End-of-Year Update Letter (2000)
December 6, 2000
Dear ,
We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on several fronts here at Grace. First, we want to thank you for faithfully meeting each Wednesday to pray for our church and for our leadership team during this transition phase. We are blessed with a Spirit-anointed unity here at Grace and it is clear that this unity begins with our leadership.
Worship Center–Look up the Greek rendering of the words “Building Program” and you will certainly find a lot about patience! Just when we think we are on target there is another delay. The culprit this time is our roof. The goal was to begin construction of the roof in early December; instead we are looking at early to mid-January. Unfortunately, this will set us back approximately a month. Our completion date is now June 1, 2001. It has been proven to us, however, that God is clearly working according to His timeline, not ours. Praise the Lord.
Christmas Offering–On Sunday, December 17, we will give our annual Christmas Offering. This year’s offering will go towards our worship center (Grace Church) and the new building (Grace West). The more we can pay cash for right now, the more we can save on interest in the future. Please prayerfully consider your part in this offering.
Purpose Driven–You will see the phrase “Purpose Driven Church” more and more as we work to align our philosophy with the Purpose Driven Church model. In many ways, Pastor Nelms carried us 80 percent of the way there (Grace 101, 201 and 301, for example, are all part of the Purpose Driven philosophy). In a sentence, we are working to create a balance between the five purposes of a local church: Worship, Instruction, Fellowship, Evangelism, and Service; it’s a commitment to the Great Commandment and a passion to carry out the Great Commission. If you would like to know more about the Purpose Driven Church, you can check out the book by Pastor Rick Warren (see Chris Eller).
Dr. Fred Wolfe–We are honored to have back with us on Sunday, December 17, Dr. Fred Wolfe. Fred served as pastor of Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile, AL, a 6,000 member Southern Baptist Church. Now retired, Fred travels the country assisting churches and encouraging church leadership. We have asked Fred to spend some time with you, our leadership team, following the Sunday evening service. You will enjoy the casual conversation with a great man of the ministry. Please make every effort to be at this fellowship. We will meet in the Fireside Room. (Note: We anticipate this going 90 minutes to two hours, so you will want to arrange a separate ride home for your family.)
Pastoral Search Team–Our Search Team has been working diligently on a long list of names trying to find the top candidates for senior pastor. Our elders will take the top three or four names and through prayerful consideration narrow that short list down to one name. It is our hope and prayer to have a senior pastor by next summer. Pray for discernment in this search process.
This brings us current on the priority issues for December. If you have any questions or feedback on any issues, please don’t hesitate to call one of the elders.