From the Pastor Desk

​Today is a major event here at Newport Church of God, for today is the day that we cast the vision for the year on how we plan to minister and strategies for making a difference in the area that we are planted in.
In Luke 5:37-38 Jesus states that you can’t put new wine into old wineskin lest it burst and the wine be wasted on the ground. The point is that you can’t put todays vision in yesterday’s wineskin because it can’t contain it and the vision will be wasted and of no use. Many churches have a vision for the Kingdom of God but it’s being wasted because they are trying to carry it in wineskins of the past. The reason more times than not is the simple fact that change is scary and many struggle with it.
 
One thing that I have learned in pastoral ministry is that I can’t afford to allow the fear of some control or dictate how I pursue the vision that God gives me from year to year.
Vision is exciting; change is an adventure, scary like a rollercoaster but fun at the same time. Don’t be caught sitting on the side watching others pursue vision and reap all the rewards that come with it. Get on board, embrace the vision, and learn to run with it. It will make your walk with God so much more exciting and productive.
 
Habakkuk 2:2-3
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.