Leadership Update at The Water's Edge

The Water’s Edge Leadership Team met last Saturday. We spent four hours studying the Bible, praying, dreaming, and planning. Seventeen of us shared our experiences and dreams. We remembered back to the days at Russell Middle School four years ago when a hundred or so of us gathered to worship together. We remembered our limited resources, our challenges, and our opportunities. We still have limited resources and challenges, but the opportunities in front of us are limitless. With God as our primary resource, we resolved that no challenge exists that is too big and no dream is too big either. The next four years are going to be even more exciting than the first four years.

We looked at seven areas we want to further develop and resource in 2011. I will occasionally share some of these areas with you over the next year and extend invitations for you to serve, give, grow, connect, lead, pray, dream, and develop. If you have an idea to help move us forward, I would enjoy hearing from you about how we can be better together!

One of the seven areas we will be developing is increased discipleship. The Water’s Edge has grown greatly in terms of worship attendance and the number of volunteers. We want to make sure our growth in discipleship is consistent with other areas of development. My dream is that by the end of 2011, each of us will feel more connected to God, more connected to others, and understand more clearly and practice more fully what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. In 2011, I want to encourage you to participate in the daily Bible readings and also try out a small group. We also need pioneers who are willing to co-lead new groups. This ministry isn’t for everybody, but it is for some. Contact Jill Schumacher (jill@watersedgeomaha.com) for more information on joining or starting a small group.

Another of the seven areas is leadership development. It takes more leaders to lead hundreds of people than it does dozens of people. We know we have many underutilized leaders and people resources that worship with us on Sunday mornings. If you are feeling led, as you read this, to utilize your leadership skills, gifts, and experiences to serve God and others at The Water’s Edge, I would like to meet with you. Email my assistant (staci@watersedgeomaha.com) and I will set up an appointment to meet with you, hear your story, and provide you opportunities to lead.

The final of the seven areas I will address this morning is our 9:00 service. Our biggest accomplishment in 2010 was adding a new worship service. The service started in September and is identical to our 10:30 service. Last Sunday we had 92 people at the 9:00 service and 375 at our 10:30 service. If we didn’t add the new service, we wouldn’t have room for everybody! We want to make both worship experiences as meaningful as possible for people. If you regularly attend the 9:00 service I want you to pray about volunteering once or twice a month. I also encourage you to invite people to our worship services, especially our 9:00 service as we have plenty of room to grow!

I’m looking forward to growing, serving, and sharing in 2011 and beyond with you.

In Christ,

Craig