E-Link Online is the biweekly electronic newsletter of the American Baptist Churches of Michigan



Dr. Michael A. Williams
Executive Minister

Joseph I. Mortensen
E-Link Online Editor
989.835.6923

About E-Link Online

E-Link Online is published every other Monday.

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Issue 2008.03
January 28, 2008

Arrivals, Departures, Celebrations, Concerns

§  The Rev. John Paschen is doing well after successful heart bypass surgery. Notes of encouragement may be sent to him at: 2531 Hasen Dr., Lambertville, MI 48144.

§  Gary Vanek, member of First Baptist Church, Royal Oak, and president of Camp Lael Board of Directors, is scheduled for open heart surgery on January 28.

Another "Win" for Growing Healthy Churches Initiative

by Tucker Gunneman

It is exciting to see real, positive results from our initiative to assist our churches to become as healthy as possible before calling a new pastor. New Hope Baptist Church of Bay City is another great story of how they benefited from participation in what the Region offers its churches in transition. Here is their story:

At the end of 2005 our pastor Doug Stratton resigned. Several members of the church also left during this time.

We contacted the Region office and Rev. Tucker Gunneman suggested a meeting with the congregation. Out of that meeting he recommended us calling Rev. Ross Lucas as our interim pastor.

Shortly after the interim pastor began, Rev. Gunneman met with the church and did a congregational assessment. The results of the assessment indicated 3 areas of weakness and 7 areas of strength for the church. The areas of weakness were conflict management, vision, and communication. The church took these results seriously and in the following months began to focus on these weaknesses. A conflict management workshop was held to further the understanding of the nature of conflict, and a covenant regarding how we will deal with conflict was developed. There was also a focus on the vision and mission of the church. Following an eight week small group study, a church wide retreat was held. At the retreat we developed a mission statement for the church which clarified our vision. In all of this, as well as other things, we made a concerted effort to communicate what was happening to the congregation as a whole.

Twenty months after we did the first congregation assessment, Rev. Gunneman returned and repeated the assessment. We found that the three areas of weakness were now seen as strengths. In addition, four of the seven remaining areas of strengths showed up as being even stronger than before.

We appreciate the time that Rev. Gunneman spent in helping us to get an interim pastor, do assessments, and see where we were changing and growing.

We have enjoyed the time that we have had with Pastor Ross Lucas and all the love and help he has shown us. It will be hard to see him go, yet we are looking forward to what God has in store for us in calling a settled Pastor. If it were not for Pastor Gunneman and Pastor Lucas, we would have closed the doors of New Hope Baptist Church in Bay City. We are truly blessed.

If my people who are called by name will humble themselves and prayer and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. -- 2 Chronicles 7:14

Short Notices

American Baptist Men of the Metro Detroit Area will hold the ninth annual Men's Prayer Breakfast for all men and boys of the MDA, Saturday, February 9, 2008, 8:30 a.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 1000 Robert Bradby, Detroit. Guest speaker is the Rev. Dan Buttry, American Baptist Global Service Missionary for Peace and Justice. Reservations are due by February 4. Call The Metro Office @ 248-443-6888 or Bethel Baptist Church @ 734-284-6300. You may also e-mail your reservations to bethel1@ameritech.net. To view, download, or print the flyer go to: http:abc-mi.org/elink/metrobkfst.pdf.

"Get on the Bus" -- The First Baptist Church of Midland is looking to get on the bus. They only have one problem. They don't have a bus to take them to Bozeman, MT for their work with Habitat for Humanity. If you have a bus that could take youth and adults to Bozeman, MT this summer from June 20 - July 1, 2008, please contact Rich Williams: r_williams@ameritech.net or call 989.835.6731.

American Baptist Men of the Metro Detroit Area will hold the ninth annual Men's Prayer Breakfast for all men and boys of the MDA on Saturday, February 9, 2008, 8:30 a.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, 1000 Robert Bradby, Detroit. Guest speaker is the Rev. Dan Buttry, American Baptist Global Service Missionary for Peace and Justice. Reservations are due by February 4. Call The Metro Office @ 248-443-6888 or Bethel Baptist Church @ 734-284-6300. You may also e-mail your reservations to bethel1@ameritech.net. To view, download, or print the flyer go to: http:abc-mi.org/elink/metrobkfst.pdf.

On-line Registration For Lake Louise Baptist Camp is available beginning February 1. Visit the camp website at www.camplakelouise.com to see the camp sessions available for this coming summer.

Bacone College, an ABC-related college in Oklahoma, has an opening for a full-time ministy recruiter. See the posting at http://abc-mi.org/elink/Bacone College Posting.pdf

Read the latest issue of International Ministries Prayer Call: http://abc-mi.org/elink/prayer-call.pdf.

The Friendship House Newsletter is now provided in both PDF and DOC formats. The DOC format is a much smaller file and will take much less time to acquire on slow dialup connections. Read it in PDF at http://abc-mi.org/elink/fh.pdf or in DOC format at http:abc-mi.org/fh.doc.

The latest Friendship House Virtual Family Shop newsletter is here: http://abc-mi.org/elink/vfs.pdf.

The next issue of E-Link Online will be published on February 11, 2008. Please send news items and notices to the Editor (editor@abc-mi.org) by February 7.

Editor's Trips

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