Annual Report and Vision

Housekeeping

I am stepping away from social media and my phone for a few weeks. I will still have my phone just no social media or games for a time. Nothing is wrong but sometimes it is important to remind the tool that it is a tool and not the master. I will still post some videos occasionally and do my part for the church socials but if tag me in something or comment do not be offended when I do not respond.

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

After His resurrection Jesus comes to the disciples and He gives them this charge. We call this the Great Commission. It is the message from Christ to His church and for nearly 2000 years these have been the marching orders.

This is the mission, or at least it is supposed to be the mission. Whatever else we do, this is the mission. This is what we are supposed to be about.

As a church we went through a series called the mission of God and this was it. We become like Jesus and help others have a relationship with Him.

As you Go

The way the wording is set it seems to indicate that the command is not “to go and make disciples” but “as you go, or in your going, make disciples.” The point is not the going. It is assumed we will go we are creatures that move around here and there but the point is making disciples. We do that by going to them, teaching them, and baptizing them.

Now to be clear, some are called to go. Some are called to the mission field, to a nomadic life style where they travel here and there spreading the message. My family did that for a long time. If you are called to go, then go. Be obedient. Follow the call of Jesus and go.

But for the rest of us we are called to make disciples anywhere and everywhere we are. This is the call of the church. Not just Journey, but the church as a whole. We are called to make disciples and more than that. We are called to make disciples worth multiplying.

Genesis 1:28 CSB

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

Genesis 9:1 CSB

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

This is plan of God, we are to multiply. Yes, there is a biological sense of that but more so there is the spiritual sense. God has designed it so that things reproduce after their own kind. So we as followers of Jesus who are sold out and committed to Him are to reproduce and make more believers like ourselves.

That also means we have to ask ourselves a very hard question:

Am I the type of disciple I want to see multiplied?

Whatever the answer is, deal with the results. If good then continue, if bad then make whatever changes are necessary.

quote on mission

We are called to be intentional about transmitting or discipling to other people what Jesus has taught us and what we are learning. We are to be disciples who make disciples.

Disciple

First we are to be disciples. We are to be people who hear, obey, and respond to the teachings of Jesus and Scripture. The call of being a disciple is simply to be one who follows.

Mark 2:14 CSB

Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

That is it, in a nut shell Jesus calls and we follow.

Now, where it gets hard is as Bonhoeffer says,

When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die.

The call to follow Jesus is simply to follow Him and His commands and that includes death to self. It is not easy, many times it is not fun, and it is costly. But the command and the call are simple. Be my disciples and in return we get more than we could ever ask for or imagine.

Jesus can make this call of follow me and die to yourself because He is Lord. He is Savior and Lord so He has the right to make the call. I promise you friends to respond positively to the call of Jesus is the best hardest thing you can do. We sometimes fear what He will take away but what He gives in its place it better.

Disciplers

Once we begin to follow Jesus we start to disciple others and help them. We practice what is called duckling discipleship. We follow Jesus and let others follow us. We only need to know what is in of us. We do not need to have all the answers. We only need to follow Jesus and faithfully pass on what we know now.

1 Corinthians 11:23 CSB

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread,

If it worked for the Apostle Paul it will work for us.

God has been doing and I believe He will continue to do amazing things here at Journey.

We are seeing people come to church. We are seeing people accept Christ. We are seeing students take up the mantle of leadership. We are seeing kids grow in wisdom and grace. We are seeing lives changed. This is because of God’s blessing and our obedience.

2023

I want us to look back at the past year and look forward to the future. I want us to see how we have done that and how we can continue to do that. Everything we will talk about is nested under this idea of making disciples as Jesus commanded.

mission | vision | values

What is our mission? Encountering God Engaging Together Empowering Change

What are our core values?

Authentic

Intentional

Passion for People

What is our vision? To create an environment with authentic relationships and intentional discipling that builds passion for Christ and people.

This is how we do what Jesus has commanded us to do.

We have some amazing things to celebrate from 2023

Three very important statistics:

26 Baptisms

340 Unique Prayer Requests.

How many salvations? 20

Some other important things to celebrate:

How many volunteers? 90+

given out in missions? $11,185.40

How many new members? 25

New Members How many guests? 21 FIRST time cards

How many kids and students? 100

Individual givers? 170

What service and community projects? Amarillo Angels Heritage Hills Backpacks Turkeys

How many people are in a group? 200+

31 Group Leaders

Care Team Team of 23 people praying over requests

Growth

When Journey started in 2015 there were 187 people. Now on average there are between 280 and 290 people every Sunday. This is amazing and something to celebrate. Because of this growth we need to make some changes.

Staffing

Some of the changes we need to make are positive, expected, and amazing.

Krystal will now take over the full duties as Children’s Pastor. She has been doing an amazing job as the Associate Children’s Pastor and she will step into a bigger role as the Children’s Pastor.

We are also adjusting the pastoral leadership of Journey to include two associate pastors.

Brad, will move into a new role of Associate Pastor and will be involved in Admin, Organization, and Strategy. Brad will eventually be stepping out leading the Worship team and will help me execute the vision for the church.

Julie will take the other Associate Pastor role and will continue her work in Family Life but with a few more responsibilities.

Together these two will help us move forward to what God is calling us to.

As I mentioned some changes are positive, expected, and amazing. Some are not. If you know Shane and Luci then you know they are amazing and wonderful people. But they are stretched pretty thin. After much prayer and deliberation they have decided to step down from leading the students. They are not going anywhere and nothing is wrong but they need to catch their breath. Julie, Brad, the Leadership Team, and myself are working on a plan and our students are aware. We will pray and trust that God will lead us through this.

Space at the Table

It should surprise no one that we are out of space. Pick a spot in the building and it is full. We know this and we are working on the new building. The first couple of quotes we received were astronomical so we are now working with a new builder to get a new quote. We might have to brake the building up into phases but we will have more information on that as it comes .

Luke 5:27–32 CSB

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

When Jesus was on earth He made room at the table for everyone who wanted a seat.

We want everyone at the table but right now the table is full. So we will add a table until we can build a bigger table.

We had a funeral a few weeks ago for a young man. As I sat in the back and looked at everyone who was here I was struck with the reality that many of them probably need a home church. If we were to invite them they would not have a seat at the table.

Are some point if you are here. If you walk with Jesus then it is because someone made room at the table for you. We will make room for someone else. 

With that until we have the new building complete we will move to two services starting Easter 2024. The new service times will be 9 and 10:30.

There are also blessings for us. If you serve you get the opportunity to sit one and serve one. If you have been wanting to serve you now have more opportunities. 

Remember our goal, our focus is to be disciples and make disciples. We are having a hard time doing that with the space we have.

One thing that will help launching the new service go well is we can get 50-75 people to volunteer to attend both services for 3-6 months. If you have been looking for way to serve but cannot find an area you like this could be it.

Disciples

We are called to make disciples and that is what we want to do. I believe that God is doing something special and something amazing here at Journey. It is why my family moved half way across the country. We want other people to come and experience what God is doing and help them then share that as well.