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.