All In

I'm preparing for our time together on Sunday. Most of you know this is commitment Sunday for the Chapter 2 campaign. This campaign with it's focus on our mission and the call for all of us to make three year commitments has very different than anything we've ever done at Community Christian. More than a few times this week people have asked me "What do you think is going to happen with the commitments this Sunday?" or "What are you hoping will happen on Sunday?"

I've had all kinds of thoughts in answer to that question. So I'm going to put it out there in writing what I am hoping will happen this Sunday. In short what I'm hoping is that we will be all in. I'm hoping that when we're done everyone who calls Community Christian their church will have made some commitment.

I really believe that best part of this effort has been that it has made many of us consider whether or not we are on board with what God has called Community Christan to do. Some people have found out that this isn't for them. While I wish everyone would be about reaching the 60,000 with us, if it took this to help them figure it out this wasn't for them - then I'm okay. I'm praying they will commit to find a church where they can be firmly on board with what they are doing. Others of you have figured out this really does matter to you and you want to give as much as you can. And Sunday you are going to commit to that. Still others have the desire to give but this has made you realize "I've made some mistakes with money that I've got to get fixed so I can support what God is doing." So you're going to make a smaller financial commitment than you want but your major commitment is going to be to fix what's wrong with your money management. Then in the future you'll be able to do what your commitment to God is calling you to do. But still you are in.

What this campaign has done for me is that I really mean it when I say "What's most important is that everyone at Community Christian be committed to reaching 60,000 people whatever we have to do." Yes the Chapter 2 strategy is going to cost 6 million dollars and we need that. But that's not really the deal. If we had 6 million dollars just sitting in the bank we could not reach 60,000 people without everyone at Community Christian doing their part. The chance to raise this money has just caused us to figure out - are we all in or not? So that's what I'm hoping for as this campaign draws to a close I hope we are all in.