Evaluation Team off and running

We had another eTeam meeting this past Monday. I am impressed with the caliber of people on the team. Everyone on the team has a good handle on the task we are to accomplish and insight that is remarkable.

We are going to take a broad approach to listening to people in Arizona concerning their impressions / perceptions of how our convention structure is working. It is refreshing to have leadership who encourages us to connect with people however we can. As a result, we are going to communicate many ways - through a blog, downloadable documents that can be returned by email or snail mail, personal letters to every pastor in the state, and an offer to meet with groups of pastors wherever they want to get together (and these meetings don't have to be by Associational area either!!!)

And to top it all off, my computer died yesterday morning..... I'm working from home for awhile until a new one arrives or the old one is fixed, whichever happens first.

Desert Reign

Last night Desert Reign, a Country Gospel Music band performed in our church. They originally attended this church until they started traveling together as a band. They come back every year on their tours.

Last night I got to play my djembe with Breanna after everything was done and cleaned up. She received the CGMA-Western Region Songwriter of the Year award in 2005 and is the youngest person ever to do so. Needless to say, she is a talented musician.

Also found out last night that being an "entertainer" is not what I'm cut out for.... and that Elvis has left the building - one more time. But I did leave R.C. speachless with my Elvis imitation.

February Meeting

Good trip this time! We got to talk about some policy issues with the lawyer for our Convention Council Church Planting Team. Good beginning for the discussion, but still have some things to work out. We were able to spend some money helping 2 churches reach their communities! We will be helping a third at some point - when some questions are answered. It appeared that they hadn't completely thought through all the issues they were facing, so we will readdress it when they find the answers.

We got to hear about what is happening with the Arizona Regional Campus of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary - exciting stuff! They have 96 students taking classes this semester, and lots of money is being given for scholarships. Heard a story of a 70 year old man who has started taking classes, and another retired man who preached his first sermon in a church and they called him as pastor on the spot!!!!!

Also heard about the Desert Pines Baptist Association in the central north eastern part of Arizona. The churches in that Association are doing a good job reaching the people in their area using some creative ministries.

Mitch has promised me for awhile now that we would have a trailer. There was a reported trailer sighting on Monday night, so I'm fairly sure it exists......

Had a good afternoon drinking coffee and conversation with Sam on Monday. My lovely bride bought some new threads. She doesn't do that very often, so I was glad she found some she wanted, and they fit too! Two of my other women came home with new things too. Suppose that happens when they outgrow their old stuff.

Headed to Phoenix

Tomorrow my women and I are heading to Phoenix. I hope to spend the afternoon with my friend Sam. I learn a lot and get encouraged every time we get together.

I have meetings with the Convention Council of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention. I look forward to these meetings because we get to assist churches do the things they feel led to do in order to reach the state of Arizona for the cause of Christ. The latest numbers I saw show that we are losing ground in the state. It appears that more and more people do not have a relationship with the risen Christ and have no affiliation with any church that is telling about Him.

I serve on the Church Planting Resource Team. We get to hear about how God is working in new church plants and decide how we can help them grow and become established.

Tonight in our evening services we talked a bit more about baptism. We are going to start the discussion about Prospective Member classes so that everyone who wants to be a member of this church will be able to know what we believe and how we want to operate. For some, this is old hat, for me, it is exciting news.

Before You Go

Received this story (or something close to it) a couple of different times in the past couple of weeks. Thought I'd check the story out and pass it along if it turned out to be true. It is, and the message is worth it, so is the song - "Before You Go".

My father-in-law was a pilot during WWII. He died almost 5 years ago. I'm sure he would have appreciated this story and song, whether he would have said anything to anyone about it or not. I still miss him....... and will until we are reunited again. Thank you Dean.

5 Year Checkup

1999 marks the year that the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention took a major hit. That is the year that the Baptist Foundation of AZ declared bankruptcy. One of the results of that explosion was that the structure of the ASBC was radically changed.

At the Convention in 1999, 17 people (pastors, laymen, a church secretary, and retired Navy Chaplain) from different parts of Az were appointed "to emerge a vision map strategy for our convention." The two-fold mission of the vision task force was: (1) To develop a convention wide vision. (2) To propose any structural or constitutional changes needed to support the vision. They were to report back to the 2000 ASB Convention with their vision and recommendations for its implementation.

They returned with a Mission statement: "The purpose of the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention is to assist the Arizona Southern Baptist Churches in fulfilling the Great Commission."

They also returned 12 different recommendations. These recommendations drastically changed the structure and focus of the Convention at that point. One of those recommendations was for the new structure to be evaluated in 5 years. This structure has been in place for 5 years now.

At our Convention last November, 9 of us were approved as members of an Evaluation Team (eTeam for short). The makeup of the eTeam includes 3 Directors of Missions, a BCM Assistant Director, a lady who works in one of the Associations in the state, and 4 pastors - including a former President of our Convention. Our current President, Dan Coker, attends the meetings as a consultant, along with our State Missionary, Steve Bass, and the lady who makes sure it all happens - Mary.

We met last week to decide how we are going to go about doing our 5 year checkup. We need to report back to the Convention in November, so that is our main deadline. No one does much of anything outside in the summer here in Az, so we are trying to have most of the hard stuff done before it gets kinda warm.

I'm looking forward to finding the perceptions of how the current structure is working in the eyes of others in our state. It is going to be a bit of work (Ok, probably a lot of work), but I think it will be worth it in the long run.

I have the pleasure of designing a survey instrument (Thanks Julie.....) to help us determine the perceptions of leaders in the churches of our state.

I hope to bring updates fairly regularly on what we are doing (as much as possible), and the progress of the evaluation.

My Shoulder hurts

Spent the last couple of days working at the Food Bank. Had some construction that needed to happen when people weren't around. Worked with some people who I am getting to know. I found out that just cuz you are older means that you know what to do or how to do it. I also learned that sometimes a younger person knows how to do something better than an older person. Sometimes there can be too much instruction going on. Other times, there is not enough to do to keep everyone busy.

Anyway, my shoulder hurts now. But the job is done, and the folks using it will be in a safer environment, and we have the satisfaction of a job well done.