Karibu!

I am excited about a special guest coming to visit us in less than two weeks. Pastor Benard Ondiek from Kenya will be with us to share about his ministry in Kenya. Pastor Benard is the man I work with when I have traveled to Kenya in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Pastor Benard is a good friend and a man of inspiring faith.

Pastor Benard has started two Christian orphanages among the Luo people to help meet the dire need that exists in Kenya today - the "Friends of Christ" orphanages. Because of malaria, AIDS, and a variety of other health issues, there are orphans literally every where you turn. Almost every adult we know in Kenya has at least one orphan in their home. One orphanage is in Ahero, with about 300 orphans. The other is in Wachara, with around 50 or so.

Pastor Benard has also started a Bible school to train pastors, elders, and Sunday school teachers, called the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology (AEST). When I travel to Kenya, I spend my time at AEST. This ministry is strategic, because it multiplies. Most pastors are pastoring several churches at once, which spreads them too thin. AEST helps put more trained pastors and elders in these churches.

When Pastor Benard is here Oct 24, he will speak to the children's Sunday schools, share from the pulpit, and then on Sunday evening at 6pm, we'll have a potluck dinner to get to know him better, show some pictures and video from the orphanages in Kenya, and have a question-and-answer session.

There is a book about Pastor Benard's life called Benard's Vision. We will have copies available for you - we ask a minimum $15 donation per copy. Every penny of the donation goes straight into the operation of the orphanage. See also http://benardsvision.com for more about the book.

The organization I'm a part of is called "Hungry4Him" (http://hungry4him.com). We are responsible for finding sponsors for orphans. Just $15 per month provides all the school supplies and school uniform that a child needs, plus two nutritious meals per day. I'll be sharing more about this when Pastor Benard is here.

Also, I'm praying that the Lord would raise up a team of people that I can take on a short-term mission trip to Kenya next summer to work with the orphans, the teachers, the Bible school students, and the villagers. We'll talk about this when Pastor Benard is here, too.

If you would like to provide a meal (in a restaurant or in your home) to get to know Pastor Benard more fully, he would love to meet you. He will also be available to speak to your Bible study or group, any time from Oct 24 through the morning of Oct 27.

I'm anxious to get to share with you something that's been so important to us.

Karibu! (That means "welcome" in Swahili.)

Vision

The all-church survey is in, and we're sifting through the results. Great feedback from not a few responders, so thanks to all of you for putting your thoughts into words and sharing them with us. The elders had a meeting earlier this week to discuss the results, and will spend this Friday and Saturday combing through it all, collecting ideas from personal interviews I have conducted, taking in the various elders discussions throughout the year and prayerfully considering where to set our sights for 2011.

Developing "vision" is a common practice for organizations, religious or secular, to focus limited resources in the face of unlimited possibilities. There are so many good things we could do - the question is what should we do at this time? A vision statement brings that focus. Even from looking only at your comments in the survey, there are far more good ideas that we could do than we have time and resource for. Some good ideas are good ideas for us now, some good ideas are good ideas for us at a later time, and some good ideas are good ideas for someone else. (And, of course we could come up with any number of bad ideas!)

Our "vision" statement will be a statement that helps us focus the energies of each ministry toward a common, single, clear purpose. It is a statement that should be unique to Grace Fellowship, in the sense that it is what we should focus on, without any suggestion that other churches should focus on. Our vision is what our church's unique contribution should be in the Kingdom of God.

Our "mission" statement, however, is not the same thing as our vision statement. A mission statement is bigger than a vision statement. A vision statement is usually good for a period of time, whereas a mission statement remains constant throughout the organization's lifespan. I believe that every church in the world has the same mission - it was a mission that Jesus gave us, called the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Every church has the same mission, and therefore the same mission statement. We should all be working toward this mission of making disciples of all nations, under the authority of Christ.

Our "vision" statement is the unique proclamation that says how this particular church intends to add to the overall mission that we share.

Please pray for your elders as they prayerfully develop a vision for our church.