Pastor Clay’s Blog #7
“A Vision for 2030”
To the Saints in Christ Jesus at Central,
I am grateful for your prayers leading up to this blog as I sought the Lord’s vision for Central from now until 2030. Before I begin my list of plans for the various areas within our church, I want to share a verse that should steer the way we approach the upcoming years. Upon Peter’s declaration of Jesus being the Christ, Jesus tells him, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18b).
The late Bible teacher, John MacArthur, once said after a reporter asked him his goal in ministry, “My goal is to glorify God.” The reporter responded, “Don’t you have a great desire to build a great church?” MacArthur responded, “No, I have no desire to build a church. And the reason is because Jesus said, ‘I will build My church.’ I’d rather not compete with Him. I only desire to do that which glorifies God each day of my life, one day at a time, and let God build His church His way.”
What a great perspective! There is no added pressure on us to build God’s church, because Jesus has already promised to! Our role is to remain faithful each day to loving and serving Him with our whole hearts and leaving the outcome in His hands. Therefore, unlike the “Vision for 2026” I previously wrote, the “Vision for 2030” will be in the form of prayers. Each ministry area will not be a “goal” but a prayer request, expressing our trust in Christ to build His church His way!
Preaching – Gracious Father, you call the church to be devoted to “the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim 4:13). We pray you edify Your local body at Central as we complete Genesis–Deuteronomy this fall, begin the Gospel of Mark, progress to Paul’s epistle to the church at Galatia in Galatians, return to the Old Testament in Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and conclude with the Gospel of John around 2030. Holy Spirit, empower me and all those who preach! Edify the church and regenerate the lost!
Prayer – Sovereign Lord, place in our hearts the same spirit Samuel had for prayer. May we consider it sin when we cease to pray for our church (1 Sam 12:23)! Our leadership, ministries, events, etc., make no difference if you do not stir hearts and draw people unto Yourself. Therefore, our best work is the discipline of prayer, asking You to work where our efforts are powerless! Fill the prayer room during our corporate prayer service and the altars at Central and in our homes. May we become a praying church, known for our prayers, to express our dependence and trust in You to build Your church for Your Name’s sake!
Discipleship – We lift our voices to Abba Father, requesting to see significant growth in our intimacy with You over the next five years! Our success is not weighed by an event’s attendance or a program’s popularity, but through our love for Christ and spiritual maturity. May we continue becoming a discipleship-driven church! We pray that by 2030, over 50% of our active membership will be involved in Core Discipleship (29% currently; lost/unchurched not included), either being mentored or mentoring others in one-on-one or one-on-few settings. We also pray that at least 80% of our members will participate in small group Bible study (currently 67%) on Wednesday evenings. “Making disciples” is Your commission and our command! May You find us faithful!
Pastoral Discipleship – Our Great Shepherd, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:11, Christ “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” I am confident that as we continue to obey Your Commission to make disciples and pray for some to be called into pastoral ministry, You will raise shepherds from our church! I know there are some even now who are praying for discernment and seeking Your will as to whether You are calling them into pastoral ministry. We join them in prayer, along with praying for those whom You will call in the future, so that the body of Christ will “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).
Fellowship – We pray to God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for progression towards the unity and fellowship that is expressive in You, our Triune God! As Jesus prayed in John 17, may the Trinity’s fellowship overflow into our fellowship with the brethren! We thank you for the peace and unity within our congregation over the past several years and pray it only increases from here! We specifically pray, from now until 2030, that progress will be made towards all our active members attending at least (but not limited to) one service outside of our Sunday morning service. Currently, 22% of members attend the Sunday morning worship service only. As Jesus modeled with His disciples, building bonds in smaller groups is crucial for church fellowship, discipleship, and attending to the needs of others in Christ’s love!
Evangelism – Our Redeemer, up to this point in 2025, we have recorded 71 church invites, 33 gospel conversations, and 65 prayers for lost/unchurched individuals through our new evangelism initiative (ping pong balls). I know our people are still getting accustomed to the new system, but we pray for significant improvements by 2030! We pray that our totals increase by 25 in each area every year that passes! We pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers to the fields (Matt 9:38), as You provide the increase and regenerate souls!
Local Missions – Almighty God, we give you praise for the work You are accomplishing in our “Jerusalem.” As we reflect on our former partnership with Grace Chapel Baptist Church in York, SC, we thank you for answering prayers by allowing us to partner with them until they reached a point to afford a full-time, Bible-preaching/leading pastor! We pray you continue to work in their congregation. We now pray for our future local partnerships. I pray you lead us to two more revitalization efforts in the next five years, where we can partner with the Holy Spirit and a struggling church to see them flourish once again! I also pray for the pastors and future pastors at Central. I pray you provide us with the opportunity to partner with one of our Central men whom You call to a surrounding church. I pray it will be a day of celebration as we seek not to build “Central’s kingdom” but Yours! Lastly, we pray for our local parachurch ministries that we support through service, prayer, and finances (Cherokee Pregnancy Center, JP, etc.), praying that our relationships and work continue to grow as we serve our community in gospel ministry together!
Foreign Missions – God of all nations, we thank you for including us in Your eternal plan to gather a people from all nations, tribes, and tongues unto Yourself. What a joy it has been to serve the nations in Kenya and Peru through our partnerships with Bread of Life (Kenya) and Andrew Hawthorne (Peru) over the past several years. We pray we can continue to support these partnerships and add two more international ones by 2030, standing alongside those willing to go “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) through prayer, financial support, and mission teams. We also pray that You raise missionaries in our church, whether short or long-term. We know that if we are faithful to making disciples, You will call those whom You will to be sent abroad! Lastly, we pray our giving towards international missions, through our Great Commission Offering and the Lottie Moon Offering, continues to increase each year!
Buildings and Grounds – Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord who provides), You continue to provide for our church by working in the hearts of cheerful givers, making 2025 (up to this point) our best financial year in recent years! As we incline our hearts to Yours, so may our treasure! I pray You provide for all the foreseeable projects over the next five years, including beautification of our vestibule in preparation of improving our First Impressions ministry, new floors/décor in youth room, hallway, and classrooms, repair/replace AC units as needed, new sound system in sanctuary (placing current system in youth room), possible new roof over youth room and hallways, and others as they arise. I ask that You protect our facilities from further issues, allowing us to allocate our funds towards ministry/missions!