This past Sunday was the church annual meeting.  As in the past we had a Pot Luck lunch before the meeting.  Wow!  If you didn't have enough to eat there was only one person to blame (You).  The food was great.

 At this meeting we voted in a budget for 2010, approved a new slate of members for our boards and committees, voted on bylaw changes, approved the Envisioning report, and discussed the proposed new signage for the church.  Some would say the meeting was long because it lasted 2 ½ hours.  I, on the other hand, would say the meeting was only 2 ½ hours, considering all that we accomplished (the glass is either half full or half empty story). For those that were unable to attend the meeting, the minutes will be posted in the foyer and you can access them from a link off to the side of this webpage, as well. 

I am getting closer to my goal of 100 members attending the meeting.  We increased the number by 4 over last year.  Although only a slight increase, I'll take it.  This year's count was 62 (I think the proctors may have missed a few, like 38.)  I have one more try for a hundred.

Although the turn out was good, I was disappointed that there weren't more new members at the meeting,  This is a time to really find out what your church is all about.  I know we all have busy schedules, and priorities, but I would hope that your church would be somewhere toward the top of the priority list.

If I were to give a "State ofThe Church" address, I would say that we are healthy and doing well.  We have a growth in membership, we are able to meet our pledge goals, and we are active.  With the Envisioning process complete we can now move forward with the committee's recommendations.  Some of these are already underway.

I am looking forward to this New Year in our church.  With the church accepting the Envisioning Committee's recommendations, the boards, committees, council, and church members have been charged to make these recommendations happen.  I plan on taking this seriously and will do all I can to move these recommendations forward.  I have requested all boards and committees to notify me of their next meeting so that I can go over the recommendations with them to see which would be applicable to that board or committee.

I heard the lyrics of a song the other day that goes something like this, "God created us to do his work.  He gave us hands so that we can help others.  He gave us a heart so that we can be compassionate.  He gave us feet so that we can walk in his foot steps."  Let us be helpful, compassionate, and walk in our neighbor's foot steps.