to do more than pray for making disciples, our prayers must be put into action.

So, that leads us to today and tomorrow and in the weeks and months to come. Each of us has the opportunity to be disciple-makers, not only with our prayers, but with our invitations to others to come and check us out. One of our biggest opportunities to reach kids and young families is our BooFest. But then what? Well, exciting plans are under way to be able to invite those kids and families back to Spring Creek to celebrate the birth of the Messiah! As we gathered in large numbers to reach out to our neighbors and their kids, we have another opportunity to do it again... and maybe something else later as another opportunity to offer extravagant hospitality."

We also have the opportunity to reach out into the community and welcome those who want to know more about how to "age with attitude." Through programming and relationships we can express not only extravagant hospitality to "kids at heart" but to those who are dealing with the issues of life that can overwhelm them. We have the opportunity to bless them with the love of Jesus Christ and the power of God's Spirit unleashed through connectedness in relationships. If this is something you would like to know more about, please join Pastor Steve and others on Wednesday Sept 26 for a "brown bag" luncheon at 11:30 AM here at Spring Creek.

Let us continue to build up to move forward through our affirmation and prayers for our leaders, our staff, and each other. May we see the importance of our prayers offered up to how each of us can be involved in putting prayer into action, and seeing Spring Creek thriving through our God-directed actions.

Pastor Steve