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Blog Archive
January 17, 2019
Terry's Thoughts February 2019
Already we have begun 2019 with an unplanned transition. As most of you know JoAnn announced, at our January Ex. Council meeting, her plans to retire after 32 years of serving our great association. Her note to the association was filled with gratitude, sadness, joy, and resolve as she begins a new chapter in her life. Her decision was based on sincere prayer and a dedication to follow the Lord in this matter. We could all take a lesson from this very deliberate process she went through. Because of her trust in the Lord this decision was made with confidence and assurance she was and is in the will of the Lord for her life. We salute you, JoAnn! We will of course provide an opportunity for the entire association to express their appreciation with a reception here at the Association office. As soon as we have the details we will of course pass them on to you. Please be looking for those details in the newsletter, on the website, and from your pastors.
Allow me to share proof that God is indeed on the move here and our efforts to build a disciple-making culture is well under way within our association. Just a few days ago one of our pastors shared with me the following comment: “Terry this past year (2018) we had 28 additions with 10 (including adults and children) of that number by salvation. Additionally we are looking at baptizing 3 more teenagers in the next few weeks.” This story could be told over and over again within the WCBA if we would all understand His desire to see His people involved in genuine disciple-making. If this is His priority it should be ours. I and our leadership are more committed to this end than ever before. The goal of our Leadership Development Team is to provide models along with training in the area of disciple-making that works. Foremost among those models is, of course, G3 which you have heard me and many others discuss. In fact we devoted the entire Annual meeting last year to this effort. It is clear making disciples is number one on God’s agenda let’s make it number one on our agenda. Would love to talk to you about setting up a genuine disciple-making process that actually works. There are so many around us that need Jesus in addition to the countless others who need their lives turned around. Join us as we seek ways to assist our churches to impact lostness through disciple-making.
Finally, please allow me to encourage all of you to be involved in our upcoming On Mission Connection (OMC) scheduled for March 15-17. For those who were able to attend our last OMC, back in 2016, you will remember an amazing event with missionaries who had and were currently serving around the world, great fellowship with fellow churches within the WCBA, and a great challenge to be involved with missions at every level. We have another great series of events planned for March 15-17 and encourage you all to be a part. The details of that weekend are spelled out in this newsletter as well as on our website. One of the details that truly requires your attention is the registration of those planning to be a part of the banquet on Saturday night the 16th. People can register individually or your church can register corporately if someone would collect those names. Our goal is not to run out of food and give those catering a solid number to prepare for. If you will visit our website at, www.westchowan.org, you will find registration details along with much more information concerning the events surrounding our OMC. Our last event saw over 350 people interacting with missionaries, enjoying a meal together, and worshiping with each other for the glory of God. I see no reason why we shouldn’t have at least that many this year and possibly more. Friends, we have a great opportunity to grow this year but without your participation and assistance much of what we hope for will not be possible. The value of working together for the greater cause of reaching our world is more important than individual agendas or political positions. Let us work harder than ever before to love one another despite our differences while not compromising our responsibility to obey His word and surrender to Him daily. Remember I love you and consider it an honor to serve the churches of the WCBA!!!
Terry