A Look to Our Future

When a church pays off its mortgage some natural questions begin to form.  What are the implications for us having paid off our mortgage? How is the church going to be investing its resources now that we’ve freed some up? 

From left to right: Les Bush (Treasurer), Former Pastor Larry Messick,
Pastor Steve Roby (Current), and former Pastor Terry Rolen

We have an overarching vision at Water’s Edge to be a church that is most passionate about what is most important. Too many people take life for granted and fail to live each day as if it matters. If we’ve learned anything in the past couple of months walking through the book of Ecclesiastes, it’s that life is very brief. We have a limited amount of time on earth. I, for one, don’t want to waste it.

 So as we  “look to our future” we want to ensure that we are communicating our vision properly, what it means to gather at the water’s edge, what it means to be most passionate about what’s most important, and how we get there by making disciples through gospel-centered teaching, fostering a sense of gospel-centered community, and engaging our people in gospel-centered service both inside and outside of our walls.

Proverbs 29:18 says “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.” A clear vision not only helps map out a preferred future by informing what we do, it also informs what we don’t do. For example, if you have a vision for a preferred future of your physical body and health, it will not only inform your diet and exercise, but it also informs what you don’t put into your body. And if that vision is strong enough, it will serve to restrain you from veering off track. But where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. Or perhaps, even when we simply lose sight of the vision, even for a time, restraint is cast off. The same is true with our personal finances. A lot of people have a preferred future of what life will be like when they retire. Or maybe you have a vision for your kids attending college without having to accumulate piles of student debt. Guess what? In order to get there, you have to fund that vision! This preferred future should restrain what you spend money on in the present. But again, where there is no vision the people cast off restraint.

It's easy to see why vision is important to how we steward our finances as a church. It informs both what we do and don’t do. We have to fund our vision. When the Free In Three (F.I.T.) campaign began 3 years ago, a “question and answer” brochure was passed out. One of the questions listed in the brochure asks, “What specifically is this campaign targeted to accomplish?” In addition to, of course, eliminating the debt, it says, “It is our hope to fund new ministry and be able to pay for maintenance or renovations as our buildings age.”

There are aspects of ministry vision that are ideological and there are aspects that are visible/tangible, like our facilities. When people walk through our doors, our facilities communicate something about who we are.

Facilities: We don’t want to just maintain what we have. We want to improve it by making some changes that help us better communicate our vision. We’ve formed a creative team at Water’s Edge that is actively working to map out a plan for our facilities. Some of that is going to begin this summer in the Oasis building, the home of our children and student ministry. This also includes the rebranding of our church with a new logo & color scheme that will be used throughout the facilities, as well as on all of our communication in print and online. This will serve to help us establish a stronger web presence through watersedgevb.com and other social media platforms. In our main building, it involves some much needed new carpet throughout, paint on the walls, some modern upgrades in lighting, as well as a desire to invoke a deeper sense of sacred space by installing some stained glass windows – (the scene of Jesus teaching at the water’s edge in Mark 4:1). It also involves the conversion of some of our space into a legitimate café that will help us promote our local and overseas mission work.

Ministry: Regarding the future of our ministry will have to exercise some restraint in our initiatives so we don’t compromise our simple model of making disciples through gospel-centered teaching, community, and service. We have some initiatives that are gearing up to launch a more robust men’s ministry in the fall, as well as an outreach and prayer ministry that we believe won’t compete with time given to our current ministry.

Funding ministry also means funding future staff members. We need more laborers who are called and given to vocational ministry.  The elders are considering a specific staff construct that could lead to the potential hire of two staff members (one part-time and one full-time).  We are excited to continue to dialogue with them as we seek the Lord’s will in building the church here in VB.

And lastly, we can’t be afraid to dream big. To be honest, the road that lies a head frightens me a bit and sometimes makes me question whether or not I can lead at the capacity the Lord is calling us to. Then I’m reminded that we have to believe we can do great and mighty things, not because we have confidence in ourselves, but because we have confidence in God and in His gospel to change lives. Can you imagine the city of Virginia Beach, every neighborhood, every street, every house, and every family affected by God’s love expressed through His people living “most passionate about what is most important”? I can.

Escape from Meaninglessness

             Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, and the most likely author for the book of Ecclesiastes, went through a whole life of trying to find meaning, and realized near the end of his time that, apart from God, all things are meaningless. I came to the very same conclusion during my high school years as the man who had everything a man could want, being a young, up-and-coming teenager in the world. I started to ask the very same questions, feeling very troubled when, time and time again, I would come up empty. 

“No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.” – Ecclesiastes 1:11

Fame is the elusive goal that everyone seeks. I wanted to grow up and become someone famous, someone who is remembered. But then, I realized probably 99% of all people who have ever existed are gone from the memory of the world. Even those who manage to leave their names for posterity eventually become either a sport statistic or a one-sentence reference in a dusty history textbook. That didn’t seem like a desired nor realistic goal to accomplish in my lifetime. I was troubled. What else could I seek?

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desire; I refused my heart no pleasure.” – Ecclesiastes 2:10

            Well then, perhaps I could strive to live for the full enjoyment of my days. Go Y.O.L.O. (“You Only Live Once”) and get the most pleasure out of life. I became sexually promiscuous, both in body and in mind. I played video games, sports, and followed the most popular mainstream music. I chased after every form of entertainment possible, common or rare, socially accepted or frowned upon, healthy or addictive. Pleasure could not fill that empty void. There came a point where I continued craving more, and could not find the satisfaction I wanted.

“For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die.” – Ecclesiastes 2:16

            Maybe perhaps I should become wise and a person who makes good decisions. But I realized I had no reason for doing it. I could choose to be good only in that it minimized pain and pleased my family, but pain is inevitable and family always demanded better of me. I didn’t have an objective, absolute reason to do the right thing no matter what. Only if it benefitted me directly would I choose to do something good. After all, if this life is all there is, we all were going to die at some point. It wouldn’t matter if I chose good or evil, because the same fate would await either path.

“What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.” – Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

Ah! What about achievement? I could get to the top; become the best! I was a high honors student in high school; there was nothing stopping me from becoming the best at what I was good at. I would work hard day after day, studying non-stop, seeking to make the highest academic echelon, and dominating with victory after victory on every academic challenge that came my way. Very soon though, I became disillusioned when I noticed that no matter how much I achieved one day, I would have to get up the next day and do it again, or prove that I deserved it. It didn’t matter whether it was a test, an award, a title. A hamster wheel, it never stopped. It never would let up, the pressure, the burden of it all, until death came to swallow me up.

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” – Ecclesiastes 5:10

            Money? I could become a rich man and have anything I could ever want! But wait, I was already rich. As an American, I was already more wealthy than 99% of the rest of the world. My parents raised me with the only financial advice they ever gave me – “Don’t worry about money, whatever you need, ask us.” In other words, I had all the money I needed. I could ask for money for almost anything I set my eyes on. My parents would not refuse me, because they wanted to make sure I lived a comfortable life, free from financial worry. But money proved to be a deceiver. Yes, I had the money I needed; I never had to work due to financial trouble. Wealth ultimately left me emptier, because money couldn’t fill that search for meaning.

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” – Ecclesiastes 7:2

            “Keith, you’re thinking too much. Just live life, stop thinking so morbidly.” Nearly every person I expressed my frustrations to could not give me a better answer than to just have fun, to be a good person, and to live life whatever way I wanted. Little did they know, I saw right through it. Everyone was living in the midst of intoxication – a sheltering illusion and distraction from the reality of life. I knew I was going to die no matter what I did, and that convinced me my deeds had no lasting value. I refused to be deluded. What others saw as a freeing manifesto for the unrestrained bucket-list life, I saw as a cop-out from any common decency or moral responsibility, a cosmic self-imposed deception.

“There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve.” – Ecclesiastes 8:14

            Then why be good? What point was there to be a good person, to be nice, to care for others? What I saw, Solomon concluded similarly. In this world, if you choose to be altruistic and morally upright, sooner or later, someone will take advantage of you and throw you under the bus. Life doesn’t reward the good person; I knew plenty of examples where the morally apathetic thrived. Life was unfair, and there was often little to no justice in society.

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them.’” – Ecclesiastes 12:1

I cried out to the universe, “What’s the point???” “Why bother living? I might as well end my life. I have nothing to live for. Everything is meaningless! Pleasure is the biggest swindler of humankind." Without something above and beyond that compelled me to live life to the fullest, my life was just a shadow, here today, gone tomorrow. I had everything – the girl, the games, the grades, the moral conscience, the sex, the money, the smarts, the health, and the reputation. Yet, I suffered immensely on the inside too; depression was my closest friend. An existential crisis rested on my shoulders.

            Then, I thought, what about God? I remembered the days of my youth when I learned about this God of the Bible, this Jesus person who died for me. If I had nowhere else to turn, then if God is out there, I must find Him.

“Now all has been heard: here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13

            After a fresh start in college, a reintroduction to the Scriptures, a passionate and purposeful community of Christians, and the philosophical sophistication of the arguments for the existence of God and the historical fact of Jesus’ death and resurrection, I found it … the reason for life. If Jesus did die for me and did rise from the dead, this life wasn’t all there was. And if God truly provides for me and insures ultimate justice at the end of all things, then becoming a good person has meaning. By surrendering to the depths of the divine, I found life. No, rather, I found Him. I found love. I found God. 

As the old hymn declares, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."