Blessings Forward Campaign Update

Blessings Forward: Pressing Onward

by Lori Ruff-Schmalenberger

This one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13b-14

Perhaps it wasn’t accidental that just as I was in the thick of gearing up for the Capital Campaign (both personally and as part of the Campaign Committee) I decided to make lifestyle changes to improve my physical fitness and health. As I was designing promotional literature for the Campaign, I was joining a gym and meeting with a trainer. As I was changing my eating habits to avoid diabetes and heart disease in the future, my husband Russ, my daughter Ruth and I were making commitments to the Campaign to build for the future of TPC. And as I tore my muscle tissues through exercise to build them, Russ and I discovered that we had to make some fundamental changes in our lifestyle in order to grow our level of giving and meet our Blessings Forward commitment.

So now the Campaign period is over, and Russ, Ruth, and I have met our financial commitments to TPC. We can revert to our former levels of giving, no questions asked, no promises unmet. But when we look at our overall spiritual health and fitness, as we reflect on how we have developed through this experience, even when choices were painful, to go backward seems utter foolishness. Did we grow this spiritual muscle just to let it atrophy through disuse? No, we have decided to press on, rolling over a significant portion of what we were previously giving to the Campaign into our regular giving to TPC and making pledges to meet need in other areas of the life of the Church (such as Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) and the world.

There is great joy in this, in continuing the spiritual exercise of giving. I appreciate those at TPC who challenged my family to develop our stewardship fitness. I challenge those of you who participated in Blessings Forward to press onward as well, as together we seek the prize of God’s calling.

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