St. Nicholas is a _______-Driven Church
November 2, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
At the beginning of our Vestry meetings, we spend 20 to 30 minutes at the beginning on formation. I will lead a devotion, or throw out some discussion questions. At our October meeting last week, I read a reading from a book called Beyond Business As Usual by Neal O. Michell. In the reading, Michell talks about Rick Warren’s popular book The Purpose-Driven Church, which many church leaders are using these days to inspire spiritual growth in their congregations. Michell talks about using this book with his own Vestry and, drawing on Warren’s work, asked the Vestry to reflect and discuss on what drives their church. In other words, he asked them to fill in the blank: “Our church is a _____-driven church.”
He talked about how one person on the Vestry claimed that the church was “crisis-driven,” based on their rocky history. This was a turning point for his Vestry and his congregation, as they moved from “crisis-driven” to something more positive.
So at our Vestry meeting, I decided to ask the same question of our Vestry. I asked them to reflect on the last few month in the congregation, our last few Vestry meetings, and be honest about what was driving our church today. I gave them all index cards to write on and some time to think about it. After watching them write for a few minutes, I collected the cards and read them aloud. I’m not sure what I expected, but here were their answers: Read more
Update on Growth & Building
March 10, 2011 by fatherjeff
Filed under Future Building
The last few months at St. Nicholas have given us tremendous blessings in growth. Whereas our average Sunday attendance in 2010 was 80 (inclusive of both services), we’ve had a number of Sundays where attendance reached into the 90’s and one Sunday that went over 100! Folks are noticing that our Sunday School room is packed with children, our nursery has been full, and even our Adult Forum room has been at capacity. This is not to mention our 11:00am service which has us adding extra seats and using overflow space from time to time.
Strategic Planning Committee Survey
December 13, 2010 by fatherjeff
Filed under News & Events
The Strategic Planning Committee has been meeting the past year to begin the discussion of how we would like to see the physical plant of St. Nicholas to grow. The committee, commissioned by the Vestry, is chaired by Nick Simpson. The committee members are Chris Butzon, Gene Demonet, Doug Martin III, Connie Blackmon, John Winsness, Laura Bailey, Nancy Snoots, and Suzy Eidson. They have established a survey, that you can do by clicking here. The Small Church Who Does Big Things
November 2, 2010 by fatherjeff
Filed under The Hiking Priest (Fr. Jeff's Blog)
Last week, my friend Lonnie Lacy, who is the rector of St. Anne’s, Tifton, and I went on a camping trip to North Georgia for a week of prayers, reading, and fellowship. Before we left, I realized I had left a book at the church, so it gave me the opportunity to show him our building. After looking it over, Lonnie commented, “You know, I really imagined St. Nicholas to be much bigger based on your website and newsletter. You guys do a LOT for a small church!”
Today I was talking to a recent visitor of St. Nicholas who said the exact same thing. Even at Lobsterfest, folks were exclaiming how they couldn’t believe a “small” church could pull off such a big event. What supreme compliments!!! Each time I hear these comments I laugh and say, “I think we need to have the tagline: The small church who does BIG things.” Read more
Latest Podcasts
October 10, 2010 by fatherjeff
Filed under News & Events
This past week, we’ve had a string of podcasts added to the site.
First, on Tuesday evening, I did an Instructed Eucharist for our Tuesday evening class and as part of Episcopal 101. If you have any questions about how we worship or why we do the things we do in worship, check out this podcast.
Then, this morning we celebrated the sacrament of baptism as we welcomed Luke Evan Townsend into the household of God. As always, you can listen to this week’s sermon by following the link below or by clicking on the box on the right of the screen. If you happen to miss church one Sunday, you can at least hear the sermon of the last week.
October 10, 2010, 11:00am Sermon
Finally, this evening, the Strategic Planning Committee had their latest meeting. This is the committee that is looking at the long-range plan of St. Nicholas, including our ongoing conversation about future buildings that we may build to expand our physical plant. These meetings are open, and you can hear what we discussed by listening to the podcast below.
Strategic Planning Committee, October 10
If you want to take these podcasts on the go, you can download it into your iTunes and load it on to an iPod. Listen to what’s going on at St. Nicholas!
We Got A Vision…Now What?
May 21, 2010 by fatherjeff
Filed under News & Events
St. Nicholas LOVES YOU!
As you might have heard in my sermon last Sunday (click here or click on the box to the right to hear it), after many months of discernment and conversation, St. Nicholas has developed a working vision for the future! This is incredibly good news, not just for the future, but for right here and now. Read more
Listen to Strategic Planning Committee
March 13, 2010 by fatherjeff
Filed under News & Events
You can now listen to Thursday night’s Strategic Planning Committee meeting on the right side of the screen in the podcast section or by clicking here. Chaired by Nick Simpson, the Strategic Planning Committee has been tasked with beginning the process of looking at our current physical buildings and grounds and how we can begin to make plans for future growth. In this podcast, we discuss plans for developing a master site plan as well as appoint a chair for the Data subcommittee.
If you have any questions or thoughts on our discussion, be sure to contact Nick by clicking here.
