How to Prepare for Officer Elections

On Jan. 23, the members of New Life will have the opportunity to participate in one of the most important responsibilities of church membership – the election of men to the offices of ruling elder and deacon.

The NLPC elders have approved Jim Moore to stand for election to the office of deacon, and Dave Isaacson and Josh Holowell to stand for election to the office of ruling elder. These men were nominated by the congregation last spring. All have faithfully completed an officer training class under Pastor Bob (the class covered the topics of leadership, basic reformed theology, and peacemaking), and have been interviewed extensively by the elders.

At our 7pm annual meeting on Jan. 23, we will administer a closed ballot vote where you will express your will regarding the suitability of these men for office. Keep in mind that these individuals are not competing against one another in this election. You are voting on each of them individually according to their qualifications and sense of calling.

What is the difference between elder and deacon? Very briefly, the ruling elders are responsible for spiritual oversight of the congregation (membership interviews, overseeing Sunday morning worship, exercising discipline, etc.), and join teaching elders Bob and Brian on what is called the “session,” a team of both teaching elders and ruling elders. The deacons are responsible primarily for mercy ministries and maintenance of the church property.

So, how can you be ready to cast a well-informed vote in this matter? Here is what I suggest to you:

1) Read the relevant passages in Scripture that give directions for the qualifications of church officers. Those would be I Tim. 3:8-13 and Acts 6:1-4 for the office of deacon, and I Tim. 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and I Peter 5:1-3 for the office of elder. You also can consult our denomination’s Book of Church Order, chapters 7-9, for more information (you can find this on-line).

2) Pray that God would grant you and the entire congregation wisdom to choose humble, godly, Gospel-loving men who will lead this church well.

3) Get to know these men. There are a couple of ways this can happen. First you can join us at 10 or 11:30am Jan. 15 for a Q&A session with the elder candidates. Secondly, you can reach out to these men yourself by email, phone call or by just taking them out for lunch or coffee.

Ruling elders and deacons are elected to three-year terms. A person may serve two consecutive terms, after which he is required to take a break of at least one year. This is the case for Randy Thompson, who has completed two terms as deacon. We will miss Randy’s service in 2012, and we are profoundly grateful for his constant and efficient service to this church. With Randy stepping down, that means Jim, if elected, will join Bob Darby, Larry Harting, Mark Parkison and Paul Nagelkirk on the deacon board.

Both Scott Jordan and Wendell Conner have completed their first terms as ruling elders, and have agreed to each serve a second term. That means that Dave and Josh, if elected, will join Scott, Wendell, Bob and Brian on the session.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact Pastor Bob.

For more information on the Annual Meeting, see the article about it HERE.

 

 

Membership Class Jan. 20 & 21

If you are interested in becoming a member of New Life, or if you would simply like to learn more about our church or the PCA denomination, please sign up in the foyer for our next New Member class.

The first part of the class will be held on Friday, Jan. 20, from 6pm to 9pm, and the second part will be Saturday, Jan. 21, from 9am to noon. Participation in the class does not obligate you to become a member. Please contact the church office if you are interested.

Annual Meeting on Jan. 23

Please mark your calendars for Monday night, Jan. 23, at 7 pm, when we will gather for our annual congregational meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend, and it is especially important for New Life members to be present.

One of the most important events to take place at the annual meeting is the presentation of the proposed 2012 budget. The budget team has already met and has submitted a proposal to the session. The session has reviewed and approved this budget, which will be presented at the meeting for your review.

The annual meeting is also the time when New Life members will elect men to the office of deacon and elder. Names of those candidates will be announced soon. On Jan. 15, we will take time during the Sunday School hours (10 and 11:30 am) to allow you to ask questions to the elder candidates so you can be informed about your vote.

Also, we will soon make available to you a packet of reports from New Life’s ministry teams for your perusal before the annual meeting. If you have any questions, feel free to ask Pastor Bob or Pastor Brian, or one of the elders, and please do all you can to join us on Jan. 23.

 

 

New Sermon Series: God’s People for God’s World

Pastor Bob will begin a new sermon series on God’s call to His church to be an outreach-minded, missions-oriented body. The series will be called “God’s People for God’s World” and will begin on New Year’s Day. We realize many people will probably be gone that day, but what better time to begin a new sermon series than on the day that celebrates the beginning of a new year?

Here is the schedule for the series:

Jan. 1 – The mission of the church

Jan. 8 – Service to our community

Jan. 15 – Church planting (guest preacher Dan Herron, Central Indiana Presbytery church planter in Bloomington)

Jan. 22 – Evangelism

Jan. 29 – Hospitality

Feb. 5 – Foreign missions

Feb. 12 – Mercy to the poor

You can listen to the previous sermons in the series HERE.

‘Growing Together’ Campaign: Now What?

It was a great joy a few Sundays ago to be able to baptize Luke Bryan. It was also a privilege several weeks ago to welcome into membership George and Nancy Saunders, as well as Steve and Mary Ann Stroeh. And it will be a delight in the coming weeks to welcome Courtney Brobst and Abbie Gonzalez into membership, to baptize Caroline Schumacher (daughter of Corey and Stephanie), and to welcome Maggie Spiegel to the Lord’s Table.

There’s only one problem – so many of you who are part of this congregation will not be able to witness these happy events, because they are likely to take place during a service you don’t attend. This highlights once again the importance of expanding our sanctuary space here at New Life.

On Sept. 18, we started the “Growing Together” building campaign to raise money for this project. Our goal is to raise $320,000 in pledges, and, as of Nov. 23, we have received $253,258.37, which is 79 percent of our goal. This falls short of what we had hoped for, but I can’t help but feel greatly encouraged and thankful for the amount that has been raised. Given the state of our economy, the large number of people in our congregation who do not have much expendable income, and the relatively short duration of the campaign (just about two months so far), I’d say it’s pretty impressive to have raised more than $250,000.

So, on behalf of the elders, deacons and members of the building and finance teams, I extend a sincere “thank you” to all of you who have responded so generously to this campaign. And of course we ultimately give God all the glory, who has responded to our prayers and shown himself kind and gracious to His people.

At the same time, we are clearly not finished yet. More money needs to be raised. In fact, we need exactly $66,741. And we cannot move ahead with our plans for construction until that amount is raised. And once we reach that goal, we will have to wait probably an additional six months before construction can begin, because of time required to process local and state permits.

So, there are two things that need to be said. First, even though we are yet to reach our goal, we are asking those who have already pledged to begin fulfilling your pledges right away (the campaign officially lasts from November 2011 through November 2014). Your pledges will go directly into a building fund until we are ready to move ahead.

Secondly, we also ask those of you who have not turned in a pledge card to  consider how you might help. Perhaps you have been busy and haven’t really considered yet what you can give. Or maybe you think that the amount you can give is too small and not worth pledging. Be assured that everything counts, and that no contribution is too small. And be assured that late pledges are better than no pledges at all. We need your help, so please consider what you can give. Be reminded that you can give by pledge card (which are available in the foyer and breezeway), or on-line at www.newlife-pc.org/growingtogether.

If you have decided that you are unable to pledge right now, we want you to know that we understand that finances are tight and that not everyone is able to contribute. That’s OK. It would help us, however, if you would nonetheless submit a pledge card indicating that your pledge is zero. Be assured that no one will know about this except the treasurer who is tracking the pledges. We are not trying to single out those who can’t give; we just want to know who has decided not to give and who might still be deliberating.

If you have chosen not to give because you object to our plans, we would love the opportunity to address your questions or concerns. Please don’t hesitate to talk to a pastor, elder or member of the building teams.

Thank you again for your support and for your prayers.

For more information on the Pledge Campaign click HERE

 

 

What’s Your Perspective? A Report from BSU’s Cru Leader

Article by Corey Schumacher

Corey is the Missional Team Leader of Cru on Ball State’s campus. Cru, formally known as Campus Crusade for Christ, is a Christian organization that seeks to share the gospel with college students and train other Christian students to do the same.

What’s your perspective?

This is a question that the Cru movement has been asking Ball State students over the past three weeks as a part of our fall outreach.  While the final week was the actual outreach, weeks one and two were spent in intercessory prayer on behalf of the campus, and training the movement to engage in outreach using a Cru-published evangelism tool called “perspective” cards (not unlike a deck of playing cards). The movement boldly initiated spiritual conversations with non-Christians in order to get their perspective on the nature of God, the meaning and purpose of life, and other related questions.  Then, after listening to their perspective, we kindly ask for an opportunity to share ours, which gives us the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Over the course of one week, hundreds of students were invited into a spiritual conversation, talking about life’s most important questions.

Sadly, most students give little to no thoughtful reflection on these questions. One student named Scott told me “I don’t really have a perspective.” Despite this reality, the Lord uses outreaches like these on a number of levels.  Consider how many students are thinking about spiritual realties this week as a direct result of those conversations.  Consider that more than 160 students received training to use this tool in order to initiate spiritual conversations with strangers, many of whom have never taken such bold steps to publicly identify themselves with the name of Jesus through this outreach.  What about all those people who in the future will come to know Christ as their savior as Cru students graduate from BSU with training and power to initiate gospel conversations around the world? And we can’t forget about Nicki, a Chinese international student who placed her trust in Christ after going through the “perspectives” cards with some of our students.

What’s even more amazing is that while weeks one and two were meant to be preparatory for our final stage of the outreach, the Lord decided to use those two weeks to do more in our midst than we could have ever imagined! Having just arrived home from our annual Fall Retreat, and beginning our prayer week, nearly half a dozen students placed their trust in Christ, all because of prayer! One of those freshman who placed his faith in Christ at Fall Retreat, attended a seminar on evangelism that same day and during prayer week already shared his new-found faith with two students on campus, all the while calling our men to step up to the plate and do the same! That same week, while a group of Cru students were praying fervently for our campus, a Japanese international student interrupted the prayer meeting saying, “I want to know who this Jesus is.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg! Though 300 staff and students attended our fall retreat, more than a dozen students have received Christ, many others have altered their future career plans in order to serve the Lord in ministry, we simply cannot put a number on all that the Lord has done this fall. But one thing we do know, the Lord is working, and in surprising ways.

For more information on the ministry of Cru at Ball State click HERE.

Recommended Books on Eschatology

When I decided to go to seminary back in the late 90s, I left with high expectations that I was going to get lots of answers. Then I got into a discussion with a friend of mine who had already graduated from seminary, and he gave me a new perspective. He said, “You don’t go to seminary to learn the right answers; you go to seminary to learn the right questions.”

This is not to say that seminary doesn’t provide answers. But it is true that you’re not going to get good answers unless you know what the proper questions are. As a result of our sermon series on eschatology, it could be that you are finding yourself with more questions than answers, and I want to encourage you to realize that this can be a good thing. If this sermon series is used by God to at least teach us the right questions to ask about “the end of the world as we know it,” then I will be content with that.

Once we learn the right questions, however, we should be ready to push ahead for answers, and one way we can engage in this task is through further personal study. There are three new books on the New Life book table (located in the foyer right before the breezeway) that I would like to recommend to you if you are interested in learning more about eschatology:

These Last Days – A Christian View of History (various authors). This is the book I would recommend as a primer on the topic of eschatology. Authors such as Alistair Begg, D.A. Carson, Sinclair Ferguson and Paul Tripp write brief essays on various topics related to the end times. This book avoids excessive detail to give the reader a broad overview of this important subject.

The Meaning of the Millennium – Four Views (various authors). In this book, esteemed proponents of each of the four major millennial views write a defense of their positions, all of which are followed by brief rebuttals from each of the other contributors. This is an excellent way to observe the way these four positions stand up to scrutiny. The contributors are George Eldon Ladd (historic premillennialism ), Herman Hoyt (dispensational premillennialism), Loraine Boettner (postmillennialism), and Anthony Hoekema (amillenialism).

A Case for Amillennialism (Kim Riddlebarger). This is an exhaustive treatment of just one millennial view – that which is held by the majority of reformed theologians, including Pastor Bob and Pastor Brian. This might be a difficult read for someone who is new to eschatology, but will be helpful to anyone looking for a more in-depth treatment of this topic.

The first two books are $10 each; the Riddlebarger book is $15. New Life makes no profit on these books, but offers them to you at a discounted rate to encourage further study on Biblical and theological topics. May they be used by God’s Spirit to encourage and bless you in your pursuit of answers.

‘Growing Together’ Campaign Update

We have received 61 pledges in the amount of $244,000. This is 76% of the goal of $320,000. We are greatly encouraged by the Lord’s grace in providing these funds for our building campaign. We would like to encourage those who have not pledged to prayerfully consider making a pledge this week. We are trusting in the Lord to provide the means to provide the additional $76,000 needed to reach our goal.

Deadline for ‘Growing Together’ Campaign Today

For the last six weeks, we’ve been telling you about New Life’s “Growing Together” building campaign, and we’ve already arrived at the deadline, which is today. If you haven’t made your pledge yet, please do so before the end of the day.

As a reminder, we are hoping to expand our current facilities by adding new sanctuary, office and classroom space so that we can situate ourselves to be more effective in planting new churches in the future. The cost of the new building is $1.4 million, and we are seeking $320,000 in pledges up front, to be paid over the course of the next three years.

You can make your pledge by using one of the pledge cards available in the foyer, or by pledging on-line at www.newlife-pc.org/growingtogether. To those of you who have already pledged, we are grateful for your generosity and for your commitment to the vision that God has called us to pursue.

Deadline for Pledge Campaign this Sunday

As most of you know, we are in the middle of our “Growing Together” pledge campaign here at New Life. We are seeking to raise $320,000 in pledges (to be fulfilled over the course of the next three years) so we can begin improving our facilities to include a new sanctuary, as well as additional classrooms and expanded office space. Deadline for pledges is this Sunday, Oct. 30.

Some of you might still be deliberating as to whether you want to contribute to this campaign, and this might be because there are still unresolved questions in your mind. If so, I’d like to try to address some of those questions below:

Why don’t we plant a church instead of putting all this money into a building? We want to start planting churches as soon as we can. You can read our 2011 Strategic Plan to learn more about our vision for this. But even if we decided to plant a church today, it would still take considerable time (and money) to find the right church planter and get him ready to start a new church (at least two years). And if we plant in a nearby community like Anderson, it would be more likely that the church planter would recruit a core group of people from the target community, rather than taking people from our congregation. Further, it often occurs that churches who plant churches actually continue to grow, so planting a church won’t necessarily address the space limitations we have in our current facility.

Why do we need to build when attendance seems to be leveling off? It is true that our attendance has not been increasing lately, and we believe this is mostly because of the space problems in our building. We expect that attendance will begin increasing again once additional space is secured, which will only put us in a stronger position to plant churches in the future.

Why are you planning to plant churches when there are already so many churches in our community? According to the 2010 census, only 27.3 percent of people in Delaware County are affiliated with a religious congregation. That means about 85,000 people in this county are not connected to a church. The need for Gospel-centered churches is great.

How do you expect us to give when we are struggling financially? This is what makes this campaign the most difficult – the fact that many of you are struggling to pay the bills, are not able to save for your future, and already feel stressed and worried about finances. Since I don’t know your current financial obligations or spending habits, I can’t tell you what to do. But I do know that the Bible regularly commends the practice of giving: “One man gives freely, yet gains even more” (Prov. 11:24). “You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion . . . “ (2 Cor. 9:11). The amount you give is not as important as the steps you are taking to cultivate generosity in your lifestyle.

Why wasn’t I consulted about whether I supported these plans to expand our sanctuary? We held two public brainstorming meetings – one in late 2010 and one in early 2011 — to which we invited everyone so we could get your opinions on our plans to build. The building team also consulted ministry team leaders to get their input. Pastors, staff, elders, and deacons have all been unified in their belief that this is God’s will for our church at this time.

How do I make a pledge? Either pick up a pledge card in the foyer next to the building plans on display, or go to www.newlife-pc.org/growingtogether to make an on-line pledge.

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