The decision has been made, after much prayer, consideration and discussion, to move forward with combining the contemporary services at Calvary. I sense the excitement in the air already!
Allow me to review the decision making process.
After posting the idea on this blog last week, I received several e-mail replies and read several posted comments on the blog. Some of these had suggestions. Others had expressed opinions. And some had questions. All of them were affirming of the general idea of combining services. The e-mail for blog posts goes out to approximately to 160 Calvary leaders. Approximately 66 have viewed the blog. About 20 have replied with e-mails or comments. There are eight posted comments on that blog post.
On Wednesday (3-30-11), I met with the coordinating council which consists of the chairpersons of all committees and the chairman of deacons (Karrie Fogle, Victor Valenzuela, Bobby Byrnes, Steve Ahlenius, Hector Garza and Mark Southwell). After discussion, the council voted unanimously to move forward with the proposed change.
On Sunday (4-3-11), I met with the deacon body. Twenty-four of us were present (19 deacons and 5 pastors). We discussed the proposed change, after a period of prayer, and arrived at a general consensus that this is where we felt God leading us.
On Monday (4-4-11), I met with the pastoral staff to pray and review the feedback received throughout the week. As a staff we agreed to implement this change which has been agreed to by the leadership of Calvary without opposition. We have discussed issues of concern and logistical details and are working hard to prepare for this change.
The nature of the concerns which have been expressed in the discussions are how will this impact the Children and Student Bible Fellowships, how will that impact parking lot space, and what will be the plan for when we grow. There were multiple alternatives to the scheduled times that were submitted, ranging from starting earlier, to flip-flopping classic and contemporary and to placing the Spanish service in the middle of the two English services. There were various other concerns and suggestions. These are the most salient ones. We have discussed each area of concern and considered the options thoroughly. Although each of these concerns could occupy an entire blog entry, I will give a very summary comment to each of them.
The children and student buildings have sufficient rooms to handle this change. What may be lacking are teachers. However, this need exists now. In other words, whether this change took place or not, we are still needing to communicate to our parents and congregation the value of discipling our children and students and increasing the number of people who invest in this important ministry. As a staff we will take steps to call out those teachers and potential teachers in our congregation.
One of the aspects which will be lost in the children and student areas is the integration of children and students from the English and Spanish services that was possible at the 11:15 ABF time. However, this opportunity will now be afforded for children of families who attend the classic service. It is our desire that this integration continue to happen on Wednesday nights and events of the children and student ministries.
Our church campus counts on sufficient parking space to handle the proposed change. Since there will be more people on campus at one time, we do encourage our congregation to leave the parking lots closer to the worship center for our guests, the elderly and the handicapped. That leaves the parking lots on the west end of our property and the one on Daffodil (on the north end of the family life center) for the rest of us.
The pastoral staff will be working almost immediately on the plan for when we grow so that space is provided for further growth.
We considered the schedule time and placement of services suggestions. There are many advantages and disadvantages to each of them. The decision is to move forward with the originally proposed schedule:
09:30 am Classic worship (contemporary ABFs)
11:00 am Contemporary worship (classic and Spanish ABFs)
12:30 pm Spanish worship
This new schedule will be effective May 1 in order to give us sufficient time for implementation before the summer begins.
We ask for your prayers and your support as we move forward in the direction that we feel God is leading us. I am excited about what God is doing at Calvary!
May God be glorified in all that we do!
I like the idea of the spanish service being in the middle
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing discussion from Pastor and staff made sense to keep the spanish service sort of close to its present time. Keeps their ABF intact and allows for Sunday services to begin later. Mostly good for the classic folks. Hopefully when it's all said and done, may we(classic,contemporary & spanish service) continue hearing from God that we are all in the same boat and we need to keep paddling togther.-Bobby Byrnes
ReplyDeleteOur students attending the Spanish language service with their parents will now need to attend our Bible class at 9:30, get out at 11:00 and then wait until 12:30 to attend the worship service. We do not want to lose them! -any ideas on something that can occupy their time? - service - ministry - donuts???
ReplyDeleteDavid and Laura,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for bringing up this item. As we discussed it in the meetings, it was one of our concerns. Obviously, our desire is that these Student Bible Fellowships which have student from both English and Spanish services remain intact. The two primary options if these groups are to stay intact are:
1. Students whose parents attend the Spanish service may choose to attend SBF at 9:30 and the Contemporary service with their friends at 11:00 am. Then, at 12:30 pm, they may either join their family, volunteer for service or go home.
2. These same students may attend SBF at 9:30, volunteer for service at 11:00 and attend worship with their family at 12:30 pm.
Obviously, they are free to choose to attend SBF at 11:00 am and worship at 12:30 pm but this would not keep the group intact as we would like it to.
The areas of volunteer service may be in the children's building, in some sort of media capacity, or another area that may be specific to their gifting and skills.
I hope this addresses your concern.