...many plans

"Painful honesty" time here. Lately I have been "stressing" about all the "stuff needed" to take actionchurch to the "next level" as we grow... Every week as Fat Daddies fills up with "people who don't like church" it makes me happy...that's why all of our crew works so hard...to create an environment that people actually want to attend on Sunday Mornings. (Thank you all!) As our church grows though, another part of my brain is creating a never ending "checklist" of things and people we are going to need for the "care and feeding" of a growing church...

• More Organizational systems and structure... ( I suck at this but it is necessary)
• More Volunteers (especially in actionkidz!)
• More "Time" to do church stuff...everyone is currently volunteering... It will get more and more difficult to meet the demands of actionchurch in our "spare time" I know that as we grow we will need to compensate people (including me) for at least some of their time.
• More "stuff"...Even now there is a big list of "things" we need to do actionchurch more effectively...Signage, equipment, technology...
• More "serving our community"... there are so many opportunities to help people and I believe as actionchurch grows we should INCREASE those efforts...not decrease them because we are busy trying to "maintain our deal"...
• More Money...lots more money...in fact most of the things above depend on having more funds available and to be honest right now we are financially struggling... we have been since day one! Most weeks we need a miracle to survive...let alone expand. I am so thankful for the people who chose to support actionchurch financially on a consistent basis...we just need a lot more of them.

I can clearly see an amazing future for actionchurch. A future where we become an undeniable force for good in our community. A future where our little "church in a nightclub" becomes an un-ignorably large group of people intent on Making Jesus Famous in York county. A future where our artists and crew create an unforgettable experience on Sunday mornings at multiple venues...I can see it...I'm just not "good enough" at raising the money necessary, creating the organizational structure necessary, or technologically savvy enough to "make it happen".

I read this verse the other night and it's been "kicking my butt" ever since...

21 You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21 nlt

It reminded me that even though I could "clearly see" (that's my job as a leader-vision) what actionchurch would be like at the stage we are at now...I "can't do" most of the stuff that got us where we are now! I've always been a lousy fund raiser...I hate asking for money...I'm not very good with organization, any organizational structure we have now came from Michele...If it weren't for our actionchurch crew...Sunday mornings would not happen, whether I showed up or not! The church is way "beyond my abilities" even now.

In the end I've decided to keep dreaming...keep planning...keep talking about the amazing future I see for actionchurch. I'm going to do even more praying and trusting that "the Lord's purpose will prevail". That people with the skill sets needed will "show up"...that we will be blessed with the funds needed to expand and prepare for the future. Realize that it's not that actionchurch is going "grow beyond my abilities"...It always has been! The rest is up to God...