Hillcrest Church Office
June 26, 2003

LeaderLines is a weekly “e-briefing” providing valuable information and inspiration to those who serve at Hillcrest Baptist Church.

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Here is this week’s LeaderLines. . . .

“Our H.I.L.L. to Crest”
by Tom Goodman

Pressed against the sheer face of the cliff, the rock climber looked upward for the next place to grip.  Seeing one, he clamped his fingers upon it and lifted himself a few feet higher.  Methodically, he repeated the exercise – finding handholds, finding footholds, bracing against the winds that would unbalance him, locking safety anchors in to minute cracks in the wall.  Finally, he reached the top and sat on the summit with a quiet contentment from his successful climb.

At Hillcrest, we can identify with a rock climber’s passion, because we’re climbers, too.  Everything we do is aimed at reaching four objectives:  Honor, Invite, Love, and Live.

    H – Honor the Lord of Life
    I – Invite Your World to Life
    L – Love the Fellowship for Life
    L – Live the Word in Life

That’s our H.I.L.L. to crest!  Hillcrest is more than our name – it’s a destination!  Our aim is to help each other grow in our relationship with God and with the people in our lives.  Little by little, higher and higher, together we can reach the hillcrest!

No matter what you do at Hillcrest Church, you’re helping people get a little higher up the H.I.L.L. – whether you’re coaching in Upward Basketball or rocking a child in the nursery, whether you’re teaching Junior High boys or playing an instrument in our worship service, whether you’re volunteering in the office during the week or handing out bulletins on Sunday, whether you’re lending your professional skills to our church operations or sharing the gospel in our evangelism program . . . .

Well, you get the picture.  I can’t think of anything more important you could be doing with your time!

Across the next several weeks in LeaderLines, we’ll look at each of these four objectives in more detail.

Why LeaderLines?  Believe me, it’s not because I need something to fill some idle time!  I’m going to carve out time in my schedule to write LeaderLines each week for four reasons.

First, I need a chance to visit with you about WHY we do what we do.  We can get so involved in our own area of ministry that we forget how we fit into the bigger picture of the Hillcrest Task.

Second, I want to introduce you to some things other churches are doing that will stimulate your creative thinking.  I come into contact with these things all the time, and in LeaderLines I can pass along the most intriguing ideas to you.

Third, I need a way to call attention to the good work going on at Hillcrest.  You’ll like what you hear about what other workers are doing in your church.

Fourth, LeaderLines will give me a chance to give you the “heads-up” when any changes or proposals are about to be introduced to the church.

It should be obvious that our other e-newsletter, Winning Ways, isn’t the best place to introduce this kind of material.  The purpose of Winning Ways is to get a quick shot of inspiration and information to all Hillcrest supporters before each Sunday in a format that would make them want to forward the e-newsletter to their friends.  LeaderLines gives me a chance to communicate directly with my PARTNERS in ministry – YOU!

So, over the next few weeks, we’ll look at the H.I.L.L. we’re helping people crest.  It’s important that you get familiar with this acrostic as a leader.  Here’s my challenge:  carefully review the four sentences in the H.I.L.L. acrostic at the beginning of this e-mail.  Then close the e-mail, take out a blank piece of paper, and see if you can write the four sentences from memory.  The better you know what we’re supposed to do as a church, the better you will be at helping us REVIEW whether we’re doing it!

Higher,
Tom

P.S.  Help me get the word out regarding LeaderLines.  If you are the chairman of a committee or the director of a program, go ahead and forward the next few editions of LeaderLines to your own team and invite them to subscribe, too.  Also, LeaderLines is not private – ANYONE can receive it! So make free use of your e-mail program’s “forward” button if you think of someone who needs a particular edition of LeaderLines.