Discipling 3000’s Flanking Maneuvers

     What do young adults, graduate networking, and multimedia have in common? The answer, it seems, is my new position. As our “Multimedia and Networking Minister,” half my job is in the Communications Ministry, and the other half resides with the College Ministry, focusing on Young Adults outreach. My job title reflects our intention to develop multimedia and networking into fullfledged ministries.
     This Sunday concludes my first—very busy—month on the job, laying the groundwork for those ministries; yet this learning curve has only served to grow my appreciation for our church family and my new role in it.
     The Young Adults and Multimedia Ministries were born to meet needs illuminated by the Discipling 3000 Initiative.
     The Young Adults Ministry is the most recent in a series of responses by our Eldership to a ministerial deficit for adults caught between dependence and independence. This demographic lacks community, seeks stability, and is largely unevangelized. Even in Searcy these young adults are as likely to be lost as to be Christian. Furthermore, those professing the Christian faith in this age group are statistically at risk of losing their belief within the next few years.
     This ministry will seek out young adults in our community who are lost, build a support network for those who believe, and provide them all with a home. We call this our “Upper Room Environment.” It is a missional, tightly knit family sustained by our shared conviction in King Jesus.
     The Multimedia Ministry is meant to give College a better footing in the new media environment. The Church and the world it serves exist in a digital space that affects and sometimes competes with our personal and social realities. This new ministry addresses these issues by streamlining our congregation’s communication channels, updating our multimedia production capabilities, and reaching previously unreachable individuals. Significantly,our media endeavors will enhance our face-to-face meetings and interactions, not replace them, to make our digital participation in the Great Commission more effective.
     If Discipling 3000 has challenged our congregation to reevaluate how we can win the lost for Jesus, then the creation of these two ministries may be seen as strategic flanking maneuvers, a twofold proclamation of the Gospel using tools from our modern world (Col. 1:28).
     I’m excited to see what God does with both ministries as we move forward.