Plantation
Notes for 5/7/08
Worship & Prayer
· Spirit of the Living God
· Prayer
Recast vision –
Last November, God gave COH a passion and a vision for where He wants us to go. There is a difference between knowing something and doing it. For a while, God has been moving us in a direction of being an outward focused congregation. God’s vision gave us a vehicle for that to happen.
· Church plant with core group of 200 members.
· Passion for friends & neighbors & city
· Pruning in each of us, not pruning out people – raising up the good soil in every single one of us.
· Pruning programs by asking where to start – doing too much has been a constant struggle for our congregation. God is asking us to look at what programs we’d be doing if we started a church from nothing.
· Identify assets – what are the assets that we already have to bring to this church plant?
· Where are we? Coming to conclusion of chapter one: much of the soil prepared; many seeds planted; leaves starting to pop through
· Successes – We know that we are in a new chapter because the fruit is coming more rapidly. The recast vision has led to greater involvement with volunteers stepping up at new levels. A new couple of young adults has been worshiping for the first time in their lives. On Sunday, he asked to be baptized. A new family of seven from the neighborhood came on Sunday. There were four teenagers in the family. The young adults welcomed that family, and the kids stayed for SNAP night afterwards. There is a scout troop that meets here occasionally. They asked to meet here on a regular basis because there is something about being here, in our building, that they like. In the next 30 days, there are 9 new family units joining, 4 weddings and 3 baptisms, so far
· Prayer: partners, triplets, purpose of prayer
· Unity: values, beliefs, purposes
· Testimonies
· Friendship evangelism tool kit
· Hospitality
Vital ministries
· Seven areas of discipleship for all believers
o Pray continually
o Grow in the Word
o Friendship evangelize
o Love one another
o Support financially
o Worship
o Serve – serving is the one area that looks different for everyone
· Essential start-up ministries for a new church plant (see the Essential Start-up Ministries for a Church Plant)
o Prayer
o Worship
o Hospitality
o Outreach
o Communications
o Small groups
· Essential development ministries for a church plant
o Children’s ministry
o Youth ministry
o Adult discipleship
o Senior ministry
o Missions
· Pastor Dave distributed a sheet that adds details to each of the ministry lists above. He asked everyone to review the list and see where they can add their name. He would like every adult member to put their name next to something. Then we can look at everything we have and see where the gaps are. Then we will know where we need to grow. He also asked that people let him know if anything is missing. This is still in draft form.
Existing assets – these are things that a new church wouldn’t normally have when they open their doors, but God has already provided here. These are things that we already have and already do well.
· Prayer ministry
· Facility, grounds, location
· 8:00 Traditional Service
· 10:30 Contemporary Service
· Unity in core values
· Alpha Course
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· MOPS ministry
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· Missions emphases (local, national, global)
Staffing
· Administrator – Mary is a gift
o She brings a host of experience: business, teaching, construction, science, pastoral background
o She has the advantage of seeing things new – she can see things that we’ve grown accustomed to.
o Many areas have already been handed off and others will be soon.
· Other areas in transition: (nursery, office support, janitor, children’s ministry, youth ministry)
Finance
· General Fund – April balance of over $11,000; staff reserve of $45,000 (goal of keeping $20,000 in reserve)
· Building Fund
o Approved for total mortgage of $1.2M
o Lower interest rates will make this more accessible
o Estimate of $25,000 available for furnishings and wish list items
Construction
· Schedule – we are currently on schedule and maybe even ahead of schedule with an anticipated completion date July 11
· Fire sprinkler system will be put into this building.
· We will be losing half of the parking lot a week after Pentecost. Additional “new” parking will be available the week after. Those who can are asked to park along Cosby or across the street.
What’s coming
· Looking at some inexpensive cosmetic makeover opportunities to better tie the existing facilities in to the new facilities.
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A new flat screen monitor has been donated for
the
· Reviewing usage of all existing and new facilities.
· Working with ministries and teams in equipping leaders, connecting ministries to the overall vision
· Somewhat determined in evaluation of this evening’s forum
· Some items may be handled by the Strategic Planning team
· Continue friendship evangelism tool kit
· Evaluate health and coverage of vital ministries
· Collectively discern steps God is calling us to take in building bridges
o Community-oriented major events at COH (VBS, fall festival, etc.)
o Partnership with local elementary schools
o Marketing
o Door-to-door visitation
· Determine next steps in increasing congregational ownership of church-plant mindset
Summer/fall
· Opening of new facilities – new ministries and new growth
· Summer Sunday School for children will not be offered this summer (and only this summer). Instead there will be child care or some other activity offered so that adults can stay involved, and we will re-start Children’s Sunday school in the fall when we can do it better.
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· Staffing needs
· Phase 2b of the Building plan will be pursued as money becomes available. This will provide additional kitchen, storage and classroom facilities.
Questions / Comments
· Will we be hiring a new youth director with the new facility? - There are staff needs in a number of areas, including youth. This includes nursery, janitorial, and office support. At this point, we are collectively praying about these needs.
· A suggestion was made that after the remodeling is finished, Pastor Dave move his office into the old nursery and let Mary have his office. That is a consideration.
· Why are we closing a section of the parking lot? – A sewer line needs to be put in, so a trench will be dug. They will create some access so that we can get in and out of the building, but there won’t be parking. We are asking the City to allow us to put in pea gravel along the new access road. We are already required to provide dust control, and using pea gravel for that would allow us to use the roadway. This would also save us approximately $7K.
· How close will parking be to the new kitchen when it is built? – It will be further than it is now. We had to make some trade offs when we did the master plan.
· It is obvious that God is working here.
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Has there been any more contact with Ed from
· Anne Marie shared that she was touched by the letter from Ed Ngan who is a member of our congregation who is in prison.
· Last Friday night, at the city-wide Prayer and Worship service. God gave a message to one person that they described as “a ministry of tears” – a peak into God’s heart. Three times since then, Dave has heard that same message from within our congregation. This is a powerful sign of the Holy Spirit working.
· How do we help the rest of the Congregation get involved? –
o Announce these meetings sooner. There were several people that would have been here if they had known sooner.
o Repeat the forum in another setting to give others a chance to attend.
o Place the notes on the web site.
o Announcements on the screen in the Welcome Center between services
o Partnerships with other churches
o Discuss in cell groups
o Sunday morning updates