Welcome to the Table!
Welcome to the Christ Church Elder Blog!
We hope to report regularly on some of the discussions we’re engaged in as we seek God’s direction for the implementation of our vision in both the development of our ministries here at Christ Church and the steps in our building expansion.
1. Prayer Needs. We prayed (as we do regularly) for those in the church who are ill or have special needs.
2. New Staff Appointment. We welcomed Hal Pratt, our new Bookkeeper and Maintenance Coordinator to the Christ Church Staff. Hal will be responsible for both accounting functions in the office, and maintenance functions around the church. He began work on December 4.
3. Conference Call with Covenant Office. Mike, Marty, Lyle and Robert were part of a conference call with Gary Walters and several other members from Covenant Headquarters. The primary outcome of the conference call was a planned Vision Tour. Four leaders from Christ Church will be sent to visit three rapidly growing Covenant churches on the weekend of January 19–22. The three churches are Life Covenant (Oklahoma City), New Song (Los Angeles), and Bayside (San Francisco).
4. Winter Retreat and Expansion Options. We are tentatively looking to schedule the Elder Winter Retreat for the week of February 10-11th. The purpose of this retreat is to seek God’s direction for the longer-term expansion of Christ Church. At this point we have not ruled out either expanding our facility on our current property, or relocating to another site. The Next Steps Task Force is actively pursuing all options. An email from Rob Hall, Covenant site expert, was received just prior to our 12/14 meeting. He proposes an onsite visit to us for January 11 and 12, to review the suitability of our property for onsite expansion and to advise us on our expansion options. Since January 11 is a Wednesday night on which an elder meeting is scheduled, it may be possible to meet with him.
5. Day of Prayer. The Elders approved a request to make January 14th a Day of Prayer. The day will focus on praying for church unity, next steps, and new staff.
6. Christ Church @ Cole Video Venue. On December 4 we had a lunch meeting with Christ Church Deacons, Staff, Next Steps Task Force and various ministry leaders to present the concept of a video venue at Cole Jr. High School and to invite their feedback. Feedback was generally positive. We hope to be able to have an additional 10:00 am service at this facility, with live worship, and taped (from the 8:30 service) message. This service would have its own style and character. It would create an additional 250 seats for the 10:00–11:00 worship hour.
7. Conversion of Office Space to Ministry Space. To create more space for Children’s Ministry we are considering the conversion of the current offices into CM space. We would then rent office space off site at a location near the church. The Next Steps Task Force is scouting out potential rental facilities.
8. Nominating Task Force. We have a need for additional elders with gifts in administration. In addition, we should be seeking a new Treasurer. The Nominating Task force will be reactivated.
9. Financial Administration. In November we approved a new way to handle accounting of finances: we will hire an outside person/firm to track income from offerings and elsewhere, and use a staff bookkeeper to track expenses. The bookkeeper task will be part of Hal Pratt’s responsibilities. This new financial administration plan reconfigures the office of Treasurer, and eliminates the office of Financial Secretary. (Since this elimination requires a change in the Bylaws, this must be proposed for congregational vote at the next Annual Meeting.)
10. All Church Event. We are hearing a desire to repeat a service in which the entire church is together (like the “Celebration Sunday” service at the East Greenwich High School in May of 2004). Discussion of this led to the idea of possibly having our 2006 Easter Service(s) there.
Faithfully, in Christ
The Christ Church Elders
Reflections with Robert Messore
“To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
The movement inward comes first because without interior transformation the movement up into God's glory would overwhelm us and the movement out into ministry would destroy us.”
- Richard J. Foster
Would you describe part of your prayer life as a movement inward?
The Elders would enjoy discussing ways to enrich the prayer life of the church. If you have any questions regarding your personal prayer time please feel free to: call the church and leave us your name and a way to contact you. Or you may CLICK HERE to email us! If you have a more general question regarding prayer, you may use the Blog as a forum for discussion.
For the Elders,
Robert Messore
We hope to report regularly on some of the discussions we’re engaged in as we seek God’s direction for the implementation of our vision in both the development of our ministries here at Christ Church and the steps in our building expansion.
Elder Minutes – Blog Edition
Highlights from December 2005 Elder Meetings
Highlights from December 2005 Elder Meetings
1. Prayer Needs. We prayed (as we do regularly) for those in the church who are ill or have special needs.
2. New Staff Appointment. We welcomed Hal Pratt, our new Bookkeeper and Maintenance Coordinator to the Christ Church Staff. Hal will be responsible for both accounting functions in the office, and maintenance functions around the church. He began work on December 4.
3. Conference Call with Covenant Office. Mike, Marty, Lyle and Robert were part of a conference call with Gary Walters and several other members from Covenant Headquarters. The primary outcome of the conference call was a planned Vision Tour. Four leaders from Christ Church will be sent to visit three rapidly growing Covenant churches on the weekend of January 19–22. The three churches are Life Covenant (Oklahoma City), New Song (Los Angeles), and Bayside (San Francisco).
4. Winter Retreat and Expansion Options. We are tentatively looking to schedule the Elder Winter Retreat for the week of February 10-11th. The purpose of this retreat is to seek God’s direction for the longer-term expansion of Christ Church. At this point we have not ruled out either expanding our facility on our current property, or relocating to another site. The Next Steps Task Force is actively pursuing all options. An email from Rob Hall, Covenant site expert, was received just prior to our 12/14 meeting. He proposes an onsite visit to us for January 11 and 12, to review the suitability of our property for onsite expansion and to advise us on our expansion options. Since January 11 is a Wednesday night on which an elder meeting is scheduled, it may be possible to meet with him.
5. Day of Prayer. The Elders approved a request to make January 14th a Day of Prayer. The day will focus on praying for church unity, next steps, and new staff.
6. Christ Church @ Cole Video Venue. On December 4 we had a lunch meeting with Christ Church Deacons, Staff, Next Steps Task Force and various ministry leaders to present the concept of a video venue at Cole Jr. High School and to invite their feedback. Feedback was generally positive. We hope to be able to have an additional 10:00 am service at this facility, with live worship, and taped (from the 8:30 service) message. This service would have its own style and character. It would create an additional 250 seats for the 10:00–11:00 worship hour.
7. Conversion of Office Space to Ministry Space. To create more space for Children’s Ministry we are considering the conversion of the current offices into CM space. We would then rent office space off site at a location near the church. The Next Steps Task Force is scouting out potential rental facilities.
8. Nominating Task Force. We have a need for additional elders with gifts in administration. In addition, we should be seeking a new Treasurer. The Nominating Task force will be reactivated.
9. Financial Administration. In November we approved a new way to handle accounting of finances: we will hire an outside person/firm to track income from offerings and elsewhere, and use a staff bookkeeper to track expenses. The bookkeeper task will be part of Hal Pratt’s responsibilities. This new financial administration plan reconfigures the office of Treasurer, and eliminates the office of Financial Secretary. (Since this elimination requires a change in the Bylaws, this must be proposed for congregational vote at the next Annual Meeting.)
10. All Church Event. We are hearing a desire to repeat a service in which the entire church is together (like the “Celebration Sunday” service at the East Greenwich High School in May of 2004). Discussion of this led to the idea of possibly having our 2006 Easter Service(s) there.
Faithfully, in Christ
The Christ Church Elders
Reflections with Robert Messore
“To pray is to change. This is a great grace. How good of God to provide a path whereby our lives can be taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.
The movement inward comes first because without interior transformation the movement up into God's glory would overwhelm us and the movement out into ministry would destroy us.”
- Richard J. Foster
Would you describe part of your prayer life as a movement inward?
The Elders would enjoy discussing ways to enrich the prayer life of the church. If you have any questions regarding your personal prayer time please feel free to: call the church and leave us your name and a way to contact you. Or you may CLICK HERE to email us! If you have a more general question regarding prayer, you may use the Blog as a forum for discussion.
For the Elders,
Robert Messore
posted by Pat | 10:10 AM
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