Happy Sabbath! Last night we had our second meeting. The conclusion that everyone came to was that Sunnyside needed to focus on 3 areas: Community Service, Small Groups, & Families. Bud will be taking those areas back to the church board as our recommendation. Details on how each of those items would play out were discussed, but our job was to help provide the direction...
Dianne Dickerson is currently collecting and analyzing data from a church survey that was conducted. The report she comes back with will help us to focus our community service mission. Many small groups are in existence, but not everyone is aware of them all. We have asked that a list of current groups be put together (no need to reinvent the wheel!), and to invite those groups to have a "booth" at our Open House in May to re-introduce/introduce those groups.
The last category is something to minister to families (traditional or single parents). Several ideas were tossed around, but I think the overall conclusion was how can Sunnyside minister to these parents so that they can benefit spiritually & emotionally from their church family. For example, maybe its a Debt Free class like Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial Ministries; maybe its providing ORGANIZED child care (not babysitting) during the church service or for other activities so that these parents - such as myself - would be able to participate.
The list could go on forever and ever in each of these areas. My personal feeling that I shared w/ Bud was that Sunnyside has already been doing many things correctly, but that added structure, planning, and direction in these areas will really help us to use our full potential as a congregation & to get the other 92% of folks plugged in outside of the church service.
Our group did not set a date to meet again - although it will probably be right before the Open House. I've touched on barely a few of the specific ideas that were talked about. Everyone came to the meeting with well thought out comments, and really care about our church family.
Yesterday was a beautiful sun-filled day...try to enjoy the rain the best you can today because in a few months when its 100+ day after day we'll be thinking back on this time and wishing for a little cool-down! :)
Deanna
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
First Meeting
Fellow Next-Steppers,
Our meeting Friday evening was an opportunity for those of us on the leadership team to get to know each other. We shared how we came to Sunnyside, how long we have each been there, a little about our families, and what other interests we have. Since Bud Dickerson had promised us we'd only be there for an hour that was about all we accomplished. We will be meeting again on Friday, March 25th. It will be at this meeting that we will get out each table's posters and start getting into the "nitty-gritty" of where Sunnyside will go next.
Also, I had shared with leadership that I had created a blog (at the request of Mr. Crouch) for those at our table. My intent was to make it clear to them that I was there as a voice for those at my table - not just my own voice. At any rate I was asked to create a blog for our leadership team so that we can be 'working' in between our meeting dates.
One team member shared that a fellow church member had the impression that the content of the Friday night/Sabbath afternoon meetings were "secret"... Clearly that is not the case, and so we talked about the importance of making sure we regularly communicated with our church family about how things were going. If any of you have friends that perhaps were not at the meetings please let them know that they still have an opportunity to have a voice and have input. Pass along any additional ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc. my way via this blog. We thought as a team it would be a great idea to share the team's email addresses with the church family so that anyone can pass along information to us. I'm not sure if that will happen via the church newsletter or bulletin.
Finally, I want to talk about some specific areas of prayer between now and March 25th. Please pray for me as I mentally prepare for the next meeting. After reflecting on our first meeting I realized that I need to do a better job of being fully present. Pray for God's guidance in helping us determine who will be the best leader for our leadership team. I believe we will be deciding on that next time too. Pray for the productivity of our meeting - that we will make the best use of our time together (we only have an hour). Lastly, pray for God's guidance in what 3 areas Sunnyside is to focus on in the next 6 months.
Our meeting Friday evening was an opportunity for those of us on the leadership team to get to know each other. We shared how we came to Sunnyside, how long we have each been there, a little about our families, and what other interests we have. Since Bud Dickerson had promised us we'd only be there for an hour that was about all we accomplished. We will be meeting again on Friday, March 25th. It will be at this meeting that we will get out each table's posters and start getting into the "nitty-gritty" of where Sunnyside will go next.
Also, I had shared with leadership that I had created a blog (at the request of Mr. Crouch) for those at our table. My intent was to make it clear to them that I was there as a voice for those at my table - not just my own voice. At any rate I was asked to create a blog for our leadership team so that we can be 'working' in between our meeting dates.
One team member shared that a fellow church member had the impression that the content of the Friday night/Sabbath afternoon meetings were "secret"... Clearly that is not the case, and so we talked about the importance of making sure we regularly communicated with our church family about how things were going. If any of you have friends that perhaps were not at the meetings please let them know that they still have an opportunity to have a voice and have input. Pass along any additional ideas, thoughts, concerns, etc. my way via this blog. We thought as a team it would be a great idea to share the team's email addresses with the church family so that anyone can pass along information to us. I'm not sure if that will happen via the church newsletter or bulletin.
Finally, I want to talk about some specific areas of prayer between now and March 25th. Please pray for me as I mentally prepare for the next meeting. After reflecting on our first meeting I realized that I need to do a better job of being fully present. Pray for God's guidance in helping us determine who will be the best leader for our leadership team. I believe we will be deciding on that next time too. Pray for the productivity of our meeting - that we will make the best use of our time together (we only have an hour). Lastly, pray for God's guidance in what 3 areas Sunnyside is to focus on in the next 6 months.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Hope
I left the meeting on Sabbath afternoon feeling very hopeful. I've been trying to figure out why I feel hopeful and I think it is because it feels like God is leading Sunnyside through the "people in the pew." I'm thrilled that a leadership team was set up composed of people who are not currently in positions of leadership. I'm excited that they are going to choose the three areas for our church to focus. There was a lot of energy in the room on Sabbath afternoon and it came from people who care deeply about what God is going to do in and through our congregation. It was good for this pastor's heart to feel that much enthusiasm.
Thank you, team, for giving five hours of your time this weekend. Thank you, Deanna, for accepting the position on the leadership team to represent our group. Thank you, God, for what you are about to do.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Our next step
Our next step turned out to be an awesome step! The only thing that I thought about mentioning was maybe it would be helpful to have all Ministry leaders meet for spiritual support as well as coordinate any goals. Maybe something like Men's Ministry works on projects for needy, couples retreat, family growth, Care elders and prayer teams can coordinate. Anyway point being just more team work.
Thanks for the blog page Deanna good job!
Thanks for the blog page Deanna good job!
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Greetings!
Greetings to my new Sunnyside friends. Some of you I know better than others, but I look forward to learning more about you. The first committee meeting is going to be this Friday evening at 6:30. Any thoughts you would like to share leading up to this time is appreciated!
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