Nothing says thanksgiving better to me than the words of a beautiful hymn that we do not have in our hymnal. I am going to share some of these words without sharing all of the verses and my prayer is that you will allow these words to give your encouragement and a good reason to be thankful every day that you live.
“When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done.”
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The other two verses are just as rich with meaning. May all of you have a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving as you count your many blessings.

Over the past month you have been reading some of my thoughts regarding some insights that George Bullard has shared with me. I receive these insights each day and I now have at least 112 pages worth of nuggets of gold that help to stretch one’s mind and spirit.

As you are reading this, my wife and I will be on our way or even have arrived in Columbia, South Carolina to give me a chance to join a congregational champion’s retreat at the home of George and Betty Bullard. Six others will join us to have some time to fellowship, to pray, and to share various thoughts and ideas that may be impacting today’s church and our faith journey. Excluding the travel time I look forward to making new friends and learning about common threads that help to bind us together in a community of faith.

Please take note: The season of Advent begins on November 27th. To aid in our Advent journey together, Advent Devotional Booklets are available on the table in the narthex. Please take one of these booklets for your personal use. If you would like to help offset the cost, there is a donation basket available.

Over the next month or so I will be opening my articles with insights from my

good friend and church consultant, George Bullard. I will be adding some comments

to what George has written in his book, Faith Soaring Churches.

“Congregations seeking to transform are committed to the big picture of

process. They desire to be captivated by God’s vision for their future. They are able

to focus on the process of adult disciple making. They are not controlled by their

management groups.

Especially they are not controlled by one or two stellar programs that seem to

outshine everything else that happens in the congregation, and seem to attract a

lot of resources and praise. This is a bad thing? Not bad. But a dominating program

can become the vision rather than God’s vision being that which captivates the

congregation.”

There are a number of key thoughts upon which I want you to focus. The first

is that a congregation is captivated by God’s vision for their future.

Disciple making is the second key thought. This means truly following our

Lord’s commission to go into all the world and to make disciples. Who have you

thought to capture in this arena of disciple making? Who have you encouraged to

be a part of First Christian? Don’t get caught in the trap of taking ownership for one

or two programs that are your favorites. These kinds of traps limit our ability and

our chance to make disciples.

Finally allow God’s vision and not your vision or a vision of some group to be

that which captivates our congregation. Always keep God’s vision in the forefront.

Over the next month or so I will be opening my articles with insights from my good friend and church consultant, George Bullard. I will be adding some comments to what George has written in his book, Faith Soaring Churches.

“Congregations seeking to transform do not believe that Sunday mornings are only about them and their worship of God. They realize Sunday mornings are also about the people in their context. Many congregations are appropriately focused on Sunday morning on having a high quality worship, learning, and fellowship experience in their congregation. Congregations seeking to transform are aware of what is happening with people passing in front of their church who do not truly think about going to church, but have rather about taking a break to refresh themselves physically”

I call the above insight thinking outside of the box when you consider that the box represents First Christian Church. Yes, we are important and our worship of God is just as important. Yet, there is so much more.

Read the second paragraph of the above insight. Where are people in their faith journey as they pass First Christian or engage in other activities on Sunday mornings. Perhaps, there are people at the gym or people taking a walk or people jogging or people doing yard work. Do we pass them on the way to church and say to ourselves, ‘These people ought to be in church.’Perhaps, we need to simply allow people to be where they are and involved in whatever activity that may bring to them refreshment and renewal.

Over the next month I will be opening my article with an insight from

my good friend and church consultant, George Bullard. I will be adding some

comments to what George has written in his book, Faith Soaring Churches.

“Congregations seeking to transform are never satisfied that good

enough is good enough. They are constantly and continually engaging in

incremental innovation. At least once every 120 days they have a

brainstorming session with staff and key leaders about possible innovations.

These do not need to be big things. Often they can be small things.

The idea is to continually do fresh and new things that keep the congregation

from becoming stale. Over the long-term this can create a culture of

innovation. It can create a culture of transition and change that allows the

congregation to be open to new things.” –George Bullard

Read the above insight carefully. You see, there is a danger that any

congregation or group of church folk may continue to the same old thing over

and over and over. Repetition is good; it can lead to a congregation’s

becoming stagnant and stale. Little changes from time to time (120 days)

allows a congregation to remain fresh and vital and exciting.

Remember that being satisfied with good enough is good enough. Let

us seek to keep an exciting edge to First Christian.