Church Family Meeting

  • Dec 8, 2008
  • Series: Home page

Greetings!

We hope to find you enjoying the Christmas season. There certainly will never be news greater than that of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. His long promised advent ushered in a new age of peace with God. Even today, we see this news as the great “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Joy to the world, the Lord is come!

As the year comes to an end, we would like to communicate direction the Lord has given us for future ministry. Looking back, your love for the Savior, for the advance of the Gospel, and for one another makes us very happy and, much more importantly, pleases God. It is a blessing to partner with you in the Gospel. But listen, we have news!

God has been meeting with us. We have been asking the Lord to help us plan and provide for the future ministry of our church and our partnership with Sovereign Grace Ministries. He answered but not in the way we expected. What follows are some of the highlights.

First, we decided to reposition Mark Lauterbach, currently our Senior Pastor, to an Associate Pastor role here at Grace Church. This move is the result of much prayer and evaluation and all involved are in agreement. Mark has served us well as Senior Pastor over the last four years. This transition is an affirmation of his calling to ministry and our faith for the future. In fact, we believe Markʼs most fruitful years of ministry are still ahead. It is our desire to now leverage his teaching gifts and relieve him of roles of lesser fit. Mark believes this and has embraced his new role as Godʼs good grace for him and the church.

Second, we decided to reposition Eric Turbedsky, currently an Associate Pastor, to the role of the Senior Pastor here at Grace Church. This is also the result of much prayer and evaluation and all involved are in agreement. We believe Eric is particularly gifted and called to lead our church and pastoral team. His faith for the mission and his ministry to our church over the last 12 years demonstrate his suitability for this role. The team trusts his leadership and we can commend his life and family to you. His progress, particularly in preaching the Gospel, has been evident to us all (1 Timothy 4:15). Though he did not seek this role, God has given Eric the grace and faith to take on this new responsibility.

Mark and Eric have already begun transitioning their responsibilities. We anticipate this transition to be complete by September 2009. Until then, Mark will continue to serve us as Senior Pastor while gradually delegating his particular responsibilities to Eric. We will provide you further direction as the year unfolds.

Finally, we are asking you to give to our Mission Fund on Sunday, December 21st, 2008. We believe God is calling us to consider again how we might give in extraordinary ways for the expansion of our local and extra-local mission. Our goal is $60,000, received through one-time gifts and eight-month pledges (through August 2009). This amount reflects the money necessary to proceed as planned. We have made significant budget cuts but also believe it would honor and please God to ask you to give. You have been so generous in the past and we are aware of the financial challenges and uncertainty facing everyone at this time. Please feel our appreciation for your ongoing financial support and faith that God will provide exactly what we need going forward.

We hope you have been encouraged by this report. If you have questions or concerns, please donʼt hesitate to contact a pastor. We are eager to serve you and know that some of you will need as much help and encouragement as we have needed...and still need. Thanks again. We couldnʼt do this without you!

This letter is also available for download HERE, You may also LISTEN or DOWNLOAD the meeting.