I may have been a little negative about AC in my last post. Stuart Auditorium was nice and cool last night at our clergy session, but we were missing the 1500 laity...so we shall see. This clergy session was actually enjoyable...the best one I have attended actually.Bishop Goodpaster gave us a good message with some inspirational, obtainable, and realistic goals we, as a conference, will be striving for. Here is what he is proposing:
Before Dec. 31st, 2012 the Western North Carolina Conference will have: [updated]
300,000 members - making us the 3rd largest conference
30,000 more in worship on Sundays
3,000 mission teams sent
300 remissioned congregations
30 new congregations
What I liked about this that a bishop set goals. Now, this is only my third bishop since entering the ministry 7 years ago. In a time of financial trouble he looked forward and he did so in a positive matter. In the past I have been bashed over the head and slapped around but this time it felt like a coach in the locker room giving us a half time pep talk. "We will have 300,000 members, 30,000 in worship, 300 mission teams, and 30 new churches!"
After the meeting I am ready to do my part.
UPDATE: Bishop Goodpaster also has made a mandate that every church have professions of faith, not just one but 3% of your roll. What I did not hear clearly was if that was by the end of 2012 or each year. That means we, at Trinity, are to have around 6 professions of faith...time to get to work!
1 comment:
When our leaders are in the grip of institutional anxiety and don't know what else to do, they usually turn to bashing heads and slapping us around. Glad you felt a different spirit. I hope that's what I'll feel next week for our Conference.
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