Dr. Skelly relates to the listeners the challenges and opportunities he is facing as the new pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, VA.

* When arriving in a new ministry, you must be cognizant of the "black hole" of personhood - they do not know you, your personality, your history and you don't know them, either.  Learn to humble yourself and ask questions.

* What we understood in our missiology needs to be reflected in the cultural differences even in our nation - giving the same grace to the nuances of regional differences that we do on the foreign field.

* At a new church you fight feeling superficial, you want to know the congregation in depth, but depth takes time.

* Fertilize the area you want to grow first.

* Create the time to view changes that have a biblical purpose.

* We need to be careful that we don't assume we are ministering effectively just because we are ministering busily.