Mission and Vision

Mission: My mission is to reach the world around me by showing them and telling them the truth about Jesus Christ while sharing in and walking through life together as a member of my community. Vision: I see a community of people who on average have been damaged by religion and poorly executed Christian ministries. Truth be told, it’s very post-evangelical and now I consider it pre-Christian altogether. With Cult and Occult attendance on the rise and growing at a faster rate than ever before, I have a desire to minister to this community by living among them, sharing in life with them, and struggling alongside of them. I will not allow myself to become a minister of the gospel who sees the inside of his church office 30+ hours a week and does not encounter the members of this community. I will share in the mess. I will work alongside of them. In doing so, I will shine my light in both word and deed. If nothing else, I will be the one to take my light into a community trapped by the darkness by offering them understanding, offering them friendship without condemnation, and by offering them a way out. To the glory of God. My rationale in this matter is that I grew up in this community. I am familiar with the ways of pastors who are wonderful men, professional, and qualified in pedigree. Why have none of them managed to create a lasting congregation of people let alone a growing one? It seems like everything in this town has a season of beginning, it finds momentum by meeting some need, and then it wanes before dying. Contentment to fizzle out is a horrible thing to watch. It’s like watching someone die from refusing to eat for 40 days. Except it takes 40 years. Bi-vocational ministry has always been a necessity in my life. While Kingswood did their very best to prepare me for full time ministry, they failed to instruct me at the strength that can be gathered by working within the community as a member at large. The popularized term at a recent Church Planting Bootcamp was “co-vocational”. Call it what you want, but there is nothing worse than moving into a town and trying to sell vacuums to a town who’s recent vacuum salesman committed some heinous atrocity or collected lots of money but never delivered on his promises. By working among them my hope is to show them, much like Paul, that I am willing to work hard among them so as to not add to the local burdens. I believe this is the secret to building lasting relationships, gaining exposure to new people, and ultimately in repairing the damage done by a consumer oriented gospel that fizzled out after pop culture moved on.