Dear First Pres, 

     I am really grateful for the many folks who came out on Friday and Saturday for the Church Vitality seminar with Rev. Dr. Ken Priddy. It certainly is the buzz right now among us who were there. Ken had some really important things for us to consider as we work to be a church on mission with Jesus (to seek and to save the lost).  I think the material he presented to us will have a lasting impact at FPC Fresno. 

     One of the most profound things that Ken said on Saturday was that churches need to change from thinking about how to minister to the congregation to thinking about how to minister through the congregation. There's only one word that is different between those two statements, but changing "to" to "through" has some pretty significant implications. And, he didn't mean that we should just minister through the congregation to the congregation. No, he meant that we should minister through the congregation to the community. The question is: how do we create a church strategy that facilitates that work?

     The Session meets in a few weeks, and we will certainly be talking about what we heard from Ken.  And we'll begin the dialogue about our next steps in response to Ken's presentation.  In the meantime, I want to encourage you put a First Pres Forum on your radar.  March 13, in the Fellowship Hall, I'll be leading a conversation about the Church Vitality weekend. If you came to the weekend seminar, I hope you'll be thinking about this question: what is the most important thing for FPC Fresno to take away from the G.O. 1 Seminar?  Even if you didn't make it hear Ken's stuff, I hope you might listen in on the conversation as we continue to work through how God will help us to be a Great Commission church.

     I hope you're as excited about the future of our church as I am. These kinds of weekends get my head and heart spinning about what God might do among us. Please be praying that the Lord will guide us in our response, and ask the Lord to show you what He might have for you to do.

     Blessings,