Now, what's the point of discussing the three types of people? Simply put, in the context of Gateway Community Church, we already have to deal with the three mindsets...

In our brief history (we are only 16 months old), there is a tendency among some to believe that our best days are behind us. They look back to the founding of GCC back in August 2006 and rightly notice that many who were with us originally are no longer at Gateway. Some moved to other cities to begin new stages in their lives. Others decided that Gateway simply wasn't the place for them and moved to churches they believed were a better fit for them. In my own estimation, I would say that roughly half of the people that were charter members of Gateway are no longer at the church. All of them are people that I dearly love, and I can genuinely say that it saddened me to see them go, whether they relocated to another part of the country or simply switched churches. Some of us may be tempted to look around and see that a lot of our former people are no longer here and then jump to the conclusion that we need to do everything to get them back. The mindset is something like, "If we could just do things to get them back, then things could go back to the way they were." Unfortunately, once you've thought that, you've moved into regressor mode. There is absolutely no way to relive the past; you must let them go and the church has to get on with its mission. The past is behind us, 2008 is here!

Others, see things as they are at Gateway and are either content with the way things are right now or have simply resigned themselves to believe that things are as good as they're gonna get. As we said on Wednesday, settling has dangerous consequences. In the name of safety, many churches have forsaken their mission. In the name of safety, they've avoided risks. In the name of safety, they've moved away from faith. But our God is always calling us forward, to push the bounds, to exercise our complete trust in him. Gateway isn't about playing it safe... It's about following Christ. 2008 isn't about settling; it's about taking more and more opportunities to elevate our game for Jesus Christ.... Get ready!

I guess it all boils down to this. The visionaries have always been the movers and shakers in church history, in all history in fact. God has given Gateway every opportunity to achieve great things in 2008, but it's up to us to take those opportunities. WE WILL!!! Does God-sized vision require God-given faith? Absolutely. Someone once said, "Fortune belongs to the brave." Amen.

Tomorrow, we'll begin looking at the nuts and bolts of Gateway's vision.

Til then,
Thayer