Kickball w/Kent

Advancing the Kingdom by Living for God and Loving People

by Kent Wagner
Lead Pastor

A few months back I was working on planting some new grass in our yard.  My kids came and asked me if they could play kickball back there.  My response was, “Not on your life jack!”  :).  Actually, I explained to them how the new grass was germinating and was fragile and if they went running all over it the traction could be detrimental to all the work we’ve been doing.

I sat on the porch later that day and thought how much like Harmony my grass was.

If you are newer to Harmony you might not realize just how difficult the past few years have been on the church.  Before even my time there were significant financial struggles, painful losses in leadership and friendships, baptistries that overflowed, pandemics that hit…  Well, you get the picture.

What I thought about that day is how much, as a church, we have some big dreams for Advancing God’s Kingdom.  We have a vision to plant churches that plant churches, to develop a sports ministry that reaches young men and their families, and to empower stories of impact in our church.  What hit me that day is how all of those things are “playing kickball” and how as much as I want to get out on the “field” and make them happen, the reality is, we are in a growing season – rebuilding the turf if you will.  If we push too hard into those big picture items right now, there’s a strong possibility that we end up killing off the growth we could be experiencing that would set us up for long-term success.

I shared this with our elders and shared with them that there are several areas in our church that I believe we need to continue to grow and rebuild in:

Developing a culture of generosity:

In the past year since I’ve come to Harmony we have seen some real growth in this area.  We have gone from having completely cut off missionaries from support because of our financial difficulties to giving 10% of what comes in through tithes and offerings to support both local and foreign missions.  We have seen God bless us in tremendous ways and have never lacked to do ministry (partially because we have such fantastic people on staff who know how to stretch a dollar).  But I believe God has bigger things in store for Harmony.  I beleive He wants to see us not just blessing one neighborhood, but neighborhoods all over our county.  I beleive He wants to use us to start new churches and be a part of Advancing His Kingdom into places where darkness has reigned.  But we don’t start there.  We start with each of our own hards developing a culture of generosity.  This is the fertile landscape that I beleive God wants to nurture in us.  

For my wife and I, this has been considering our commitment to the Kingdom, not just at harmony, but in our day to day life.  We have made decisions to give even when it hurts – and sometimes it hurts bad :).  But the reality is, if we don’t make the decision to be ALL In on the frong of generosity, we can talk all we want about making a difference but will be unable to fund it when God presents the opportunity.  

This is one of the reasons you will see one of our opperating values for our leadership is that we are shockingly generous (see all our values here).  We believe if we don’t lead in generosity, how can we expect anyone else to follow?

 

Developing a culture of community:

Harmony has some of the most fun loving, kind, generous churches I have ever had the pleasure of being apart of.  What breaks my heart is that there are newer people who have joined our ranks who have never experienced a conversation with Sheila Owens or had the chance to have a Rick Wilson pray over them.  For them, Harmony feels a little like going through a mirrored maze.  They don’t know how things work, where things are, or who to talk to or how to get involved.  Some of you know exactly how this feels.  You enjoy coming to Harmony, and love what seems to be there, but aren’t sure how to get involved or what to do next.

That’s part of the reason we are working so hard to develop Connection Groups.  As I look at our church from a 50,000 foot view, I see just how very connected some are and how disconnected others are.  This isn’t unique to Harmony, every church struggles with this.  But it’s why we need to begin to work double time to develop a culture of community.  To bring people in.  When we stand in a circle talking – to intentionally leave a gap for someone else to join the circle.  This is why it’s SO important to join a Connection Group and encourage others to do so.  This is why some of you need to consider leading a Connection Group – because it’s time to step up and help the next generation get connected like you are.

Harmony is amazing and my dream is that someday, everyone who attends will get to experience what I have experienced in you all!

 

Developing a leadership pipeline:

When I planted our church years ago we had to develop an eldership from scratch.  We had intentionally gone after the unchurched.  I kept waiting for people to just get “spiritual” in order for us to develop our eldership.  But that day never came.  I finally asked a question that I wished I had asked earlier in my leadership journey.  The question was, “why am I waiting instead of leading?”  I decided it was time to start leading the way.  So, I pioneered a Leadership Intensive called, LEAD.  LEAD was a high commitment leadership class that was based completely on servant leadership and what that meant for your family, the church, and your place of employment.  I started pouring into men and raising up leaders to become elders. 

I still believe churches can’t afford to wait for leaders to just emerge – the mission is too critical.  That’s why our eldership and I have worked on adapting LEAD to Harmony.  I took all our staff and elders through the course and now Matt McKenzie is working on developing it into a pipeline that future leaders can jump into now and get the biblical foundation of servant leadership set in their own lives.  Not only that, but we are working on a version of it for women as well that I’m really excited about.  

Imagine our church with a whole host of men and women who have the heart of Jesus and has embraced His servant leadership example (laying down their egos to exalt God only).  

This is the stuff that gets me excited!

None of this stuff is the exciting, “write home to tell grandma what’s going on” kind of stuff.  It’s all planting and fertilizing.  It’s all providing time and growth for our church to get the foundation that will set us up for an exciting future.  It’s you and I looking at those three areas and saying, “where can I start to make a difference?”

What about you?  Here are some Takeaway Questions:

• Have you prayerfully considered your level of generosity towards helping us make a Kingdom impact?  What’s holding you back?  How could we help you?
• What could you do to help incubate a culture of community?  Could you open your home to host a Connection Group?  What about leading a group?  At the very least, could you join a Connection Group and develop some friendships with people who maybe have felt on the outside?
• When you hear leadership opportunity, does that get your ears to stand up?  We are looking for men and women who want to grow in their leadership and help our church go to the next level in Advancing the Kingdom by Living for God and Loving People.  Could that be you?  Why not get in touch with us and start the conversation?  When you truly learn what servant leadership is, and how different it is from the models of the world – it will change everything!

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. ¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”