God's Plans for the Great Plains?

On the road to Topeka, riding through the flint hills, enjoying time with three clergy colleagues, I am also praying all along the way...  I'm praying because I am daring to believe that "God has Great plans for the Great Plains" and that the very best God has for us is still to come. (1 Corinthians 2:9)  Similarly, I am praying because I am daring to hope that these next three days in Topeka will be an Isaiah 42:9 type of gathering. A gathering in which we begin to embrace the reality that "...the former things have come to pass."  And, that now (right now) God will begin to declare new things to us, so that we can pray, prepare and ready ourselves "Before they spring forth..." 

I am also praying that this gathering would not be an exercise in futility. That we could be truly be empowered to put our hands to the work of being a church that once again covers the Great Plains in Prayer, Preaching, Power, Renewal, Evangelism and Discipleship...  That we would not just take up the responsibilities of administrative reorganization, but that as clergy, and as united Conferences we could take up the mantle of the passionate and desperate pursuit of God and begin to seek out the  plan God has for us, for our churches, and for the communities, the families and the persons that we have been called to reach.

So, What if...  
What if today truly became a day of new beginnings?  What if today we began to truly unite in risk taking mission?  What if today we could begin to not only say we believe in making disciples for the transformation of the world, but we actually began to transform the world by making disciples?  What if what was said of the Church in Acts 17:6 was what began to be said of us?  And, what if we realized over the next three days that God's plans for the Great Plains are far Greater than any of the plans that have yet been made?

One can only hope... And pray... And...

Rob Schmutz, Pastor
The United Methodist Church at Park City