The Reverend Dr. Bryan Fink moved from the Asbury United Methodist Church in Little Rock to our church on June 26, 2012.
Dr. Fink has been a minister for almost 24 years.
From the Heart of the Pastor
"Whither am I going? To the New World. What to
do? To gain honor? No, if I know my own heart. To get
money? No: I am going to live to God, and to bring others
so to do." (America's Bishop: The Life of Francis Asbury,
Darius Salter, pg. 36, 2003.) Francis Asbury wrote
this in his journal as he departed from England for the
American Colonies in the late 1700’s as a young man. I
guess you could call it his personal mission statement.
Our mission is the same. Our mission is to make disciples
of Jesus Christ by building the body and reaching
the world with Christ. Sometimes churches participate in
a comprehensive review as a tool to help them be more
effective at keeping the main thing the main thing. And
that’s no different for us.
The Jeremiah 29.11 Project is a
process that involves several key components. First, it
will help us to reflect on who we are as a church. Are we
the same church we were 25 years ago, 15 years ago or
even 5 years ago? And what are the implications of that
for us and the mission field? Secondly, the Jeremiah
29.11 Project will guide us into taking a fresh look into
the mission field to see how it has changed over the last
five years and what the implications of that is for how
we “do” ministry and communicate the good news of
Jesus to them. And the third component is to determine
in light of the first two, what the best strategies for connecting
everyone in our mission field with Christ Jesus
are. We will do this work for our future while carrying
out the goals and executing the plans that previous teams
invested in. We want to build on the church’s past and
current success in order to reach even more people in our
mission field with Jesus Christ.
Asbury, who was sick at the time and seventy years
old, mounted his horse against the wishes of his friends
and said, “Live or die. I must ride!” (Salter, pg. 115). I
ask you to join me in praying that our church would capture
the passion and vision of the 70 year old Asbury
when it comes to connecting those in our mission field
with Christ Jesus.
