Reflections on a Third AnniversaryJanuary 17 marks our third anniversary as Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church. I don't want us ever to forget what an unusual, even remarkable, thing God has done through our union into one congregation. (On second thought, God is "in the business" of doing the remarkable.) We merged three former congregations with membership in two denominations. Mergers under any circumstance are usually difficult to accomplish. Joining three congregations is quite unusual. Our story is even more out of the ordinary. We are the first congregation to be formed from established ones in the Presbyterian (USA) and Cumberland Presbyterian Churches.
When friends ask how things are going, I answer, "I don't know why we were so long in coming to it; it makes so much sense." Why should three Presbyterian congregations in the same neighborhood have continued to duplicate each other's work? What could our witness look like as the only Presbyterian presence within IH-635 and between Central Expressway and Northwest Highway? We are discovering the answers to such questions, and it is exciting!
Now, here's the crucial part: If we have done it, we are also in the process of doing it. This year will be determinative in our story. It is the year for developing the Audelia Rd. Campus. Architect Jim Wilson of McKinney has been employed. A special interview team is meeting with potential candidate capital campaign services and will soon recommend one to Session.
It won't be easy, LHPC, doing what we must in the coming months. It will require:
- focus by each of us upon that mission God gave us to reach out in the name of Jesus Christ to "Go...and Make Disciples"
- commitment from each of us that what we are doing is worth doing
- sacrificial involvement and giving by each of us.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, you remarkable people, doing a remarkable thing!
-- Robert E Shelton