What's Next

    I started writing this blog so that you would know what I was thinking, to test-out thoughts, to create conversations, and to just let you know what was happening.  I believe the more open conversation a congregation has, the more its members participate and own the congregation's ministries.  So, this is what I am thinking at this point of our partnership.
    I am thinking that we have taken major strides in providing a firm financial foundation in order to provide the financial resources for Epiphany to love Jesus by serving others.  I have a little anxiety about the up-coming annual Stewardship Campaign.  The last two months laugh at this anxiety.  The disciples at Epiphany have responded in extraordinary fashion to meeting our debt obligations.  We have pledged over $270,000 to be added to the original Capital Campaign.  There is every reason to believe a similar response will occur in the Stewardship Campaign.  But I am human and so every now and then I become a little anxious.
    Now that the major work on stewardship is completed, I am turning my attention to the Austin Campus.  I have met recently with those who worship at this campus.  That meeting lead to a strategy planning session to build-up this campus.  Now, we are in the implementation stage of this process.
    As I look at what the Austin Campus is doing, I am reminded of being in Berlin.  Joyce and I were walking along Utter den Linden after visiting the Brandenberg Gate.  As we walked towards the Berlin Cathedral, we past part of the University of Berlin.  The university does not have a campus in one place like Ohio State in Columbus.  Rather, the campus was located throughout the entire city.  Its motto could very well have been, One university, many different schools, in many different locations.  The school of engineering was not near the school of medicine, or the school of the arts, etc.  Each school in its own neighborhood had its own flavor to meet the needs of its own students.  And yet, it was one school meeting the needs of a diverse student population.  I remember thinking, “This is the model for church growth and large congregations in the early part of the 21st century in America.”
    I see the Austin Campus and the Far Hills Campus mirroring the University of Berlin.  Austin will primarily minister to those south of Centerville while Far Hills will ministry primarily to those north of Centerville.  Each will have it own style to meet the needs of those who regularly attend worship and participate in ministries designed to meet particular needs.  But, there will be a common purpose: to love Jesus by serving others.  There will be a common administration.  There will be resources that can be distributed to both campuses.  And, there will be the same commitment to grow Epiphany spiritually, in community, in outreach, and numerically.
    There are things that all of us can do to help the Austin Campus grow.  One is to pray for God’s guidance and success for Austin.  Another is for Far Hills worshipers to occasional worship at Austin.  Another, is to volunteer to help when Austin surveys a local housing development to determine how to best minister to its neighbors.
    I am personally excited to be working with the regular worshipers at Austin.  We should have a good and productive time together.
Pastor Pete