Greetings to you in Christ!

If you’ve ever doubted your calling to ministry those four verses from Psalm 139 declare
that God has been molding and shaping you for ministry since before you were born! The
bible declares that God shaped you for a purpose, that you are unique and you are
wonderfully complex! And as I shared this past Sunday — we have designated the entire
Easter season as an intentional and purposeful time to help you discover and then deploy your spiritual SHAPE.

I truly believe that PLC is poised to make a radical difference in the kingdom and in the
roll call of eternity, and I know that our success will be dependent upon every member
serving in a ministry of the church and a mission to the world — serving as they were
SHAPEd to serve.

Beginning on Sunday, April 6th and for the six Sunday’s following, we’ll be focusing on the biblical purpose of Ministry through a sermon series designed to help you unwrap your SHAPE. I believe that God has given you specific Spiritual gifts, that your Heart beats passionately about some things more than others, that you have natural Abilities and a unique Personality that will shape your ministry in different ways, as will your
Experiences. The bible makes it clear the you will be the most effective and fulfilled in
ministry when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your heart’s desire
and in a way that best expresses your personality and experiences.

Both in our experience of the 40 Days of Purpose, and last year during R U Connected, we learned how valuable prayer and priority are in the success of a campaign like this.
Without prayer this campaign will just be a series of activities, but with prayer, this
campaign will be infused with the power to affect real change in people’s lives — and to
that end we are asking you to join us right now in releasing God’s power through prayer as you connect and commit to this campaign, and as you pray for those who will be
shepherding it.

And we’re asking you to make this campaign a priority fully acknowledging that saying yes to full participation in this campaign might mean, temporarily, saying no to something else. Begin right now to guard your personal and family calendar in April and May to allow you to become even more saturated in what will be taking place on and off our campus.

Whether you’ve been a long time member or just joined the church — whether you are a
frequent attender or just come once in a while — we are strongly encouraging each of you to make participation with us in this campaign a priority — inviting you to make a seven week commitment to worship and meeting in a small group.

If you are still reading you may well be wondering, “What’s in it for me? What sort of
return can I expect on my seven week investment?” While impossible to predict how God
will us this time in your life — you can be confident that meeting together with others in a small group environment is one of the best places to discover and then deploy your
spiritual SHAPE.

So, how is this going to work? How do I get connected — making the most out of this
seven week SHAPE campaign? If you haven’t already completed a “Getting my SHAPE
together” sheet, stop by the church office or call and request one be mailed to you and
then return it as soon as possible. On the form you can also indicate if you’d like to be a
HOST or a Guide.

So, what is a HOST home? If you have a Heart for people, would be willing to Open up
your home, maybe Serve some refreshments and can Turn on your DVD player — then
you’ve got what it takes to be a HOST home during this campaign!

So, what’s a Guide? This is a person willing to spend some additional time each week using the small group materials provided to guide and facilitate the conversations that will be taking place as the small group journeys through the study materials.

So, what’s next? It’s time for this letter to end — and time for you to reflect on what
you’ve read and then respond. Commit right now to using this seven week campaign to
discover, develop and then deploy your spiritual SHAPE in a way that grows the kingdom
and changes the roll call of eternity!

Peace to you,
Pastor Paul C. Schroeder