Summer of Change

The Summer of 2013 needs to be remembered as the summer of change. At the beginning we lost our Pastor and just a few weeks later, our System’s Administrator. We have continually been making upgrades to our technology but speeded up the changes this summer. We changed our software from Shelby to ACS and have encountered many, many more challenges than expected. In fact, we’re still working to get the financial package working smoothly before moving on to the calendaring package.

            The driving force behind changing software was the need to improve our check-in and security processes. ACS seems to have the best check-in system in place today, thus the change. We now have check-in stations in preschool, children and youth areas. Fortunately, we’ve not had any close encounters of the wrong kind concerning security, but many churches have. We chose to be proactive and get systems in place BEFORE we had problems.

            We’re also relying on more volunteers to help with our IT needs. Chris Gscheidle is a God-send. He has so much knowledge about technology and is helping us in more ways than I can describe. David Taylor is also making significant contributions in our Sunday morning worship “production.”  I continually thank God for these two men.

            We’re also seeing some changes in our financial position. At the moment, we’re about 5 weeks behind our budgeted receipts. Fortunately, we’ve not had to dip into our cash reserves, but if the trend continues, we will. I’m not sure if our offerings are down because: 1) we’re out of debt and some feel the money is not needed; 2) we don’t have a pastor so they feel that don’t have to give as much; 3) other spending is considered more important than supporting Bacon Heights.

            Folks, ministry is continuing even without a pastor. Yes, we’re out of debt, but our debt was not being financed by the budget. Just because we’re out of debt doesn’t mean we no longer need your support—WE DO! Actually, during this interim time we’re working to make improvements in anticipation of our new pastor AND God is providing us with new opportunities.

            What BHBC couldn’t do 15 years ago we can now accomplish—purchase property next to our campus. At the moment we have an opportunity to buy two houses. One is next to our parking lot on the 54^th Street side. (We already own the one on the 53^rd Street side.) For a few years I’ve been calling that house Annex 2. In my mind, this purchase is a must because it connects to our parking lot.

            The other house is across the street at the east end of the block. At one time BHBC owned this house and Charles Murray lived in it. When the South Campus was purchased, we sold the house to Vera Perkins. It is available for sale. We’ll discuss the purchase of these two houses Sunday night during our business meeting.

            Sunday we begin our Senior Adult Revival. Actually, it’s being sponsored by the senior adults but is for the whole church. I trust you will be in attendance Sunday morning and evening. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings we’ll also have services and hope many of you can make these times.

            Sunday morning, Chris Slayton, Chairman of the Pastor Search Committee, will give a brief update on the work of the PSC. We’ve got some great days ahead of us and working together, we can make our future days be our best days. 

Pray & Work/Wait

We now have the Pastor Search Committee in place with leadership. Sunday the group met and selected Chris Slayton to be the Chair and Glenna Applewhite as the Secretary.

Their first order of business was to select a time for weekly meetings. They will meet Sunday afternoons, from 3:00 to 5:00, to pray together and seek God’s direction. I gave them copies of the 16 resumes we have already received and let them know I was available to support them in any way they deem helpful.

Now they begin the arduous task of praying and working to find the man God has selected to be our pastor. We, the members of the congregation, have the responsibility to pray and wait. Both are difficult. Probably the reason many people don’t pray much is because it can become hard work. Anyone who takes prayer seriously knows it’s not something done casually and quickly. Genuine prayer can occur at any moment, in any situation, no doubt. But intercessory prayer takes time, effort and energy. Too many of us are not willing to invest the time/effort/energy to get serious about prayer.

Church NOW is the time to GET SERIOUS ABOUT PRAYER!  When our PSC (Pastor Search Committee) finds the man God has chosen for us, we will see God do some amazing things. However, if we are not serious about prayer and if we don’t allow the PSC time to do their work and pressure them to short-circuit the process OR if we attempt to convince them that we know who is the best person to be our pastor without allowing them time to make this discovery, then we won’t have our best days ahead of us. The stakes are too high for us to not be involved in prayer.

Please join me in praying for our PSC daily. Lift up the names of:

            Chris Slayton, Chair

            Glenna Applewhite, Secretary

            Mary Satterwhite

            Jay Jacobus

            Mark Finkner

            Ron Ward, Chairman of Deacons

            Harry Bruton, Chairman of Personnel

            Duane Locke, Alternate

            Dan Johnson, Alternate

Pastor Search Committee Named

It is with great joy that we reveal the names of the members of the Pastor Search Committee. They are:

            Representing the 9:15 service:

                        Mary Satterwhite

                        Glenna Applewhite

                        Duane Locke, alternate

            Representing the 10:45 service:

                        Chris Slayton

                        Mark Finkner

                        Jay Jacobus

                        Dan Johnson, alternate

            Ex-officio Members:

                        Ron Ward, Chairman of Deacons

                        Harry Bruton, Chairman of Personnel.

The five voting members selected by the church represent five different Sunday school classes. Of the seven voting members, four attend the early service and three the late. Overall, this is a good representation of our church.

As soon as possible I will convene this group so they can name a chair, then they will begin their work of praying and reviewing resumes. We, the rest of BHBC, must support them with our prayers. 

Announcement coming SOON

Wednesday evening the Personnel Committee and Church Council reviewed the nominating ballots and began the process of contacting the top "vote getters." Just as soon as we receive confirmation from the whole committee, I'll post the list of names here. Check back often because I'm anticipating being able to announce the committee VERY SOON!

Making Progress

Where did our summer go?  It seems only a week or so ago we finished the school year and headed to Japan. Now school is in full swing and it’s time to begin our Fall schedule at BHBC.

Our Kick-Off will be September 10 with the meal and an all-church program. Dana Kluzek has a ventriloquist scheduled for that night and we decided everyone would appreciate the opportunity to share in the fun.

Melissa Rowe will be cooking for the Wednesday night dinners. She has a catering business and many of you have already enjoyed her meals. (Yes, she is the daughter of Joyce and Hal.) Melissa has a passion and gift for cooking and is excited to be serving the church where she was raised.

With the cost of everything increasing, we’re going to have to up the price on our meals just a little. We will now be charging $6.00 per person with a $15 family maximum. This will still be a bargain.

Sunday we will observe the Lord’s Supper. Come prepared to approach the Lord’s Table with a heart for Him.

Sunday is also the last day to submit nominations for the Pastor Search Committee. Wednesday night the Personnel Committee and Church Council will meet to “poll the numbers” and begin contacting the top vote “getters” to see if they are willing to serve. WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS!

We have many exciting things happening at Bacon Heights and I cannot wait to share them with you. A few are still in the “I think this is going to happen” stage so it would be premature to mention them, but I’m thrilled at our progress. We are gearing up for our new pastor and for our best days to be ahead of us. 

Good But Not Perfect

We have a great staff at Bacon Heights who diligently work to get things right. However, we are human, and as such, imperfect. Such is the case with the nominating ballot for the Pastor Search Committee.

It was decided by the elected leadership to follow the precedent of disallowing anyone who receives a pay check from Bacon Heights, or their spouse, from serving on this committee. To assist you we provided a list of ineligible folks on the back of the nominating ballot. Unfortunately, we failed to include the names of two valuable members of our church staff.  Tami Hines, Administrative Assistant to Nick, and Sherril Henson, Children’s Music Intern, were not listed.  Consequently, Andy and Tami Hines as well as Matt and Sherril Henson are not candidates to serve on the Pastor Search Committee. We’re not quite sure how this happened and are sorry for this oversight.

Because you are required to sign your nominating ballots, we can know who might have nominated any one of these four and will give you an opportunity to change your ballot and replace that now-empty-slot with an eligible nominee. Again, we apologize for this error.

STAFF ANNIVERSARIES: This month we celebrate the anniversaries of three of our Administrative Assistants. Gail White has completed 19 years, Tami Hines has 16 years and Tina Findley has achieved 8 years of faithful service. These ladies work tirelessly to advance the Kingdom of God through the ministries of Bacon Heights Baptist Church. I greatly appreciate each of them and invite you to join me in congratulating them on their years of outstanding work.

Our Youth Praise Team did an outstanding job in leading us in worship Sunday during the late service. These students practiced long and hard to prepare for this assignment, and their hard work showed. “Thank you, students, for a job well done.”

This coming Sunday we will recognize our teachers and consider the role the public schools and churches play in educating our children.  If you know a teacher, invite him/her to join you.

Please pray daily for the Lord to lead in the selection of our Pastor Search Committee. Pray for the man God has already chosen to lead our church. Pray for the Lord to lead us together in His time and that together we will work to ensure that our best days are still ahead of us.

Pastor Search Committee

Sunday, August 17, we will begin accepting nominations for the Pastor Search Committee. During a joint meeting with the Personnel Committee and the Church Council, it was decided we would have a committee of 7; 5 will be elected at-large by the church with 2 being ex-officio members as per the by-laws. It was also decided that, to maintain a balance on the Search Committee, the top 2 nominees from the early service and top 3 from the late service would be voting members of the Search Committee. The third nominee from the early service and the fourth nominee from the late service would be added to the Committee as non-voting alternates. The alternates will meet with the Search Committee, but not travel with them nor vote unless someone drops off the Committee.

In keeping with the process used during the last pastor search, no person receiving a paycheck or the spouse of a person receiving a paycheck from BHBC will be eligible to serve on the Search Committee.

Nominations will be received from August 17 through the 31^st.  Only one nomination ballot per church member will be accepted and ballots must be signed and dated by the member submitting the ballot. Ballots will be available in The Commons and can be submitted through the ballot box, mail or email, as long as they are signed and dated.  Nominating ballots will not be accepted after August 31.

The nominating ballot will have spaces for seven names. You do NOT have to fill in each blank to submit nominations, but bear in mind; you can only submit one nominating ballot. You do NOT have to only vote for church members who attend your particular worship service. We are counting on you to nominate members from both worship services.

Is this a perfect plan for selecting a Search Committee? Probably not, but it is a solid, workable plan the elected leadership of Bacon Heights agrees upon. What you and I have to remember is that God is in charge of His church and trust Him to get the right people on the Search Committee. He already knows who He has chosen to be our next pastor and we must pray for the revelation of His choice to our Search Committee and, ultimately, to the whole church. 

Updates

Some of the folks in the early service have voiced displeasure at not having a welcoming time. We’ll put it back BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP! It’s awkward when we ask you to greet one another and a guest gets ignored. Often guests will sit in the back, near the outside corner, or at the front corner and get overlooked. On the other hand, it’s also awkward IF the only time a guest gets welcomed is during the welcoming time. Many years ago Judy and I visited a church where no one knew us. They advertised being “the friendliest church in town.” From our perspective they were guilty of false advertising. Oh, they WERE friendly with one another, but not with new folks. The only time anyone spoke to us was during the welcoming time, but these greetings were not backed up by any other indication they really cared we were there. We arrived early and stayed late and not a single person spoke to us, expect during the welcome time. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN AT BACON HEIGHTS. A “staged” welcoming time will never be as powerful as the spontaneous welcoming when a person first walks in the door or lingers when the worship time is over.  

Many are wondering why we have not formed a Pastor Search Committee, a very valid question. It’s really a matter of the timing of Jerry’s departure and BHBC’s lack of experience in selecting pastors. When the original plan was put in place, BHBC was a much smaller church with only one worship service on Sunday mornings. Members knew each other. Now we have dual services with the early one being comprised of mostly older members and the late service made up of mostly younger members. Some of the older members have registered concerns over the Pastor Search Committee being made up of only people from the early service. They want the Committee to be representative of the whole church. Because of summer vacations and activities, we’ve not been able to assemble a quorum of the Personnel Committee and Church Council to develop plans to present to you, the Church Body, for selecting the Pastor Search Committee. We have called for a joint meeting on Sunday afternoon, August 10, at 2:00, in the hope that a two week notice will allow folks the time to make some scheduling adjustments and we can have a quorum present.

In the meantime, pray God’s choice of members for the Search Team be our choice as well. Pray for the man God has already chosen to be our next pastor. He’ll be coming to a great church with a bright future. We need him to come and provide the leadership to make our best days to be ahead of us.

(Judy and I leave Lubbock early--very early--Saturday morning and head to East Asia. If you have any interest in reading about our trip, I'll be posting on another blog I have. That address is:

        www.tumbler1.blogspot.com

See you in a few days.)

Search Team Selection

If you have read my previous post detailing the lack of direction for selecting a Search Team, then you know we have work to do before taking nominations. With the summer schedule in full-force, we've had a challenge assembling a quorum of folks who could work on a plan to present to you, the Church Body.

We're scheduling a joint Church Council and Personnel Committee meeting on Sunday afternoon, August 10, at 2:00.  We're hoping that by giving at least a two week notice we can have a quorum present.

If it seems to you that we are being overly cautions in getting a Search Team assembled, then you are accurate in your observation. The calling of a pastor is one of the most important actions a church can take. We will treat it with the importance and detail-watching this process deserves.

My role during this time is to provide support to the Council and Personnel Committee. I'll work with and for them as much as they need. Once a Search Team is selected, I'll call them together (because someone has to) and assist them in selecting a Chair. Once that is done, I'm out of the picture. From that moment on, I'll only know what they tell all of us. I'm also accepting the resumes that are now coming in and responding to the ones sending the resumes to let them know we have received their resume and our process.

In the meantime, pray for the man God has already chosen to be our pastor. Pray for us to find him in God's timing. Pray for Bacon Heights to continue to advance the Kingdom of God.

Software Pain

Bacon Heights is undergoing a change in church management software. For those of you who have lived through software changes, you can sympathize with our staff. If you've never been through such a change, you are probably asking, "So, what's the big deal?"

The big deal has to do with getting the new software to work, or in getting us to adapt to how it works. At times we've had both issues to work through. The repercussions are affecting you, the tithing Church Member. We've not been able to process your donations for the last few weeks. (The money is safely secured and we have cash reserves for such a time as this.) That's why your checks have not cleared your bank.

Later this week we will process our donations and get that money in the bank. Life will be good around the office once we get the glitches worked out. We WILL enjoy the benefits of the new AND we WILL survive the transition. Until then, please be patient with us. Our staff is working long, long hours to get this transition done.

Debt Free in Less Than 3

Yesterday morning (July 16, 2014) I took a check to Lubbock National Bank for the outstanding balance on our construction loan. Even though the loan had been arranged much earlier, we didn't activate it until May of 2012. Prior to that date we paid cash.

We arranged for a 15 year loan with a 7 year fixed rate. Due to your faithful giving, and the sale of our South Campus, we are DEBT FREE IN LESS THAN THREE years. Actually, it was about 26 months that we were in debt. Oh, what a joy to be debt free.

We need to celebrate that we were able to do a $2.7 million project and have any debt totally paid in 26 months. The sale of the land pushed us over the top, AND, we will be able to bank a little over a half-million dollars for Phase 2 of our long-term plan, which is a second floor over the preschool area.

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to our construction fund. Your faithful giving provided for about $2.4 million of the money used in construction. The land had been paid for by the faithful giving of our BHBC family about 13 years ago. In reality all of the construction costs were paid by the sacrifices of our members, past and present. To God be the glory for providing through His people.

We will celebrate being debt free this Sunday night, following the ordination of Jeffrey Smith. Last Sunday I announced we'd have a note burning ceremony but I think a note shredding ceremony might be safer and just as effective. Hope you will be here for the ordination, brief (very brief) business meeting and the note shredding ceremony. Bring food and we'll party.

Search Team Thoughts

Clearly BHBC has not had to search for a pastor very often, so the process is not clearly defined.  We can only find the following directive from our by-laws: ARTICLE III CHURCH OFFICEERS, Section 2. Pastor and Church Staff Ministers, Paragraph A. Call and Election: The church shall call a pastor whenever a vacancy occurs….A search committee composed of not fewer than five members shall be elected at-large to seek out a pastor or church staff minister. The chairman of the deacons and the chairperson of the personnel committee shall be ex-officio members.

Our by-laws state, under Article X, CHURCH BUSINESS, Section 4. Parliamentary Procedures: Parliamentary procedures shall be guided by the most recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order or by other procedures as may be prescribed by the church.

Robert’s Rules of Order clearly state, in regards to ex-officio members, Without exception, ex-officio members of boards and committee have exactly the same rights and privileges as do all other members, including, of course, the right to vote. There are, however, two instances (only 2) in which ex-officio members are not counted in determining the number required for a quorum or in determining whether or not a quorum is present. (Neither exception applies in this case.)

In researching our by-laws, there is no exception provided for ex-officio members that would prevent them from voting. Therefore, the chairmen of the deacons and personnel committee ARE voting members of the Pastor Search Committee.

During the 2002 search, the Personnel Committee decided to exclude all persons who receive a salary from the Personnel Line Item of the budget. (As an aside; Merle Scott served on the Search Committee. Technically, she didn’t receive a salary from BHBC but did have insurance benefits paid by BHBC.) When Gib Weaver, then Chairman of the Personnel Committee, made the announcement of the Search Committee on Feb. 3, 2002, the following notes were recorded: The following are members of the committee: the top 7 vote getters who passed stewardship and membership requirements are on the committee, the next two are alternates (who will participate in all meetings, but not vote or have any say so, and will not travel, but they will be aware of the proceedings should someone drop out). The chairman of the personnel committee and the chairman of the deacons are ex-officio members. The minutes contained the names of the 7 members and 2 alternatives, but did not name the two ex-officio members.

If Robert’s Rules of Order was followed, then the 2002 Search Committee had 9 members and 2 alternates.

The nominating form that was used in 2002 contained the names of the two ex-officio members, then 7 lines for members to submit names. On the back was a listing of the members deemed ineligible to serve by virtue of either receiving a pay check from BHBC OR being the spouse of a paid employee.

In a called meeting of the Church Council on June 15, 2014, while discussing the impending sale of the South Campus, the question arose about the demographics of the Search Committee. The Council is greatly concerned that the whole church be represented on the Committee. One comment was made that large Sunday school classes could potentially select the Committee. The majority opinion expressed at that time was we need good representation from the younger membership of BHBC.  Another stated large classes would need to “police” themselves to make sure they were not filling all the slots on the Search Committee. One suggestion was to have one-half of the committee from each of the two worship times. 

Here's the bottom line as I see it. We still have a few details to work out as we begin the pastor selection process. The challenge has been the timing of Jerry's resignation coming at the beginning of summer. Just as soon as we can get the Church Council and Personnel Committee members in town we can work on the details and present a plan of action for your approval. Please don't think we're ignoring this or deliberately delaying the process, we just have plans for form and need as many people as possible to be involved.

In the meantime, continue to pray for our new pastor and for God to reveal to us who he is and in God's perfect timing.