2009 will soon be history (as if anyone doesn’t already know that) and 2010 will bring a full year (we hope) of challenges.  I don’t make resolutions but I do try to set a goal or two that I would like to reach on a personal level.  I used to try to set a whole bunch of goals for the church as well but realized that although it is nice to have goals they can also hamstring a church.  Throughout the month of December I would spend some time thinking about the church I pastor and where we should go and where I would like to take them. I was stumped until sometime on the trip to Ohio over Christmas it hit me like a ton of bricks.  “Don’t set any goals.  Set a focus.”   I used to set a sermon preaching schedule that encompassed the whole year-week for week.  I stopped doing that for various reasons and one of them is where I find myself right now.  I have an idea where I want to go over the next 6 months but don’t want to get so locked in that I can’t divert from it.  Strangely enough, my focus for the year gathers in what I plan to be preaching on these upcoming months.

My focus (the title of this post tells it):  DEEPER.  Since I have encouraged the church to read the ESV One Year Bible, I am going to take the first 6 weeks of the new year to do a series called “Digging in Dirt.”  Then I plan to preach a series called “Here I Stand.”   My whole focus this year (unless God changes something mid-stream) is to take the people deeper into God’s Word and create a hunger in them for more of His Word and more of Him.  With that in mind I offer this song:

(Smith/Garrard)
I want to go deeper
But I don’t know how to swim
I want to be meeker
But have you seen this old earth?
I want to fly higher
But these arms won’t take me there
I want to be, I want to be
Maybe I could run
Maybe I could fly, to you
Do you feel the same
When all you see is
Blame in me?
And the wonder of it all it that I’m living just to fall
More in love with you (x2)
I want to go deeper
But is it just a stupid whim?
I want to be weaker
Be a help to the strong
I want to run faster
But this old leg won’t carry me
I want to be, I want to be
Maybe I could run
Maybe I could fly, to you
Do you feel the same
When all you see is
Blame in me?
And the wonder of it all
Is that I’m living just to fall
More in love with you (x2)
Maybe I could run
Maybe I could follow
It’s time to walk the path
Where many seem to fall
Hold me in your arms
Just like any father would
How long do we have to wait?
How long, we’re going all the way
And the wonder of it all
Is that I’m living just to fall
More in love with you.

What is your focus for this coming year?  Maybe you can join me and the church here in Spencer, IN in reading through the Bible in one year.  You can purchase one of the Bibles by clicking on the link above or on the side bar.  Will you?  Let me know if you will.  We can check in on each other occasionally.