Highlights from Recent Elder Meetings

Elder Minutes – Blog Edition

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“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18

We greet you in Christ’s name as we begin a new fiscal year in the life of our congregation. Peter’s admonition quoted above is indeed our prayer for each one of you as we continue to share a life of worship, love and service together for another year.

“Our God is an awesome God.” Here are some exciting ways in which we are seeing God working in our midst currently. These are only the “headlines.” For details on many of these items, please plan to attend the Annual Meeting this Saturday, July 15, at 7:00 p.m.

1. “Hub and Spokes.” As elders we have sought God’s long-term vision for our church. We have outgrown our current facilities, and are looking for land to build a more spacious facility. But what if we outgrow that facility? Do we just want to keep getting bigger? We believe that God is calling us eventually to become the “hub,” that is, the base of operations, for a community that is larger than the borders of our campus. Video technology now allows for multi-site churches that meet in different places yet share the same worship and/or teaching experiences. These off-site locations would be the “spokes” in the wheel. Many of the larger churches in the country have had considerable success in expanding their ministries in this way. In January three of our elders (Bill, Robert and Lyle) visited some of these churches, “kicked the tires” of this concept and returned with a sense of its potential for our future growth.

2. Update on Church Expansion. Over the past months the Next Step Task Force, under the tireless leadership of Elder Mike Denci, has identified several parcels of land for possible church expansion. We have walked on, prayed over and discussed the potential of each of these parcels, and had preliminary discussions with the owners or their representatives. We have been greatly assisted in this process by Rob Hall, of National Covenant Properties (a service arm of our denomination). We are very excited about what currently appears to be a very positive step in our search for property! Please pray that the process of discussion and negotiation now under way is truly of God’s leading and provision.

3. Office Space Update. We continue to be committed to finding off-site office space, and to convert our current office space into Children’s Ministry space, but the process is slower than we had anticipated. We have an agreement to rent a facility, but issues of zoning, building permits and other permissions are delaying the process. We believe that God’s timing is perfect, and that he will work this out in his time.

4. Financial Policy. We have completed the task of designing a new financial administration structure. Some of the aspects of this new structure require a change in our bylaws, and a vote on that matter is scheduled for the Annual Meeting.

5. Elder Leadership Structure. As the church has grown, so has the complexity of its need for leadership. We remain convinced that according to Scripture the primary responsibility for oversight and leadership belongs to the elders. But within the eldership there are diverse gifts and callings, and so we have designed four elder-led “teams” to give leadership and support to four major activities in which we as a church are engaged. These teams are: the Shepherding Team, the Ministry Team, the Worship Arts Team and the Management Team. These teams will consist of both elders and non-elders who are called and gifted in these areas. More on this at the Annual Meeting.

6. Spiritual Formation. We believe that Christ-likeness is the goal of the Christian life. We are working on developing and instituting a coordinated plan for the spiritual growth of all of us here at Christ Church.

Please join us this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for a time of celebration of what God is doing at Christ Church!


Faithfully in Christ

The Christ Church Elders

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Reflections with Robert Messore

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In the Third Epistle of John, it states:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers."

As we continue our discussion on prayer, let us begin to focus on some of the different movements of our prayer life.

Our prayer life can be very complex, involving all of who we are. We have many parts to our being, and consciously developing them may help us achieve our desire, which is to give all of whom we are to all of who God is for us.

Three aspects of our prayer life are our thought life, our emotional life, and our physical life. These different parts can also be broken down into various expressions.

Have you ever asked yourself where you abide during your prayer time? Have I been thinking with God, feeling with God, do I notice that my body is expressing itself to God? When I am thinking with God, how does that affect the rest of my day? When I am feeling with God how does that affect the rest of my day? When I feel my physical body has been engaged in my prayer time, how does that affect the rest of my day?

Take some time over the next few days and be more aware of your style of prayer. Would you say that your prayer time is spent mostly thinking with God or about God? Do you focus on being taught by God and engage your mind with theological concepts? Is your prayer time spent feeling with God; do you believe God has feelings? Is it possible to distinguish between your feelings and God's? In which ways do you engage your physical body in prayer?

I would like to facilitate a meeting in which we could discuss these concepts. If there is enough response to do so, I will arrange a time at church.

For the Elders,

Robert Messore