Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I am genuinely excited about what God is doing within our fellowship. Many of us are seeing and sensing a unique awakening in our association of churches. You can see it in some churches that had settled into decline that are regaining their vision and growth. It can be found in healthy churches reaching for new levels of effectiveness. Partnerships of churches helping other association churches are becoming more commonplace as well. We have also watched the Lord use a core of trained interim pastors and new senior leaders to bring new life to several churches.
I believe this renewal could be sensed at our annual pastors and wives gathering last October as we were challenged to think "big" for our Lord. Our annual meeting in March (now called the Annual Celebration) took on a special vibrancy and a spirit leading to renewed growth and interest. Additionally, our main communication tool as an association, Field Notes, now reaches over 1,400 people with the stories and testimonies of what God is doing in and through our church families.
I can tell you as well that this awakening spirit is very evident in the regional leadership team, the SWCBA Board of Managers. The renewed Board, a group of 16 men and women, is a mature yet energetic reflection of the region's churches it serves. They represent many of our churches, both old and young, that are being renewed in spirit for the task of reaching our communities with the gospel of Jesus. All of this has led us to believe that the Lord has a mission for us to do - TOGETHER! With that in mind, I want to give you a quick head's up.
The SWCBA Board is arranging a series of cluster meetings for SWCBA church leaders throughout the region. These are meetings facilitated by team members from the Board and aimed at listening: listening to the Lord, to each other, to our thoughts, hopes, dreams and, yes, criticisms. What's the goal? To hear if the Lord may be awakening among us a new sense of mutual mission and what that mission might mean for our relationships. You are a very important part of this partnership and renewal and we really want to hear from you - what God has put in your heart for our association and for our future together.
Be watching for your invitation as it will be headed your way soon. And please - join your regional colleagues for one of these important sessions. We'll be holding these forums throughout the region during June , July and August so hopefully one will conveniently fit your schedule and location. We are planning to meet around the noon hour at a local restaurant in your area so that we can fellowship around the table, and it also gives us an opportunity to buy you lunch and let you know how much we appreciate your partnership in this ministry.
We all know that renewal is not easy, it is not without a lot of work, nor is it always successful. Yet we have all experienced what great things the Lord can do when we follow Him through the process of revitalization and allow Him to set the course. I truly believe that this is a time of great opportunity and promise for our association as we partner together.
Looking forward to seeing you in the weeks ahead!
Pastor Steve Engram
SWCBA Board of Managers
Desert Springs Community Church
