Weekly Update from the Senior Pastor
January 4, 2006 
Dear Family and Friends,
This Christmas season we thanked God we do not live in a world where it is always winter but never Christmas; and pondered all the ways Jesus transformed human history by His coming. We told the Bethlehem story on Christmas Eve and Day—a story that never gets old. Then we ushered in the New Year through Holy Rain and the life perspective of Psalm 23. If you missed the Psalm 23 message—get it! If you heard it, review it and live by it in 2006. There is so much to build a healthy life on in those six verses. And remember the truth behind Holy Rain: the risen Lord Jesus pours His mighty Spirit into all hearts hungry to be used for His glory. Ask—and you shall receive.
Let me talk about:
- Gratitude
- Goals
Gratitude: Mine—for you as I tell you the end of the December giving story. Last Thursday, I wrote thanking you for a great year, stating “our giving back to God financially was higher than ever before, with approximately $1.375 million in total giving; including over $250,000 in December alone. Those figures were based on the assumption that historically in the last 48 hours of the year our congregation gives around $15,000 of final gifts to God. When I came in today Debbie handed me the final tally for December and all of 2005, including those last 48 hours. Here it is:
Total 2005 giving: $1,466,860
Total December giving: $335,630
Literally in the final two days of the year another $95,000 came in. Of the $335,000 total, 27% or $89,000 was for missions, and one large gift of $50,000 (15% of total) was for our land development. The remaining $196,000 was for our local ministry needs. This was our largest December by about $60,000 and our largest annual giving by about $75,000. Again, two specific thanks are due: first, thanks to all of you who chose to be faithful partners with God; and second, thanks for using that partnership of faithfulness to fuel the ministries of Damascus Road. Now may God bless your giving to fuel ministry that bears eternal fruit.
Goals: I’ll share more specifically about this next week, after I have shared a New Year Vision message this weekend. But let me follow up on last week’s message with a gentle prod: take time to think through who you want to be—and what you want to achieve in 2006. Don’t drift into this gift of a new year—direct it under God’s guidance. If you don’t know where you want to go, there is a pretty good chance you won’t get there.
No one can go back in life and make a new start—but we can all begin right now and make a new ending!
One of my favorite quotes of 2005 was from retired Senator and ex-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who said;
"You will not find your happiness in:
- Affluence
- Leisure
- Self-indulgence of any kind
You will find your happiness in a life committed to a cause greater than yourself."
Sometimes the church, in its warnings against living life for things, can give the idea that it is spiritually wrong to be highly successful! Wrestling with our level of success is not the right question—for human achievement can either glorify or defy God. The right question is not with how successful are we—it is why are we doing what we are doing, and what will we do with whatever success God allows us. Thank God for successful people who remain faithful, generous and courageous in following God’s will. May your tribe increase a thousand-fold. In the end, success is being everything and nothing less than Jesus created and saved you to be. Acts 1:8 calls us to be Jesus’ witnesses in the power of His Spirit, first in our personal sphere of influence, then in our region; and finally to the ends of the earth. Let’s each accept that challenge in a very personal way in 2006. It will insure that the best is yet to come!
Love ya,
Richard
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