If someone were to ask you “Why does Hillcrest exist?” how would you respond to them? Our mission statement says that we are “to love and serve God, and love and serve others.” Our mission statement comes directly from Matthew 22:37-39 & 28:19-20: The Great Commandment and The Great Commission.

This morning we began a seven-week study of the Mission and Vision of Hillcrest. Basically, we will see the plan that we believe that God has given to us as a church. We want to see where God is taking us and how we are going to get there.

There are many reasons why people join a church—location, pastor/teacher, programs, etc., but some join because they believe God has called them to something bigger than the place, personalities and programs, and they believe that the call of God is bigger, more fulfilling, and more enduring than all other reasons combined. That is where Mission and Vision make a difference, because the Mission and Vision of any evangelical church is to be found only from the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, biblically founded, and birthed in prayer.

Several years ago, we began a process of developing our Mission, Values, Measures, Strategy, and Vision for fulfilling what we believe God has called us to be as His people. For the past year, our staff has worked diligently to develop, what I call “a road map”, a detail plan so that every member of Hillcrest can know where we believe God is taking us and how they can be involved.

Today, we will begin with our Mission and Measures.