Pastor's Message
January 2013
To the Children of God at Emmanuel:
We begin January 2013 with several decisions that will influence this community of faith. Each decision brings with it various ways in which to feel and think. In the end, each of us must trust that the Holy Spirit is guiding us.
On January 13 Emmanuel will decide whether or not to extend a settled call to me as the pastor of the church. My current call extends until May 2013. If you decide to call me as your settled pastor, and I accept the call, we will continue seeking ways to be a welcoming, worshiping, growing, serving and relating community of faith. (I would remind you there will be only one service on January 13). In seeking to continue to be a welcoming, worshiping, growing, serving, and relating community of faith we have several other ideas to explore.
Our Christmas Gift-Give-Away and Hunger Coalition Christmas Dinner continue to grow each year. A special thanks goes out to Ursula Harder for her hard work and organization of the gifts this year. We continue to need better communication and a small group in charge of this growing event. There will be an evaluation and planning meeting on January 15 at Emmanuel for next year’s event.
The Transformational Ministry Team will also need to go through some significant changes during 2013. This is especially true if I am called as the settled pastor at Emmanuel. In addition to change in personal we will also need to help the council evaluate the constitutional structure of Emmanuel. In the time I have been here there has never been a full council in terms of a representative and a chair for each committee. The current structure makes for a rather cumbersome decision-making process and Emmanuel will need to decide how it wishes to be governed in the future. We may decide to keep the structure as it is, but honest evaluation is needed of that structure.
Blessings to each one of you in 2013. I hold you in my heart and in my prayers.
One of Christ’s servants,
Pastor David Hendricks - Child of God