The elder retreat was held last Saturday. Mission Southside graciously allowed us to use their facilities for our all-day retreat (as they have in recent years). We appreciate their generosity.

Our regular elder meetings are intended to allow for prayer and discussion of day-to-day items related to pastoral care and administrative items. Our elder retreat is intended to allow us time for prayer, reflection, and future planning that cannot be practically discussed at our normal elder meetings considering time constraints and the “tyranny of the urgent."

This year, we devoted time to prayer and song and discussed three major areas: upcoming constitution review and revision, church planting, and church staffing/planning.

Constitution review (and revision as necessary): Review of the constitution and by-laws is required regularly. The last revision (2019) was fairly significant, and this one is not of that magnitude. Proposed revisions will be published and submitted for member approval per the requirements of the existing constitution (though this may not happen until after the first of the year).

Church planting: The church plant team, elders, and staff met previously with Brian Harris on October 4 for a debrief. We discussed the past effort and lessons learned. At our retreat, we discussed how the process could change, some possibilities outside of what we had previously considered, and various ways of staffing and funding to successfully plant.

Staffing/planning: We discussed areas where we foresee needs including church planting, women's ministry, senior ministry, and youth ministry. Our discussion included two things. First, we do foresee the need for adds to staffing to meet our vision for evangelism and discipleship. Second, our giving needs to grow significantly to support additions to staffing. This can be accomplished organically as we grow in membership (praise God for the new faces we are welcoming!), as well as increasing giving even now as we individually recognize and respond to God's generosity and blessing in our lives. Along these lines, it is noteworthy that our giving trails budgeted giving year to date. Please take a moment to consider your giving and adjust as you feel called and able.

Don't hesitate to talk with one of the elders if you have any questions.