A New Season TOGETHER / 1.8.23

 A New Season Together
Various passages January 8, 2023   

1. Introduction:
   1. Last week I spoke about how a new year has a way of hitting the reset button on our lives to clear out the clutter in our lives in order to restart us with new hopes, new dreams, and new commitments.
      1. Today we are going to talk about the same restart with us as a church because as 2023 starts it starts for us a new season of ministry and transitions at MVC which should produce in us new hopes, new dreams and new commitments 
      2. We are calling this year a new season together because the transitions and changes that we are going to go through will impact all of us and we will go through them together.   
      3. The more of us who commit to go through these together the greater chance we have of our hope and dreams becoming a reality!
      4. There are many changes going on at MVC over the next few years and by our 80th anniversary, two years from now, MVC is going to be a very different church, but I believe very different in a good and better way.   
   2. Last week we spoke about us individually not looking backwards in our lives and dwelling on what God did for us in the past but looking forward in faith to the new and miraculous thing God is going to do for us as individuals in the future.
      1. This is not only a posture we should take for our individual lives but also for our corporate life together here as MVC!
   3. Before I tell you what changes are coming, let me tell you how we have gotten to this place!
      1. These changes really started about four years ago as we were getting ready for our 75th anniversary and launching a spiritual initiative that was designed to help us be better in the spiritual formation of our lives and our outreach beyond the walls.
         1. Everything was in place and ready to go for a launch at Easter in 2020 then Covid hit and threw our whole world and our ministry at MVC into disarray 
         2. In many ways, Covid not only hurt MVC as a church but also hurt many, many churches across America. 
      2. But something good came out of Covid for us as a church.   As we had to shut down all of our ministries and go to an online service for Sundays there was something very interesting that we realized during that time.
         1. We realized we were pretty good at holding events, programs and services but we were not near as good at making disciples of those who came into those events, programs and services.
         2. That caused us to begin to ask ourselves some hard questions about our ministries and the way we minister, and that has driven us since that time. 

• So what are some of the changes that we will be facing together in this new season

1.  Changes
   1. First, there was one major internal change that impacts what we will be experiencing in the next few years!
      1. We have made a shift in how the staff operates by restructuring the staff team in a way that better fits our gifts and addresses some of the internal problems of communication, working in silo’s and even helps us better address being a multigenerational church that wants to emphasize reaching the next generation.  
         1. Much of the discussions, directions, and decisions about what will be going on the next few years started and flowed from those meetings.
         2. That team consists of Mike Locke – executive pastor of ministries, Josh Weaver – executive pastor of worship, group lives and Eric Bihl – executive director of operations here at MVC.  Finally, we were coached by our consultant Ted Vaughn
      2. Video of meeting that was captured – video of SLT meeting
   2. Externally there are five major changes that will be coming our way this year
      1. Paying off the mortgage- 
         1. This will allow us not only to retire a debt, a responsibility that we have had and pay off our building but also to begin to change our focus of funds to investing in the future building of the ministry.
         2. We will hear more about that and celebrate that next Sunday when we celebrate this together!
      2. Church registration
         1. We desire with this to find out just who is at MVC right now and who is committed to this body so we can even identify who we are, better minister to those who consider MVC their church home and build off that!
         2. We have a database of people that is literally decades old that has listed thousands of names connected to MVC.  The nature of the software has limited our ability to clean it up
         3. But we will be getting new software that will allow us to find out who MVC is right now and not everyone that was ever connected to MVC.  
      3. A new discipleship strategy 
         1. It will be built around three key words – be, become, do. That is
            1. Be with Jesus – communion and union with Jesus
            2. Become like Jesus – transformation both spiritually and in our whole being, especially emotionally in these turbulent days
            3. Do what Jesus did – putting feet to our life with Jesus so as not just to be with him and more like him but be the hands of feet of Jesus to those around us.
         2. This will be the main paradigm we will be looking through at the ministry of MVC and looking through at our personal and corporate discipleship 
      4. Small groups – Josh share here 
      5. Transition of leadership  
         1. As I told you last week, our original plan was to have a new senior pastor in place by the start of next year so there should be a flurry of action that takes place here at MVC in that arena.
         2. While on one hand, I am leaving a privileged position of service here at MVC, one that I love. On the other hand, I believe from the core of my being, that MVC’s best days are ahead of us because of the foundations that have been set in place over the past year and a half, as well as the things you heard this morning
         3. Also, things like next week when we celebrate the burning of our mortgage, the fact that we can focus more on ministry and people opportunities than paying for buildings.   I will share next week on the opportunity for us to build our future together!
   3. All of these changes will impact all of us and will provide all of us with a chance to grow as individuals and as a church.  I also believe they all will provide for us a reason to celebrate.

• So how do we respond to all of these changes?  Turn to 

1.   Ecclesiastes
   1. The first response is in Ecclesiastes 7:10 
      1. Read
      2. To grieve the good old days and the way things used to be.  This is a very unhealthy and unwise response to these changes and transitions
   2. The other response is to see God in all of these changes and look forward, as we learned last week, to the good new days!   Turn to Ecclesiastes 3 where we learned early last year three truths about God’s involvement in everything
      1. Everything is under God’s sovereign control and timing   Read 3:1
      2. God makes everything beautiful in its time even when we do not understand it.   Read 3:11
      3. God works in everything in a way that causes us to fear him, to stand in awe and reverence of what he has done!  read 3:14
   3. Yes, things will be different at MVC in the future and even this year but things will be better as we watch God do some beautiful things at MVC, in his timing in a way that should cause us to fall down and worship him for the things he has done.  Repeat
   4. 2023 should be a great year of worship and celebration!

• Finally 

1.  What will these changes require of each one of us?   
   1. In one word - ownership - that simply means I buy into MVC’s mission and where MVC is going, taking responsibility for and care about the success of MVC.  MVC is not just a church, or their church but my church.  You put your hands to and give your time, talents and treasures to the work, mission, the problems and needs of MVC as if they were your own.
   2. There is a big difference between just sitting in the crowd and being a part of, taking responsibility, caring about and putting your hands to what is going on. Let me illustrate that
      1. I was sitting at the airport in Harlingen, Texas with 25 people from our MVC team waiting for a flight to take us home from a missions trip we when they announced that the flight was canceled! 
         1. My first thought was “I wonder what ‘we are going to do.”
            
            
            
            
      2. About two minutes later it hit my mind, “I’m the senior pastor and I’m responsible for this group.  It was not a matter of what “we” were going to do; now it’s a matter of what am “I” going to do.”  Even though I didn’t know what to do, I immediately stepped into action beginning to find out what I needed to.  
         1. Of course others jumped in and helped too because they realized this was not just my problem but our problem.
         2. That started three full days of juggling and changing -van rides, rentals, flights, hotels, sleeping in airports etc., to get all 25 home safely!
         3. I learned in a deep way at that time the difference between being part of the crowd to being an owner!
   3. Great picture in John 10 of the difference between and owner (shepherd) and a hired hand.  Which one reflects your heart when it comes to MVC?  Do you distance yourself from the work, the needs, the opportunities and trouble at MVC or do you lay down your life, time, talents, and treasures?
      1. Turn - read John 10:10-13 
      2. Which one reflects more your heart towards MVC?
   4. 2023 I believe is going to be a very exciting and fruitful year for MVC that will set us up for decades to come. The degree of our fruitfulness is dependent upon how many people move from being part of the crowd of MVC to being an owner!