The Deacon Board wants to thank the congregation for their prayers and support throughout 2013. We have been prayerfully asking God’s guidance and wisdom to assure we are serving the Tabernacle family according to his will.
We have prayed for healing of many of our faithful brothers and sisters and prayed for peace and support in times of loss. We have prayed thankfully for the many blessing we have received, new life from new birth and new life from new individuals from around the corner and all the way on the other side of the world. Our walls echo with the beautiful sounds of children laughing, new babies crying and cooing and people from all walks of life and all around the world getting to know each other and creating a bond that will unite us and keep us a force moving in God’s direction.
The Deacons enjoyed a retreat at the beautiful facilities of Westminster Canterbury planning for ways to engage, support and minister to each other and to our brothers and sisters at TBC.
We have been involved in developing a process for the team based ministry, approved to replace our committee structure, by assuring that practices were in place for team and leader approval by the church and to assure all budgeting and auditing requirements were in place. Our second annual Town Hall meeting on behalf of the Team ministry was a huge success. Thank you, Jessica Corbitt, for your leadership in this effort.
The Board is in the middle of a discussion about the right timing for Deacon nomination and term. Currently the Deacon Board serves based on the calendar year, with each nominated Deacon serving a 3-year term. Consideration for changing the term from a calendar year to a 3-year term beginning April 1 to March 31 is being discussed. More on that later.
We assisted in working through the seed of an idea for our Pastor to take a sabbatical through our grant request and approval. We are thankful to the Sabbatical team in their hard work and are bless that we are able to offer this to our well-deserving pastor, Sterling.
A new format for our Judson Class has taken root in the form of a worship service during the Sunday School hour for our Burmese born members offered in their native language. We also enjoyed a Multi-Cultural Christmas Celebration hosted by our Burmese born members.
We were blessed with the opportunity to send members of the congregation on a Singapore/Malaysia trip. Families were joined. New friends and relationships started and strengthened. We feel we worship daily with our family in Burma. Thank you congregation for making this happen.
In our effort to assure adequate staffing and adequate help for our staff, we have offered Dan Schumacher a position as Associate Pastor for one year beginning immediately after his residency term is completed. We are blessed to be able to keep Dan in a position to lead us. We are thankful for the talent and leadership of many individuals including Leigh Anne Zylstra, Rachel Spencer, Joseph Perdue, Emily Kuezak, Julie Gaines, Rebecca Suter and Kah Naw. Their work with and among us is phenomenal.
We were honored to host two ordinations in 2013. Art Wright and Joe Perdue, individuals that are much loved in this House were ordained at Tabernacle. Their work among us has made us stronger and better equipped to do God’s will. We are blessed they serve with us and can’t wait to see how God will use them here or “out there somewhere”.
We are humbled to have been chosen to serve the Tabernacle Baptist Church family. Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy McGraw, Chair
