Pastor's Note | Saturday, October 25th

For a number of years in the early 1980’s I was selling supercomputer timesharing for Boeing Computer Services Company. One afternoon I was waiting to meet with an engineering manager when through the office wall I overheard his rather loud and heated conversation with a representative from the company currently providing the services I was seeking to sell. Imagine my delight when I heard the manager yelling at the other sales rep declaring something like, "Things have to be different here… I need weekly financial reports and higher levels of computations."

"Nice," I thought. "We can offer the Cray2 Supercomputer and weekly reports - this is great." It turned out to be a new account that generated millions of dollars in revenues.

"Things have to be different here."

The same can be said for Good Shepherd. Our culture is changing rapidly. Attitudes toward Christianity and Christian churches are becoming more negative. People are more absorbed in activities that leave little room for focusing a relationship with God.

Our Session has asked a team, headed by Pastor Curtis, to engage in a process of "visioning" that will help us to discover the uniqueness of Good Shepherd. Then they will look at ways our uniqueness intersects the particular needs and uniqueness of our surrounding community. On top of that they will help to paint a picture of how God can use these unique characteristics to bless our community. Please pray for this team as they seek to help us develop a way forward into the future God has for this wonderfully unique congregation.

On another note, you may know by now, but Marie Crenshaw has announced her retirement from serving as Director of Senior Ministry. She has done a fabulous job and has blessed this church greatly. Would you pray for God to lead us to the person who will be able to step in and resume the leadership of Senior Ministry?

Finally, you have recently received a letter asking for your financial commitment to 1) The general ministry budget for 2015, and 2) To pay off the Joint Solution Mediated Settlement related to our dismissal to ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians. Thank you for prayerfully and willingly considering your financial support of these things. In addition to these, we are facing a substantial budget deficit for this year. We hope it will be made up by your generosity through the end of this year. Let’s finish in the black so we can move into 2015 without any encumbrance.

Thank you again for your prayer and sacrificial support of Good Shepherd.

Pastor Jim