JANUARY 13, 2007

“Effectiveness in Ministry”

We began at 8:00 a.m. with a wonderful breakfast in our Great Hall. At 9:00 a.m. , Fr. George called all present into the church for Morning Prayer, led by Pat Bouligny. Our Plenary Session speaker was Pam Nolting, who serves as a Spirit of Excellence coach for the Diocese of Texas, along with her husband, Art.

Mrs. Nolting spoke to us about the Visioning Process, giving us the definitions and descriptions of this process. Visioning involves defining three main areas: 1) Core values ; 2) Mission Statement ; and 3) Vision .

Our core values are those values about which we are constant and passionate. They involve our emotions and beliefs.

Our mission statement is a biblical statement and tells what we are about. It is based on our learnings from our Bible concerning what we as Christians should be doing to fulfill our responsibilities, especially to fulfill the Great Commission.

Our vision is our statement about where we are going as a church.

She talked about the importance of these three areas and the role they play in the formation of our church. She then led us through a visioning exercise, after which she spoke of the “nuts and bolts” of how visioning happens.

After a short break, we continued our Annual Meeting by voting on new members for the Bishop's Committee and also for the delegate and alternate for Diocesan Council.

While votes were counted, we heard a report from Buzz Goins, Chairman of the Vision Committee.

We broke into 5 groups for 45 minutes. The groups were divided by ministries and persons could attend the group that would be discussing ministries in which they were interested. Group 1 discussed the Bishop's Committee/Vision/Stewardship & Finance; Group 2 discussed the Altar Guild/Lectors/LEM; Group 3 discussed Ushers/Greeters/Hospitality/Evangelism; Group 4 discussed Christian Education/Youth; and Group 5 discussed the Choir/D.O.K.,/E.C.W.

After the groups gathered in a large group, we heard the results of the Bishop's Committee election: Ellen Goins, L. A. “Mac” McKenzie, Joe Parks, and Philip Morgan were elected to three year terms. Don Baker was announced as the new Bishop's Warden. Don Baker was elected as Delegate to Council. Pat Bouligny was elected as the Alternate.

The Annual Reports, which are printed in the Annual Meeting booklet, were reviewed. (These booklets are available for review in the office.)

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