I have learned over the course of my life that we humans are products of family systems that influence us for better or worse. Our patterns of behavior are formed over a period of time out of interactions that span the entirety of our lives (and also the lives of our ancestors!). Such influence is true not only for my relationship with my biological family; it’s also true for my church family. Consequently, hearing stories and understanding the underlying patterns of the church to which I belong helps me to know how better to respond to both challenges and opportunities we face in congregational life. It also helps me to understand why we tend to react to such challenges and opportunities in ways that are often unconscious and unintentional.

Many of you will remember back in the 80’s a most successful advertising campaign by the National Enquirer magazine, which had as its tagline, “Enquiring Minds Want to Know.” What made that campaign so successful was the way it allowed that gossip rag of a publication to attain at least a modest level of respectability in popular American culture by granting people permission to read it because of how doing so would only be engaging in something that on the surface could never be considered entirely bad. After all, who among us doesn’t harbor some measure of curiosity about what’s going on around us in life? Who among us doesn’t want to be “in the know” about important happenings? Who among us doesn’t want to be perceived as possessing an “enquiring mind?”

Over the last months, we have seen numerous strategic objectives from our recent Vision 2020 ministry plan come to fruition. As the old saying goes, “It’s always great when a plan comes together,” and I have to say that I am most pleased over the efforts of so many in our church, both staff and laity, who have dedicated themselves to making our vision become a reality.