27 May Foursquare Connection 2014
Right after our church gathering on Sunday, I left for our annual Foursquare Connection in Dallas, TX. The event happens Monday – Thursday, so as I’m writing this on Tuesday night, we’re halfway through.
Foursquare Connection is the annual gathering of our Foursquare pastors. It’s kind of like a big family reunion. We gather for a few days of worship, fellowship, inspiration and business.
Yesterday, I was in some business meetings in the morning. With the afternoon free, I traveled with some friends to the Fort Worth Stockyards. I had no idea what it was, kind of thinking we were going to see some horses and cows in some fields. Turns out it’s much more than that and was a lot of fun. Got to ride an old time train, watch a cattle drive of longhorns through town and experience an Old West gun battle!
The evening officially launched Connection. If you want, you can actually watch the sessions live online here.
Today was the big day at this year’s Connection. There were two HUGE issues on the docket. First were the reporting of conversations happening over the last few years leading to what they’ve called “ReImagine Foursquare”. All denominations have been in processes of either re-structuring or re-envisioning who we are, what we do and how we do it. Ours is no different.
The culture has radically changed from what it was in the 20th century. It’s not the century that has caused the change. The culture has simply changed and the “C”hurch hasn’t. We’re not talking about change for change’s sake. Rather, we’re talking about how to be more effective at reaching people for Jesus and His Kingdom.
Realistically, the speed of change in our culture has also increased. All that said, there’s a lot of change on the table for our Foursquare family, and we are processing its progress through today’s presentations. You can read more about all of this here.
The second large issue on today’s docket was processing the ratification of a second term for our President, Glenn Burris. For many decades, until about 20 years ago, we had one President who was in office for life. We’re on our fourth President since then, and each President has brought rapid and wholesale change in direction and structure that has not necessarily worked or been helpful.
Each one has only served one term. Our polity allows for a President to serve two consecutive 5 year terms. For the first time, we have a President who placed his name for ratification for a second term. However, the bar is pretty high for approval of the ratification. He needed 75% of the delegates to say yes to the ratification, and his first term has been wrought with difficulty stemming from both the downturn of the economy as well as the conversations about ReImagining.
I’m glad to say that it was announced tonight that his ratification was approved for the second 5 year term! This is going to save us from the rigors of processing a Presidential election at next year’s Connection, which is being held close to home, in Anaheim.
During tonight’s gathering, the main speaker was Francis Chan, who many of you will remember was the founding pastor of Cornerstone Community Church down the street from us. I was hoping to get to connect with him personally, but haven’t been able to yet. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.
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