Thankful

During the month of October you were very kind to me during Pastor Appreciation Month. Thank you for the many expressions of support and some surprises, like the after the 11 am worship fellowship in my honor, compete with cake and other goodies. I feel very much appreciated and am honored to be your pastor.

Let me also take this opportunity to say “thank you” to Gordon Riddoch who is our Lay Leader. Gordon is a great Lay Leader who also serves as our Lay Delegate to Annual Conference. We enjoy being together and working side by side to lead and serve the members of this congregation. His job is an important one too. He co-chairs the Committee on Lay Leadership, which solicits and nominates laity to serve in the various committees and ministries of the church. By virtue of his position as Lay Leader, he serves on the Church Council, the Staff Parish Relations Committee, the Finance Committee and is an ex-oficcio member of the Trustees as needed. But more importantly, Gordon regularly makes himself available to help out in so many ways. It is my joy to serve alongside of him.

Intentional

I am mindful of our need to be intentional to grow our ministry and to reach people for Jesus Christ and His ministry here. As a part of that, the Staff Parish Relations Committee has been working together to clarify some things to guide us into this next year. On the front of the Messenger you will find some things we have clarified together. These things are forming part of the agreement we have developed for support and accountability for Growth in 2015. Among those things you find on the front page are both a mission statement and a vision statement and a list of our Core Values. Below are several goals which we have set for 2015. I hope as a congregation we can all own these statements, core values and goals. Only with your help and active participation will we live into and up to these aspirations.

Goals for 2015

• Goal # 1: To have 15 persons or more to make first time professions of faith in Christ
• Goal # 2: To have a net growth in our Professing Membership of 10%
• Goal # 3: To increase our pledges and giving through our operating funds by at least 15%
• Goal # 4: To increase our giving to missions/outreach by $10,000
• Goal # 5: To enroll thirty five persons in Bible Study who are not presently enrolled
• Goal # 6: To Pay 100% of our congregation’s Apportionments and Ministerial Support
• Goal # 7: To Surpass the $600,000 amount in gifts received in our Capital Campaign

Yours for Thankful & Intentional Living,
Doug