A LEAP OF FAITH                                            

I have heard it said over and over, "a church like ours is big business, and ought to be operated like a business." I totally agree when it comes to how we operate in our day by day activities. We ought to reach for "excellence" in all that we do. There is no excuse for being satisfied with less than our best when it comes to planning and carrying out those plans. The church, however, is different in one area. The church is first and foremost a "faith-based" business. While we need to operate in a "business-like" manner, we need to realize that God may have more in store for us than we can even imagine. That should call forth from each of us a "leap of faith", believing that those things which we can touch and see are not the totality of God's plans for us.

All of us are too keenly aware of the economic difficulties of recent months and years. This church like many others has had to deal with this in terms of "shortfalls" in giving and the need to curtail spending in every area of our work together. The Church Council received and passed  a 2010 Budget proposal from the Committee on Finance this Monday evening, which is some 11% less than what we raised and spent in 2009. That can only mean that we must spend less, or that we find ways to raise additional funds to carry out ministries already in place. It also means that any proposed new ministries must be put on hold.

We have been so blessed in recent years to be able to fund so many worth-while ministries and add new ones as the need for them became apparent. The work we have done together has blessed the lives of many. We believe that our work together is based on the "need of the giver to give." Therefore, the Budget mentioned above is based on what our people tell us is their "Estimate of Giving" for 2010. The struggle comes when so many things need to be done, and our giving does not keep pace with the needs. I have to believe that at least a part of our difficulties comes when we as individuals have not allowed  God to help develop in us what someone has called "Spiritual Intelligence". Spiritual intelligence has to do with the ability of an individual to grow spiritually and move toward Christian maturity. Maybe too many of us are "sitting on the premises of the church, instead of standing on the promises of God."

Dr. Bill Bouknight has written a short message on what he calls "The Impala Problem". He says there is only one creature on earth who can out-jump professional basketball players. That creature is an African deer called  the Impala. This animal has a vertical leap of over 10 feet. It can broad jump over 30 feet. With this kind of jumping ability, you would think that there would be no way to keep such an animal in a zoo enclosure to be viewed by visitors. But such is not the case. The experts have discovered something about the Impala which makes it easy to confine one. A solid wall six feet tall is sufficient to house an Impala.  A simple discovery makes this true. An Impala will not jump unless it can see where it is going to land. It seems that many Christians have the Impala problem. They are not willing to take a "leap of faith" because they do not have all the answers in advance and  because they cannot see where they are going to land. I believe that God is looking for some bold, brave, believers who, even in the face of the unknown, "will leap when the Holy Spirit says leap, will fly when the Spirit says fly, and will launch when the Spirit says launch, all for the glory of God."  Are you an impala Christian?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Dick Reese