Goals for 2022

Have you set any goals for 2022? I'm not much on New Year's resolutions. Those are made to be broken. What's the use? Goals, on the other hand, are achievements we strive for ... something we are intentional about, put effort into.

I have set some personal and ministry goals for 2022. One of those is this blog. It's been a while since I've been intentional about writing blog entries. Why is that a goal? It's two-fold. I studied journalism and graduated with a degree in it from Troy State University. I know the "State" isn't in the institution's name any longer, but it's still on my diploma. 

I pursued a career in journalism afterward, and enjoyed a 22-year career in a field where I wrote and edited stories daily. Writing is in my blood. It's also therapeutic. I'm just weird that way.

Secondly, this blog helps further shine the light on what God is doing in and through Love In Action. It can give more insights to the move of God, upcoming events, and needs of the ministry.

Other personal goals include seeking and knowing God more and more throughout the year. To accomplish that I'll be even more intentional in my daily Bible reading. I read God's Word daily, but I desire to study it more. I've read through the Bible a number of times. That's a great thing to do, and I encourage it. But, it's also good to slow down and take your time going through books of the Bible.

My friend Dr. Dave Smith, professor of Bible at Indiana Wesleyan University, presents a challenging way to study the Bible. He encourages and teaches that we should make time to read entire books of the Bible in one reading. Some books are more challenging to read through in one sitting than others. You can try to impress others by telling them you read the entire letter of Jude without taking a break. As long as they don't know Jude is only two pages they'll be impressed.

My goal is to take each book of the New Testament and read them all, one at a time, in one reading. You better understand the context of the Word doing that. Digging deeper and deeper into God's Word is my forever goal. We can never dig too deep.

Other goals are a stronger personal time of prayer, leading more people into a relationship with Jesus and making more disciples who make disciples. In other words, to be even more intentional on living out my Lord's Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15)

My prayer life is something I really need to be intentional more about. I pray all the time. Often very short prayers throughout the day. The Apostle Paul tell us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). That's having a mindset of prayer throughout each day and praying often. What I need to work on is spending more time in prayer; talking and listening for longer periods of time with my Abba Father. 

You notice my personal goals all deal with spiritual growth. Material things are inconsequential. As my pastor, Ralph Sigler, says, only things that we do for God last for eternity. So, I choose to focus on the eternal. Of course, if Alabama wins another national championship I'll be good with that, too. LOL

Goals for Love In Action include reaching more people locally and around the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to see more people enter into a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. As they do, I desire for us to make more disciples who can make disciples. That's why we have started the Love In Action School of Discipleship and are currently remodeling suite 1 on our campus to host this school. I'll write more about that in another blog.

I believe God is wanting to further expand our food ministry to meet many more needs. You might not realize it, but there are a lot of people out there who have very little to no food. I'll blog more about the food ministry expansion later.

I also believe God is leading us to do more with video blogs and video testimonies. People engage with videos. That's our culture. Being able to show what God is doing through videos will add another layer on shining the light on what God is doing. I think it encourages people to see and hear life-transforming testimonies. I pray God will use those testimonies to lead people to Jesus. 

We are going to be more intentional about prayer at Love In Action. Within our School of Discipleship will be a prayer room. We will have focused times of prayer, strategic times of prayer. Prayer is too important, and as the family of God, we need to be more focused on praying together.

I'll end this blog entry here. It's already getting long. If you haven't already, I encourage you to sit down and make goals. Pray about them. Make them realistic, but also challenging. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do this.

Happy New Year, everyone. May it be a year of knowing Jesus more, sharing our faith with others, and making disciples who can make disciples.