Last week on our Executive Team retreat, we spent a couple of hours one morning talking through Psalm 40. One of the key verses we focused on was v. 10,
“I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.”
We used some of our time together to share with one-another the faithfulness and salvation God has shown toward us in the past year and beyond. We rehearsed the many ways God has shown his favor to Fairhaven Church in 2009. We listed them on the whiteboard. Here's just a few:
- The response to the Fall Series: Unshakable
- Our growth in influence in the community
- The 2009 income significantly exceeded the budget
- Don Solin rejoined the staff
- We successfully transitioned our Children's Ministry leadership
- People within Fairhaven responded to God’s call to world missions
- People came to saving faith in Jesus
- The Job Seekers ministry had a huge impact in the community
- Imagine 3:20- WOW!
- The health of our staff is obvious
- A unanimous vote to establish a satellite in Northmont
We also talked about how our friendships on the Executive Team have been so meaningful and enjoyable. We spent time affirming the qualities in each other that have helped shape us over the past five years. We affirmed David’s wise leadership and great relational gifting and how we each are better because of the things we have seen modeled in him. It was awesome to give voice to the feeling of love and respect we have for one another.
You see, one of the big rocks we tackled during the retreat was staff reorganization. Each of our roles in leadership in the church will change in the coming months. A new leadership model is soon to be announced to the staff. We want to be more inclusive, more responsive and more effective, and the model we’ve used over the past five years won’t get us there. While change is never easy and rarely comfortable, it’s always necessary if we’re going to remain relevant.
