Your church staff is beginning conversations on a theme for the next Ministry Plan: “Prayer and Blessing.” We plan to keep following through on the themes of the Discernment Process: greater diversity, ministering beyond the walls of the church, reaching younger populations, and balancing innovation and tradition. But the “Prayer and Blessing” theme will be woven through those four areas, as well as worship and other parts of the life of the church.

Here is one example of how a prayerful act can be a blessing:

In the wake of the Orlando tragedy, I attended the community vigil held at the Big Four bridge. After the vigil, the faith question for me was, “What else would Jesus do?” Actually, that was pretty easy to answer, given that I’ve read the New Testament a few times. I knew Jesus would go to a gay bar to let folks there know he was praying for them. So some Baptist pastor friends of mine, along with Dr. Muhammad Babar, went to four gay bars to deliver flowers and the message pictured with this article. We received lots of hugs, saw some tears shed, shed a few of our own, and in one bar even received a round of applause. I know we don’t agree on everything at Broadway, but I also know we agree on love. I’m proud to serve a church where I know loving gestures, even unorthodox ones, will be celebrated.