Christmas Festival: It's Time to Press Pause

Good morning friends. We have been sharing progress reports with you since the decision was made 18 months ago towards our Christmas 2018 goal for The Story: A Christmas Experience. We have had writers, workers, and crafters building things, reusing old materials, and coming up with new ideas for what we anticipate to be a great event.

However, I have always used Halloween as a mile marker in a church calendar to be certain of the church's plans for the Christmas season. As we have taken a full assessment of what work is left to be done, what personal obstacles have arisen and lie before us, and what concerns people have voiced we realize, it's time to press pause.

Pressing pause isn't wasting time. Pressing pause isn't putting dreams away.

Pressing pause isn't running from the great purpose God has for us.

Pressing pause is a choice to keep the main thing the main thing.

We have been studying the life of Nehemiah as a church over the last number of weeks. As a great leader and motivator of people, it is overwhelmingly clear that he had one purpose: build the wall. He knew that the wall would not only protect them from enemies, but would create an environment for God's people to grow and thrive in their relationships with one another, as well as their relationship with God himself.

Here's the deal. We can push forward on our activities and efforts and miss this question. If we are to live like Nehemiah's example, what is our wall? What is our God given purpose? What should we be fighting for, what should we be defending with one hand, and working tirelessly for with the other? Here is our wall. Here is the main thing: The Local Church, The Body of Christ.

This perspective on Nehemiah was given to me by our Elder Board as a reminder about prioritizing where something even as exciting as The Story Christmas Festival falls. We will continue to plan ahead, we will continue to create ideas, and build materials for 2019, because we never want our memories to be larger than our dreams. However, we cannot do this at the risk of damaging the momentum we are experiencing in our Sunday gatherings, our midweek groups, or our Gospel presence efforts. Practically speaking, what does this mean? Don't put your feet up yet!

Pressing pause leads us to the season of sowing. We still have a lot of work to do in the month of November. By pressing pause, We are still preparing for a Story Christmas walk-through Sunday, December 2nd. What this will look like, is that we will have a church family walkthrough following the morning worship gathering with brochures, sketches, and taped out mockups giving vision for the 2019 unveiling. Our people will learn about, interact with, and be given the tools to communicate to others this key opportunity to tell the Gospel story in a memorable way.

THE STORY: A Christmas Experience [Coming in 2019]

- an interactive event celebrating the greatest gift ever given, scheduled the first Sunday afternoon / evening in December.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Pressing Pause. Learning to sow. Embracing this season.