South Tacoma Ministers November 2010

Fellow ministers,

It was good to gather again this month and welcome to our newest pastor Randy Haas. Randy it is great to have some hope back at Hope and we look forward to sharing the joy of ministering in South Tacoma with you. Here is a little recap from the meeting this morning.

1. Joy McDonald and Phoenix Housing. Joy shared the need and opportunity for more churches to get involved with providing shelter for just one week a year. If you are interested and learning more about this opportunity you can contact Joy at 471-5340 or go to the website at www.ccsww.org.

2. Format. I appreciate the discussion we had regarding the groups focus and structure. Ecumenical groups are such a mixed bag that it really is important to determine the 'what we'r there for' (as Bill said) to answer the 'why would should invite people' (as Jeff asked). From those questions I heard us focus in on two things; developing trust and working together. I'm gald to hear these things because I think they reflect our focus statement which is as follows:

"As ministers in South Tacoma, we desire to develop trust between one another so that when God presents us with an opportunity or challenge that is uniquely suited for us to collectively engage that we would be united enough to faithfully do so."

I bolded the three words that seem the most pertinant and as such want to offer the following potential future format for our meetings:

8:30-9:00 5 minute updates
What is God doing in your life/congregation?
How can we pray for you?

9:00-9:30 Sharing questions
Here we will talk about one issue or common struggle such as, personal pastoral devotions, how have you dealt with suicide in your congregation, building campaign land-mines, etc.

9:30-9:45 South Tacoma Stuff
Are there things going on in South Tacoma that we should know about? Are there things we might be uniquely equipped to engage?

9:45-10:00 Pray

How does this look?

3. Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, December 8th at 8:30 at Celebration Christian Fellowship which is located at the corner of 4602 S. 56th St. You won't want to miss this is Jeff is a great cook, biscuits and gravy perhaps? Our 'sharing question' will be "How do you sustain personal spiritual depth as a pastor?" and Bill is going to lead the discussion.

See you there. Ken