As we ring in the New Year I am thinking about some of the things I’ll be working on in the coming months. Here are some of my thoughts and hopes, in no particular order.
Message Series
We are looking forward to some interesting and exciting message series this winter and spring beginning this weekend with a series titled “Unexpected.” The series will take a long look at life’s unexpected surprises, good and bad, and how we survive and thrive through them. This could be the perfect series to invite a friend. Great new series are also planned for Lent and Easter.
40 Hours of Prayer
Once again this year we’re kicking off our Lenten observance with the amazing experience of 40 continuous hours of praise and prayer. It all gets started on Ash Wednesday, March 6. Plan now to take some time to make this Lent something special by starting it off as part of this powerful experience.
Campus Planning
On Easter Sunday we’ll be inaugurating our beautiful new balcony in our sanctuary. This space will seat an additional 500 people, for a total capacity of 1500. Of course we still have to fill those seats, which means doubling down on our “Invest & Invite” strategy.
This summer we will be undertaking outdoor campus projects too. These will include modifications and enhancements to our parking as well as some landscaping around the new building that we deferred at the time of construction, in view of the budget.
Staff Development
Though still to be planned, there will be several opportunities for staff development in the coming year, both for the entire team, as well as our Strategic Leadership Team. We have a great and growing staff, if you want to be a part of it, we’re hiring. Check it out at https://www.churchnativity.com/our-team/
Rebuilt
After launching a beautiful new website for Rebuilt in 2018 (https://rebuiltparish.com/) we are planning to expand our reach with other parishes in 2019. We are most excited about 4 one-day regional conferences now on the schedule, smaller versions of our Rebuilt Conference (which will not be offered in 2019).
This month we’re submitting to our editor at AVE Maria Press the completed manuscript for our upcoming book, ChurchMoney, which will be published in October. It’s all about our story, what happened to us and what we learned about raising money in a parish and the connection of giving to growing a healthy parish.
We will still be traveling from time to time for the book, including California, New York, and further afield, in Barcelona, Vienna, Berlin, and Switzerland, speaking to parishes and diocese that are looking to rebuild.
That’s a part of my plan for 2019.
