At the conclusion of our day in Springfield, each of us committed to do an entry on our personal reflections of what we experienced there. I guess I will go first...
- I was very impressed by Dr. Wood's ability to intelligently interact about some difficult issues without losing objectivity or becoming defensive.
- He did an excellent job of creating a safe and comfortable environment for open discussion. He purposefully worked to draw out the hard things to say and hear.
- Dr. Wood cast strong vision for his approach to the office as a pastor. He explained that he has a pastoral heart and gift. So while there are some CEO duties that are necessary, his passion will be to be a pastor to this movement.
- He is an amazing story teller. He uses story well to communicate vision and values.
- He has a HUGE heart for missions. So many of his stories relate to God's supernatural work through missionary heroes.
I felt honored to be invited. I wish that everyone could have experienced the tone and attitude of these meetings. I believe even more now, after this trip, that Dr. George Wood is God's man for the job.
7 comments:
Jeff, Mark, Tory, Paul, Brad, George, I am so very glad you each took the time and effort to visit the General Council of the Assembly of God. Further, for carving out time while here to meet with J.T., Julie, and me at Gospel Publishing House.
It appears that you each came away from here with some insight that would not otherwise be apparent without visiting personally. I will also mention, each of you brought ideas and questions for us to ponder.
As you know from our meeting, I have been in this role only since August, but associated with the Assembly of God since prenatal days. Still, I too had somewhat of a revelation upon my arrival here. Yet, three months into it, let me reiterate what I first experienced here, there is great excitement and anticipation for the positive changes that have been initiated and those yet to be introduced here and throughout our denomination.
My prayer is that your efforts to communicate, question, wrestle with and challenge some of the hard issues we are facing will continue with the balance of respect and candor it has begun.
Blessings,
Jim McCreight
Marketing Director
Gospel Publishing House
I'm commenting here because I hadn't had a chance to respond to some previous comments on previous posts until now. I would like to say before I get started that Dr. Wood writing on here, what he has said so far and meeting with you guys is really encouraging.
First, I think that we are all broken people. We all have our issues and hurts and reasons for responding and commenting the way we do. So, what I'm about to say is coming from an attitude of concern and admittedly need rather than of criticism.
So here goes, I'm going to take a risk here and respond to a comment someone left about our missions system being broken. I've been itinerating for more than two years now so it comes from that perspective. Admittedly I don't know all the issues that come from being a pastor in a church but I think the biggest thing broken with the system are the churches. I saw statistics a few months ago from our district and I don't remember them exactly but it was something like 60% of the churches in our district didn't give to World Missions, U.S. Missions or Light for the Lost last year. So, that leaves the other 40% to try to do it all.
Also, I find it odd that pastors want to keep me from asking people I've known my whole life for support for fear of them not giving to the church's missions program yet never try to control any other way they spend their money. Its ok for them to spend their money on another game of golf but not on another missionary? I understand that we're afraid that it will take from what they've already commited to the church's missions program but do we believe what we teach? Do we believe God provides or don't we? Do we believe that God speaks to us today or don't we?
Also, don't we know how to be creative anymore? If we really care about missions then why don't we do something about it? Open a fireworks stand, sell coffee Sunday mornings, think beyond what has been done before.
Finally, if you're a pastor and you don't personaly give to missions then something is seriously wrong. I don't even have my budget raised and I give monthly to missionaries.
So, in response to the comment that our missions system is broken. You are correct but not only in the way that you think.
Wes,
On creative money-raising ideas for missions: the Hispanic church where I serve as missions coordinator was the host for our regional 7-church missions convention last month. As the date was nearing, we were brainstorming activities to raise money for the offering we would give at the Saturday rally. We had the usual after-service food sales events (nachos after mid-week service, tacos after Sunday night service). But we needed something that would pull in more.
I do professional photography part-time. I offered to set up a studio in the fellowship hall one Saturday, and shoot family portraits. People could purchase sheets of portraits at about 60% off normal prices, and my studio picked up all the printing expenses so that 100% of the income went straight to missions. An investment of about 12 hours of my time and less than $100 in expenses I covered brought in over $500 for the missions convention.
A few people are just now getting around to ordering, so the monies coming in now are going to a church plant project in Africa.
Just an "out of the box" idea that worked for us.
Regarding missions--why does the average new missionary have to raise a $15K+ monthly budget to go and reach people who often don't make $15 a month...we're tired of being milked while the US church is suffering a numerical and financial crisis! I'd rather give my money to the national church leaders than to send expensive US missionaries out at such outragous prices. If you want to be a missionary...go abroad and live the lifestyle of those you're trying to reach and assist.
Thanks for your honesty Wes. EVERY system can be improved. There is not a full proof solution to the needs of missions and missionaries. I oversee a missions budget of $200,000 plus per year. I am inudated with requests on a weekly basis to give. I wish we could give to all but it's just not possible. Could I do a better job? No doubt I'm sure I could but I try the best with what I have available to me at the time.
There are ways to improve the missions ministry out of Springfield and there are ways to improve missions on a district level and on the local church level. It is however true that the A/G does great things for the Kingdom of God through missions. I don't believe that the system is broke but I do believe it can be improved upon.
I know this might not even be seen since there are a couple posts since this but I wanted to respond and hope those I'm responding to see.
Brian, that is an awesome idea. What if we (the A/G) started promoting ideas like that and even have an idea forum for things like that?
Anonymous, I'm not sure who or what you are talking about so I'm really not sure how to respond, but I will try. I can say that my budget is closer to 1/6th of the 15k you're talking about. Also, I'm a missionary to college students. My goal is long term partnership with churches, by that I mean helping build the church with converts and with our own youth who (according to stats) are leaving the church by the droves as soon as they are out of the house. I think that is a long term solution to the numerical and financial crises you are talking about. The last thing I want to do is just take, take take.
Jeff, I appreciate your comment and what you and your church do for missions. I would like to clarify one thing. As you can see from my previous comment, 40% of churches (in my district, I don't know national stats) are giving to missions. Its the 60% who don't that make it that much harder on the 40% who do.
Some quick math for you. Our current number of churches compared to our current number of missionaries in our district, each church would only have to give about $1000 a month or $12,000 a year for all the budgets to be met. Now, I have friends who pastor churches that their whole budget for the year is only $36,000 so I realize not everyone can do that but there are other churches like yours that give a whole lot more. The point is, it really shoudn't be that hard and it wouldn't be if everyone just gave something.
I guess I'm saying that yes, the system as a whole shouldn't be thrown away but there are some components that definitely need fixing.
This is risky for me because there is the potential that someone will read this and not support me because of things I've said. I hope those who read this understand that I'm not trying to guilt or manipulate people. And, I'm not saying that there aren't great churches and great people out there doing a phenominal job with missions. I simply think there are real issues and attitudes that need to be addressed.
This is in response to anonymous..."Regarding Missions..."
Wow, you really have no understanding as to how missions really work. I would suggest you do a little research before you make such a statement.
Post a Comment