At the beginning of the year when we first sat down to write this year’s vision, I wondered what God had in store for our new leadership, and how much they would actually commit to this whole “fixing up the inside” thing. Spiritually speaking, I’m not entirely sure where we all are. But I have spent enough time with each of the 6 individuals, that I don’t need to worry about knowing where they are. I’ve mentioned this several times, but one of the biggest advantage that we have this year is that each of us have at least one class with another person in the leadership, aside from our junior. Pastor Alan talked about living life together, and I think we can check that off our to-do list. We study together, we eat together, we cook together, we paint nails together, we shop together, we make pacts together. I have had at least one meaningful conversation with each of the six leaders, and they with each other. Although sometimes we may be missing a lot of leaders, we somehow always manage to stay together throughout. And despite the fact that we pay so little attention to our club, one of the biggest blessing God has given us this year is a bunch of fresh Seekers who have consistently attended for so long.

About a month ago, David Maengo’s status informed us that he was headed to the ER. We did what any concerned friend would’ve done. We called him and texted him and bugged him to no end, trying to find out what happened. But like the guy he always is, he reassures us that things will be ok, and directed us toward optimism even when we feared the worst. Weeks later, we still didn’t hear from him, and some of us started to grow a little frustrated at his constant absence and lack of communication. All we could do was pray that whatever it was that had happened, will not affect the future tremendously. Without going into full details, we learned a week ago that we could’ve very well lost him. That’s the kind of person David is, always looking at the glass half full, and it really encourages us not to not dwell on the misfortunes but live with hope in our faith. Most importantly, his revelation later encouraged us to seize every moment to live for God. Sometimes I may feel like he is never there, but he makes the most out of the times that he is there, and his heart and willingness to delay his practices just to be with us really touches me.

Long story short, as we continue t0 grow together in our relationships with each other, the biggest challenge is yet to come. The new year is where we take everything that is currently there on the inside, and we bring that OUT, and to the rest of the club. Two Sundays ago, Pastor Kevin Young said “a relay team is only as well as how you pass the baton”. What happens in the next few months is extremely crucial to the future of this ministry. We can come up with a hundred systems to run this thing (along with the 10 that we have already instated), but if we miss the point, then everything we’ve worked for this year would seem like wasted effort. I have full confidence, however, in what the next few months will bring us. We need to pray more, we always do. But now instead of praying for each of the individual needs in our lives, we step out and pray for the members of our Seekers, and then for the lost in our school. This entire thing is set up like building blocks in my head. I feel like each year we should only be responsible for one or two. This is also where we turn the notch up and change gears. I had said before that I didn’t want to do the outreach things until our leadership was COMPLETELY ready and built. Although it’s not as strong as I had pictured it in my mind, I will risk jumping the gun because through the times spent with all my leaders, I have faith in them and what they can do.

So, to all the lukewarm Christians out there, we are coming for you. Not in a threatening way, but in an assertive manner where you can understand WHY you actually call (or don’t call) yourselves Christians.

This Christmas season, all I can thank God for is the unexpected way He has brought us together. I didn’t think it was possible. Oh how wrong was I.