What Comes After Retirement?

By Pastor Buck

Ever since it was announced that Connie and I will be retiring at the end of this year, a lot of people have been asking questions like … will you still attend church at Five Forks; will you still do any counseling, weddings and funerals?

Here is what the Brethren in Christ Guidelines have to say about retiring pastors.

Retiring Pastors

In order to assist the remaining pastors and the new pastor to establish viable leadership roles, the retiring pastor should do the following things:

1. When a retiring pastor remains in the community after discontinuation of active ministry, the pastor shall publicly declare, at the time of his retirement,  the cessation of any leadership role in the congregation.
2. When feasible the pastor shall attend another church for an appropriate time (6-12 months).
3. Upon returning to a former congregation, the retired pastor may become involved as a volunteer.

Connie and I see the wisdom in these guidelines and will honor them.  We will be visiting various churches in the area for the period of time (6-12 months) we need to be away from Five Forks.

I will not be doing weddings since I will no longer be a licensed minister.  On rare occasions I may assist one of the other pastors, but I will try to not do this because we have a good team of pastors.  For that same reason I will not be doing any counseling.

I could assist with funerals, but will limit doing that as much as possible.  I don’t want to hurt or disappoint long time friends, but I also have great faith, trust and respect for our team of pastors.

Remember, the Lord can and will use each of us, but He does not need any of us.  God’s church at Five Forks is healthy because of His Holy Spirit.  May we as a church always place our faith and trust in His power and leadership.

Prayer Hour This Evening In the Chapel

This evening we’ll be meeting in the Chapel instead of the Auditorium as we gather for an hour of prayer.

The area of emphasis this evening will be on the family.  Many of you are aware of many homes and families that are under attack.  We are thankful for ministries that have recently started at the church (Celebrate Recovery, Divorce Care), and the sobering truth is that these ministries show symptoms of what is happening in our communities and even our churches.

We’ll be praying for husbands and dads, wives and mothers, and for our children of course.

Please join us at 7pm in the Chapel as we go before the Lord for one hour, interceding for families in our church and community.

February "Facts & Figures"

It’s time for our monthly report on “Facts and Figures.”  Every month we share information on items of interest such as conversions, attendance and giving.

Here is the report for the month of February:

Conversions – 18 (Year to Date = 19)

The Church Board set a goal of 100 conversions in 2011, that is, we’re asking Jesus to use the men and women of FFC to lead 100 individuals to Him this year.  We were aware of only one conversion in the month of January, but a woman from our congregation had the opportunity to lead 17 children to Jesus at Release Time (an after school program) in February.  In addition to this, another woman from our congregation prayed with another woman to receive Jesus after they went home from a Sunday Service last month.

Keep on looking for opportunities to lead someone “across that line”…and in the meantime, let’s be living and speaking in such a way that we are helping those around us get closer to that “decision line.”  Remember, it takes an average of 30 encounters with genuine Believers before someone will make a decision to follow Jesus.  Let’s do our part no matter what number we are in the process.

Attendance:

Our average Sunday morning attendance for the month of February was 921.  January’s average was 936. Last year’s February average was 903, so we were 15 behind last month’s figure, but 18 ahead of last February.

Our goal for the year is to average 890 and we ended February with an average attendance (for the year) of 929, so we are 39 ahead of our goal.

Here is a weekly breakdown:

February 6^th:  935    (Services were cancelled the first Sunday in February 2010 due to snow)

February 13^th:  878  (Last year = 884)

February 20^th:  952  (893)

February 27^th:  922   (934)

Giving:

Our Spending Plan goal for 2011 is $1,005,004, which breaks down to $19,327 per week.  At the end of January we were $590 behind our Spending Plan goal.  Here’s the breakdown:

February 6^th:  $18,593  (-$5,446)

February 13^th:  $23,178  (-$1,595)

February 20^th:  $19,383  (-$1,539)

February 27^th:  $20,276  (-$590)