Session Summary

By John Dishman

Since the publication of the last issue of the Crier, the Session has held three additional meetings. On December 22, the recessed meeting of the December stated meeting was reconvened.  At this meeting, the Session considered the results of the written and oral examinations of officer candidates.  After discussion and prayer, the following men were qualified to stand for election:  Joel Aguilar, Wayne Bowman and Matt Turner for ruling elder; and Rudy Gonzales, Ed Hotz, and Rowell Lubbers for deacon.  Ed Hotz has been ordained as both a ruling elder and deacon, and so is eligible for election to either office.  Ed has stated that he feels an internal call from the Lord to return to diaconal service, and the Session is grateful to the Lord for Ed's willingness to apply his abundant gifts in this area.  Since there was no further business, the December stated meeting was adjourned in prayer at 5:47 PM by Moderator Pete Deison.

The January stated meeting was convened in prayer on the 10th of the month. Because the December meeting had focused on officer elections, a number of items had been deferred to the January meeting. Reports from the elders on their responsibility areas, and actions taken, included the following:

• The Cole, Davis, and Tubb families would form the new communion preparation team.
• Evening communion will be held on February 21, May 2, and July 18.
• Pastor Patrick Lafferty from PCPC will supply the pulpit on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7 while Pastor John is on vacation to work on his doctorate at New Geneva Seminary.
• Newly elected officers would be ordained & installed in the morning worship service on January 24.
• Pastor John indicated that he will be starting a new sermon series focused on outreach and evangelism.  The goal of this series is to encourage our members to invite friends and family to the Easter services.  He also described several possible “side door” outreach initiatives including a chili cook-off, a softball event, VBS, and a program known as “Christianity Explored.” The Session authorized expenditures to investigate/initiate these activities going forward.
• It was agreed to assign shepherding elders to church families after the newly elected elders have been installed.  Additionally, the church roll has been adjusted for recent gains and losses.
• Pastor John will hold a church information class over two weekends in March, with the final dates still to be determined.
• Carl Ede reported on activities of the Pulpit Committee and their recent retreat.  Progress is being made in formulating a list of candidates, and in understanding the characteristics most desired by the congregation per data from recent surveys.

Because of the large number of items still left on the agenda, the meeting was recessed to the following Sunday afternoon after the regular Session prayer time.  The recessed meeting convened in executive session on January 17 at 1:30 PM, following the hour of prayer by the Session for the congregation.  In the reconvened meeting the following actions were taken:

• Bonnie Wells' request to post the Heritage Alliance prayer calendar in the narthex was approved.
• Richard Davis will teach the adult Sunday School class on Nehemiah in the Spring quarter.
• Tony Anthony will discuss with the Deacons the use of the extra funds obtained from the recent bond refinance program.
• Tony Anthony and Carl Ede will be the ruling elder delegates to the next North Texas Presbytery meeting.  This meeting will be held at Bethel Church on Feb. 5 & 6.
• By a passed motion, it was agreed to return copies of the officer exams to the candidates.  Those who took the exams but decided not to stand for election will have their exams placed on file.  We will therefore have a record showing that they have completed this phase of the qualification process.
• It was agreed to hold future Session meetings at 7:00 PM on Tuesdays of our scheduled meetings weeks.  The next meeting will be on Feb. 9.

The meeting was closed in prayer by Tony Anthony at 4:27 PM.

Back to February 2010 Crier Index page