Together…Rising to the Challenge.  More than a theme, this is our mandate.  Our past accomplishments are gratifying, but the challenges of the future demand our focus, energy and faith.

Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Paul Cunningham, Dr. William Greathouse, Dr. Millard Reed, Dr. Marty Butler, Rev. Don Gadbow and Mayor Easterling, members and friends of this momentous gathering for joining us for our 30th annual Assembly of the Central Florida District.

The District exists for two primary purposes…to strengthen local churches and help plant new ones.  I thank God for a dedicated team that is working together to reach these goals.  We are blessed with an incredible office staff:  Mary Egidio, Cheryl Spooner, Rev. José Cardona and Rev. Vernon Corzine.  The District Advisory Board is invaluable to the District family and me personally, in their role of strengthening and starting churches.

It is impossible to innumerate the scores of people who give sacrificially of time, talents and resources.  I thank and deeply appreciate all of our Team Central servants.

This is a wonderful day to be a child of God.  Our Father’s love and presence surround us.  He trusts us enough to place challenges before us.  And we trust Him sufficiently to say, yes…yes, Lord.  With Your help we will rise to the challenge.

In I Samuel, an inconceivable, some would say impossible, challenge faced King Saul and his army.  His son, Jonathan, faced the insurmountable circumstances and led what appeared to be a doomed army to an amazing victory.

Facing the greatest challenge of his young life, Jonathan said, “Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.” Many of our Team Central congregations have proven in recent months that ‘…with God, all things are possible’.  Matthew 19:26

What a difference a year makes!  A year of challenges, opportunities and victories.  Many of our churches have experienced the unmistakable power of God.

Winter Haven First Church:  Strong, healthy, mature was rocked last year by what some considered devastating circumstances.  But, working together has risen to the challenge and is stronger today than ever.

Sebastian:  As a result of a leadership crisis, 150 people were lost in one week.  An anointed young leader, twenty faithful laymen and three neighboring Nazarene churches pulling together, and by God’s grace, have risen to the massive challenge.

Kissimmee First:  When a trusted staff member chose to start an independent church with over 100 members, the challenge seemed insurmountable.  A Spirit-filled pastor and a supportive board and congregation stood firm in the midst of the storm.  Today the church is strong, vigorous, and making a healthy recovery.

Tampa First Church:  A grand old lady birthed in 1926 has been a bastion of strength and a Holiness influence for over 77 years.  In a selfless act she sent out over 150 people to birth a new church.  While in the midst of rebuilding, First Church contributed a $1,000,000 piece of property to the new congregation.  They are continuing to climb.  Within the past month, the pastor has led the church to pursue the planting of another brand new church.

Talk about together rising to the challenge!  And these are only four of many victory reports.  It’s a bit difficult to acknowledge in the strain of the climb, but challenges do make us stronger.  Muscles are only built through heavy lifting.  Rubber bands are of no use until stretched. 

“Together…Rising to the Challenge”, speaks of teamwork, upward movement and victory. As a team of dedicated congregations, what are the major challenges facing us?  What stands in our way, deterring us from accomplishing the task God has laid before us?

In climbing terminology, this is often best accomplished at base camp.  Base camp is not located at the bottom of the mountain.  Rather, camp is set up at the point where the final summit begins.  It is a place for training, acclimatizing and becoming familiar with challenges ahead.  It is an opportunity to discover who we really are and come face to face with the challenges are before us.

As Nazarenes, we embrace the privilege of celebrating who we are in Christ.

A. We are a Christian people.

• We join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Christ.
• We worship the Son of God. 
• We believe there is no other way to heaven except through Him. 
• We join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

B. We are a holiness people.

• We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a sanctifying work, cleansing us from all sin; renewing us in the image of God and empowering us with love.
• We embrace the most wonderful doctrine
• We celebrate the most joyous experience
• We experience unlimited power for service

C. We are a Missional people.

• We are a ‘sent people’, responding to the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of Christ and participating with God in the building of His Kingdom. We must celebrate this more and more!
• Missional thinkers are some of the most blessed people in the world.
• Missional believers are outwardly focused

We thank God for this priceless …astonishing…driving . . . motivating . . . energizing hunger to reach the lost.
Missional believers are ‘broken’, possessing a tender sensitivity, a welcomed pain in our hearts for those who do not know Jesus that we are unwilling to suppress.  They are stirred and challenged by reports of large groups of unchurched people.

Jonathan had a plan, worked his plan and God’s reward was sweet.  “Jonathan said, ‘Climb up after me.  The Lord has given them into our hand.”  v. 12

It would be much easier to stay at camp, enjoying the fire, good friends and stirring discussions of future mountains to be climbed.  Sad to say, some people never venture beyond base camp.

In February 2003, at the General Church of the Nazarene M3 Conference, Leonard Sweet offered a ‘double take’ statistic.  A must know, need to know fact, but very hard to accept.  Seventy-five percent of churches are not growing.  Twenty-four percent are growing from transfer growth.  One percent of churches are reaching unchurched, lost people.  Most churches want to grow.  But how?  How does it happen?

The most successful people in life are dreamers. 

Ordinary people not afraid to think big.

Mountain climbers are dreamers.

Jonathan was a dreamer………

But without goals, dreams are little more than a weak wish…unachieved, unattainable.  Dreams are where we want to end up.  Goals are how we get there.

As a district team, we have embarked on a new climb together, a new journey, and a renewed determination to ‘Rise to the Challenge.’  Team Central pastors from the four corners of the District has been discovering the power of goal setting.

Goal Power

1. Goals draw us in their direction
2. Goals create real energy…power release
3. Goals intensify the gap of discontent

What are your goals for your local church?  In your program this evening, I have presented a chart that shows the areas where your local church should be setting goals.  These areas are Prayer Ministry, Sunday School, Worship, New Nazarenes, Finances and New Starts. 

On our district this past year we had 15,089 people enrolled in Sunday school and 7.408 people attending Sunday school.  Our churches opened their doors to 11,141 people this year for morning worship services.  Nine hundred and three new Nazarenes joined with our local churches.  We raised $14,432,065.  From that amount, $307,990.84 went to Trevecca Nazarene University; $172112.53 went to Pensions and Benefits; and $690,020 went to the World Evangelism Fund. 

Rick Pitino has said,  “Dreams are where we want to end up.  Goals are how we get there.”  Goal Setting is all about teamwork. It’s not a lonely pastor sitting in a dimly lit room scratching out a few hopeful ‘guess-timates’.  Teams of excited and visionary believers working together for the common good of God’s Kingdom establish meaningful goals. Goals are critical, too. 

• First we experience the pain and strain of birthing meaningful goals,
• Next the real work begins as we labor together in achieving them
• Followed by the celebration of joy derived from goals being accomplished.

Planting new churches is one of the greatest challenges we are facing this decade. If Christ’s church is to move forward this must be done. And praise God we are raising to the challenge. Not in my lifetime have I witnessed such a passion for church planting among pastors and congregations. Churches are truly thinking missionally. They are targeting areas in need of a Church of the Nazarene, praying fervently for God’s intervention and leadership, and then moving at any cost to be radically obedient to God’s call. New churches are being birthed all across our district and more good news; this is being repeated all across North America and around the world.

Together we celebrate with seven New Start congregations, their pastors and sponsoring churches tonight. Much has been accomplished but we have only begun. There is much yet to be done in reaching lost people through the planting of new churches.

Our theme for this great assembly is ‘Together . . . rising to the challenge.’ Teamwork is an often-used word in Central Florida. In addition we also commonly use terms like connecting, together, and mutually. We are blessed with a gifted team of pastors.

You were given a carabiner hook as you entered the sanctuary tonight. As most of you know this is a vital life link for mountain climbers. They cannot successfully climb without them. Attaching of lifelines to climbing companions is one of the most important uses of this little device.

Climbers seldom attempt a major climb solo. It takes a team to successfully climb a mountain. And so, with the challenge before them, dedicated teams of climbers risk their lives to conquer the challenge of a Mt. McKinley or Everest.

Our challenges are before us -- major opportunities that cannot be accomplished individually. But together we can rise to the challenge.

• No single church can operate a world missions ministry, but together we can.
• No single church can plant new churches all across Central Florida, but together we can.
• No single church can conduct summer camps for 800 young people.
• Single handedly operate a Christian University.
• Fund a pensions program for 1000’s of pastors and missionaries.
• Fund and direct the largest holiness publishing house in the world.

But together we can!

So please, as a symbol of your dedication and commitment to facing these important challenges together, pick up the rope lying on the floor at your feet. You are holding in your hand a 4,000 foot-long lifeline. If we are going to make an eternal difference in the lost humanity of Central Florida we must do it together. Now, as we click on to the line with our own carabiner hook, we are making a statement that we cannot reach our goals individually, but together . . .Together we will rise to the challenge. While we remain connected to the rope let’s join our voices together in singing: