October 23, 2026
I’m a planner. Well, sort of. I have my moments. In our family’s spoken and unspoken delineation of responsibilities, I often take on the role of vacation planner. Once the location and dates have been determined, I usually take on the responsibility of researching the things we will do and experience. I spend my time securing the transportation, finding the housing, planning the itinerary, and making other necessary reservations. As a result, generally, the family is quite content with the plans I put together. I wish my vacation planning skills were translated to every facet of my life. On any given weekend at our house, I literally have no idea if we have any plans or if we do what they are. My kids get frustrated with me because, on the off-chance I do know of a plan, I neglect to tell them so that they can make the necessary arrangements to their own schedules. It can be a bit of a disaster at times.
Plans are important. As with all things in life, however, plans should be held loosely. That is to say, plans are critical so that we can know what we’re aiming for and, therefore, we can determine how we want to get there. But we all know that sometimes our plans don’t turn out as expected. There are times when we hit a snag and must adjust. Or things don’t work out the way we think, and the plan has to be altered. Someone may argue, doesn’t Jesus frown on us making plans for our life? We read Proverbs 16:9 which says, The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. As a general guiding principle for our faith walk, the Proverb author is correct.
But Jesus isn’t against planning. In Luke 14:28, he says, For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? In context, Jesus is talking about his would-be apprentices carefully thinking out the implications of what it means to follow him. However, that principle applies to White Oak’s current work on a plan for our future as well.
Over the last year, our staff and elders have been working on and discussing a plan that will lead our church to accomplish our mission of connecting people to full life in Jesus over the next five years. Nothing about this plan replaces our vision for the overall future of White Oak where, Everyone is on the path to full life by discovering their identity in Jesus, being equipped to love, and deployed on mission. This five-year plan simply focuses our vision and our resources to accomplish our mission in specific ways. The outcome of our plan is simple: White Oak will be…
A multi-site New Testament church fueled by volunteer teams that facilitate formation, transform families, and multiply impact in our communities and around the world.
The plan and the strategies which flow from this desired outcome are inspired by Jesus’s words in Matthew 25.
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Jesus’s words compel us to steward his resources well and, with urgency, multiply impact in his Kingdom-work. While we are excited for this plan which God has laid on our hearts, we hold it loosely knowing that he is ultimately in control. Over the next few weeks, I look forward to sharing with you more about the over-arching pieces of our plan. I firmly believe this is a Spirit-led plan. I sense God’s joy in it. I am excited to invite our church family to hear it and engage with it as together, we move!
Planning for our future,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor
