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    Commissioning of Andy Wood as Our New Lead Pastor

    Rick and Kay Warren With Andy and Stacie Wood | September 11, 2022

    This week, the start of a new season at Saddleback begins with the commissioning of Pastor Andy Wood as Saddleback’s new lead pastor! Pastor Andy also shares 10 personal commitments he’s making to Saddleback Church.

    Message Action Plan

    I.    CHARGE TO OUR NEW PASTOR AND VOWS
    As a fellow elder I charge you to shepherd the flock of God that you have been given the responsibility to care for. Watch over them because you want to do this, not out of duty. This is what God desires from you. Do it out of a desire to serve, not for mere pay. Don't try to rule over those who've been entrusted into your care. Instead lead them by your good examples to the flock. Then when Christ, the Chief Shepherd, appears, your reward will be an eternal crown of glory that never fades away.                     1 Peter 5:1-4
    Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.        Hebrews 13:7 (NIV)
    Vows:

    1. By God's grace and with his help, I will devote myself to obeying the Great Commandment and fulfilling the Great Commission.
    2. I will accept the Bible as God's inerrant word and the ultimate authority for my life and ministry.
    3. I commit to leading others to celebrate God's presence in worship, to incorporate God's family through fellowship, to cultivate God's people in discipleship, to demonstrate God's love through ministry, and to communicate God's grace through evangelism.
    4. As a Saddleback pastor I will protect the unity of our church, share the responsibility of our church, serve the ministry of our church, equip the people of our church, and I will defend the testimony of our church.
    5. I promise to love this flock, to care for it, to sacrifice for it, and if necessary to give my life for it.
    6. As a good shepherd, just like Jesus gave his life for me, I make these vows, not out of duty or compulsion but out of gratitude to my Savior who died for me.

    ACTION PLAN: Saddleback’s motto is “A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church.” Look up the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). Write down each passage on a 3x5 card that you can post in a place you’ll see many times during the day. Spend time in prayer this week and ask the Holy Spirit to examine your heart and reveal to you your own level of commitment to what Jesus commanded and ask him to help you in your commitment to them. Challenge yourself to memorize these passages.

    II. ANDY’S TEN PERSONAL COMMITMENTS TO YOU

    Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.                      Luke 1:1-4 (NLT)

    1. I will passionately follow Jesus with my whole heart!
    2. I will love you and serve you with my whole heart!
    3. I will actively pursue God's vision for Saddleback Church.
    4. I will model the vision and mission I am asking you to live.
    5. I will lead the way with integrity, humility, and generosity.
    6. I will be teachable, pursuing wisdom and discernment as I lead you.
    7. I will live with accountability and surround myself with godly men and women.
    8. I will honor and build on the foundation of this great church.
    9. I will keep our church urgently focused on reaching people far from God.
    10. I will daily seek the Holy Spirit's power to do these things!

    I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 1 Corinthians 3:6-8 (NLT)

    And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
    1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

    ACTION PLAN: Pastor Andy is committing to passionately follow Jesus with his whole heart. Do your own “heart check” to see if you can apply the word “passionately” to your own desire to follow Jesus. If you want to see your own passion increase, pray something like, “Lord Jesus, I don’t know if I can honestly say that I am passionately following you. Have your refining fire burn away anything in me that is not of you and is getting in the way. I want to love you and follow you with passion. Give me the desire to seek you before anything else.” Make this a daily prayer.

    Ten Saddleback Values That Will Never Change: 

    1. We will continue to preach the Good News of Jesus as the only source of hope for a broken and hurting world.
    2. We will continue to teach and obey the Bible as God's authoritative word for all of our beliefs and every area of our lives.
    3. We will continue to be a Purpose Driven Church relentlessly focused on accomplishing God's five eternal purposes found in the Great Commission and The Great Commandment.
    4. We will continue to make life transformation the aim of everything we do as a church. We will work hard to remove barriers and provide a path for you to grow in your faith as you live out God's purposes for your life.
    5. We will continue to be a place of hope and healing, giving people a second chance to overcome hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
    6. We will continue to be a place and a people known by our love! We will love one another and our world by serving and sacrificing for the good of others.
    7. We will continue to be a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, all-nation congregation with a place for everyone. We'll work hard to build bridges of love and fulfill the ministry of reconciliation we're called to.
    8. We will continue to do everything we can to reach the Next Generation and help you raise your kids to be passionate followers of Jesus.
    9. We will continue to pray hard and work hard as we partner together to reach friends, family, and everyone who doesn't know the love of Jesus.
    10. We will continue to make Jesus the hero of our Saddleback story as we step into the future and take God-inspired risks with bold faith, believing the best of what God wants to do is always in front of us!

    ACTION PLAN: Write down a list of ten friends or family members that don’t know the love of Jesus. Make that list into a bookmark that you place in your Bible. Each day, as you start your quiet time, bring these people to the Lord in prayer and ask him to soften their hearts to the good news of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for them.

    III. RICK’S CHARGE TO OUR CHURCH FAMILY

    Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me–everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9 (NLT)
    8 Things to Keep Doing
    L: Love! Love your spiritual family! 1 Peter 2:17
    I: Invite! Invite everyone so that My House is full! Matthew 22:9
    P: Pray! Pray for each other! James 5:16
    S: Serve! Serve the Lord with joy! Psalm 110:2
    T: Tithe! Bring your tithe to my storehouse! Malachi 3:10
    I: Improve! Do your best to improve your faith! 2 Peter 1:5
    C: Connect! In Christ’s Body, we’re connected to each other! Ephesians 4:16
    K: Keep On! Keep on putting into practice all you learned! Philippians 4:9
    Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they ask. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable and will give an account to God. So give them reason to do this joyfully instead of with grief. That would certainly not benefit you. Hebrews 13:17

    ACTION PLAN: Look at the list of things to keep doing. Is there one of them that you haven’t started to do? Make a date with the next CLASS session to learn resources that will help you get started. See the Weekly Action Steps for other next steps to take.

    IV. COMMUNION LED BY KAY AND STACIE

    Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing, taking the humble position of a servant in human form. Then he obediently humbled himself even further by dying on a cross for us. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!                  Philippians 2:5-11

    Weekly Action Steps
    We recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. Text NEWSTART (1 word) to 83000 or email newstart@saddleback.com.
    We express our gratitude to God for his goodness by giving back to him. Because of your faithful generosity, we have been able to provide food and supplies to over 600,000 people in Southern California during this COVID crisis. Give at saddleback.com/give.
    We meet in small groups to discuss what we have heard. To join a group, text SMALLGROUP to 83000, visit our website at www.saddleback.com/joingroup, or email smallgroup@saddleback.com.
    To be baptized, email BAPTISM@saddleback.com.
    Listen to our "Doable Discipleship", "The Well", and "Found" podcasts from our Saddleback Growth team at Saddleback.com/learn.

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    Discussion Guide

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