The Anchor church board meets every two months on a Monday night, and last night was one of them. We have a small board--the pastor, three elders, treasurer, several others. It's pretty much a business and policy group, as opposed to a visioning type of group. I think a lot of church boards are that way.

At the beginning of the meeting, Pastor Tim led us in a brief leadership study using some writings of Henry and Richard Blackaby. It was good stuff. We're trying to "re-engineer" Anchor into a church focused much more strongly on outreach. The last seven years, since we started, have been a flurry of activity. New programs and activities have arisen, but not usually around any central plan. But now we're standing back, taking a deep breath, and saying, "What should we do during the next seven years?"

Let me comment on some sentences from the Blackabys.

• "Because an opportunity presents itself, the leader assumes it must be God's will to move forward. But mistaking an open door for an invitation is an undiscerning approach to leadership." We've been guilty of some of this, I suppose. Doors open, and we plunge through. But there will always be doors. You have to be intentional about which ones you decide to walk through (while leaving room for God to open a door that you never in your wildest dreams imagined in your strategic plan).
• "The easiest course of action is often the one taken previously, especially if it was successful....Yesterday's successes always linger on long beyond their productive life." Our annual carnival and Halloween maze have been successful events. Does that mean we must continue doing them every year? No. But once something becomes "institutionalized," it's real hard saying no to it.
• "Churches are remiss to assume that because God once worked mightily in a particular way, he will contiue to work in exactly that way." We recently discontinued our separately-incorporated youth ministry. There were financial reasons, but also practical ones. We'll still do youth ministry, obviously. We just won't do it like we did in the past, despite its successes. I'm glad we were able to make that decision, painful though it was (especially since it goes against the "original vision," which can get unduly idolized).