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This week’s team update is a guest post by Chris Williams, one of the Assistant District Superintendents in the Crossroads District. Update Regarding Mark Gorveatte On October 22, our District Superintendent Mark Gorveatte experienced a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital in Fishers. After successfully inserting a stent and monitoring his heart for 48 hours, doctors sent Mark home on Thursday. His travel schedule will be limited for the next few weeks but he will be able to receive phone calls as necessary. Rev. Mike Colaw, Vice-Chair of the DBA, can handle action items that may need DBA decisions. Rev. Chris Williams, Assistant District Superintendent, is leading the office team and can help with any administrative support you may need. Rev. Seth Bye, Executive Ministry Partner, will be reaching out to reschedule appointments. Last Week to Save $50 for The Heartland Gathering Early bird registration for The Heartland Gathering ends this week. The registration fee covers two nights of lodging, breakfast for two days, and the conference experience. Lunch and dinner are on your own each day. If you register before October 31, the fee is $300. On November 1, the fee will increase to $350, so be sure to register this week to take advantage of the savings. This event was birthed out of a partnership between the Crossroads, Greater Ohio, Indiana South, and Kentucky-Tennessee District and is designed to create space for our pastoral families to have fun, develop new friendships, and flourish. To that end, we reserved The Ramsey Hotel & Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and designed a high-quality event geared to give you time away for rest, connection, fun, and inspiration. Join us March 10-12, 2020 at The Heartland Gathering.
To register for the event, visit the conference site at gathering.heartlandregion.org. Sunday Church Visits and the Installation of Rev. Shawnda Dykhoff It was a joy for me to preach in the morning service at Calvary Family Church in Indianapolis. Pastor Barry and Joyce Dixon have led this church for the last 10 years and have developed a warm and loving congregation there. Before the service, I was able to meet with Pastor Barry and hear about the ministries of the church and the unique challenges they face in the urban context.  While I was visiting our brothers and sisters at the Indy Calvary Family Church, Mark was able to be at Marion Brinker Heights. Mark shared this update: “I was grateful for the privilege of preaching Sunday morning and installing Rev. Shawnda Dykhoff as pastor of Brinker Heights Wesleyan Church. God is so good!”  Baptisms  Pastor Joe Jackson and the congregation at Anderson United Wesleyan celebrated baptisms on Sunday (Pictured above). Lakeview Wesleyan also baptized four in their weekend service (Pictured below).  If you’ve recently had a baptism service at your church that we haven’t heard about, please send along a report and any pictures you can share. Building a Comprehensive Outreach Strategy, Part 1 As I work with churches in coaching and consulting relationships through Maximizing Impact and Strategic Planning Weekends, I have been talking to them about how to develop a comprehensive outreach strategy. Four Components of an Outreach Strategy Level One: Public Relations. The first and most basic level of an effective outreach strategy is the things we do to signal to our community that we see ourselves as part of the neighborhood, town, or city. These might involve putting a float in the Christmas parade, serving at the town festival, or participating in a community-wide special event. Level Two: Meeting Needs. The next level of an effective outreach strategy is finding and meeting tangible needs in our community. This could involve adopting a school to provide backpacks or school supplies. It may also mean running addiction recovery programs or a food pantry. It could also take the form of job training programs that help the unemployed or underemployed find and keep higher-paying jobs. All of these are things the church can do to demonstrate the love of Christ to its community. Level Three: Bridge Events. A bridge event is an event that the church offers in an attempt to attract people from the community into an environment where they can make a connection with the church, hear the Gospel, and be introduced to the person of Jesus Christ. While these events can be held onsite or offsite, the main purpose is the same: Build a bridge to the people in your community that makes it easier for them to find their way into the church and into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Level Four: Personal Evangelism. This level of an effective outreach program occurs when a church equips every follower of Christ to intentionally and consistently share their faith with others. If every follower of Christ led just one person to Christ each calendar year, the church’s missional impact would double every twelve months. This may seem like an unrealistic goal. However, the call of Jesus to each person is to follow him and fish for people (Matt. 4:19). If you are interested in learning more about our Maximizing Impact or Strategic Planning Weekends for churches in the Crossroads District, feel free to reach out to me (chris@crossroadsdistrict.org) to schedule a conversation.  Comments are closed.
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