2020: A Year for The Lord

1/2/2020

"I know the plans I have for you..." -- Jeremiah 29:11

"Unless The Lord builds the house, its workers labor in vain..." -- Psalm 127:1

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? -- Jesus, Luke's gospel account, Chapter 14, Verse 28

by Michael Edgar Myers, Founding Director

at Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries are proponents of balanced ministry teams for many reasons.

By balanced ministry teams, we mean a modern version of Paul's "spiritual gifts" analysis: we all have many gifts, but the same spirit. In essence, we are working toward the same goal -- for Christ and through Christ -- who provides the gifts and the vision. Our humanness, however, can frequently affect all of the above -- our vision and the use of gifts of God.

A balanced team, in contemporary terms, takes into account assorted ages, ethnicities and skills , which not only provide practical tools, but also inspiration and motivation. We have experienced this ourselves in the younger people who have served with us over the past five years as KIT has expanded our performance and teaching concepts. As we've endeavored more outreach and seen more need for our performance acumen, we've also needed to utilize folks more gifted in modern technology -- who have also exhibited desire for learning "old school" methods of music, performance and communication.

We've also seen, from the stage, where some of our scripts and songs have not resonated with younger voices as we hoped; as the material once did when our audiences were young -- but so were we. We've seen the same in churches where we have served, group posts we follow, and headlines on stories of church mergers or closings because "we can't reach..."

It's been necessary to give and keep counsel with those whom we feel need The Gospel message -- younger people -- and also to encourage them to translate for us. Iron sharpens iron, yes; and blunted teens can sharpen the point. Something like that.

LEARN MORE: Tools to Employ, Engage with Younger Audiences

While, like you, we individually come to the new year outlining all those things that go into "starting fresh" -- cleaning, planning, resolutions, decluttering, fasting , vision boarding -- we also take stock of where the Lord has brought us and may be taking us. Among our discoveries of last year is that Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries has a larger mission than shows and employment for the core ensemble of three. We need help with capital, advice and personnel.

We also know we need help from The Lord to order the steps-by-step vision He's unveiling.

In the beginning is the words

The three verses at the top of this missive provide a balance of inspiration as we enter this two thousand and twentieth "year of the Lord." (Pardon the ironic amusement. Noting that we call this year 2020 is the calendar's acknowledgement of the arrival of Jesus Christ, even among those who not acknowledge Him as the deity of the Christmas just celebrated).

The verses are foundational for us because,

Even though we have our human desires, it's likely those are not in alignment with God's plan. Therefore, as Christ-followers, are we will to follow His plan with it's bumpy terrain, or use this verse as self-anointing of plans we've already chosen?

We must remind ourselves regularly as servants, "Are we working in ministry FOR God without God being at the center?" If so, are we inviting a frustration we need not deal with? Or, are we underequipped to cope with inevitable bumps to come?

Whereas we are mapping out a calendar of dreams -- ministry goals, personal goals, family goals -- and see them filling our new calendars; and while we believe in prayer, trust God's provision, and Jesus saying, "ask and Your Father will give it,' or "You do not have because you do not ask," yet -- we need to reminded ourselves, in our exuberance, to map out the cost of pursuit in a practical sense. A budget -- monetary, time, and people -- is a critical element of what Jesus means in the parable about building a tower. Ministry costs, and we must be accountable. Balance.

Taking up our cross daily can also mean anticipating the difficulties and accountability that go along with what must be done TODAY -- for today has enough trouble of its own. Nevertheless Jesus says , if we choose to be his disciples, we should expect to have different people in ministry who are a pain. Equipment will break. Donations will lack. Interpersonal communication will be terse. Congregants will write critical, unsigned notes. You'll be tired.

For all these reasons, and although tomorrow is assured for no one ( we should say, "if the Lord allows; if it is His will') we must plan with God's guidance. Plan rest. Plan funds. Use the hours available TODAY to prepare and to celebrate tomorrow. Give thanks to the Lord in all circumstances -- on arising, on sleeping. Taste, look and see what The Lord has done, and record in your journal.

These are, perhaps, things you do already. However, for us, they are reminders from our young staffers who have brought to us new songs, new ways of learning, new ways of communicating and challenged us to better articulate -- why we believe what we believe, and, sometimes, why we CANNOT or WILL NOT present something requested -- and the biblical rationale behind it.

So, we celebrate with them as they move ahead with new endeavors as The Lord allows...endeavors that have inspired us as we have created our own visions....as pointed out through these vision casters on both ends of the chronological spectrum.

Transitions

End-of-the-year communications with our three 20-something interns find them entering periods of transition in preparation for the future. They build on the legacy of inspiration and perspiration they shared working with us while they introduced us to new techniques of work, words of communication, and, especially, music that enlivens our ministry relationships.

Hanan Barrett, who managed some of our on-site tech and marketing (right), is in the final months of his National Service obligation in his native Singapore where he has dual U.S. citizenship. His experiences while serving have led him to shift his post-military plans.

Cami Myers has sung with us, provided vocal training and photographed some of our performances. More importantly, entering her last semester as a psychology major in college, Cami's raised our awareness of steps to improve mental health and the power of music as a stress relief.

LEARN MORE: Biblical Guides for Mental Health

In December, Marissa Brown, who began working with us as a student ministries teaching aide, completed requirements for graduation as a leader of worship from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (to be celebrated in the spring graduation ceremony).

LEARN MORE: Born Believing

Marissa's graduation illustrates personal doggedness (the eldest of seven) unwavering faith (see highlighted Scripture page above) and work ethic (she took a year off after high school and in the middle of college to help pay her way). Throughout her trek, Marissa served with KIT as a singer, and ultimately leader of musical worship in her own right by overseeing ministry at New Life Community Church in Brookfield.

Marissa's enthusiasm for future ministry best summaries the journey of her contemporaries, and is, in her true gift of witness, what inspired these thoughts when she wrote us:

my only hope for this new year is to go after God with a fresh BOLDNESS..
i want to worship WILDER,
i want to sing LOUDER,
i want to pray CONFIDENTLY,
i want to trust Him with FULL surrender and TOTAL abandon,
big changes are happening in my life this year and i want to face them with an even BIGGER faith!!
my God is GOOD. 2020, you ain’t ready!
(inspired by my friend @iamaseed 😊)
#andthatsonperiod #happynewyear

And As We Close...

This inspiration has inspired us at KIT Ministries to further delineate what we believe The Lord is outlining for us as an ensemble, on and off stage. We'll be outlining those steps in this space. As we do, we'll keep in mind a verse that was resurrected in our daily readings as "New Year's Week" began; a verse that is a companion of the trio above, yet has its own potency of conviction.

When we began non-ministry freelance work a few decades ago, we included the verse in the footer of our stationary. A couple of clients took umbrage to the passage. Trying to light-heartedly request its deletion, one client called the passage, "Propaganda." Another, more directly explained that, though we were subcontractors, our direct communications had annoyed potential employers. A church-state separation issue, they said.

We each shared our positions on the verse, which itself was a testimony, and came to an agreement. Rather than remove the verse from our stationary, we opted to redesign a new, cleaner graphic more aligned with our vision. The sentiment, however, has remained and has gained more poignancy as a driving force behind our commercial and ministerial interactions (in its original New International Version interpretation):

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." -- Proverbs 16:3

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