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Redeemer Family Meeting Recap - 1/31/21

REDEEMER FAMILY MEETING RECAP
January 31, 2021


It was a wonderful and sweet time to gather with a good group of our members on Sunday evening. Thank you for prioritizing our time together, so that we might pray and talk about all that's going on in our church family. I wanted to give you a quick report on the items we talked about Sunday night. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the elders, or other leaders.

Below is a recap of the Family Meeting portion of the evening:

  1. NEW MEMBERS:

Since we began introducing new members on Sunday mornings at our Thanksgiving Service, we didn't have new members to share this time. Stay tuned for more new members we'll be introducing on a Sunday morning soon.

  1. MINISTRY UPDATES:

Classes + Seminars

Pastor Barry shared about the upcoming classes this semester. Sign-ups are about to begin for this semester's classes, which will begin at the beginning of March. Men and women will both be walking through the Book of Judges together. There will be in-person and online options for both men and women. We are thrilled to be back in the Old Testament, studying God's word together.

Stay tuned for seminars, coming later this semester, including a financial seminar and a seminar on a biblically faithful and loving Christian response to the LGBTQ community.

Student Ministry

Lawson shared the latest news from the student ministry. The students are meeting now on Wednesdays at the building. They're excited to see some new growth as several new students have been attending. Lawson shared that, in lieu of usual mission trips and Spring activities, RSM is focused on local and in-town events due to Covid. A couple upcoming events are a bonfire / worship night this Friday + a likely in-town retreat coming later this semester.

Lawson also introduced Lee Curry, who has joined our staff part-time as a Student Ministry resident. Lee will be working with Lawson to disciple students and plan events this year. The students really enjoy having Lee around and we are thankful to have him.

Note about New Deacon Structure

Our new deacons are installed and will begin meeting soon. Phil Sandoz is leading as the deacon coordinator. As you may have heard, the outreach team is at work, already, planning opportunities for use to engage with and love our neighbors with the love of Jesus. Also, our facilities team is working to install a small playground  area on the south side of the building, along with a gaga ball pit and a possible sand volleyball court. The deacons will have more to share soon, once the team begins meeting.

  1. FINANCIAL UPDATE

Matt Odom shared our annual budget update on behalf of the finance deacons. After a year like 2020, where Covid saw our giving fall way behind in the first quarter, we are grateful for the faithfulness of God and the consistent generosity of our church family. Through your giving, we were able to exceed our revised budget by $90k and nearly met our original budget (only $20k short). Praise God for his provision!  Matt shared some of our 2021 budget initiatives, including our overall budget of $780k. To see the 2020-21 budget presentation slides that Matt shared, click here.

  1. VISION FOR 2021 AND BEYOND

Pastor Kevin encouraged us in God's word from Ephesians 4:11-15. Particularly as we consider 2021, the Elders are praying that we would see many using their gifts, that by God's grace, we would "... equip the saints for the work of ministry... [and] build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son".

To this end, the Elders are praying and asking the Lord for his guidance in these three areas:

Equipping & Mission

  • If we're going to "grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ", the Elders we believe to be strategic and intentional in the way in which we are making disciples and equipping future leaders.
  • We are praying for God's grace in implementing a new equipping system for the Fall, along with an intensive discipleship/mentoring program for men and women desiring to grow in God's word.
  • As we pray about how the Lord would lead us to reach Tomball, we are also praying about a possible mid-week program for children, to see kids grow in Christ and his word. This would likely be connected to our children's ministry hire. Would you join us in praying for direction on this front.

Leadership Updates

  • Our Staff changes. With Pastor Kevin serving as Lead Pastor and Lawson serving as Teaching Pastor, we are excited about the opportunity to reflect the plurality and shared leadership from the pulpit on Sundays. The current plan is for Kevin and Lawson to each preach approximately 40+ percent of the time, with Pastor Barry and other Elders preaching the remaining Sundays.
  • Additional New Staff Responsibilities. As Pastor Kevin's duties expand to include preaching, along with overseeing the staff and leading the elder team, Pastor Barry will take over in leading our Missional Communities. Also, Lawson will eventually take leadership of our Equipping class system.
  • New Staff positions. We are hoping to hire a new full-time student minister later this year. The Elders hope to see this by the summer. Also, we hope to hire an additional part-time children's minister, who would partner with Carolyn Yohe to lead our children's ministry. If you know of anyone who would be interested in either of these positions, please contact the elders (elders@makingmuchofjesus.org).
  • New Elder Candidates. We couldn't be more excited about our three new Elder Candidates -- Lawson Flowers, Chris Beach, and Dale Googer. Each of these men is a blessing to our church family already. We are thrilled to see how the Lord will bless their ministry as Shepherds within our body.

Church Planting and Networks

The Elders remain committed to planting churches. As the Elders and Elder Candidates met this Fall, we were informed that December was the time to renew our yearly covenant with Acts 29.  To remain in Acts 29, we would need for one of our pastors to go through their assessment process, plus remain committed to giving 1% of our budget.

Though we love many within Acts 29 and are grateful for our partnership with them, the Elders decided, for now, that Acts 29 isn’t a network connection we need to continue in order to continue in pursuing the mission in front of us. Acts 29 does a wonderful job assessing planters and serves as a brotherhood for lead pastors. However, we are considering some other cooperative networks where there may be better opportunities for missional guidance and shepherding, plus more robust equipping opportunities for the Elders.

We will, of course, remain partners with the fellow Acts 29 churches we support -- Redeemer Church, Dubai, and Kerusso Grace Church in Houston. Also, the Lord has given us lasting relationships with many Acts 29 churches in the area. We are thankful for such partners.

HCPN

We are thrilled to continue partnering with the Houston Church Planting Network. We met recently with Chad Clarkson, their director, and are encouraged at the efforts they are making to partner with churches to train planters. We have had a couple men go through their residency program in the past and look forward to how we might work with them to plant gospel-centered churches in Houston.

SBTC & OTHER NETWORKS:

Of course, our partnership with the Southern Baptists of Texas (SBTC), which helped us plant King's Church in Conroe a few years ago, will continue. We have had initial discussions with another network as well - as we look for strategic church planting partnerships moving forward. Join the Elders in praying for wisdom on this front. We will share more info this Spring.

PLANTERS

Maybe you feel the Lord leading you to work toward planting a church or to be a part of helping plant a church. Please let the Elders know if this is the case so that we might be praying with you toward this end.

  1. STAY CONNECTED

Regardless of your comfort level, as it pertains to gathering on Sundays, the Elders are eager for each of you to stay connected to the body. If you are not able to attend regularly, or if there is a way we could serve you as we continue during this season of Covid, please reach out to the Elders soon (elders@makingmuchofjesus).

We love each of you dearly and pray regularly for our church family. May the Lord bless us as we make much of Jesus together.



Sincerely, 

 

Pastor Kevin, on behalf of the Redeemer Elders