Whirlwind.

KiDCity kiddos singing "J is for Jesus" after an awesome week of Kids Club

Whirlwind.  I think that's the best word I can use to describe the end of June and the entire month of July.  Eight mission teams, 6 interns, at least 6 block parties, partnership with 2 local non-profits, more hours of prayer than can be counted, 4 nights of Kids Club and our first ever parenting class called Equip: Parents.

I think our natural tendency is to shout the praises of our God, proclaim that what he has done is good and then collapse in exhaustion, satisfied that the task has been completed.  In reality though, that would be a horrible blunder on our part.  In fact, the task has only just begun.  

Prayers were lifted that God would bring the spiritual healing of our city and there is still much to happen in that regard.  The Kids club and parenting class were carried out in an effort to partner with parents in discipling their kids and that is only one piece in a multi-faceted, life-long discipleship process.  The block parties, cook-outs and service project partnerships were done in an effort to love our city well and find persons of peace who want to be a part of seeing the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven.  Now it's time to build into those persons of peace and spiritual sojourners so the kingdom will in fact grow in Tacoma.

The work is far from over and we need your prayers.  We've realized that we are at a crossroads as a church.  We are no longer at a size where we can fly by the seat of our pants and handle everything as it comes.  We're realizing that in order to effectively equip leaders, make disciples and multiply Intentional Communities, we have to implement systems that are clearly defined for people to walk through as they grow in Christ and play their role in the body.

But where do we start?  Do we begin with our Family ministry system, what I believe is one of the most important things we do in equipping parents to raise up the next generation to know and follow hard after Jesus?  Do we start with our financial system so that we can raise up a community of extravagantly generous followers of Jesus as well as providing people the confidence that the church is being a great steward of the resources we have?  Do we start with our discipleship system?  Our volunteer system?  Our leadership development system?  Our assimilation system?  Our worship team system?

You get the point.  There are so many places to grow and systems to implement, the tendency is to get overwhelmed and accept the status quo.  But if we accept the status quo we won't grow.  And if we don't grow that means disciples aren't being made.  And if disciples aren't being made, God's mission is not being accomplished and that's simply unacceptable!  

Please take a good look at the kids in the picture at the beginning of this post.  They are the vessels that will carry hope to the next generation.  That hope is the gospel and we want them to know it, be raised in it and be saturated by it.  Please pray that as we follow-up with all that God did this summer and as we seek to wisely implement the right systems in the right ways at the right time, that God would pour out his grace, grow his kingdom and empower us to keep our eyes fixed on him every single step of the way.

Thank you so much!