Big Hairy Audacious Goal Our Mission: Mining the Depths of God: Exploring the community for people in need of help, Extracting the principles from

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1 Big Hairy Audacious Goal Our Mission: Mining the Depths of God: Exploring the community for people in need of help, Extracting the principles from God s Word to change our lives, and Exporting changed people with a message of hope to a lost world. After much discussion, listening and prayer, the Leadership Team has decided to move in this direction during 2017 and into Because we acknowledge Christ as the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23-24), particularly Christian Church of Gillette, and because we acknowledge that He has commanded His disciples to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20, we believe that in order to obey Christ, our Worship attendance must increase from an average weekly attendance of 50 to an average weekly attendance of 150 by July 1, In order to accomplish this challenging, but attainable goal, we must take the following steps beginning immediately.

2 rayer We must boldly come before God s throne of grace begging Him to: Open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3), Open the eyes of people to understand the Scriptures as Christ opened the eyes of the men with whom He walked on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:45), Send out laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9:38), Grant us wisdom as we disciple people to Christ, for God gives generously to all without reproach (James 1:5), and Provide the necessary physical, financial and human resources to accomplish our goals, because the earth is the Lord s and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1) and to the Lord our God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it (Deuteronomy 10:14). This will mean that we need to Revitalize our prayer chain, Upgrade and dedicate our Prayer Room to a War Room, which is a place of continual prayer, Budget funding for needed upgrades to the War Room, Purposefully set aside more time in our Leadership Team Meetings for intense and intentional prayer, and that Our Leadership must encourage regular times of congregational fasting and prayer. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must appoint a mature man to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

3 eadership Everything rises and falls with leadership. Our leaders must motivate and guard our congregation, while they manage the work of Gillette Christian Church. They will need to take the following leadership steps to take this Body to an average attendance of 150 by July 1, Transition from a small-church view to a medium-church view. Learn to follow through in a timely manner on tasks they begin, and Restructure their Leadership Team Meetings to include more communication with the Lord. Restructure the business meetings to meet once every two months rather than monthly, Ask the Elders to meet weekly for prayer for the congregation, Add an Advisory Group to assist our elders (Wes Gudahl, Jon Lindstrom, Tom Reynolds), until such a time as we are able to select more elders, Initially add two deacons, Don Allen and Jeff Worcester, to oversee our property, and Add Elders and Deacons as needed throughout the coming year. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must allow our Chairman of the Board and Minister, to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

4 hild Care Ministry We must provide a Child Care Ministry to people we wish to disciple. This will require us to recruit a ministry leader who will build a ministry team to provide a(n): Sunday School class, in conjunction with our Sunday School Ministry, for 0-30 month's old babies and toddlers, Nursery Ministry during the Worship times for 0-30 month s old babies and toddlers, which will have an adequately trained staff that disciple these children. and Plan for a safe and secure Nursery facility which provides acceptable space for discipling 0-30 months old babies and toddlers. Included in this Nursery facility will be a private area for nursing mothers. Write a Job Description for a Child Care Ministry Leader, Recruit and build a Child Care Ministry team immediately, Budget funds for training materials, materials to remodel the nursery, and provide for any needed upgraded furnishing and teaching materials, After designing an up-to-date safe and secure Nursery, invest financially in materials to remodel our present Nursery, Train people to minister to babies and toddlers, and Begin as soon as possible to remodel the Nursery facility. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must appoint a mature person to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

5 vangelism Ministry As a congregation, we must reach out to people in our community to help them visit our church and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We will accomplish this by: Asking Tom Reynolds to teach a rotating adult Sunday School class that teaches adults how to invite people to church so that they may come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and Asking Adam Coop to share a short training seminar in the use of Block Parties as a means for us to get to know our neighbors and connect them to Gillette Christian Church, Schedule rotating dates for Tom to teach this class (the first class is scheduled for March 5 April 9), Clean up and refurbish the classroom on the north end of the Fellowship Hall (we have already begun this work), Set a date for Adam Coop to talk with people about using the Block Party approach, Recruit families to host six block parties during June through August, and Budget funds to help families publicize the Block Parties, and funds to help families provide food items, if necessary, for the Block Parties. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must appoint a man to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

6 taff To provide adequate staff to take this congregation into the next five years, we must Recruit and mentor a bi-vocational Associate Minister that will work primarily with families that are Millennials and Centennials. Write a Job Description for a Bi-Vocational Associate Minister that defines his role in ministry primarily related to Millennials and Centennials. Budget $1,100/month starting in July to cover rent for the Bi-Vocational Associate Minister Recruit and hire a Bi-Vocational Minister to meet our specified needs, Budget $2,500 for ministry expenses to Millennials and Centennials. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must allow our Minister, working with the Elders, to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

7 tewardship To provide adequate resources for our current ministries and planned changes in ministry, we will need to take the following stewardship actions: Develop a Wasting Asset Fund that begins to set aside regular funding for larger repair projects on our property, Set aside a Floating Fund of $7,500 to act as a buffer when we have short-fall in giving, or when our monthly expenditures exceed our regular giving, and Provide an opportunity for people to make donations on-line. Immediately start our Wasting Fund by allocating 1½% of our monthly General Fund to the Wasting Fund, Encourage our members to give sacrificially to establish the Floating Fund through two free-will offerings taken at Easter and Thanksgiving, Make use of on-line banking to track our finances at any time of the day or night (this has already been accomplished), Begin to investigate the means whereby we can establish an on-line giving alternative, and Communicate monthly with the members of Gillette Christian Church as to the financial picture of Gillette Christian Church by making available an understandable financial report. In order to ensure that we accomplish this goal, we must allow our Treasurer, working with the Elders, to oversee our work and to hold us accountable to the above tasks.

8 Challenging the Law of the Lid Through Goals and Strategies Over the past six weeks we talked about Challenging the Law of the Lid. We saw how God designed the Church to grow (Ephesians 4:11-16). The church often sees itself living in a jar with a self-imposed lid. This lid is a result of o Shifting demographics o Shuffling the deck o The Corinthian Syndrome o Violating the Golden Rule o Stinkin Thinkin There are times leaders have no vision Growth becomes a destination rather than a journey. We looked at the life of Gideon (Judges 6:15) and saw that God is with us (Matthew 1:23). We saw the importance of leadership listening to God and to one another when the church at Antioch sent out its first missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). Finally, we saw that when leaders follow God, change occurs. When change occurs, there will be conflict between the old ways and the new ways (Acts 15). Leaders will have to effectively deal with conflict. Today, for the time being, we are looking at the final task in Challenging the Law of the Lid. Remembering that God designed His church to grow and that God walks with us, using goals and strategies, leadership must seek ways to fulfill God s purpose for His Church. Because we acknowledge Christ as the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23-24), particularly Christian Church of Gillette, and because we acknowledge that He has commanded His disciples to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20, we believe that in order to obey Christ, our Worship attendance must increase from an average weekly attendance of 50 to an average weekly attendance of 150 by July 1, 2018.