Was it Rene Descartes or Ferris Bueller who said, “Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Life does move pretty fast, and life at NPC is no exception.  We have runners again, 14 to be exact.  On March 20th, we will take to the streets of Atlanta, participating in the PUBLIX 1⁄2 Marathon.  The team includes Arlene Bennett, Jessica Bennett, Ralph Cimperman,Patrick Day, Wayne Edwards, Chris Girard, Nancy Girard, Dave Jones, Claire Jones, Larry King, Alyson King, Jeanne Patterson, Leah Patterson, and Margaret Riffel.  This year, we are running for the Alzheimer’s Association.  If you would like to donate to the cause, check out the links on our web site.

In January, the leadership of NPC spent a weekend together at the Annual Officers’ Retreat.  Over the course of that weekend, the Elders and Deacons developed three priorities on which we will focus in 2011.  Task forces have been set up to study each of these areas and make recommendations to Session.  One way to describe these priorities is: Get our house in order.

The priorities are as follows:

Worship: Worship is the reason we exist as a church.  Everything else we do flows from the act of giving praise to our Savior who has given us the strength and gifts to do God’s will in this world.  Given its importance, it is healthy for us to ask questions about how we worship.

Facilities: Yes, we believe the Church is the people.  We also believe we have been blessed with a tremendous gift here.  This task force will look at systems for taking care and taking a healthy amount of pride in this gift and examine ways the structure and grounds can reflect who we are.

Connection: This task force will research and recommend ways we can help deepen the connection, commitment, and conviction of people who are already connected with us in some way, members on the periphery, Day School families, VBS families, Great Prospects families, participants in the Job Networking Ministry, etc.

“The people sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.’  And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid” (Ezra 3:11).  We believe that focusing on these areas (ensuring the foundation is strong) will equip us to move forward more effectively in 2012.

Later in January, Session approved a special campaign with the goal of raising $100,000 to be used solely to help pay off the church’s mortgage debt in 2011.  Successful completion of this campaign will alleviate a significant burden for NPC, as the mortgage makes up a greater part of our budget than money we spend on worship, spiritual growth, and mission combined.  We won’t be rich, but the successful completion of this campaign will help us get our house in order and enable us to move forward.  If you would like to make a pledge electronically, or would like to make a donation, you may do so by contacting our Member Services Manager .  If you have any questions about this campaign, please feel free to contact the pastors or any member of the Business Facilities Committee.

Why does any of this matter?  While no one would think that getting rid of a mortgage early is a bad thing, why the urgency?  Why spend so much time thinking about ourselves, how we do things here, how our building looks, how we interact with each other?

I have a friend who is a pastor of a small congregation in New Orleans.  Below is an excerpt from his December, 2010, newsletter (certain pieces edited for clarity).

I wrote to you about Bernice in August.  We’ve sent several teams to work on her potentially wonderful house.  But about $60,000 of materials are needed to finish.  Her home is one of almost 50,000 (about 25% of the city) that are still blighted and unlivable.  We have worked on over 400, but we have a long way to go.

Here are some other victories and challenges: 

• The church lost over 30% (!) of its members this past summer alone to moves.  But we added 55 new members this year and inched forward. 
• The fees from our relief teams no longer pay even the salary of our disaster response coordinator, Ken. 
• We have half as many work teams coming as years past. 
• We are seeing many unchurched people coming to Redeemer, some coming to faith in Christ for the first time. 
• We recruited an RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) pastor for Tulane and ordained him this summer.  He is doing a great job on campus, and bringing students to Redeemer also.  Redeemer is paying a good portion of the support for his salary, but he is raising the rest.
• Redeemer’s internal giving has grown slightly even amid the economic recession, and despite our large numbers of very young and/or unchurched, and our crazy mobility. But the goal of self‐support is still allusive.
• Pray that the Lord would raise up elders for Redeemer.  We’d be happy to have just 2 or 3, but they need to be suitable and here for the long haul. 
• Pray for another neighborhood church to be planted by Redeemer in New Orleans, hopefully within weeks of Redeemer becoming self‐supporting (2012?).
• A group is making a 60‐minute documentary movie about my quest to eat at every non‐chain restaurant in the city.  But the movie’s really about celebration, community and rebuilding in New Orleans as seen through the lens of the Gospel.  It’s called The Man Who Ate New Orleans. Profits (if any) will go to Redeemer’s rebuilding work.

I fully believe in the priorities we have set for the year.  I believe in them because they are sound, they are healthy, and they strengthen the foundation of who we are.  I also believe in them because when I read newsletters such as my friends’, I believe our priorities, when accomplished, will position us to truly see who God is calling us to be in this world, for Christ, for others, around the corner or the globe.

Life does move pretty fast, and 2011 will be no exception.  I pray for God’s continued blessing on this part of the body of Christ, and each of you as members of it.

Peace, Patrick