OK, I am officially old. I had cataract surgery last month.
All my life, my vision has been somewhat of an issue. I got glasses at eight years old. I was unable to qualify in a night firing exercise in the Army after leading the way in the daylight. I had difficulty identifying one color from another leading me to be called ‘fashion-challenged” by a loving ministry assistant.
As the years rolled on I visited a fancy eye doctor who told me the only option for me was a very risky surgery in which a high percentage of patients see worse rather than better. So, I decided just to accept what I had been dealt. I could see what I could see. And then someone helped me.
On the spur of a moment I made a call to my eye doctor of 15 years, a member of my former church, just to get some new frames. “Why keep going to a stranger when I can sit in the chair of a guy that loves me,” I told Cathy.
It didn’t take Kirk long to determine that I had been misdiagnosed and it wasn’t that big of a deal. Cataracts. (He even showed me a note in my chart that he made in 2012, the last time that I saw him, that predicted growth of cataracts by 2025). Kirk assured me I could see better. He couldn’t tell me how much better but it would be better.
Oh was he right. Do you know how yellow a male goldfinch is? Have you ever seen how bright a male cardinal is when the sun glances off his back? Have you noticed how the dogwood blossom changes from pale yellow to bright white? Are you aware of the 1000 colors God paints an Indiana sunset? Of course, you do but I didn’t. I didn’t know what I couldn’t see. And in order to see, I needed help.
Your church may be operating under the same handicap that I was. You think you are seeing everything there is to see but you probably are not. Perhaps you need help. Why do I say that? When we took a poll of our Associational leaders in Indiana, who are overwhelmingly pastors, by the way, they reported 75% of their churches were either plateaued or declining – three out of every four!
The State Convention of Baptists in Indiana exists to partner with churches to discover and fulfill their next step.
Imagine what one step in the right direction can mean for the future of your church. Why don’t you reach out to us and initiate a Next Step Discovery Process? Kirk helped me but I still had to open my eyes and look. We can help you find clarity but we can only help. You will have to see it.
If 75%, three out of four, churches are existing in a dimly lit, unclear form then how do you know it isn’t you and your church? You don’t. You can’t see what you can’t see. You don’t know what you don’t know. The truth is we need help to know if we see clearly or not.
I can’t imagine choosing to not see clearly. Your State Convention exists to partner with churches to discover and fulfill their next step. We can help. Ask us.