What’s Going on Here?

By Gary Keith, Lead Pastor 

As I write this I’m sitting in my office on a Thursday afternoon after having just returned from our annual pastoral staff retreat. I’m not sure why we call it a retreat because there is very little retreating. Mainly it’s a time of work. We spend time reflecting back and looking forward. We spend time making new plans to more effectively live out our mission. This year’s work retreat was an important time because it was the first time we looked back on how it is going with our new mission and vision. We asked ourselves, “How can we do better?”

Someone may wonder, “Hey, we are doing pretty well; why do you want to do better? After all, we added more than 600 people to a daily Bible reading plan, we tripled the number of LIFE Groups, we entered into some new community projects, we have two international missions trips planned for the summer, and since January we have seen at least 37 people come to faith in Jesus, which all sounds pretty good! Why do you want to do better?”

The answer to that question is both simple and profound: Because LBF is a church that is consumed by a very real burden for people who are far from God. I am consumed with a burden to help people who are far from God. Our pastors are consumed with a burden for people who are far from God. Everything we do is centered on that burden of helping people who are far from God come close to Him and then begin living in a passionate pursuit of LIFE in Jesus. That’s why we want to get more people reading the Bible everyday.

That’s why we want more people in our LIFE Groups, connecting with God and connecting with others. That’s why we want to grow in serving God in our community and around the world.

That’s also why we will always challenge the status quo – always. We cannot rest and assume that the way we did things in the ’70s will work in the ’90s. Or that the way things worked in the ’90s will work today. Every innovation has an expiration date. At some point, new isn’t new anymore. Eventually, new ideas feel like yesterday’s news. Bread is not the only thing that gets stale. Nothing is relevant forever. But innovation is something I want us to continually pursue because in that innovation we find a better way for us to reach people who are far from God.

As I reflect on my 30-plus years here at LBF, I can remember times where a new method for doing ministry was put into practice – it was a new innovation.

I can still remember the first Sunday we introduced drums into worship. I was the worship pastor at the time and it was a risk, but a risk we believed would help people who are far from God come to church. And while it may have been innovative at the time, today that is old news.

Let me tell you, everything that is currently in place at LBF was adopted as an improvement over an outdated approach. Everything that is currently in place began as a challenge to the status quo in a previous generation. Why? Because we have a burden for people who are far from God.

And so we are now in a new season at LBF – where for many it is an exciting time and where a new mission statement is less than a year old, where there is a new feel inside the Worship Center, where our student ministry is embracing new ways to reach our students, where our children’s ministry will approach helping our kids find God in a new way, and where our LIFE Groups are helping people connect and serve God.

Why do we do this? Because more than anything we want to reach people who are far from God. We want to help people come to faith and grow in that faith and live out a passionate pursuit of LIFE in Jesus.

And my prayer for all of you who are part of this church family is that you too will feel a burden for the people who are far from God. So that when your status quo changes you will recognize that more than anything you are part of a church that will reach people with the good news of Jesus.