I’ve said often that one of my least favorite necessary tasks is review and assessment. When I worked as an administrative assistant for a seminary, I was generally annoyed by the academic review processes required by academic institutions. I think my distaste may be because I generally want to look forward, not backward. Whatever the reason, I also recognize review and assessment can bring great opportunity to help chart a path forward as we evaluate strengths and weaknesses, wins and misses. All that to say, in the coming months I want to make sure you know that you will be invited into the process of both review and assessment, and also planning and dreaming for the future. This will happen in various ways. This summer, we will conduct our church review, which is conducted every three years. Your honest, prayerful, Spirit-led feedback, thoughts, encouragements, and critiques will be greatly desired. On top of that, we will also be updating our constitution and bylaws, and will need a small team of people to work on that important task, which provides a foundation of the church. Also, we are currently engaged in church plant strategy meetings, wherein we are critically thinking about how we can grow into a church-planting church. On a smaller scale, I know there have also been conversations about a men’s retreat. I’d like to soon host a forum where some of us can get together and workshop how we can make that happen. We also need to form a team to plan our next summer shindig! Other forums for discussion and planning will inevitably arise as well. And this is my point in all of this – there will be (and now are) a number of opportunities to influence what we do in the coming months and years as a church! So I invite you to keep your ears open and listen for ways that God might be calling you to lend a hand, serve, and lead.