Outlining A Vision

Jill and I began to feel several months ago that our time teaching the college Life Group was coming to a close. We were excited to be moving on to something new and ministering in an as yet unknown area. We were also excited to head back to the Nuthman's Life Group. Lance is one of the best Bible teachers I've ever had, Shawna does an awesome job serving those in their class and organizing the group into a cohesive unit, and we were excited to be involved with friends and families we had come to appreciate in our the department. We were really ready to get back to the Nuthman Group.

As you now know, things worked out a little differently and we came back just in time to fill a need in our department for a new class.


Vision: "Lets go over there!"
Jill and I do have a vision for this class, and I believe it is in congruence with the vision established by Jerry and Marylin that filters down through all of the classes in this department. We believe that as a class, we should serve each other and hold each other accountable to follow the commands of Christ, especially when it comes to reaching the lost and raising our children...or raising your children. I guess what I'm saying is I don't expect you to hold others accountable to raise my children. That would be strange. We'll hold each respective person accountable for the raising of each persons' respective children. Anyways, here is a quick outline of our vision:

1. To have a class filled with Christians who are truly committed to fulfilling the Great Commission (leading the lost to salvation and discipling them to do the same) and are evidencing that commitment by actually fulfilling the Great Commission.

That's it.

Because of our age and the age of our families, having a family that is organized and allows us to have time to reach the lost is going to be a big part of fulfilling that vision, so we'll look often and hard at how we're raising our children and what the Bible says about it. We'll also look at the roles of individual members in making a family as effective as possible in fulfilling the Great Commission. In essence, we're going to talk a lot about your family, but all with the goal of turning it into a Great Commission fulfilling dynamo. Then we're going to do stuff together in fulfillment of the Great Commission and encourage you to do things on your own in fulfillment of the Great Commission. It isn't novel, but I think its time tested and anything else isn't all that worthwhile. We'll also eat, watch football games and celebrate holidays together, but that isn't really part of the vision. To clarify, if it comes down to a choice between fulfilling the Great Commission and watching OU v. Texas, we'll fulfill the Commission and DVR the OU/Texas game to watch later while we eat.

Christianity is not complicated or difficult to understand. It isn't a crossword puzzle. In essence, it's a simple belief that Christ is who He says He is and did what He said He did. Once we establish that belief, our lives change as we act on the belief and seek to become more like Christ. Every belief modifies behavior. We're looking forward to acting on our belief with all of you.