We’re in the middle of a St. Croix Vineyard leadership retreat, reviewing the past, present and future, and last night it seemed that God came near to us in a unique and beautiful way.
Passion for our community, a sense of our desparate need for God to be near, and our need to personally place Him above all else, gave our prayers, songs and discussion a sweet fragrance.
As well, we spent our first night talking about what we have loved, happening in our community and in people, over the past year. After that, we addressed our weaknesses as a community, but with a driving question:
“What would you like to be able to say about our church one year from now?”
What a beautiful way to address our weaknesses. The question moved us away from whining and forward to vision – an infinitely more productive mode of progress for any community.