Wednesday, December 10, 2014

A VISION UPDATE THAT WILL BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!

On behalf of the Vision Implementation Team, I have been asked to give you a full update on where we are regarding our Vision Plan as a church and what our direction is in continuing to implement this plan as we move into 2105.  In case you are unaware, the Vision Implementation Team is led by Josh Kent and includes myself, Glen Catt, Bill Blaker, Steve Dipzinski, and Dave Baragrey, Jr.  This is not going to be a short update but it will be a very exciting one.  I hope that you will read it carefully, prayerfully, joyfully and repeatedly. 

It is amazing what God has done since we launched our original 3-year Vision Plan back in 2013.  Let me review with you what God has already accomplished as we took steps of faith as a church regarding the following aspects of our original three year vision plan. 

A Technology Upgrade with an estimated $220,000 cost including new lighting, environmental projection (in both the Gospel Center and the Chapel); and all the equipment needed to broadcast to the Chapel as well as to begin to broadcast on the internet.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS UPGRADE WAS FINISHED AND COMPLETELY PAID FOR THROUGH DESIGNATED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a part-time Technology Director to launch our broadcast ministry.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS WAS PROVIDED THROUGH THE HIRING OF DAVE MINIER AND WAS PAID FOR THROUGH 2014 BUDGETED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

Broadcasting the message to the Classic Service in the Chapel so that this important service was not interrupted by having to walk down to the Gospel Center.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS WAS COMPLETED!  Praise the Lord!

The expansion of our nursery to allow us to bring all of our nurseries into one secure area and provide room for the many young families God has been and continues to bring into our church.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS OVER $600,000 PROJECT WAS FINISHED, INCLUDING A LOWER LEVEL GIVING US THE LARGEST CLASSROOM IN OUR CHURCH, AND WAS COMPLETELY PAID FOR THROUGH DESIGNATED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a part-time Facility Director to help us better care for and use the wonderful facility that God has given to us.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS WAS PROVIDED THROUGH THE HIRING OF CHRIS OLDS AND WAS PAID FOR THROUGH 2014 BUDGET GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

The implementation of a much needed building restoration and maintenance program to bring our facility up to the level where it needs to be.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN FINISHED AND COMPLETELY PAID FOR THROUGH DESIGNATED AND 2014 BUDGETED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

Broadcasting our Sunday worship service on radio.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND PAID FOR THROUGH DESIGNATED AND 2014 BUDGETED GIVING!  ALONG WITH BROADCASTING OUR SUNDAY SERVICE LIVE ON THE EAGLE 101.5 WE ALSO HAVE A WEEKLY TAPED SERMON PROGRAM ON THE PROMISE FM!  Praise the Lord!

Broadcasting our Sunday worship service on the internet.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN COMPLETED ALONG WITH A VIDEO ARCHIVE OF PAST SERVICES!  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a full-time Children’s Director to oversee our growing Children’s Ministry.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS WAS PROVIDED THROUGH THE HIRING OF JULIA RUPP AND WAS PAID FOR THROUGH 2014 BUDGETED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!
 
Increasing the Outreach Budget of our church to 20% of our General Fund Giving.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE ARE NOW UP TO 17% OF OUR GENERAL FUND GIVING BEING GIVEN TOWARD OURTREACH!  Praise the Lord!

Seeing 80% of the Adults who attend E-Free connected to our ministry through Life Groups and Equip-U Classes.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE HAVE MADE GOOD PROGRESS IN THIS AREA.  WITH THE GROWTH OF OUR CHURCH, HOWEVER, THIS IS AN AREA THAT WE ARE STILL WORKING TO SEE INCREASED PARTICIPATION IN TO REACH THIS LOFTY GOAL.   Praise the Lord!

Isn’t absolutely amazing what God has already done?  It should in no way surprise us.  After all, He is a God that can do super abundantly beyond anything we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)!  In fact, this was especially evident as our Vision Implementation Team sat down this past week to put a strategy together to see our 2015 Vision Items implemented.  As we met, we discovered that almost every aspect on schedule for 2015 has already been paid for including the following:

New Seating for the Chapel.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED A DESIGNATED GIFT TO PAY FOR THESE CHAIRS TO BE PURCHASED!  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a part-time Classic Service Worship Leader to enhance the music and worship in our Classic Service each Sunday.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN PROVIDED THROUGH THE HIRING OF MARY ELLEN JOHNSON AND IS PAID FOR THROUGH THE 2015 BUDGETED GIVING!  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a full-time Technology Director.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN PUT INTO THE 2015 BUDGET AND THERE IS CURRENTLY A SEARCH TEAM CONSISTING OF DAVE MINIER, JOSHUA RUPP AND GEORGE LAKE JR THAT IS COLLECTING RESUMES AND WILL BRING A FNAL RECOMMENDATION OF A CANDIDATE TO ME FOR HIRING.  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a full-time Facility Director.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN PUT INTO THE 2015 BUDGET AND CHRIS OLDS HAS AGREED TO STAY ON STAFF AS OUR FULL-TIME FACIITY DIRECTOR.  Praise the Lord!

The hiring of a Pastor of Adult Ministries whose main focus will be in helping to lead our adult ministries and to develop and implement an effective strategy for seeing people connected to our ministry here at E-Free.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THIS HAS BEEN PUT INTO THE 2015 BUDGET AND MARCUS WEGMEYER WILL BE LEADING A SEARCH TEAM WHOSE TASK WILL BE TO BRING UP TO 3 FINAL CANDIDATES TO ME FOR FINAL INTERVIEWS.  Praise the Lord!

Phase 1 of a 3-part flooring replacement plan throughout our church facility.  BY THE GRACE OF GOD WE HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED A DESIGNATED GIFT TO PAY FOR THIS PHASE OF THE FLOORING UPGRADE TO BE COMPLETED!  Praise the Lord!

The remaining vision items scheduled for the 2015 portion of our vision plan include the following:

OUTREACH GIVING!  While we want to continue on the path to see 20% of our General Fund giving going to outreach, we realized that trying to make that increase in just 3 years was quite a step.  We are grateful that we have been able to increase this to 17% and will continue at that percentage in 2015.  We will then look to increase this by 1% each year afterwards until we reach the 20% goal (18% in 2016; 19% in 2017; and 20% in 2018).

TECHNOLOGY!  Because our future vision plan includes making more steps in saturating our county and northern Michigan with the Gospel through technology, including a television ministry, our vision plan for 2015 includes doing a full technology evaluation so we know exactly what our needs are.  We estimate this evaluation to be a cost of around $5,000.  This will allow us to then make a 3-year technology upgrade strategy for 2015, 2016 and 2017.  We will wait to conduct this evaluation until our full-time Technology Director has been hired and can spear head this element of our vision plan. 

As you can see, we have some exciting times ahead of us as a church.  God has already proven Himself faithful to us and He has already shown us that if we will step out on faith, He will part waters and open doors!  Please continue to pray specifically that God will be honored and glorified in all that we do and that He will use us to meet as many people as possible right where they are and help us to move them to where He wants them to be!  Let’s together believe God for even greater things and let’s be sure that we give Him all of the glory for any good thing He chooses to do in and through us here at E-Free!

On behalf of the Vision Implementation Team,
Pastor Scott