All Grown Up

The upcoming celebration on June 2nd is a well deserved opportunity to pat ourselves, and everyone who assisted us, on the back for the victory of being able to pay off what seemed an insurmountable mortgage last month. The financial challenge provided us a very tangible goal to achieve, a goal towards which we could work in unity. We faced it together and met the challenge victoriously. Hallelujah! We are now faced with an even greater opportunity.

The potential pitfall is that we will find that now we have scaled this one, particularly high, mountain we will "plant a flag," declare our conquest and head back into a valley to rest, oblivious of the other peaks, some somewhat treacherous, which beckon us to scale them as well. Now we must meet the challenge of achieving some of the "non-financial" goals which we have set in the past as well as some new ones brought by our changing community. Being freed of the high monthly mortgage payments which have straddled us offers us the opportunity to invest in people and programs like we have dreamed of doing. To do so will require that we maintain the same level of financial commitment to this church and her ministries that we have before. We didn't pay off the mortgage so that we would not have to give as much, but so that "the much" which we give can have an even greater impact on transforming the lives of those to whom this church is called to minister.

As children we were often asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And as we grew our answer to that question progressed through some major revisions. For some, as those revisions transpired and took "adult" form. The idealism of their youth was put aside in the name of "practicality," "responsibility" or "reality." Others continue to move toward those dreams or visions to bring into being new realities in ways which are practical and responsible. Perhaps that is one reason why I rejoice so much in my children. As I watch them strive to achieve their dreams for themselves and the world, I am reminded of my dreams and challenged never to be satisfied with the current realities while I still have breath to strive for a new, God-given reality.

Though faced with the potential threats of "practicality," "responsibility" and "reality," Metro strove for the achievement of this dream, our building on W. 40th Street. But that is not the end of our dream, and we must not let that trinity hamper us from moving forward to the next peak. When asked, "Metro Baptist, what do you want to be when you grow up?" How will we answer? Better yet, when asked, "Metro, now that you are beginning to feel all grown up, what have you become?" Over the next several months, I will be asking you to explore those two questions with me as we enter the next phase of our journey together.