Looking forward to 2024, Minister Ernest Demps, Sr. weighs in on where the past has brought us and positioning for the year ahead.
Interviewer: Brother Demps, thank you for taking the time today to share your thoughts about the year ahead. With evangelism, community outreach, and fellowship being three priority areas for 32nd Street Church of Christ, is there any one area that you expect will be a primary focus for the congregation in 2024?
Brother Demps: Evangelism. Definitely evangelism.
Interviewer: That was pretty definitive. Why evangelism?
Brother Demps: Because of the role that Covid has played in people’s willingness to come back to the sanctuary. The church was always supposed to be about evangelism, but now our evangelism is actually a little bit different. It’s still about saving lost souls, but our evangelism is different now in that it’s not just about saving lost souls by adding new members to the body, but it’s also about saving lost souls by restoring church members who may have fallen away.
Interviewer: So you’re saying that now it’s about us getting involved and trying to get people to come back?
Brother Demps: Exactly. But personal growth should be a first priority, because that’s where it begins. You have to grow to a point where you want to go out and help others come back. So that’s one of the things I’m going to be highlighting this year, hoping that people will really understand the need to do that.
Interviewer: For those church members who are maybe considering coming back, but haven’t yet, what’s the number one thing that you want them to know?
Brother Demps: That we want to use this time as a preparedness tool for the next catastrophic event. Because I’m a firm believer that it’s going to get worse and worse. But once members come back, then we can be prepared for the next go around, whatever that might be. Because after having gone through this process of returning, they can have a more steadfast resolve not to slip away again.
Interviewer: The devil does work hard.
Brother Demps: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Interviewer: Well we’ve started to see a little bit of a turnaround, right?
Brother Demps: Right. It has started to turn around a little bit, though lately, we’ve faced the holiday travel season.
Interviewer: True. Holiday travel does have an impact, but it goes both ways. It’s been encouraging to have holiday travelers who were visiting San Diego make the effort to join us. But you’re right…January could be interesting. Once the holiday travel season ends and we look around us, then we’ll have a better sense of the work we have ahead of us in the year ahead.
Brother Demps: Mm-hmm.
Interviewer: Pivoting a bit from church membership, let’s talk a bit more about visitors. For people visiting our congregation for the first time, what are the top two or three things that you want them to walk away knowing?
Brother Demps: That we are a loving congregation, number one. And that we are a Bible-based congregation, number two. And I think we do a good job at that. I think when people come here, they really feel welcome. Those are two things that we really need to let visitors know…that they’re welcome and that we are Bible based. That’s about it, I guess…those two things.
Interviewer: As we’re closing out another year, personal goals and resolutions are on the minds of a lot of people. Any tips for someone who’s made either daily Bible reading or reading the Bible in its entirety one of their new year’s resolutions? What might you suggest is the best way for them to make it through to the end of next year without having fallen off?
Brother Demps: First, I would say that it’s an effort. You must put effort into it because you’re so busy and if you don’t focus on finding the time to do it, the days can just kind of start to slip by. But I’m a firm believer that if you ask God to help you stay true to your daily Bible reading, He’ll do it. He’ll make a way. But you do have to really want it for yourself and have that desire. You need to make that resolve to do it.
Interviewer: Speaking from experience, some days resolve is strong…other days, less so.
Brother Demps: Well if you’re trying to read the Bible in a year and you do fall off the wagon, then what I would suggest — and this is what I do sometimes — is to just get ahead on your Bible reading. In other words, I’ll read more than usual in one day. So in that way, I’m ahead rather than behind. That works for me.
Interviewer: Very solid advice. And what might your advice be for members who have been regularly attending services and are looking to make 2024 a year where they’re really going to roll up their sleeves and go to work for the Lord? What’s your advice for how they might think about where to start?
Brother Demps: Well, I would first suggest that they take a self-assessment of what they like to do and what they’re good at. And whatever comes from that…whatever they identify as strengths that they enjoy using…I’m hoping that it would be something that they could transfer into the Lord’s service, for the work of the church. Do a self-assessment of what they do best and what they feel like they can do for the Lord, and then give it their best. That’s what I would suggest.
Interviewer: Lots for each of us to think about for the year ahead, indeed. Looking forward, some congregations have annual themes that members can use as a guide throughout the year. I don’t recall our having had an official theme for 2023. Did we?
Brother Demps: No, we didn’t have one last year. We had one the year before, but we didn’t have one last year.
Interviewer: Is there going to be a theme or a slogan for 2024?
Brother Demps: Well, I’ve been kind of pondering a few things. I haven’t made it concrete, but it’s going to be something along the lines of doing more in 2024.
Interviewer: Nice!
Brother Demps: Maybe serving more in 2024. Depending on God more in 2024. Trusting in God more in 2024. One of those things. Something to give a mindset of being all wrapped up in the Lord.
Interviewer: Those are guiding themes that I can see being very useful in 2024. Looking forward to hearing what you ultimately settle on. That being said, in addition to looking forward, it’s also helpful to do lookbacks and learn from the past year. People often use a ‘start, stop, continue’ framework for reflection. For instance, looking back at 2023, someone might say they want to kick a bad habit. Or maybe exactly the opposite – they think about something positive that they haven’t been doing and recognize it would be good to adopt it as a new habit. Or in thinking about something they got right, they might want to lean in and do more of whatever that might be. When you reflect on where 32nd Street Church of Christ is as a congregation today, what do you hope to see us start, stop, and continue?
Brother Demps: Start, stop, and continue. Hmm. Start to make God the priority in your life. Stop thinking that you can’t. Continue to grow.
Interviewer: I love it. Now just one more question for you. As you look forward to 2024, is there any one thing that has you feeling especially encouraged?
Brother Demps: Yeah. I’m encouraged about the fact that we are accepting the need to be more involved technologically, and I’m excited about what’s on the horizon for tech projects that we’ve got going on right now.
Interviewer: Kind of a cliff hanger there. Care to share what some of those might be?
Brother Demps: Well there’s the new website. And I think once we go live with it and present it to the congregation, I’m hoping that it will excite them enough to really get in there and start to use it as a tool. Because, you see, a lot of the things that we’ve just talked about are in that website. The daily Bible studies, for one. Access to that on the site will help people. So I’m especially excited about that for the year ahead.
Interviewer: Me too. And hopefully your shared advice and thoughts on the year ahead will also help to get people excited, or at least thinking. Thanks for taking the time.
