As a pastor and leader, one of the most difficult things to do is to create and sustain momentum. As many leaders and scientists have realized before, things at rest tend to stay at rest and things in motion tend to stay in motion. One of my daughters proves that over and over again. She is in constant motion! The resulting momentum tends to leave a path of influence (or destruction) wherever she goes. She has proven to me the law and principle of momentum.

So what is momentum? Webster’s dictionary defines it as the strength or force that something has when it’s moving. In scientific terms, momentum is mass times velocity. In other words, if you want to maximize your momentum, you have to get as many people on board a vision (mass) and continuously move forward towards it (velocity). But here is the key. You need both! If you lose either of these two components, you lose momentum. In the context of the local church, if a church is to move forward, a force must be applied that is greater than the resistance keeping it at a stand-still. The greatest risk is to do nothing!

As a leader and pastor I am constantly aware of the need to sustain momentum and to see a force applied that is consistently greater than the force resisting it. So what do we have to do to keep momentum? First of all, recognize the times and seasons from God’s perspective. Is this God’s divine moment of momentum for your life and for your church? Secondly, on a practical level, confront the brutal facts of your current situation. Once you do that, you need the courage to stop something, fix something or start something new. A great way to know that is to know what you are good at as a church. Where is there a tangible sense of God’s grace? Where do you see a consistent pattern of success? If you would ask someone who has been to your church to describe your church in a couple of words, what would they say? Once you have done all of that then you are ready to seize your moment of momentum!

What does God want you to change in your life? Where does God want to increase forward motion in your life? What steps are you willing to trust Him with? As a church, we have been feeling for some time that the risk we need to take is in leaving the only home we have ever known: the Cineplex. The nation of Israel went through a similar situation in the Book of Exodus. They left Egypt with the promise of a better land and a better place but when they got to the Red Sea they were confronted with the reality of a barrier in front of them and the enemy behind them. What did they do? Well they did what most of us would do. They complained. They complained to Moses and they complained to God. As a leader, I wonder what Moses was thinking in that moment. I wonder if he had this great marketing strategy all planned out and a great sermon series and then before he could get to it, that vision was beginning to crumble before his very eyes. So what did he do? He did the only thing he could do. He went to God! And what was God’s response? God’s response was simple and to the point. In Exodus 14:15 he told the nation of Israel to “go forward”! Why because the risk of going back or staying would negate the law of momentum and create a vortex of issues that God never wanted them to do deal with. Go forward to where? He simply said go forward. What is interesting is that as soon as Moses walked into the Red Sea and put his staff in the water God performed the miracle and made a way where there was no other way. What is God saying to us as a church? Go forward!

For us it is time to hit the “refresh” button! It is time for us to create “momentum”! It is time to for a “new season”! We are excited as a church, to move forward in our journey to the plans and purposes of God for our church! And step two for us is Kingston Christian School! I can’t wait to see what God has in store!

#refresh = #momentum = #new season