I am not sure we are going to officially call the season ahead of us as a church a Re-Vision campaign. One, that word can be confusing and ‘they’ say a brand should not need much explaining. But, for the sake of this blog I thought it would be quaint to call our upcoming campaign a Re-Vision campaign as a combination of the two words Revival and Vision. Those two words are what I am asking God for as we proceed to follow him into a season of increased ministry impact. This impact, we believe, will involve us addressing additional space needs for our church. But, the point of even addressing those needs is the greater purpose of becoming a church more equipped, more passionate about, more committed to, more anchored in, more depended upon the Holy Spirit, in order to be used of God in greater ways here in the Triangle and even in the world. I hope to begin a series of blogs as we approach this re-vision campaign. So, I certainly don’t mean revision in terms of changing our theology or our mission, or that things are broken and need to be fixed. What I mean is that God likes to send fresh vision to his people in order to lead them into deeper relationship with Him. We believe he is doing that for us now.
I want to begin by simply putting before you a list of prayer requests for this campaign. In these requests, I hope you see your pastor’s heart, I desire for you to see your leaders’ hearts, I want you to see the realities behind a potential brick and mortar project, and I long that we all hunger for revival in deeper ways. Here you go:
Please pray that…
We seek God’s face together
Our desire to invest in our church would be driven by kingdom vision
Our leadership will lead with utmost integrity, earnestness, transparency, and wisdom
We all grow not just in a willingness to give generously to this campaign but that we become more generous in general
Principled givers would become influencers in other people’s lives out of their experience of joyful giving
Irregular givers become regular
Non-givers become so taken by the Gospel that the idea of giving away lots of money as a lifestyle would be seen as a joy producing and grace bestowing life
People would receive Christ during our campaign
Those who feel distant and indifferent about our church would become connected and inspired
Money would not be the only gift we give, but many would become generous with time and talent, too
Some who will not or cannot be inspired by our church would make the hard but wise decision to consider what kind of church would inspire them to taste and see the goodness of God, if not this one
God would lead all of us in a unified sense of his will concerning a building and increased ministry impact and that we would believe he will provide
We ask boldly of God, trusting he can absolutely astonish us at how he will provide
We would all grow in sanctification in general during this campaign
If we end up with a beautiful building addition and other resources for ministry, we will be good stewards of such things
Most of all, God would receive great glory!!!!
Gospel Obsessed 
You have my prayers, but I wonder about a few things–
should the #1 vision you gave us last year PLANTING CHURCHES not come before we build more–if we planted more evangelical churches in the Triangle area, ie Hillsboro, would not that reduce the need for added space?? you need to address this at a congregational meeting where we OK going forward with more building-or has that already been agreed(voted on) upon?? don’t recall that it has
also I think we need to pay as we go if possible, and I think redoing the foyer and gutting the offices for two larger meeting rooms should be the FIRST revision of our structure with offices moved to a nearby office building or temporary modules behind the building–also 3 services might be able to reduce SS crowding, with one service a video of sermon for the day…
just some thoughts to ponder and respond to…thanks, Hank
Hi Hank,
Good questions.
Let me begin by addressing what requires a membership vote: 1) calling a member of the pastoral staff, 2) electing members of the Board of Elders, 3) electing members of the Board of Deacons, 4) calling ministers (except as may otherwise be provided by these Bylaws), 5) modifying or terminating the support of Long-Term Missionaries, 6) adopting a budget, 7) buying or selling property, 8) borrowing money in excess of 3% of the annual budget, 9) amending the Constitution, and 10) amending these Bylaws.
The elders believe God is calling us to fuel our vision and ministry with a building that can open doors for these two things. Votes tend to provide feedback, input, wisdom, and buy-in in small churches. As churches grow, we believe the better approach is to have open meetings, where anyone is invited, to hear the feedback, input, wisdom, and concerns of an elder vision or decision. We have provided several meetings, including the Annual Meeting to have these discussions. All were fruitful. Most were attended minimally, and by those who value these opportunities for congregational dialogue. We find these venues actually work better at congregational input than a vote. So, we chose not to vote in order to move toward a ministry minded building project, which is within the bylaws letter and spirit.
In terms of planting, we are very committed to planting churches. But, every study has shown that planting churches does not relieve growth pains, and in fact creates more growth. So, we will plant churches out of our desire to reach the world with Christ, but it will not help our space needs.
Finally, we will probably need to add more services at some point, but right now all that would do is help with children. Youth and college would still be impacted, as they only run one class on Sundays and we are not aware of multiple class youth ministries. Also, youth and college need sizable weekday spaces. To build in order to accommodate what God is doing in those ministries is quite important, we believe. We actually think that an all at once build will be cheaper and less stressful overall.
We are quite excited about what God has in store. Thank you for your prayers! These elders that are leading this are godly men and I am so privileged to be leading with them.
Thanks for this quick reply–you do read comments on your blog
I hear what you are saying, but somehow you need to get the congregation on board with you in all of this…ultimately, you will have to have our vote to borrow $___________ needed and I guess at that meeting we will be able to really hear you and elders (deacons) out on how we move forward, and hopefully you will have listening ears for our thoughts and opinions..The article you sent by Keller will be read again, as I think we have had it presented to us before, or else I read it in the Gospel Coalition//// It is amazing how much influence he has on you all–he is almost our “bishop”…not a bad thing, but no one has had such an influence over the CHBC through the years.
We will continue to look for wisdom on how to help you all go forth with this RE-VISIon item and pray earnestly for our fellowship and its leaders.l
What do you see in the future of how to keep us up on just what will be happening with the new bldg.??
Wonderful! Keller is probably not our Bishop 😉 but he is a giant that has gone before us, perhaps. We appreciate how he his able to be both very principled in his theology, committed in mission to make Christ known, and practical in his organizational sensibilities. He is a good voice for us to make hard decisions to do what is best for our ministries, rather than what feels normal or what was done in the past. But, I know there are many voices who bring great wisdom to bear, too. We really appreciate how we keeps the value for community while also recognizing what keeps a church moving on mission, so community is leveraged for mission.
The best way to keep posted on the building process is the blog on our website, and we will be more and more clear in our service announcements as we approach a church wide emphasis in early next year. Once we go church wide, we will have a plethora of events for people to catch the vision and invest in it. You can always talk to any leader with questions, as well. Thank you for your prayers, brother, and your ongoing support.