Joe's Journal
April 30, 2008
Friends,
Over the past month, I
have shared in the pastor's desk each of the four goals of our Long
Range Plan and where we stand in accomplishing those goals. Our four
goals are:
1. Invite, involve and integrate people into the
First Church community, focusing efforts on downtown residents and
young families.
2. Significantly expand our ministries of housing, evangelism, healthcare and education.
3. Advance First Presbyterian Church’s heritage and role as a “teaching church”.
4.
Challenge this generation of members to be faithful stewards of all God
has entrusted to our care, and entrust future generations with the same
opportunities given to us.
As has been detailed, these four
goals have numerous objectives, a long list of “to-do’s” developed by
over 100 people over the course of the last five years. In order to
accomplish these objectives, the Session has approved a capital
campaign to be conducted this fall. We estimate the cost of the
improvements to be made to our facility to be approximately $13
million. Mission opportunities are also under consideration. In the
months ahead we will be rolling out more information about the details
of these plans.
If all this campaign was about was building a
new welcome center, opening up our first floor creating easier access
to the Sanctuary and Byrd Hall, adding elevators and restrooms to
enhance accessibility, improving our youth space, building a chapel
garden, and developing dormitory space, I’m not sure it would be worth
doing. But this campaign is about far more than that.
We stand
at a pivotal moment in this congregation’s history. Downtown Dallas is
experiencing a renaissance. Young people and empty nesters are
flocking back to the city in large numbers. According to our research,
the vast majority of these people are unchurched. They have three
primary concerns: careers, companionship, and life direction. What
better career could a person have than answering God’s call for their
life? What better foundation for relationship than the kind of love
God reveals to us in Christ Jesus? What better direction for life than
being a part of God’s kingdom breaking into our world through the
mission and ministry of First Presbyterian Church? Can you imagine the
impact this next generation of potential Christians could have on our
world? We have an amazing opportunity to play a role in shaping this
future. The proposed improvements to our facility are one step in
creating a culture of hospitality to welcome people into the life of
our church.
Hundreds of people have been in on the planning of
these goals and objectives since 2004, so this vision has been
carefully developed. This effort is the right thing to do. With
growth downtown opening a window of opportunity, gifts like the Blakely
gas revenues providing needed, and our congregation’s history of
improving our facility every twenty five years or so, the time is right
to do this. Finally, we’re the right people to get this done. I
believe part of my call to Dallas was to help facilitate this campaign
taking place. An amazing leadership team has stepped forward to make
it happen. We will commission them for their work this Sunday. And
over the past year and a half, I have sensed your enthusiasm to launch
the next chapter in the great history of our church. It is our
generation’s turn to make our contribution to this congregation’s
future.
It’s the right thing to do, it’s the right time, and
we’re the right people to get it done. Upon commissioning our
leadership team this Sunday, they will begin the work of putting
together the various phases of our campaign. This fall you will
experience the fruit of their labors with Bible studies and
informational gatherings culminating with our Commitment Sunday on
October 26th. It is our hope to break ground on our improvements in
January 2009, just about 100 years after the decision to build our
current sanctuary was made.
Please keep our congregation in
your prayers in the months ahead as we begin to lay the groundwork upon
which our tomorrows will be built.
In Christ, Joe