From the Pastor

“Come and Have Breakfast”
(John 21:1-14)

One of the best signs I ever saw was at a breakfast place in Fuquay-Varina called “Eggs Up Grill.” It was a long and thin horizontal sign, with white or beige-colored lettering on a dark-background. It read, “Jesus said, ‘Come and have breakfast.’” I had to look it up to see whether these were actual words of Jesus. And of course, they were! My first thought was to buy another sign like it and gift it to our RLC men’s group. (Alas, the company who manufactures the sign no longer makes them!) But just seeing that sign got me to imagine what it would be like to eat a meal prepared by Jesus from fish He had just shown me how to catch. Wow. It’s just like Jesus to not only supply the “fish” that “fishers of people” (see Matt. 4:19) set out to catch. He also satisfies the yearnings of our hearts as we engage in that task together, share in the joy of the “catch” together, and discover what it means to be followers of the One who said, “my food is to do the will of the One who sent Me.” How easy it would be to tire of that task — or get discouraged when we fail — should we ever fish alone! What joy to engage in the mission together — and at our loving Lord’s invitation!

Recently RLC staff and Church Council members gathered to discuss how we can more effectively fish for people as one team. Together we found four areas of focus for 2025-2026 that we will be working to develop SMART goals for and evaluate performance in:

1) Increasing our church’s digital footprint:
Our church’s expansion into the YouTube space for worship has been our primary focus in this area over the last three years. We would like to do more to increase digital engagement with RLC overall. Search engine optimization for our website and social media, as well as more intentional integration of these platforms for real time updates about church events and service opportunities are just some of the ways we envision this focus bearing fruit.

2) More intentional facilitating of Christian discipleship at RLC:
God has richly blessed us at RLC to have a dynamic community of newcomers to rub shoulders with during worship and community events! The goal in this endeavor is to do all we can to facilitate God’s work of turning on-lookers into active participants! We plan to begin with RLC newcomers and encourage them not only to jump into existing small groups, but also to identify and use any new (for us) skill sets in service to God and neighbor.

3) Forming a Crisis Care Committee:
This past year (2024-2025) saw the start of two important new standing committees (Facilities Management Team and Cross-Cultural Mission Engagement Team), as well as a new service-oriented group (Stewardship of Life and Health Team)… all of which facilitate our church’s mission of being fishers of people! It would be wonderful to add to that list a Crisis Care Committee that would open the door for more of our RLC community to get personally engaged with the neediest in our respective neighborhoods.

4) Better co-ordinating church and school “cross-over” events:
Resurrection Lutheran Church and its schools (especially our Preschool and Elementary schools) already do SO much in this area! However, we could certainly do more to get the word out about our award-winning schools and the place they both have in our church’s mission roadmap. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if more of our RLC members knew what a treasure our schools truly are. And I of course continue to keep any of our school families without a church home in my prayers… that they might, by the grace of God, be led to find that home with us!

I hope this list piques your curiosity. I hope you might even see yourself called to take part in one of these four areas. Do you have special “fishing skills” related to any of them? Might the Lord be calling you to fish in a new location?

However you might answer those questions know that the same One who calls us to be fishers of people will supply our every need. And by the way…I look forward to gathering with you and Jesus over breakfast sometime!

(If you’re not busy Saturday, May 10 at 8 AM then I just might see you in the Fellowship Hall for breakfast…)

Love in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan