It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! This weekend is the second Vision Retreat in our Faith Forward initiative. As I have mentioned, at the first retreat, the Vision Team reviewed the findings from our church’s Discovery Report and discussed our church’s greatest strengths and weaknesses and how we might leverage our strengths as we embark into the future. Since identity (who we are) precedes behavior (what we do), we spent the majority of the first retreat telling stories of the church to try to gain clarity on our identity – who we are as a church. These stories began to take shape into what might be our church’s core values. Throughout the retreat, there were so many common threads in what people were sharing. After the retreat, I asked you – the congregation of FPCP – to share your own stories with members of the Vision Team. Many of you did that, and there were, again, many common threads in what you all shared. This is all very encouraging and suggests we’re on the right track toward discovering our core values.

At the second Vision Retreat this weekend, the Vision Team will decide about what our core values are and how our values inform what our mission and vision should be. In the weeks that follow the second retreat, there will be an opportunity for you – the congregation – to attend a debriefing session and for you to provide your feedback. Please continue to keep the Vision Team in your prayers. We remain in God’s loving hands, and that is a very good thing.

Peace to you,

Pastor Aaron