Looking Ahead

I suppose it is “launching” season. Many of us took advantage of the recent holiday to enjoy watching fireworks be launched into the sky. Perhaps some of you have recently launched your watercraft into an area lake to spend time with friends and family, or maybe you are getting excited, like I am, for the MLB Home Run Derby that will take place in a few days! My daughter Zoe is launching her new career in education in a couple of weeks, and here at Wallula Christian Church, we are launching a new worship schedule on Sunday mornings. Starting August 16, we will worship at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 a.m.

Launches are exciting events! Think about the anticipation involved with any of the launches described above, and yet there are a few cautions we need to be aware of as well. I read a story about NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter that was launched on December 11, 1998. This piece of precision technology cost $327 million, meticulously built with software in triplicate to avoid any mistakes, and the launch of this research vessel was a success. Ultimately, though, NASA lost contact with the craft once it entered Mars’ orbit, permanently. The Mars Climate Orbiter exploded. It was destroyed because one component of software utilized on the vessel was purchased from a US aerospace company and installed by NASA engineers. This would have been fine, but for the fact that NASA used the metric system for all of its software, and the aerospace company did not. The resulting communication problem led to a miscalculation, and the spacecraft flew much closer to Mars than it should have and was destroyed.

Maybe one of the lessons we can learn from NASA as we consider our launch of new worship services this fall is that we all want to be speaking the same language and measuring success in the same way. Just before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He left His followers with these instructions: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.” Why would we choose to sacrifice, change, and risk doing something different? We want to do all we can to grow disciples of Jesus, to equip and transform. 

Launching these new worship times increases the opportunities we have to grow disciples. The additional worship time will provide more space for the casual in our community to discover Jesus and Wallula. There will be plenty of room for you to invite your neighbor to worship with you on Sunday mornings! The additional worship times create more opportunities for you to serve Jesus and others. You cannot be a disciple of Christ and not be serving Him and loving others. These new service times will increase the opportunities we have to fellowship, study, and pray with one another. New adult small groups will be added to our Sunday morning schedule; middle school and high school ministries will meet at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. services; kids ministry will be included in each hour. This schedule will provide more flexibility for your family to worship together at one hour and serve or attend a small group/student ministry at another hour! So many great opportunities for us to love Jesus well as we participate in this exciting launch of new worship times! Now, we just need to follow through!

- Lance

So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.

       - 2 Corinthians 8:11