...My city plan

…My city

We were called to this city to influence it.

Let it not be said that when our times is finished that 10 righteous can’t be found.

let it not be said that we intercede for a city that we aren’t willing to pay the price to influence

Let it not be said that we preached repentance to a city yet were indifferent to its destruction.

this is our city. We have been called her for more than just occupational pursuit or putting down roots for our family tree.

Jonah hoped for the destruction of their city

Abraham prayed that God would spare that city

Lot silently suffered silently within the city

But Nehemiah prayed and worked for the salvation of his city.

- Here is the common ingredient between last years vision that frankly was a flop…and this years vision…they both require work. There is no way around that.

Here is the common ingredient between last years vision that frankly was a flop…and this years vision…they both require work. There is no way around that.

The first element of the 2020 vision is as Systems, we

It hasn’t been intentional, but our focus has become very internal. Rightfully so…we have had to focus on building the building…tightening up process, policies and procedures...

I do believe that God has given me a plan for 2020...

ill likely come as an awkward ending to a great weekend…but I’ve got to know…Now I’ve asked this question to a few leaders independently and I’ve received some good feedback…That often times we cast the vision in January and then we don’t keep it in front of the people. I receive that and I hope to correct that…However, I will state that this planning retreat and the vision casting is more than probably 99% of the churches in our movement do.

I know that question can come across as being manipulative…but where I am at right now mentally and emotionally…I don’t care how you take it.

I believe that you all and the church love me. I believe that you love my preaching and my pulpit ministry. However, I do feel that my leadership has become ineffective.

Everything has a shelf life…and if my time is up, I am ready to do whatever God wants next.

Before I lay out this elaborate plan for 2020, I need to know. I can’t take the frustration of another year of ineffective leadership.

things like 9:00 prayer should have been a one time announcement. I never should have had to even say that twice. Especially not to this group.

Last years vision was Dead on Arrival. I’m not going to be petty and ask how many of you made a personal investment outside of our scheduled church services.

If the direction of this church is to become an institutional church that conducts all of its business in the hours of Sunday morning and Wednesday night service, and resists any sort of sacrifice beyond that…you certainly have that choice…but not if I’m going to pastor…if that what you want…one of two things will end up happening…I’m going to frustrate the life out of you or you’re going to drain the passion out of me.

I would think neither of us want that. In fact, I refuse to do that.

So…I’m being serious and I’m really and truly not trying to manipulate you all. But I can’t do another year like 2019. I can’t do too many more years of casting vision that I know God has given only to realize it was dead on arrival.

So…I know this will likely come as an awkward ending to a great weekend…but I’ve got to know…Now I’ve asked this question to a few leaders independently and I’ve received some good feedback…That often times we cast the vision in January and then we don’t keep it in front of the people. I receive that and I hope to correct that…However, I will state that this planning retreat and the vision casting is more than probably 99% of the churches in our movement do.

I do enjoy these weekends…I enjoy the planning retreats…Its one of the highlights of the year for me aside from all of the stupidity that always raises its head leading up to it…but this is more than just a fun weekend for me. It is what God has given me as they key for our church in the coming year. its a blueprint for success. or its a paper airplane.

My city:

4 areas of focus:

Slide 2 Heal my city - A focus on prayer ()

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Sis. Linda Simpkins is going to be the visions assistant for the Heal my city focus. I will talk more about what that means here in a few minutes.

Slide 3 Serve my city - A focus on serving

Kadesha Mitchell is going to be the vision assistant for the this area of focus.

Slide 4 Reach my city - A focus on community events

Simone McManus is going to be the vision assistant over the Reach portion of the vision.

Slide 5 Save my City - A Focus on Harvest

Don’t yet have an assistant named over this portion.

Let me first of all state that much of what I am going to share will operate within a structure outside of our system structure…In the sense that it wont flow within the systems and teams that we have in place.

However, I hope that you all will be involved.

I also want our systems to buy into these 4 points of vision for our systems. What we do this year is to take ownership and influence our city.

When our lawn team takes takes care of the of the lawn…we want to do it in such away that it attracts our community

First touch…We want our hospitality to extend not just in this building but into our community. I don’t even know how that might happen…but this year is about reaching our city!

Youth system, buy into these 4 areas of vision and lets come up with ways that our youth can Heal, Serve, Reach and Save our city!

When

As for the plan for this year:

Slide 6 We will identify 8 different target communities within our city. Examples: Fox chase, Westbury, Hickory Hills, etc...

We will have a team assigned to each community.

There will then be a schedule starting in February and on most Saturdays a team will go out into the community they are reaching into. (We didn’t schedule on Holidays or Saturdays when we had a major event on the calendar).

Slide 7 for the first 3 areas of focus, each team will go out one Saturday per quarter:

1st quarter - Prayer

2nd quarter - Serve

3rd quarter - Reach

So, we are using the hypothetical example of Jose and Nikki as the team leads over Westbury...

Lets say their team #1 and they are going into Westbury on February 1st. Sis Simpkins will work with them to identify the spiritual strongholds within that community and help them with resources to equip their team to pray over those areas. The team lead will organize a prayer and fasting chain from Monday through Friday among their team and then on the Saturday they will do a prayer event in that community.

We are also going to have a community liaison that will help us to go into the various communities we are identifying to work with the HOA leader and or community center leader. We aren’t just going to ask you to march through the streets of your community doing spiritual warfare. Our hope is that we might even be able to have the HOA leader or the community leader send an email to invite the members of the community to join with us in prayer.

Our goal in each of these times we go into a community is to make connections.

so each team will go on a different Saturday. When The Alberty’s team’s turn comes up again…April 18th, this time they will go into Westbury to do an act of service. Kadesha will be working with the head of the HOA or the community center leader as well as the team lead to identify an act of service that will impact that community. Again, the goal is to make connections. this second time would still be preceded by a prayer and fasting chain by the team.

The third time through the rotation would be June 20th. They will this time go in with a focus on evangelism and outreach. Slide 8 We are going to work to put together a reach kit. purchase our own moon bounce, a popcorn machine, possibly a cotton candy machine, go in and do a fun event for the community. With a small table set up where we ask the parents what prayer items we as a church can join with them in prayer over. Again, the teams will organize a prayer and fasting chain the week leading up. We will also work to have flyers provided for the leaders to go in and let the people that live there know when and what time we will be coming in to the community on that Saturday.

I am hoping that the teams will take ownership and the scheduled events will be the minimum. Maybe outside of the structure identified they would go in and do additional acts of service…organize another community event. Again, the goal is to make connections.

The final focus is SAVE our city. Again, I am not praying that God will spare Southern Maryland…I am praying and we are going to work to SAVE Southern Maryland.

Slide 9 This final focus will be an effort to harvest. All of the connections that we have made…the enemies we have defeated in prayer…the acts of kindness…the reaching into the city. The final time that Bro. Alberty and his team go into Westbury (Sept 26th) they will be inviting the members of the city to our Holy Ghost rally’s in November (we will likely try to come up with a different name for them as the members of our city may not be aware of what a Holy Ghost rally is).

Slide 10 As a way of keeping the vision alive and thriving in the church we will have a couple of different approaches.

The Sunday, 8 days after the team goes in, there will be a testimonial as a part of the service. It will either be a video presentation with live footage from the team or it will be a live presentation with pictures that were capture from the event. There will be a template for what the videos will look like as well as how the live testimonial presentation will go. (show sample video)

slide 12 We will have a testimonial wall. The donut wall will be our vision wall. Every emphasis will have an image that will broadcast that focus (Heal, Serve, Reach, Save) and then under that, as the teams complete their Saturday, a smaller image taken during the outreach will be placed under the larger image. When we move to the next area of focus the images will change. We are still mulling over what happens with the images when the quarter ends.

Slide 13 - 16 example slides

Slide 17 One other element that we will have will be a stand in the foyer with “…my city” cards that will say Slide 18 something like “God loves You” on one side and then “and so do we” on the other side…with an explanation that we are just trying to demonstrate our love for our city. Encourage members of the church…when you are out in the community, buy someone a coffee and give them a card. **This is not, nor is it intended to be an invite card.

Slide 19 The overall vision team:

We will have job descriptions for each of these positions…we have a few samples for you to see today:

the 8 evangelism team leads (will all have the same job description, just a different community)

Prayer Vision Assistant

Serve Vision Assistant

Reach Vision Assistant

maybe a Save Vision Assistant

Slide 20 Block party kit team - 2 members that will be in charge of ensuring the block party kit is cleaned and ready for the Saturday outreach (during Reach)

Vision Wall Coordinator

Testimony Coordinator - makings sure the video and pictures are delivered to the team and then edited and ready to show during sunday service.

Community Liaison - Is going to be helping is to go into the identified communities and ensure that the community is open to what we are doing and then help the vision assistants and team leads anytime they may need some help in a given community.

Foyer Stand - Making sure the “…my city” cards are stocked and have a person back there after Sunday services encouraging people to take some to give out.