Friday Reflection Session: July 21

Dr. Randy Jessen, Dean of the Beeson, led us in a discussion/reflection time from 9:30-noon this morning. He introduced us to a program he put into place in the church he last served in Colorado. He called his congregation to "EPIC leadership". It was an attempt to help move the congregation toward a deeper understanding of discipleship and away from an inward focus.

E: Excited about Service
P: Passionate about faith
I: Inspired by hope
C: Committed to love.

The process of implementing EPIC was hard going. He introduced the plan to staff first and invited them to participate in scheduling time for outward focused ministry during each week. When that didn't work he made it a requirment. When that didn't work 11 of 17 staff members were fired.

During the discussion I became acutely aware of how fortunate we are at Grandview. It would be easy, in the exclusive company of preachers, to forget that the church I'm allowed to serve is a wonderful place to be. At Grandview we, of course, aren't perfect . . . but this is a congregation that overwhelmingly wants to be faithful to the gospel.


In the above picture we have (from left to right) Matt, Gordon, Alicia, Jason, and Kent. In the below picture you can see Jim cheesing for the camera during the middle of the discussion.

I need to quit blogging and get to work. It's a nice diversion, though, from the 25 page integration paper I'm working on.

We have another "Grill-a-Palooza" tonight. I'll try to remember to get GOOD pictures, not just distant shots of people scattered on the lawn eating hotdogs. Ooops . . . I was going to get to work, wasn't I?