Dear Pastor, I trust you and your family are doing well and experiencing the blessing of the Lord. It was great to see many of you at District Council earlier this month. God met us in such a powerful way. I believe it was a milestone in our District’s journey on the way to all God has for us. I am excited about the future and expecting great things. If you were able to attend Council, you heard me share my heart about the direction I feel God is taking us as it relates to the District’s ability to influence. As I shared, our priority is to see healthy ministers and healthy churches develop to their full potential. We believe that this will only happen when all levels of leadership develop to their fullest potential. Therefore, our entire District Team is taking on a fresh approach to developing leaders in their particular areas of ministry. This includes both our ministers as well as lay-leaders in the local church. The only success for the District is when our ministers and local churches succeed. As District Superintendent I feel my role in this initiative is to focus on the Lead Pastors in our 160 churches. As the Lead Pastor, you are the vision caster, pace setter, gatekeeper, and goal setter for the local church. Leading a church is more difficult today than ever before. There are so many new challenges that face you as a pastor. Many of these challenges are the same no matter the size of the church, but some are specific to the particular stage your church is in at this time.

With this in mind, I feel the Lord has laid a plan in my heart to gather pastors, who are in the same type setting, together for a day of LEARNING, INTERACTING, FELLOWSHIP, and TEAMBUILDING. These LIFTs will be for Lead Pastors only. They will feature opportunities to learn from each other as well as hear from special guests who will be able to identify with each group and offer insight and wisdom for moving your church forward. The enclosed schedule (which replaces the tentative one distributed at District Council) shows dates and locations for most of the upcoming LIFTs.

I am asking you to PLEASE find the LIFT that is designed for your church size as well as any others you find interesting, and make them a priority on your schedule. I believe this will prove to be more than just another meeting. We have attempted to schedule these LIFTs in location that will make it as easy as possible for everyone to attend. There are no specific boundaries, you may attend the location of your choice. You can expect a call from me, or one of our team, in the next few days to confirm which LIFT you are planning to attend. This will help us with planning for the noon meal each day.

The LIFTs will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will conclude at 3:00 p.m. Again, I ask you to please make every effort to attend these LIFTs. I cannot express how important I feel these times together are going to be for you and your counterparts across this great District. I am looking forward to seeing you there.

In His Service,
Thomas L. Moore
District Superintendent
West Florida District Assemblies of God