We have our first ever “Conclave” this past friday night. This simply was a night of fellowship and an informative time to cast vision for the immediate direction of our church and the future plans and vision for CATGrove.
We had a blast eating and hanging out and then we gathered for a time to update everyone on some current events and some transitions in the near future. We invited anyone that had any interest to come and be a part and our members and regular attenders were strongly encouraged to come and be there to hear where God is leading us. For those of you that may have missed it, here is the synopsis of what we discussed:
I shared our vision, mission and ministry filters (core values):
- Our vision is to take the gospel (good news) of Jesus to the first generations born and raised in a post-christian culture.
- Our mission/purpose is to develop people who follow Jesus and Make Disciples.
Our ministry filters:
- Biblical Faith
- Persuasive Compassion
- Missional Responsibility
- Authentic Relationships
- Intentional Simplicity
- Faithful Stewardship
We had two couples share brief stories about how much Church at the Grove has meant to them. Scott and Joyce Nobles and Mike and Lisa Malcom did a great job sharing their testimonies.
- Craig Story shared how God has continued to give him a heart for the education community. As a result he is being led to become bi-vocational in his ministry role here at CATGrove. He has taken his test to receive his provisional certification and will hopefully teach in the Walton County school system this fall. His role will change during the week here at CATGrove but he will remain in an associate pastoral role and on our Elder Leadership team. He will continue his normal responsibilities on Sundays and will remain in the teaching rotation. The biggest difference is that he will be full-time with the school system and part-time with CATGrove working approximately 10-15 hours per week.
- As a result, Nathan Boyd will come on our staff full-time in June as a part of our ministry staff. Nathan will continue to minister to our students and he will also take on the responsibilities of Community Ministry and many of the administrative tasks that Craig has had prior to his transition.
We have an incredible team with Craig, Nathan, Ric Wortham, Rosemary Kirby leading our children’s ministry and Sandy Terrell with our finances and administration. I am looking forward to Ric’s role increasing with us over time in the near future.
- I updated everyone on our financial situation and most importantly I shared that much of the financial support that we started with is coming to and end. We received our last support from Summit in February and will be receiving our last support from the New Work foundation in May.
- Basically, it is time for Church at the Grove to grow up and start walking and running on our own! Our people have to step up and support our church through faithful giving and tithing!
- I challenged our people to help us create an atmosphere on Sunday mornings that overwhelms our guests on Sundays with hospitality, warmth, acceptance and the love of Jesus. Make them say WOW! We must be aware of the fact that most people will determine whether they will come back to this church from the street to the seat! Greeters, ushers, hosts and people in our parking lot will make a huge impact before the guest ever hears the music and the sermon.
- We want to find a piece of land in the Walnut Grove area!
We have made a definite decision to launch The Grove at Social Circle in the fall of 2009! This is going to be awesome and I am so excited.
- We would like to raise some funds in the short term for some specific needs we have and to help us get through the summer with Craig and Nathan on the payroll for two months. I asked our people to consider making a gift offering above their tithes for the amount of either $1000, $500, $250, or $100 in the month of May.
