When Jesus was with His disciples doing the everyday work of the ministry, He showed them some incredible things. They experienced His power and got glimpses of His glory through the signs and miracles He was able to perform. In Mark 9, Jesus took Peter, James, and John aside and showed them something even more incredible. While on a mountaintop, Jesus changed His appearance and the disciples were able to see Him in the glory that He had promised. I can only imagine that in those moments, they were re-inspired and re-energized for the work that still needed to be done. After all, Jesus had given them a picture of what they were working towards. He gave them a vision.

While pastors often share vision with their churches, seldom does a pastor have the chance to paint such a vivid picture of what he hopes the church can become, what he week in and week out challenges the church to become. This past Sunday (October 22, 2017) was a Sunday like no other in my eleven years at Parkview. We had the privilege of serving as a host site for a Hurricane Irma relief effort. The Department of Children and Families was here for five days (Friday through Tuesday) giving out EBT cards to families that qualified. They served almost 14,000 families.

They were assisting people on Sunday morning even as Parkview people showed up for church. Our first impressions team did an incredible job along with the Sherriff’s Department of helping people get parked and safely onto our campus. Our greeters were awesome as they stood in the hot sun to make sure people knew where to go. If you were here, then you need to know that what you saw in the way of volunteers helping to park cars and greet people on our campus, and people streaming down the streets and sidewalks to get to Parkview has been my vision for our church since I arrived in November 2006.

My prayer is that we would have to mobilize an army of volunteers to handle the traffic that results from people wanting to come hear the gospel preached every Sunday and that we would have to enlist countless volunteers for our Next Generation Ministries as we reach families for Christ. Just like the disciples were energized for ministry at the sight of Jesus in His glory, I have been inspired in my ministry by seeing what we can become—a church that draws not just hundreds, but thousands of people from every walk of life to hear, respond to, and live the gospel of Jesus.