Vision Sunday
Pastor Glenn Newton August 22, 2004
Jer. 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
This verse that a just shared with you is the verse that God gave me seven years ago when Nola and I had just moved to Clarksville to be your pastor. Most of you weren’t here back then, Please let me share just a little of our story, and then I want to spend the rest of our time talking about where I believe God wants us to go from where we are.
This local Church of the Nazarene was organized in 1956, so we have been in this community for 48 years. The church’s history has been very steady because we have had some very dedicated and strong Christian leaders and laymen throughout these years. For the majority of this time, the church met at 316 E. Cherry St. where our Next Generation Daycare ministry now resides, and because of the size of the building, the church pretty much stayed between 40-60 people during this time in history. About two years ago we celebrated our Homecoming Sunday and invited back many of the folks who have worshiped in our church over the years… We heard some great stories of faith, fellowship, and how God has been working through the people of this church down through the years.
When Nola and I came in Late Feb. 1997 to interview for the church, we didn’t have any idea of what to expect. I didn’t know Arkansas had mountains…. I guess I should have known since you can’t have hillbillies without hills…. Right? Anyway to be honest, when I knew God had made it clear that we were to leave our former church, we sent resumes to 15 different districts, in 15 different states. Arkansas was last on my list because I knew absolutely nothing about the state, or it’s people.
We came for that interview, there were 20 people at the church that night as Nola and I met first with the District Superintendent, and he showed us around town a little bit, then we came to the church for a special service, I believe it was on a Thursday night. I preached a little sermon hoping the folks would like what they heard… I’m smarter than I look, because I made sure Nola sang two songs that night.. I knew she would impress with her voice. We made it through the service, met with the Board and asked questions and answered some questions…. It was an exciting time… and I knew God’s hand was with us. The Church board voted unanimous that night to let the whole church vote on us the very next Sunday, so Nola and I went back to Illinois praying for God’s help in making this decision. It was an 8 hour trip back to Illinois, and before we left the state, we both knew that this was the place for us…. The church voted and we accepted.
Nola and I along with the Girls have had a great 7 ½ years here, we have had so much fun… we have shared some heartbreaks and heartaches, we have made some small changes over the last seven years… and we have grown to love you more and more through the whole process. God’s call upon our lives, upon ministry to serve you is as strong as ever and we are thrilled to be apart of your lives and the New Hope Ministry that just beginning to bloom.
The promise that God gave to me and then I gave it to you seven years ago still holds true today… Will you accept it today as God’s promise to New Hope…. God’s promise to you personally? “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Isn’t that cool that God has a plan for us? He has a plan for you… His plans are not to hold you down, to cramp your style, but instead His plans will turn you loose to be the person He created you to be…. His plans are to prosper you… plans that will give you hope and a future. Do you have this hope? God is the only one who can give you that Hope.
About 4 years ago we officially changed our name to New Hope Church of the Nazarene, Why?
If there’s one thing I know…. What most people lack today in our community, in our nation and all around the world… they lack Hope for the future. There are a lot of things in our world that try to rob people of their hope, of their dreams.
People lose hope when they fail in their relationships, in their jobs, in their finances, in their personal lives…. When people allow addictions to control them and defeat them, hope can slip away. When we feel unfulfilled in our jobs, in our marriages, even in our churches, we can lose hope for the future.
Circumstances, trials, hard times can test us, they sometimes can defeat us to the point we don’t think there’s any hope.
I want to tell you this morning, as long as you can still draw a breath and you can cry out to God… You have Hope. God is our Hope. It doesn’t matter how you feel about yourself, God loves you, and He wants you to hear this promise this morning….“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
The question is will you accept Him, Will you put your Trust in Him? Hey, if you have tried everything else… maybe it’s time you let God make you into the man or women he has created you to be… and when you do…. You will experience this New Hope that only God and give… you will know why you’re here… you will know why your on planet Earth everyday… you will have a purpose.
My dream for our church is to share that message with everyone we can…. We are a people who are sinners saved by grace, we don’t claim anything by our own merits, we only have Christ to offer. Good News Flash… He’s enough.
My vision for our church family involves reaching out to people who for whatever reason don’t feel like they fit in anywhere else, whether that’s church, work, or wherever…. Jesus came to those who were hurting, helpless and without Hope…. He didn’t hang out with the ones who thought they had it all figured out, he didn’t hang out with the ones who had it made in the worlds eyes….We are going to be a church that follows Jesus’ example in who he reached, and we are going to be a Church that follows the Great Commission, which says,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20
I’m so excited because we are already beginning to see what God wants to do right here in front of us… we are making disciples… these five teenagers that stood here before you made a decision today that will impact the rest of their lives… and don’t you know God is going to bless them and use them in great ways? You better believe He will.
As we work together, and as we love the people around us enough to invite them to church, when we love them enough to get involved in their lives, when we love people enough to pour ourselves out for the people around us….. God will bring a great harvest of people…. Because His love wins… I can’t explain it, all I know is that when you will love someone like God loves you…. His love just draws them…. I could look around this morning and use many of you as examples of how God has used people in our church to love you right into the family…. Am I right?
Here’s were we are going. Do you really want to know? We are on the right path right now, we will continue to use our Life Groups through the week to be the tool that helps us train our disciples in what it means to be a Christian, and more than that, a dedicated Disciple of Christ. Our small groups help us carry out the great commission, we pray, we share, we are help accountable, we can get our arms around each other in these small groups and that has to happen to make a difference in peoples lives.
Here’s what I see happening in the near future, with God’s help and with you working side by side with me and Nola.
12 months -
* We will need 1 more adult SS teacher and 2 youth SS teachers. (And rooms to put them in)
* At the end of these 12 months we will be running 100 on a consistent basis, we will be wondering what happened to all of our space.
* Financially, we will finally get past the week to week survival mentality and we will begin to plan for our new facility. In 12 months from now we will be closing in on $100,000 annually in giving. I believe God is going to work a miracle in this area!
3 Years -
* We will have hired a full-time staff person, either Children and Youth pastor, or a “Great Commission” Pastor who’s job would be to train, teach, and equip our Life Group leaders, teachers, youth workers, and would offer a Week night preaching service.
* We will be in the final stages of planning our new building, or we will already be building our new facility. We will build a building that is multi-purpose, so that we can reach out in many ways to those in our community.
* We will be averaging between 150-175 in Morning Worship and we will be conducting two services, with Sunday School offered in the morning, but also at night, unless we can find more room.
* We will have had 5 men/women called into full-time ministry.
* We will have 25 Life Groups offered throughout the week, and we will see a minimum of 30 being saved throughout the year in our homes, during of Life Groups. This ministry will become our best outreach for winning new people to Jesus Christ.
* We will have an annual budget of $200,000. We will be in the midst of a Building Fund drive to raise at least half of the building cost before we build…. Half of the building cost will be somewhere in the $350,000 range.
5 Years -
* Pastor’s hair will be completely gone as Calah and Karinda enter into their Senior year of High School.
* We will have hired a part-time secretary, a full-time Youth Pastor, a part-time Counselor, a part-time janitor, full-time Worship leader (sorry Nola)
* We will be in our new Worship facility, which will seat 400 people and can be expanded to seat 600.
* We will be averaging between 250-300 for morning Worship. Our music will be contemporary, and we will still be causal and warm as we reach out to the people around us.
* Our Life Groups will be essential to making connections with new people because of our size, people will need a small group to feel like they belong. The Life Group becomes a small church inside the big church, and the Life Group leader becomes their “pastor” in many ways.
* We will be working on how to get out of debt as fast as we can so that we can build add more buildings for different ministry opportunities as God leads…
The truth is God can do whatever He chooses, and He can accomplish whatever He wants through anybody He chooses. I believe that God has choose us to work together to reach our community with the New Hope message. If we will be faithful, persistent in our love for those around us, God will build His church and nothing, not even the Gates of Hell will stop what God puts into motion. I see it happening, do you? It’s OK if you can’t… just love your neighbor and bring them to church and let God do His thing.
