tbc Worship & Fellowship

Fall 2018 Parents Letter

Dear TBC Parents,

Greetings! I am excited about all the things happening in Children’s Ministry at Tabernacle this fall, and our Children’s Ministry Team wanted to make sure you were in the loop.

Minster to Children & Families

We announced our candidate for the part time position of Minister to Children and Families this past Sunday, Rev. Jerusha Moses. Some of you may know Jerusha and her daughter Misha already, as they have attended Tabernacle from time to time over the past few years. If you don’t know Jerusha, or would like to learn more about her, her resume is at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. There are also copies of an interview she did with Baptist Women in Ministry available for you. Please make plans to be with us on Sunday, September 2, when we will vote on Jerusha’s hire. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Children’s Ministry team, or to me directly.

 

Wednesday Worship Arts (6-7 PM on Wednesday, beginning September 12th)

During the summer, I sat down with the Children’s Ministry team and our faithful volunteers to discuss our goals for Wednesday evening programming. We are excited to expand our emphasis on “Worship Arts” with our children this fall! We want to continue our deep commitment to choir and musical arts, while also integrating more intentionally the connection between Bible stories, music, mission, and other forms of art. Charity Roberson and I have worked to develop curriculum ideas that pair with the music our kids will be singing and the stories from Scripture that we will hear in worship each Sunday. We have also changed some of our classroom spaces up, details below!

 

Preschool Worship Arts (Age 3- Kindergarten)

Teachers: Helen Davidson and Charity Roberson

Where: The new Preschool room on the main floor of the building in the previous Godly Play space.

 

1st & 2nd Grade Worship Arts

Teachers: Judy Fiske and Kathy McGraw

Where: The new space for 1st and 2nd grade worship arts is on the main floor, across from the women’s restroom.

 

3rd-5th Grade Worship Arts

Teachers: Jessica Corbitt and Terry Witt

Where: This class will meet in the same space, on the main floor next to the men’s restroom.

 

Sunday School (9:45-10:45 on the 2nd floor of the Williams Building)

This summer we enjoyed time with youth and adults in integrational Sunday school! Now that we are headed back into the school year, we will jump back into our regular Sunday school rhythm. We have 4 new teachers who are excited to begin working with our kids this Fall, as well as 4 returning teachers who continue to serve faithfully. We are grateful for their amazing investment in our children! The schedule has shifted somewhat as well. Our children (kindergarten-5th grade) will meet together from 9:45-10:00 to watch a video on the lesson for the week. At 10, they will break into age-based groups for activities and conversation. Please remember to have your children in the Sunday school classroom as close to 9:45 as possible so they don’t miss the video portion of Sunday school!

As summer winds down, I am praying for each of you and your families! The Children’s Team and our amazing volunteers are looking forward to reconnecting with you and your children this fall!

Blessings,

Rev. Meg Lacy 

tbc Media

Sunday Worship – 9/2/18

We conclude our series on the Sermon on the Mount.  Bringing our message is our own Charity Roberson.

Blessing and sending out of our educators and students, as they prepare for another school year.

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Youth Report – Summer 2018

This summer, the youth have been busy with fun and engaging community activities.
Cookouts, camps, and daytrips have offered spaces for the youth and volunteers to come
together and get to know one another and share the fellowship of Church Family. There were three events that were scheduled but cancelled due to lack
of sign ups and one emergency. All other events have gone as scheduled, however!

Some highlights from the summer:

  • Sunday School is always a good way to be in community with one another and study
    God’s word. Andrew Sabatini and Sarah Smith led Youth Sunday School until July 1,
    when Inter-Generational Sunday School began. Tori Tyndall and JJ Vega helped lead
    Inter-Generational Sunday School in July.
  • Near the beginning of June, Andrew Sabatini took three youth to the DC Comic Con.
  • On June 2nd, Chris Nycum drove the Judy Van with seven adults and four youth for a
    work day at Camp Alkulana. Almost all of those who went would be returning to Alkulana later
    in the summer to be campers or counselors in training.
  • On June 15th, the Burgess family hosted an end of the school year cookout that was a
    big success. There were between 8 and 10 families in attendance as well as several
    people who volunteer with the Youth throughout the year.
  • On June 18th, Mark Snipes and Miriam Kennedy took 13 youth to the DC Zoo. Although
    it was an incredibly hot day, it was a wonderful time of community.
  • On July 24th there will be a youth community day where youth come together and
    work on a project to give to the incoming Youth Minister Brock Hogan.

Camps:
The three main events of the summer are camps! From June 25th-29th Judy Fiske, Marty Watkin,
and Miriam Kennedy took 5 youth to Animate Worship Arts camp at Samford University in
Birmingham, Alabama. The students took toolbox classes and spent time with their small
groups and ended their time by planning a 15-minute worship service in one afternoon. Music and
Worship Arts Camp at Eagle Eyrie July 16th-20th had a great turnout with 28 Adults, youth,
and children. There they took different music and art classes and participated and led in
worship! On July 28th, 11 Youth and adults will head to Metro Baptist Church in New York
City to run Clue Camp. They will be there until August 4th leading children in a week of fun!

Thank You!
All of these camps and day trips and events would not be possible without volunteers and
leaders. Thank you so much to Judy Fiske, Marty Watkin, Sarah Smith, Andrew Sabatini,
SaraAnne Burgess, John Burgess, Bonnie Bailey, Kathy, McGraw, Peggy Strong, Tori Tyndall,
JJ Vega, Mark Snipes, Emily White, Hope Nycum, Chris Nycum, David Gorman, and many
others! Also, a huge thank you to parents and friends who help get youth to church and
events, you are greatly appreciated as well!

Miriam Kennedy

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Construction and Renovation Committee Report – 2nd Quarter 2018

Over the past six months, the Construction and Renovation Committee has moved forward
with the varied tasks necessary to begin work on the conversion of the two row houses into
four duplex apartments.

The new structure of the Construction and Renovation Committee was approved on April 16,
2018, which will accommodate planning the Committee’s three main focus areas, the
construction of the Duplex Apartments, the renovation of the 1st and 2nd floor of the Main
Church building and the alterations of the 1st and 2nd floor of the Williams building. Nelson
Melton will lead the effort to remodel the two row houses into duplex apartments, John Gass
will lead the effort for planning and updates to the main Church building, and Donna and Jim
Soyars will lead the work to add the new 1st floor entrance area for the Child Care function
and updates to the 2nd floor area of the Williams building.

During the past quarter, Jim Soyars undertook the replacement of the Church’s kitchen tile
floor, which was required by the City of Richmond’s health department. Also the air
conditioning system for the Child Care area had to be replaced. The addition of the new
childcare main entrance is projected to be completed just after the Labor Day holiday.

The Church’s Trustees, led by Kathy McGraw, have completed the legal documents which
allows for the transfer of the row house real estate properties to the two corporations, 1913
and 1915 Grove Avenue LLC. This transfer is necessary to allow for conversion of these two
properties into commercial rental property. Also during this time, the two Limited Liability
Corporations have been formed and await the transfer of these two properties, which will
occur after a special use permit is approved by City Council of Richmond.

Donna Soyars continues to work with Sean Hicks, attorney, who is the Church’s contact with
the City of Richmond to acquire the special use permit which allows for conversion of the
two row house properties from residential use into commercial use. This effort is moving
forward and requires first the approval of the Fan District Association before the City of
Richmond’s paperwork will proceed. Hopefully the special use permit will be approved by
the first of October, 2018 at which time re-construction of the two row houses will begin.

Nelson Melton

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Personnel Committee Report – 2nd Quarter 2018

The Personnel Committee has been working on several projects since April. The priority
this quarter was to find help with coverage for the temporary communications coordinator
vacancy until a permanent new hire was installed. The Personnel Committee extends a huge
debt of gratitude and thank you to Jacque Green and Terry McMahon for their outstanding
commitment and devotion to covering that position during the interim period. 
Dean Phillips stepped in to assist as well.

The Personnel Committee, along with the Pastoral Staff, created a sub-committee to work on
the hiring process for the vacancy. This team consisted of Linda Harlow and Mary-Curtis
Powell. Linda and Mary-Curtis’s contributions have been invaluable. Final interviews were
conducted with two candidates by Bill Welstead, Meg Lacy, Joshua Ballew and Sterling
Severns. Hope Cutchins was selected, approved by the Administrative Board, and voted
into the position by the church on June 22nd.

The committee continues to work on revising the Personnel Policy Manual.

Bill Welstead, III

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Tabernacle Child Care Center Report – 2nd Quarter 2018

 

As of July 9, 2018, TCCC is running at capacity with 72 children and fully staffed with 29
personnel.

Building/Projects

  • HVAC: new HVAC units were needed for the Williams Building’s first floor.
  • TCCC is funding the project along with generous donations from several church
    members. The work is in progress and is expected to be completed the week of
    July 9, 2018.
  • Kitchen floor: a new floor was installed as required for the Richmond Health
    Department for licensing purposes. There have been issues with the
    installation, which have yet to be resolved. TCCC and the church are equally
    sharing this project’s cost.
  • TCCC purchased a new stainless topped work prep kitchen table which will
    replace one table currently in use in the kitchen. This has arrived and is awaiting
    assembly.

Junior Kindergarten

  • Due to increased rigor in education practices and a demand in services, TCCC
    will expand its programming to offer a Junior Kindergarten classroom for older
    4 and 5 year olds, beginning September 2018.
  • There will be two classrooms, each with a licensed teacher and one
    assistant. The hope is to grow the program to include 20 students in total.
  • An open house for the Pre-K and JK will be held in August to meet the new
    teachers and answer questions families may have.

Scholarships

  • A Scholarship Committee has been formed as a sub-committee of the TCCC
    Ministry Committee.
  • A Scholarship Mission statement has been developed.
  • A Scholarship Agreement has been developed and shared with three potential
    scholarship families.
  • The Scholarship Committee will continue building a process timeline to
    establish practices and protocol for the 2019-2020 academic year.
  • Three scholarships for the 2018-2019 school year have been offered, consistent
    with last year. A deadline of July 15, 2018 was indicated for families to respond
    with a confirmation to allow time to extend offers should they chose not to
    attend TCCC. As of July 9, 2018, one family has met with the director and
    returned required paperwork and deposits.

Swim lessons

  • Pre-K classes have participated in group swim lessons via the YMCA,
    transportation by the Richmond City busses.
  • The Yellow Room is currently taking swim lessons. New bus routes have altered
    the logistics, but it is working out when the appropriate number of chaperones
    are included.

Retention bonuses

  • Full time employees were offered the opportunity to earn an additional
    employment bonus based on six months of employment and positive
    performance appraisals at the conclusion of the new director’s six months in
    service. Ten out of eleven employees remained employed during the transition
    period and will receive bonuses to recognize the added efforts and support they
    have shown.

Manual Updates

  • A Parental Leave Policy was adopted and added as an addendum to the
    Employee Policy Handbook.
  • New Emergency Management Manuals were developed and follow-up fire drills
    have been conducted and logged.

Increased Capacity

  • New Occupancy Permit was finalized in April 2018, increasing TCCC capacity to 80
    children.

Special Activities

  • In May, TCCC celebrated its teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week. The
    parents helped to treat the teachers to lunches, snacks, and coffee throughout the
    week.
  • The 2017-18 Pre-K class held their graduation ceremony at the end of
    May. Families, church members, previous staff, and former director Frances
    Thrift were in attendance. Portraits were completed by Sterling and presented
    to the children as gifts from the church during the ceremony.
  • TCCC children continue to participate in a weekly chapel conducted by the
    director and pastoral staff on a rotating schedule every Wednesday. Miriam and
    Vincent have been added to the summer schedule.

Financial status

  • As of June 30, 2018 (mid-year), TCCC’s financial condition continues
    strong. For more detail, please see TCCC Financial Reports included elsewhere in this
    Quarterly Business Report.

Kristen OSullivan, TCCC Director

tbc Worship & Fellowship

Board of Deacons Report – 2nd Quarter 2018

The Deacon Board continues to meet monthly. Participation in the meeting has been
excellent and the deacons continue to endeavor to provide support to our pastoral staff and
the congregation in whatever ways possible and needed. Some highlights of the past three
months follow.

April

  • The Youth Minister Team presented their recommendation that Hogan Brock be
    offered the position. After appropriate discussion and dialogue, the deacons
    unanimously approved the candidate.
  • The deacons received a report from the deacon who met with the concerned
    member regarding his recommendations. The member’s concerns were things he
    had been thinking about for quite some time, thus there was not urgency in
    responding. In the absence of the pastor and several members further discussion
    was tabled until the next meeting.
  • The deacon family lists were discussed, and suggestions were offered to assure
    that children who come to worship with grandparents are appropriately included
    in deacon lists.
  • Reports were received from the Race Dialogue team, the Marriage Enrichment
    Group, and the pastor.

May

  • The Children’s Team reported the process and status of the search team that is
    working on the part-time children’s minister position. After a lively and
    productive discussion, the deacons unanimously approved the recommended
    salary. The search team includes Mark Snipes, Jessica Corbitt, Patrick Braford,
    Karen Herman and someone from the Burmese community (TBD).
  • The deacons discussed at length the items included in the concerned member’s
    letter. The member wished to be proactive in pointing out several potential
    problems and issues. The deacons agreed with many, if not most, of these items:
    deacon minutes will include those present and absent; approved minutes will be
    available to members; confidentiality will be assured in handling sensitive
    information among staff and the membership.
  • The Hunger Ministry was discussed regarding recent issues involving members of
    the ministry team. The process of handling problems was the biggest concern
    among the hunger ministry team. These concerns have been noted and ongoing
    dialogue will be available to those involved.
  • Reports were received regarding the pastoral staff evaluation process, marriage
    enrichment group and the Fellowship Fund.

June

  • The pastor reported that he continues to be available to anyone who has questions
    about the Hunger Ministry incident. He explained the process and assured the
    deacons that there is accountability in the way issues are handled. While we seek
    to be transparent, the privacy of individuals must be respected. Deacons were
    asked to continue to reach out to all involved to provide support and care.
  • Deacons received a report on the status and ongoing progress of the Tabernacle
    Child Care Center. This included their plans for adding another classroom which
    will permit additional capacity and possibly allow for additional scholarship
    grants for refugee children. No vote was needed by the deacons; simply their
    blessing.
  • The Marriage Enrichment Group presented their recommendations. The process
    was explained in detail and materials were distributed to the deacons. Deacons
    were requested to prayerfully review the material and come to the next deacons’
    meeting prepared to discuss the recommendations.

Grace and peace,
Woody Jenkins