Straight Talk about Your Pastor

In this weeks article, Straight Talk about Your Pastor from pages 20-21, we are provided an article about ways we can help in supporting our pastor. After providing a few points about the pastor, we are provided 5 things to do and 5 things not to do in supporting the pastor. I welcome your discussion on what is revealed in this article, but I am going to highlight the things that really stuck out to me.

First, from the 5 things not to do, the second point states that we should not be asking the pastor to make announcements at the beginning of the service. He should be focusing more on his sermon at this time. As you know we currently have the pastor present announcements at the beginning of the service. I also realize the validity of this statement because the pastor has stated in the past that before he preaches he does not think about anything other than the sermon. Unless it is written down, he will likely forget the discussion. What do we need to do to change this? Ideas include announcements at the end of the service or having someone other than the pastor give the announcements at the beginning of the service.

From the 5 things to do, the fourth point encourages the deacons and Sunday School to take the lead in pastoral care. I think we do a decent job in this area already, but the key point that I want to make is that the pastor does not need to deal with all the members in everything that goes on. It is asking too much. We must take the lead in these areas and not expect the pastor to be there as well. If the deacons and Sunday School classes can take care of the people, then the pastor should not be expected care for their needs as well. Only in urgent cases would it be necesary for the pastor to be involved.

I liked this article and how it addressed ways you can support your pastor. It actually provides a good description of what it means to support your pastor.

Thoughts and discussion are welcome. Please comment and let's hear your thoughts.

Deacon: Cast a Missions Vision for Your Church

Welcome to the first of a weekly deacon blog series discussing the articles from our quarterly Deacon magazine from Lifeway. The first article just happens to be the first article: "Cast A Missions Vision for Your Church." Located on pages 6-7, this article was one of the more basic articles in the magazine. It is written by the president of the North American Mission Board. In it he talks about how the deacons in his former church were mission-minded deacons and how this lead to what he is leading now as president of NAMB. He provides a website to check out in which we can learn more about church planting and missions and find ways to get invovled. The site is namb.net and the tab is "Mobilize Me." I checked it out myself and found some interesting things not only about church planting, but also disaster relief. For me, this article reminds me of the importance of being mission-minded. Even as deacons we need to lead in the areas of missions and make Waldrop Memorial Baptist Church more outward minded instead of the inward minded tendancies that was revealed in the Discovery Team report over four years ago? How have we done in trying to become more outward minded? Are we better that we were four years ago? I say no. We are still as inward minded as we were back then. It is one thing to say we are going to be outward minded, but it is a whole other thing when we actually do it. Let's begin to take steps this year on becoming more outward as a church.

What are some interesting things you found/learned from this article?

Did it lead you to make decisions/take steps towards achieving new goals?

Please share your thoughts in the comments box.

A New Sunday School Year -Week 1

Note: This is an old post that for some reason never got published.



Welcome to the new Sunday School Year! I will be blogging about all the things going on this year one week at a time. I am starting a little late for week one, so you will see two blogs this week, one for September 5th through the 11th and another for September 12th through 18th.





The Sunday School year began with our first ever Kick-off Event on September 1st. I first went over plans and goals for the new Sunday School year with the leaders at our Leadership Meeting. After that, we all enjoyed a wonderful fellowship meal before heading over to the sanctuary for the Commissioning Service with our special guest speaker Jimmy Blanton. The service was great, and the message was clear, we must become outreach minded in our Sunday School.The purpose of the Sunday School is to reach, teach, and minister to people. We do a good job with the other two, now let's make this third objective a priority this year.

For everyone who went to the kick-off, please pick up an evaluation sheet in the foyer, fill it out, and return it to the designated box located under the table by the end of the month so we can do an even better job next year!

We will have many things to discuss at our Sunday Morning Meetings starting again this Sunday in the meeting room.(formerly the College & Career classroom) From State Missions to reporting contacts we will begin communicating the things that are being done and that need to be done to make this year successful. The meetings will start at 9:15.

I will be making my contacts this week, and I hope you will be too.

See you Sunday everybody!

Sunday School Report July 2012

Monthly Report
June 2012

• Enrollment: 129 (down 12%)
• 3 New Members: 2 Children, 1 Burgan
• Visits: 15 (Up 8)
• Attendance: 56 (down 5%)
• Average Contacts: 38 or 29% (Up 3%)
• Record Accuracy: 91% (down 3%)

Events
• Conducted a Club VBS in June at the Talley’s house. First VBS in four years. Twelve kids and around fifteen volunteers involved.
• Kits for Kids was held at Rose Hill Baptist in July. Waldrop provided two bins of supplies and volunteers assisted with serving food and guiding families.
• The Burgan group had its July fellowship on 7/22 after Sunday School at Hollywood Connection.

Issues
• There will be a Promotion Sunday on Sunday August 12, 2012. This is the Sunday before school starts back (Muscogee County Calendar). We will hold the award presentation at the end of the service because the service is early and most kids are not at the church until the latter part of the service. Then we will hold a church wide potluck after Sunday School. I have received much feedback from members who want to have a potluck. This event would be a good time to hold one as we celebrate the start of a new school year. Waldrop has not had a church wide potluck since March 27th 2011.
• A VBS evaluation was conducted after this year’s VBS so as to plan for next year. I have the evaluation if anyone wants to fill one out. One thing of note is that it is felt that it would be better to hold VBS at the church, but that will have to be determined on our funding for air conditioning in the summer next year. I ask the committee to please increase funding on the electric bill in 2013 for events such as VBS, summer mission projects, and using classrooms in the upper floor of the building. I would like to suggest seriously looking into a flat rate plan that many people use in their own homes.
• I would like to have a month of prayer for VBS planning this month. Next month we will look into appointing a VBS director to begin planning budget, dates, and the theme for next year. I have a calendar of prayer topics for each day available.

Re-enlistment Begins

May marks the beginning of enlistment for the the 2011-2012 Sunday School year. The first step is to confirm those leaders who are currently serving in Sunday School of their commitment for next year. This is a simple step to see where we are in terms of leadership for next year since most teachers will make known their intentions to leave or quit at anytime. The real work will bgin after re-inlistment, when we must find leaders to fill the positions that are still open with new leaders. We have been working on the expected structure of the Sunday School based on where we belive God will lead us moving forward with the resources we currently have. We hope to have re-enlistment completed by the end of the month so we can move forward and be ready for the new Sunday School year in August.

March 27th: Fellowship Sunday

Only one more week until Fellowship Sunday at Waldrop! Please remember to bring a meat, vegetable, or dessert to the potluck which will be after the morning service. The church is providing the drinks and utensils. The purpose of Fellowship Sunday is to help stengthen the unity of the church body and offer praise to God for all He has done for us.

Event Verse:

"Praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people." Acts 2:47

Winter Bible Study

Waldrop wraps up Winter Bible Study 2011 tonight at 6:30 with Pastor Mickey Andrews. He opened the Winter Bible Study Sunday during service and continued the series during our three lunch sessions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I hope everyone who attended received some of the great insights provided the three days. I know I found it valuable.