Theme:   Everyone - Where Everyone is Wanted and Everyone is Needed

Read: Matthew 5:14-17

Think: Have you created a mission statement before? Either for an organization or for business? It can be a fun process of exploration and collaboration, asking the questions, “What is our purpose? What do we want to accomplish? Who is our target market?” I work with several small business owners, and one thing they do to sustain success is to revisit their mission statement often. They do this as a reminder to themselves and their staffs of what is important, but also to make sure they are not distracted by other “good” things, while neglecting the “best”.

One business owner shared with me recently about passing up a good opportunity because it didn’t fit with his mission statement. He said, “This opportunity would have been really exciting for awhile, but I knew it would ultimately slow us down from reaching our main goals.” He made a hard decision to keep “the main thing the main thing.”

Timberlake’s main thing is “To Make better and more disciples of Jesus Christ.” This is a simple purpose that keeps our staff and church body focused. Have you ever thought of a mission statement for yourself? Let’s start by asking a few questions: What is your purpose? What do you want to accomplish? Who do you want to positively influence? The bible helps us with this. It calls us the “light of the world” and “a city on a hill.” The bible tells us we are important in carrying out God’s plan on the earth.

Here is my mission statement: “To know God and to make Him known.” It’s not original, but it is catchy. It’s easy to remember and it keeps me focused on what is important from day to day. It helps me prioritize my time and resources in a way that keeps me growing vertically with God, and horizontally with other people. Whether I’m at work, or at home, with my friends or my kids, I can “Know God and make Him known.”

What is your personal mission statement? Our spiritual purpose infuses and transcends every personal and professional responsibility we have, and will inform every decision we make as well. When we question why we do the things we do, the money we spend, the activities in which we participate, we can default back to our mission statement and see if those things are in line with our true purpose.

Do: Create and write down your own mission statement.

Pray: This month I commit to pray for Timberlake. Dear God, help me to keep this commitment. Help us to know as a church body what is important to You, and to be aware of the distractions that get us “off mission”. We pray that we would be encouraged by Your Word, and by each other as we seek to do Your will.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.