Thursday, September 6, 2007
Update
Just a quick note to everyone who is going to be volunteering at Stone Bridge. We will be having our volunteer training/cookout on Wednesday September 26th at 7:00 pm. Drop me an email and let me know how many from your family will be attending. This is a night you won't want to miss. This will be a fun night as we will be uniting all four of the Core Groups in one place as we move forward with the new church launch. I will send you directions when I get your email indicating how many will be coming with your family.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Update
Things are in full gear. A ton has taken place in the last few days. I am working through the messages for the first series Life In HD. We are starting to fill several of our key roles. We have someone who has agreed to do our accounting temporarily to help get us started which is a huge relief.
If you attended a Core Group meeting and haven't turned in your volunteer sheets, get those in as soon as possible as we will be having our volunteer training and cookout coming up in a couple of weeks. You can email your information to scbushelno@aol.com or you cand send it to 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642.
We have just received all of our tax information back from the government as well as our 501 3c non profit status. Some people have been asking when they could begin tithing. The answer is that you can start as soon as you would like now that we have all of our paper work back. Our mailing address until we get our office space is 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642. Any checks can be made to Stone Bridge Church.
We have decided on the structure of our elders/trustees. We will have two from within the church and at least one who is not from our church. We feel like this makes us even more accountable because we will have someone from the outside who doesn't have an agenda and can ask any questions to help us stay focused and grounded in all we do. We also have decided that none of the elders/trustees will be related to any of the staff so as to keep everything accountable that way as well. We will announce who these people will be over the coming weeks.
We will be having an annual outside audit to assure everyone that our finances are being handled above board.
If you attended a Core Group meeting and haven't turned in your volunteer sheets, get those in as soon as possible as we will be having our volunteer training and cookout coming up in a couple of weeks. You can email your information to scbushelno@aol.com or you cand send it to 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642.
We have just received all of our tax information back from the government as well as our 501 3c non profit status. Some people have been asking when they could begin tithing. The answer is that you can start as soon as you would like now that we have all of our paper work back. Our mailing address until we get our office space is 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642. Any checks can be made to Stone Bridge Church.
We have decided on the structure of our elders/trustees. We will have two from within the church and at least one who is not from our church. We feel like this makes us even more accountable because we will have someone from the outside who doesn't have an agenda and can ask any questions to help us stay focused and grounded in all we do. We also have decided that none of the elders/trustees will be related to any of the staff so as to keep everything accountable that way as well. We will announce who these people will be over the coming weeks.
We will be having an annual outside audit to assure everyone that our finances are being handled above board.
Friday, August 31, 2007
It's Official!
It's official! We have been approved by the Anderson District One School Board to begin our services on October 7th, 2007. This now means that we can begin with our advertising and print stuff. Anderson District One rents out the school to us for one year. After our year is up we have to find another location. We are already looking for our locations for next year when our contract with the school is up. We are thinking a lot about not having just one location but rather two- three locations in the upstate area. We are currently pursuing several different locations in the Easley, Powdersville, Williamston, Piedmont and Anderson areas.
We hope to have at least two locations nailed down by March. That will give us time to prepare for the move. Some people have asked if we will be doing video venues. The answer is no. The whole service will be live and in person. (I know that Sea Coast, North Pointe and others have been using video effectively but it doesn't fit into the vision of what we are trying to do. No offense is intended toward churches doing video but it is just not us.) We will be simply staggering our times to allow some of the staff to travel to the different locations. Our goal is to meet these different communities where they are and make a difference in each of these areas.
As we add our third and fourth location, we will add an additional speaker and we will rotate between locations. This way it will not be known as one person's church but rather a church of many people. We will have the same ministries at each location. I shared some of this in the Core Groups this past week and it was really cool to see the reactions of everyone there. There was a buzz about what God is going to do.
We will be one church with 4 locations. It will be cool to see people from different communities coming together as one. This next year is going to be amazing.
We hope to have at least two locations nailed down by March. That will give us time to prepare for the move. Some people have asked if we will be doing video venues. The answer is no. The whole service will be live and in person. (I know that Sea Coast, North Pointe and others have been using video effectively but it doesn't fit into the vision of what we are trying to do. No offense is intended toward churches doing video but it is just not us.) We will be simply staggering our times to allow some of the staff to travel to the different locations. Our goal is to meet these different communities where they are and make a difference in each of these areas.
As we add our third and fourth location, we will add an additional speaker and we will rotate between locations. This way it will not be known as one person's church but rather a church of many people. We will have the same ministries at each location. I shared some of this in the Core Groups this past week and it was really cool to see the reactions of everyone there. There was a buzz about what God is going to do.
We will be one church with 4 locations. It will be cool to see people from different communities coming together as one. This next year is going to be amazing.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Core Groups
Tonight I finished up the last of the four core group meetings that we had for the church. It has been amazing. My original goal was to have 25 people to be on board with the launch. After tonight's meeting we realized that through the four meetings, we had over 60 people represented through the core group process. A couple of families sent one or two people to the meeting to get the info for the entire family which was very cool.
All in all the core group meetings were a huge success and I am even more excited to see what God does from here. A special thanks to the Scott's, Garrison's, Miller's and my parents for hosting the meetings. I will be meeting with our leaders and then we will have a huge meeting with all of our volunteers in the next few weeks. If you didn't turn in your volunteer form at the meeting, please remember to drop me an email with your information within the next couple of weeks so that we can plug you into your area of ministry
All in all the core group meetings were a huge success and I am even more excited to see what God does from here. A special thanks to the Scott's, Garrison's, Miller's and my parents for hosting the meetings. I will be meeting with our leaders and then we will have a huge meeting with all of our volunteers in the next few weeks. If you didn't turn in your volunteer form at the meeting, please remember to drop me an email with your information within the next couple of weeks so that we can plug you into your area of ministry
Monday, August 27, 2007
Website, Tax Stuff, and Core Groups
The website is up and running www.sstonebridgechurch.tv .
Today was pretty productive on getting a ton of the official tax and paperwork stuff done. It is amazing how many things that you have to fill out for taxes, incorporation, non profit and so on. The good news is that all of this is completed and now I can spend more time on messages and series.
Our third core group meeting is Tuesday at 6:45 p.m in Piedmont. . Drop me an email if you need directions. The fourth one is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Powdersville.
Today was pretty productive on getting a ton of the official tax and paperwork stuff done. It is amazing how many things that you have to fill out for taxes, incorporation, non profit and so on. The good news is that all of this is completed and now I can spend more time on messages and series.
Our third core group meeting is Tuesday at 6:45 p.m in Piedmont. . Drop me an email if you need directions. The fourth one is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Powdersville.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Core Group Update
We have completed two of our core group meetings. Both went very well and people are getting on board. I was able to lay out our core values and our focus. I shared the vision with both groups and the response was awesome. We had some great questions and discussions. It was a unique learning process for me personally and it felt good to be able to lay everything out and see others get excited about what it going to take place.
We have two more core group meetings next week and I am excited to see what will take place in those meetings as well. It is not too late to get in on one of those meetings.
The cool thing about these meetings is seeing God fill the spots where we have needs. It is late and I have an early meeting with our web designer tomorrow. I will update more later.
We have two more core group meetings next week and I am excited to see what will take place in those meetings as well. It is not too late to get in on one of those meetings.
The cool thing about these meetings is seeing God fill the spots where we have needs. It is late and I have an early meeting with our web designer tomorrow. I will update more later.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
People to Pray For
I thought I would just update on some key folks who are already on board and ask that you pray for these folks and others that will be leading key areas as we get started. Chasen Callahan will be our Worship Leader. Mark Sexton is going to be our Associate Worship Leader. Erin Brown and Casey Callahan are going to be heading up our Children's area. Jeff Garrison has signed on to head up our media. We have several others who are praying over things and making sure this is where God wants them to be. I will be updating this often letting you know some of the folks helping out so that you can get to know them more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)