Most of the information on this page has been extracted from a sermon given by our Pastor, Dr. David Artman, on Sunday, November 2, 2008. This was an historic day when our Church came together, in a Combined Worship Service, to celebrate and dedicate our newly re-modeled Contemporary Worship Area. The purpose of the sermon was to recognize and thank God for the progress our Church has realized in the past two years, and to look to the future.
"It is no accident that everything has come together so quickly. There is no way any one person could have orchestrated the events and successes of these past two years. My conclusion is that God has been at work in our lives...answering prayers, bring us together, blessing us so that we can bless others.
As a result, we gather here today, ready for a new era of ministry. We are poised to cross over our own Jordan river into a promised land of new effectiveness in ministry.
We are focused on Spiritual Growth. Our focus on Spiritual Growth unites our Congregation. Whether we are young, old, liberal, moderate, or conservative, Republican, or Democrat, what unites us is our common confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God, plus our commitment to growing spiritually to our fullest stature within Him.
But, it is far more than a common focus on Spiritual Growth. We also have a workable plan by which we may together grow in our faith, through Prayer, Study, Worship, Fellowship, Service, Giving, Sharing Our Faith, Showing Compassion, and Spiritual Honesty. We call this program "the9ways".
The9ways gives our Congregation a common, balanced game plan by which we may make steady, reliable progress in our spiritual life as individuals and as a Congregation.
Not only have we united around spiritual growth and the9ways, but we have also accomplished crucial renovations of our facility. Beginning with our Children's Area, we now have an outstanding setting in which, during Sunday School, our children move through exciting, interactive stations - for them it is sort of like having Vacation Bible School every Sunday.
And then there is "The Crossing". What a fantastic space for youth ministry. It's cool. It's versatile. It's comfortable. It's functional, and it serves as an outreach ministry in the form of a gathering place for community youth after athletic events or as an extension of a K-Life activity.
Most recently this Contemporary Worship Area has undergone extensive remodeling - primarily by members of our own Congregation. Thus we now also have an awesome setting for Contemporary Worship. It joins our beautiful Sanctuary which is used for Traditional and Fellowship Worship services. And we are beginning to move into an era of live music, here in our Contemporary Area, with our new Praise Band.
We have also closed a gap in our Sunday School offerings. Two years ago there wasn't any class for Young Adults. Nor was there a class for young marrieds and others of that general age group. Today we have The Journey, a thriving College and Career class, plus a great group of mid-age adults who call themselves "The Mustard Seed" class.
We also now have a TLC Ministry to help mobilize as many visits and contacts as possible with those who need some Tender Loving Care.
There is also our new Permanent Endowment Fund which provides a structured way for Church members or any organization to leave a lasting legacy to our Church.
Our senior members have also come together in a vibrant new social group called The Lunch Bunch, Etc.
And, on top of all of that, we have Bluegrass Gospel Night on the first Tuesday of every month, giving us what can only be described as the leading bluegrass gospel ministry in this community!
Today, our Church stands poised on the brink of a new period of growth and effectiveness in ministry. Since so much has come together in these last two years, we are now ready to move on to accomplishing even more of God's work.
But, what should be the next step for this Congregation?
God, and tons of God's work - by a number of dedicated people - has brought our Church to this place and time. What should be our next step?
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I have been working with other Church leaders on this very question, and we have come to a consensus about what our next step needs to be.
Simply put, our next step is to communicate.
People in our community can't respond to what's here for them unless they know about it.
Therefore, our Church Board has established a Communications Team that is already hard at work on a holistic approach to communication so that we can most effectively take our message to our community.
We wanted to begin by taking advantage of new technology that's available for use in building a dynamic Web Site. That has been accomplished and our Church's new Web Site (fccharrison.com) is up and running on the Internet. Now our new Communication Team is looking into other ways that we can tell people about all the great things happening at First Christian Church.
So, the next big step we will be taking as a Congregation is communication...because people cannot respond to something they don't know about. But, none of us have to wait until our Communication Team proposes our next steps. WE can begin right now. YOU can begin right now. Begin telling people about how dynamic FCC has become and refer them to our new Web Site so they can see, read and learn about us on their own.
Our Church needs your help in getting our message out to our community. We are prepared to cross our Jordan river into a promised land of new effectiveness in ministry. We simply need to be strong and courageous, remembering that God is with us, not being terrified or afraid, studying and obeying God's word. We need to step out in faith. If we will do this, we will be successful, since we will not be doing this by ourselves. We will be doing it with God's help."