New Year: Reflecting Back and Looking Forward

Goals are good. They give us something to focus on so that we don’t meander aimlessly, blown about by the wind. Reflecting back, I set personal goals and church-wide goals for the year. Looking forward, I set objectives to help continue working on these goals. I would like to share my personal goals and then our church-wide goals, followed by  objectives.
 
My personal goals are to grow spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, and physically. I have objectives to help obtain these goals. It sounds rigid, but it’s not. The objectives are simple. Spiritually, do my devotions and prayers. There are obvious differences on the days I spend quality time with God in prayer. Yet, even on the days when my prayer time
is not as deep as I would prefer, it is still impactful.
 
Intellectually, I am currently reading things I don’t like. It is backwards, but it causes leaps in growth. For instance, I am reading a book “Called the End of Faith” by Sam Harris. He argues about how moderate thinking Christians are worse than fundamental jihadists or fringe extremist Christians.  The book drives me nuts, but I am learning to articulate what I believe intellectually.
 
Emotionally, I have an objective to remain in touch with old friends and to talk with my Mom more frequently. It takes an effort to find time do these things I enjoy. The more I reach out in love, the more love I have to share everywhere else.
 
 
Physically, I am growing. However, it is in the wrong direction according to my doctor. Personally, I am planning to hike a very small portion of the Appalachian Trail this summer. Hey, we all need room to grow. 
 
Reflecting back on our church-wide goals in May of 2015, we set some big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs). We said in 5 years, we will add 50 new members, do 50 individual and church-wide mission projects, and increase our local and global giving to $50,000 for charities and missions. We have three and half years to go.  
               
Right now, we have 27 new members on the rolls to celebrate our membership goal. Wow! We will have another Presbyterian 101 class in the New Year for anyone interested in joining or learning more about our church. We also have 20 youth in our confirmation class, who will make a decision about joining. That goal doesn’t seem so big and hairy now. Amazing!
 
We have completed our Mission Projects goal. We have had more than 50 people participate in personal and church mission projects. I way underestimated that goal. We will have to revamp it. I am thinking that each year we make our new goal to do a youth mission trip, adult mission trip and one community service project each quarter, along with our Fellowship Cup ministries we already do. Let’s talk about what you would like to do!
 
For our benevolent giving, I hope you are blown away. We are currently giving about $27,000 in benevolent gifts through our church, including our Two-Cent-a-Meal offerings and special offerings. This includes donations to places like the Christamore Family Treatment Center to help at risk
 
youth, the Fellowship Cup to feed the hungry, the Habitat for
Humanity to build homes, Family Connection to help educate families, and many more. Friends, that is a tithe of almost 12% of our 2016 operations budget. We hope to increase this number for 2017 to continue toward our Big Hairy Audacious Giving Goal. Your donations make a difference.  
 
So looking forward, here are some of my church-wide objectives for us to help meet our Goals. I will lead us on an adult mission trip. I will encourage our Parish Life Team to coordinate more member led fellowship like pathfinders, house dinners, church outings, and potlucks, etc. Sarah hopes to have a few sports days with church volleyball, basketball, and kickball. I am working with the Missions Team to develop more community service project days. Hopefully, we can do one a quarter.
 
For education, I plan to lead evening forums on topics for faith development like money and faith, marriage and faith, and the media and faith. For worship, I would love, love, love an occasional alternative evening worship with music and a Bible study to develop by the fall.
 
And for my personal and church goals, I am in conversation with a few others about having an exciting program called “Lighten Up for Lent.” This program includes a book study, but also a weight loss competition amongst us, and hopefully with a few other churches, too.
 
Finally, I want to encourage all of you to set goals for your faith, your family, and your church. What do you want to do?  What can you do to make sure it happens? 
 
May Christ bless our journey in the New Year. Amen.
 
Rev. Trey Hegar