Hey Centennial,

Are you a planner? 

When I first came on staff at the church, we did a staff retreat where we talked about our different personalities. Brian Rodda was leading the retreat, and he broke us up into groups. What we didn’t know is that he put us in groups based on our different personality types. Then he gave us a simple assignment, “Plan a vacation.”

The analytic group made a budget, spreadsheet lines and all.

The relational thinkers drew a picture of each activity they envisioned and how connections and conversations would be fostered.

Pastor Steve and I had a list of random, abstract words like, “Fun,” and “Adventure.”

Each of us made plans in wildly different ways.

As we look at the first half of Matthew chapter 9 this Sunday, we are going to hear from Jesus about the central challenge – the most fundamental problem – he believes humans have in life. Then we will ask ourselves,

What is our plan to deal with that problem? 

Remember to think about inviting someone to “Come sit with me” during worship. You never know when they might say yes. According to a recent Barna poll,

“Among atheists, agnostics and nones, the most common ways they describe themselves spiritually are open (26%), growing (25%) and curious (25%).” 

That means three out of four people with no faith in God are interested in spirituality. That is encouraging to me, and I hope it is to you as well.

Grace and peace,

Karl Helvig
Lead Pastor
CENTENNIAL COVENANT CHURCH