Email This Page
Print This Page
Arrivals, Departures, Celebrations, Concerns
§ Crosspointe Meadows Church held a groundbreaking ceremony, Sunday, May 20, 2007, for the new church building on Meadowbrook between 12 and 13 Mile Roads in Novi, MI. The Rev. Ron Cary represented the ABC-MI among other guests that day. In the picture at right are Church Moderator Steve Lipple, Ron Cary, and Pastor Danny Langley. (Click on image for larger picture.) The Crosspointe family is going strong with its 175 years of history in our Region. The church has gone by different names in several locations throughout its history. Right now the congregation looks forward to another new beginning as the new building goes up. The one constant that remains at the heart of this church is a commitment to see lives changed in Jesus Christ! Pastor Danny Langley and the congregation rejoice in what God is doing. For now the congregation worships at Meadowbrook Elementary School on Meadowbrook between 12 and 13 -- right next door to where the church is being built. If you are in the area. stop in and worship with them -- 9:00am Bible Class -- 10:00am Coffee Fellowship -- 10:30am Worship. A gallery of photos of the ground breaking may be seen at http://tinyurl.com/2l4j4g.
§ Dr. James Bolin, pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church in Waterford, has resigned as chairperson and member of the ABC-MI Commission on Ordination and Standing, effective July 15, 2007. Dr. Bolin has chaired the Commission for six years and served with distinction in guiding the Commission in its many duties related to ordination and the standing of professional church leaders in Michigan. We are thankful to him and the Bethany church family for his gift of time and talent.
§ Dr. David Swink, Pastor of Chilson Hills Church in Brighton, MI has been doubly honored by the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit. for his years of dedication and service. At the Seminary's graduation ceremonies on June 2, Swink was named President Emeritus and awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity. As Pastor of Chilson Hills Church for more than 25 years, Dr. Swink has advanced a connection between the church and the ETS, serving as President of the Seminary from 1992 to 1997 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors/Trustees from 1998 to 2001. In 1997 an ETS endowment fund was named in his honor. Swink is also Associate Professor of Church Management and Leadership at ETS. As the only multi-denominational accredited graduate theological school in the Detroit area, the Ecumenical Theological Seminary provides many opportunities for spiritual growth. ETS offers the Doctor of Ministry, Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry, and an Urban Ministry Diploma program. Approximately 200 students are enrolled in its educational programs. The Ecumenical Theological Seminary is located at 2930 Woodward Ave in downtown Detroit. For more information about the seminary visit www.etseminary.edu or call 313-831-5200. For more information about Chilson Hills Church visit www.chilsonhills,orgwww.chilsonhills.org.
§ Sunday, May 27, was Jason Crosby's last Sunday at First Baptist Church of Battle Creek, MI. The Rev. Allen Rogers, newly called as pastor, began his ministry on June 3.
§ Sunday, June 17 will be a bittersweet worship service for Michigan Avenue Baptist Church, Saginaw. The congregation will bid farewell to Interim Pastor Mary Ann Short and welcome their new pastor, David VanBrakle. Van Brakle received his Masters of Divinity from Colgate Rochester Divinity School on May 10, 2007. He will be ordained on June 10 at his home church in Allentown, PA. Michigan Avenue will be his first pastorate. David is 25 years old and will be married December 29, 2007, to Erica Ashburn, who is from Peoria, IL. She accompanied David on May on their visit tp Saginaw. They love Saginaw and are looking forward to coming here. On Sunday, June 17, "Farewell and Welcome Receptions" are being planned. A continental breakfast reception at 9:00 am will say thanks and farewell to Interim Pastor Mary Ann Short, who will leave immediately following for her home in Port Huron. Worship is scheduled for 10:00 am with a dessert welcome reception for new pastor David Van Brakle at 11:00 am. [Additional note: Mary Ann Short's youngest son, Paul Albrecht, a Jackson police officer and Army reservist, is being deployed to Iraq for 12 to 18 months. Remember Paul, his wife Ronda, their sons, Ben - 10 and Carl - 8, and his mother.]
ABC-MI Executive Committee May Meeting Highlights
The ABC-MI Executive Committee, at its May 17 meeting, received and acted on several reports including:
Diversity Discussion Group: The Executive Committee received the Diversity Discussion Group Report presented by Dr. Swink, who reported that four diversity discussion meetings were held between February 1, 2007 and April 27, 2007. The report will be presented to the Region Board at its September meeting where additional actions may be determined. The Executive Committee approved the additional $1,200 needed to cover the costs of these four meetings.
Area/Executive Committee Task Force: Rev. Danny Langley reported for the task force. Two key questions guided the group's discussion: (1) What can we do together that we cannot do alone? (2) What are our obligations to each other? Langley brought several recommendations including: (1) developing and implementing a dialogue process; (2) expanding the ABC-MI Executive Committee to include Area/Association chairpersons; (3) encouraging ABC congregations to greater participation within their Area/Association; (4) deepening church to church relationships; and (5) remaining open to the possibility of future structural change within the ABC-MI. The Executive Committee approved inviting Area/Association chairs to future Executive Committee meetings through the end of calendar year 2009. The task force report will be presented to the Region Board at its September meeting where additional actions may be determined.
Executive Minister: Dr. Williams reported on the General Executive Council (ABCUSA) meeting held in April. The GEC reached consensus around the following statement: "We covenant as GEC members to give due consideration to all ABC Policy Statements and Resolutions in recommending persons to serve at denominational levels." If the statement is faithfully executed, Dr. Williams agrees with his colleague, Dr. Dwight Stinnett, executive minister of the Great Rivers Region who stated, "I believe the GEC covenant will effectively remove the sources of conflict from the national arena while preserving the uneasy balance of the Baptist principles of personal interpretation, local congregational autonomy, and associationalism. It is not a perfect solution. It will not totally satisfy everyone. Indeed, I am not totally satisfied. But I am prepared to wait and see. I urge others to do the same."
Dr. Williams also updated the Executive Committee on the work of the GEC Writing Team charged with proposing a new denominational structure. The Executive Committee, in reflecting on the proposed model, raised a number of concerns and agreed to share these concerns with the writing team ahead of the December GEC meeting. It is anticipated that the proposed denominational structure will be presented to delegates attending the 2009 Biennial meetings.
2008 Region Offering: The Region Offering Task Force had its first meeting in January and set in place a process for developing promotional materials including a DVD for use by congregations to promote a 2008 Region Offering. A second meeting will be scheduled in the near future to continue work on the 2008 Region Offering promotional materials.
Friendship House Matching Grant: The $20,000 set aside by the ABC-MI Executive Committee last year for matching grants to address the Friendship House "Mountain of Debt" has now been totally expended. The monies raised through the Walkathon pushed the total raised by ABC-MI congregations to more than $20,000 and the Region has matched each dollar up to the $20,000 amount approved by the Executive Committee. The "Mountain of Debt" has now been eliminated!
The next scheduled meeting of the ABC-MI Executive Committee is Thursday, August 2.
MLG: Showers of Blessing and the Blessing of Showers!
L to R: Bryan Manary, Alan Maki, Brian Johnson, Fritz Kruse, Randy Johnson, Kent Jennings, and Peer Leader Chuck McNeil -- click for larger picture
There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior aboveŠ
So begins an ancient hymn, reminiscent of the old yet redolent of the new. This 'new' is the new leadership model of organic rather than mechanical leadership. Mechanical leadership is about finding and fixing. Organic leadership is about sowing and growing. Mechanical leadership is staid and static. Organic leadership is living and learning.
Brian Johnson, pastor of First Baptist Chuch of Stockbridge is an organic leader focused on sowing seeds of ministry and growing believers toward leadership. Lately, he and wife Erika have been doing a different kind of growing. Their first child is due any day now!
In celebration of this new growth, Brian's Ministry Leadership Group, led by Peer Leader Chuck McNeil, recently gathered to hold a baby shower. Hosted by Heidi DeMott Shanes, the whole group gathered to shower Brian with gifts ranging from cute clothing to cuddly lambs. The high point was a daring duet sung by Randy Johnson and Kent Jennings, proving once again that the church of Jesus Christ is indeed alive!
Showers of blessing,
showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops 'round us are falling.
But for the showers we plead.
Brian and Erika are thankful for the connections that are cultivated within this caring group of colleagues. If you would like to be part of a Ministry Leadership Group in which you can explore leadership models while cultivating a cadre of colleagues, e-mail Pat Hernandez (phernandez@abc-mi.org). There are showers of blessing awaiting you!
Click on pictures for larger version.
Church Health initiative: Resource Review
Unbinding the Gospel, by Martha Grace Reese, Chalice Press, 2006
Natural Church Development lists one of the eight quality characteristics of a healthy congregation as "passionate spirituality." Martha Reese, in her book Unbinding the Gospel, is much more specific about the nature and the result of passionate spirituality. She says it's the "E" word: Evangelism. She contends that a natural result of passionate spirituality (a growing, intimate relationship with God) is the desire to tell others about it. It seems like it ought to be a natural thing for a Christian to do. But especially in mainline denominations we may talk about it, but we are loath to actually do it. In fact, Reese cites a study of over 25,000 members of 262 Disciples of Christ congregations showed that the lowest rated question was: "The church is effectively reaching unchurched persons." I expect that many, if not most of the members of our American Baptist congregations would say the same thing.
There are a host of reasons why this is so, but Reese is more concerned about breaking the curse of the "E" word in mainline churches. Her book offers very few religious formulas and a whole lot of ideas about places and ways where evangelism has come alive in a local church. Her "big idea" is to simply begin where you are, perhaps by using her book as a discussion guide with a few other interested people in your church. At the end of each chapter she offers a list of discussion questions and exercises to guide the individual or group. The book would make a great eight to ten week study for a Sunday School class or small group. But before you offer it in your church, be forewarned: It is difficult to read and discuss this book without then engaging in some form of personal evangelism. The book is not intended to create guilt, but to compel action on the part of each reader/believer.
The book is divided into three sections. Part one addresses questions like, "What is evangelism? Why do it? How are mainline churches doing?" Part two gives examples of churches that are doing powerful faith sharing in a variety of ways (and not just charismatic, mega-churches). Part three includes some helpful work on what unchurched people and new members say they need in a church. Those of us who were raised in the church need to know what the unchurched are thinking. This section alone is worth the price of the book. Part three also gives suggestions to help you get started in your church. Especially helpful is the section dealing with barriers that keep people away and with bridge building that helps us to reach out in effective ways.
For Martha Reese, churches with many different theologies and practices are doing exciting, effective evangelism. She is less concerned with "methods" than with the challenge to reach out in unique ways that fit the theology of the congregation. What she has discovered is that whatever the theology of a church, those who are effective in practicing evangelism have one thing in common: They know why being a Christian matters and they find ways to figure out how to help others enter the faith they hold at the center of their life.
There are many people in our churches who have a deep and growing faith in Jesus Christ. They know that Jesus is the answer. The question is, are they ever going to tell someone? Maybe this book will help.
CCCU Donates $18,000 to AB Women's Ministries
The Christian Community Credit Union (CCCU) has donated $18,000 to American Baptist Women's Ministries to provide leadership training curriculum in Spanish and for young women's ministries.
"American Baptist Women's Ministries strives to provide relevant resources for ministries with women and girls in American Baptist churches. I am elated that Christian Community Credit Union is partnering with us to produce our new CD-ROM curriculum resource for ministry with girls this year," said Virginia Holmstrom, Executive Director of American Baptist Women's Ministries.
Entitled "Leadership 101: Leadership Training for Ministry with Girls," the leadership CD includes articles, workshops and PowerPoint presentations designed to equip girls to be critical thinkers in interpreting the culture in which they live, applying Biblical truths to every day life and embracing a multi-ethnic and cross-cultural environment.
The Credit Union's donation will also help support American Baptist Women's Ministries program resources for women and girls in Spanish.
Short Notices
Bulletin Inserts for the ABCUSA 2007 Biennial in Washington, DC, are available at http://tinyurl.com/yuspua.
Read the latest issue of International Ministries Prayer Call: http://abc-mi.org/elink/prayer-call.pdf.
Read the latest Friendship House newsletter: http://abc-mi.org/elink/fh.pdf
The next issue of E-Link Online will be published on June 18. Please send news items and notices to the Editor (editor@abc-mi.org) by June 14.
Editor's Trips
Disclaimer: listing of these references does not imply endorsement of positions or policies advocated in them by either the American Baptist Churches of Michigan or the editor of E-Link Online. Caveat lector.
The Editor
§ Community Comes to the Rescue -- http://tinyurl.com/ywzhff
§ Evangelicals Steer New Course -- http://tinyurl.com/2257uk
§ Redeeming Memories -- http://tinyurl.com/2poar4
§ Altruism -- Hard-Wired in the Brain? -- http://tinyurl.com/3dj24p
§ Winning Grants for Churches -- http://tinyurl.com/24poud
All Rights Reserved
Dr. Michael A. Williams, Executive Minister
Joseph I. Mortensen, E-Link Online Editor. 989.835.6923
Spun with PageSpinner® on a Macintosh® Hosted by 1&1
Last update -- Monday, June 4, 2007
