Dear Friends,

It is time for an update on the Long-Range Strategic Planning process for St. Mark's.  A couple of weeks ago I received the material we will be using and am now in the process of reviewing it.  I soon will pass it on to Brad Cannon, St. Mark's Lay Leader, who will be giving major time to this endeavor.  Brad too will want some time to look over the material.

The material we will be using as a guide in our planning is that by Bishop Robert Schnase, Bishop of the Missouri Conference, titled Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.  This material is divided into five subsections: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity.

It is my hope that we can have seven people working on each subsection. This means we will need at least 35 people who are ready and willing to be a part of this process.  We will also need a group of seven people who will review the issue of the property/houses next door to the church and what we can do in the future to make the best use of this valuable resource.

So, we need lots of people involved!  It will take some time to recruit all these people, but I think we can do that over the next few weeks so that these individuals may be elected by the Church Council along with any additions the Council may wish to make.  We will then consecrate these people to the task in Sunday morning worship.  Then, about mid-March, we will have our first meeting which I foresee as a catered breakfast meeting on a Saturday morning in the Social Hall.

The planning process itself will take about 3 months to complete.  We will then have the summer to review and reflect on the plans.  That will be followed by a congregational meeting early in the fall when we will put the final plans in place, and by late fall we are well on our way to a 5-year Long-Range plan for the church we love so much!

This is an extended process, but I have always remembered a course in seminary in which a very gifted student made the point that the less time spent in laying the foundation for ministry, the more time and energy is required in implementing the plans.  Conversely, the more time and energy given to building an adequate foundation for ministry, the less time and energy involved in implementing the plans, and the chance for the plans to succeed are much greater.

I believe implementing is the key word for the St. Mark's church. I understand St. Mark's has gone through planning processes several times, but for the most part never arrived at the point of implementation.  We don't want that to happen again.

This is not a closed group so if you would like to be a part of this planning process, see Rev. Craig or I and we will be happy to sign you up.  In the meantime, letters will be going out to invite some people who may have a key role to play in this work.  Also, we want to balance this planning group as to age, men and women, area of interest in the church, and also one that is often overlooked, the length of tenure in a congregation.  Newer people almost always have a different perspective on the church than those of us who have been around for awhile.  But again, it is not a closed group, so if you would like to help, feel free to jump in!  You are needed and wanted!

This is a long newsletter article, but we must be thorough, and we must be methodical...after all we are Methodists!  Thank you for taking the time to read these words!

Let's move Into the Future with Faith!!

Much Love,
Rev. John