Communications
April 12, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After discussing the
single’s ministry and the Camp, Richard Alawaye delivered a
powerful and inspirational challenge to “Cross the Jordan
River” to the ministry staff. From the book of Joshua, Richard
urged the staff to learn from past mistakes, but to move on and do
the work God has called us to do.
March 29, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After a 40 minute time
of prayer, Scott Kirkpatrick urged the ministry staff and elders to
encourage the single’s ministry by attending their events. Don
Burroughs then addressed the idea of unity from Ephesians 4.
March 15, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After an opening prayer
by Les Johnson, the ministry staff shared good news about great
things God was doing in their ministries. Ben Barnett shared an
inspiring lesson on how God works in people’s conversions—that
God will work if we are simply available for Him to use.
February 22, 2005 - Elders’ Meeting
Sonny Sessions (SWAMP
director) reported on progress with the new camp Board of Directors.
He stated that after looking at competitors’ prices for summer
camps, they approved a price increase for campers to help the summer
camp to become more financially viable. The Atlanta Church Board
adopted a resolution where they agreed that the future direction of
the church is to create separate corporate structures held together
in an association context. The elders discussed the opportunities to
remain united in fellowship, while empowering local ministries to
make more decisions.
February 1, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
The staff shared about
ways to improve future congregational services, and then discussed
the improved financial position of the church. Sonny Sessions shared
about plans being made for the upcoming summer camp season at the
Swamp, the Atlanta Church of Christ’s camp facility. Scott
Kirkpatrick discussed various plans being made for the Singles’
Ministry of the church.
January 18, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After a time of prayer,
Don Burroughs led the ministry staff in a thought provoking
devotional about maintaining our confidence in God. The staff also
discussed final preparations for the congregational service.
January 10, 2005 - Elders/Board Meeting
The elders approved the
establishment of a new six member Board of Directors for the Swamp,
the Atlanta Church of Christ’s summer camp, and empowered the
new board to make important decisions, while communicating well with
the Church Board of Directors.
The elders also
discussed the upcoming congregational service and how to collect
disaster relief funds for the tsunami victims. The board also
decided how to allocate contribution funds among the local ministries
when several ministries meet together.
January 4, 2005 - Ministry Staff Meeting
Ben Barnett led a
devotional about integrity and being honest with yourself, and the
staff made extensive preparations for the upcoming congregational
service, January 23rd at the Georgia World Congress
Center.
December 13, 2004 - Elders/Board Meeting
The elders heard a report and recommendations from Gerry Fredrick and
Curt Johnson regarding current issues regarding compensation of the
ministry staff. The elders then discussed various budget parameters
for the 2005 financial plan, including the maintenance of a sufficient surplus.
December 7, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After Sonny Sessions led a devotional from the Psalms about gratitude,
the staff discussed and made plans regarding the upcoming
congregational service on January 23rd, 2005.
November 15, 2004 - Elders/Board Meeting
The elders discussed the status with the 2005 budget for the church
and the possibility of the ministries in the East obtaining a facility.
Then, the elders decided to have a congregational service January 23rd
of 2005. Upon hearing about the development of a conference in the
spring of 2005 primarily for the churches in the Southeastern United
States, the elders expressed an interest in supporting such a
conference and encouraging members to attend.
October 26, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After an opening prayer by Ed Townsend, the staff shared good news. Will Archer
and Stephen Van Bueren shared about the great impact of the recent Teen Retreat
at the Swamp, the Atlanta Church of Christ's camp. Over 175 teens attended the
program where teenagers made great decisions and had a lot of fun!
Mike Patterson shared about the Campus Retreat coming up soon at the Swamp, while
the staff discussed the upcoming Congregational Singles Service, December 5th.
October 18, 2004 - Elders' Meeting
The elders discussed the following topics at this meeting:
- A few ministry staff compensation issues. The elders spoke with a small
committee appointed to make recommendations in these matters.
- Investing in ministry staff by funding education and classes related to ministry.
- The possibility of additional elders being appointed.
- How to approach the topic of marriage and divorce with the congregation.
September 28, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
In this meeting, the ministers shared glowing reports from their trip to the
International Leadership Conference in Chicago. (See article for specific responses.)
September 14, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After a time of prayer, administration made a presentation to the ministry staff
about their newly established retirement plan. Retirement benefits were suspended
over a year ago, and the elders decided to institute a Simple IRA plan that matches
employee contributions up to a certain point.
September 13, 2004 - Elders Meeting
Representing Hope for Children, Executive Director Ron Clendenin and Board Member
Alex Hunter made a presentation to the elders regarding the current state of the
adoption agency.
The elders then discussed a potential timetable regarding the appointment of
additional elders. Don Burroughs spoke with the elders about the upcoming
International Leadership Conference and what the Atlanta Church of Christ's role
in the seminar would be. Then the group discussed the need to make some minor
adjustments to the new compensation model for the ministry staff. The elders
directed the Financial Administrator to appoint a committee to deal with these issues.
August 17, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After an opening prayer, Les Johnson taught a lesson on I Thessalonians chapters
1 and 2. He pointed out that chapter 1 described the kind of church God wants
and that chapter 2 teaches us the kind of ministers God wants. Les encouraged
the staff with practical ways to adopt the qualities mentioned in chapter 2.
The ministry staff then shared plans and activities from various ministries that
were working well. The staff then discussed the recent plans regarding local
ministry budgets for 2005 with Blake Neyland, the Financial Administrator.
August 9th, 2004 - Elders' Meeting
The elders met with the Atlanta Church of Christ?s Financial Administrator and
primarily discussed issues surrounding the development of a 2005 budget for the
Atlanta Church. The group decided to pursue a plan for developing local ministry
budgets with the input of members of each local ministry. As a part of the plan,
local ministries can utilize certain surplus funds at their discretion after global
expenses like the camp loan, campus ministry and administration are satisfied.
The elders set a process in place where "skeleton" budgets will be distributed to
the various local ministries in a few weeks.
August 3rd, 2004 - Ministry Staff Meeting
After a half hour of prayer, the staff shared responses that they had received
from people following the congregational service held on July 25th at the Georgia
World Congress Center. The brothers reported that the members were profuse in
their praise for the service. Some brothers made suggestions regarding
maintaining the unity they felt as a result of the service and discussed ways to
establish a vision moving forward.
Ron Clendenin, Executive Director of Hope For Children, Inc., joined the meeting
to explain recent efforts to educate the membership of the Atlanta Church of
Christ regarding changes at the adoption agency.
June 15, 2004 - Staff Meeting at the office (Larry Pierce, Phil Proctor also in
attendance.)
As the time for the Congregational Service approaches, the staff is preparing
several issues to address with the congregation. The staff spent the majority
of time discussing one of those issues.
June 14, 2004 - Elders' Meeting at the office (Don Burroughs and Ben Barnett
also were in attendance.)
In this meeting, the elders approved having a Congo Service at Georgia World
Congress Center July 25th and discussed with Don and Ben how the service would
be conducted.
The elders discussed how to meet the current needs of the A&E Ministry and how
to proceed hiring a new leader for the Campus Ministry. The group discussed the
issue of how to remain together as one church and yet allow for greater local
decisionmaking. The decision was made for more elders to be appointed to help
shoulder the responsibility of shepherding the church and its various ministries.
May 15-16, 2004 - Elders/Staff Retreat at the "Swamp"
On Friday evening, the elders and staff enjoyed a great meal and had a spiritual
time of worship together. After more devotional time on Saturday, the group
discussed various issues confronting the church. The elders asked Don Burroughs
and Ben Barnett to serve as facilitators of the staff to help promote
communication, maintain unity and to encourage, inspire and teach the other
ministers. Don and Ben will focus part of their attention on churchwide needs
(Swamp, campus, teens, singles, Congo, etc.) to ensure that these are not
neglected as the rest of the staff focuses primarily on their local ministries.
Don and Ben will also serve as facilitators in the regular congregation-wide
staff meetings.
It is not intended that Don and Ben would get involved in decisions within any
of the other local ministries. In fact, as the time approaches to prepare the
2005 budgets, we are arranging to give local ministries increased flexibility
to identify and meet local needs in areas like worship times and places,
contribution/budgets, staffing, etc.
The elders selected Don and Ben because they are men that are already known to
be leaders among the staff and respected by all the elders and the staff. Their
new roles are in addition to responsibilities in their local ministries. Please
encourage them in their new role and pray for their efforts.
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