2020 Vision

Since we prayed together as a church on Wednesday evening for a “2020 Vision” for our fellowship of churches, it seemed worthwhile to reprint highlights from a DisciplesToday article outlining the work of our “Evangelists Service Team” (EST), a group elected and charged with providing inspiration and strategic planning for our fellowship of churches. The following highlights the various objectives and committees that have been formed to direct us toward our objectives.

1. The ILC Planning Committee worked to begin a draft of the 2010 ILC Program that would then be reviewed by the Evangelists and Elders Service Teams. This subcommittee will also work on the 2012 World Conference to be held in San Antonio, Texas.
    
2. The Healthy Region Committee was formed to promote and develop “best practices” as well as highlight exemplary families of churches; it was also charged to define what a healthy group looks like as well as articulate “warning signs for troubled families”.
    
3. The Global Mission Strategy Committee was formed to assess the needs and opportunities for spreading the good news of Jesus Christ on a global scale in developing and 1st world countries. They were asked to highlight best practices of mission societies, promote awareness and match needs with potential support.
    
4. The Delegate Development Committee will work to strengthen our existing organizational structure. They will make proposals to refine the duties and responsibilities of the Delegate role. They will also help shape the agenda and schedule for the annual Delegates meeting.
    
5. The Leadership Development Committee will take the lead in shaping our efforts to train new evangelists. They will devise ways to match capable evangelists with kingdom needs. Establishing “brotherhood” relationships for the next generation of evangelists is another topic that this group will address.
    
6. The 2020 Vision Committee was formed as a result of our inspirational study, prayer, and discussion about the future. Providentially, our meeting together was held at the dawn of a new decade. God brought all of us through one of the most challenging decades for our family of churches. Overall, our churches are stronger and healthier than they have been in a long time. We believe it is time for us to look ahead to this new decade with faith and confidence that God has many more souls to save, many more churches to plant, many more towns, cities and countries to reach with the good news of Jesus Christ. But we need faithful vision.

The EST has asked each geographic family of churches around the world to prayerfully create their own "2020 Vision" for their specific area of the globe. This was the impetus behind our time of prayer on Wednesday night. The Texas evangelists have been meeting regularly and plan to unveil a “2020 Vision” plan of our own at the upcoming Texas Discipleship Conference. Please continue to pray for God’s direction, not only here in Texas, but around the world!