FOOTHILL FOCUS
Number 2 FEBRUARY 2010 Volume 18
tor's column was usually a mini-sermon or devotional. My dislike was personal.
It is difficult enough to create a sermon each week and hope that it connects people with God's Word, much less having to create another inspiring devotionalthought. But the disdain was for you as well. If you had taken a thought or lessonfrom the sermon (or from your small group Bible study) that week, why would Iwant to distract you with yet one more serious theme to have to consider and applyto your life? One of the disappointments of preaching in a week-in-week-out rhythm, is that one becomes captivated by the rich themes of a given text that arestill developing even as the sermon is being delivered, and then abruptly the textmust be dropped to pick up another for the coming week.
All that was to be able to say how much I appreciated being able to write what Iwanted in the lead article. Sometimes it was a devotional. Sometimes it was meant to prepare you for a new sermon series. It regularly introduced new ministries ornew mission/vision/purpose statements. You learned about the seasons of the church year as we entered Advent, Epiphany, Lent, or Holy Week. Or you simplyread along with my musings about life. Sometimes when the title "Pot Pourri" appeared, you knew it might be a mixture of many of the above.
Early and late in my career as Focus editor and writer, I also wrote some gossipcolumns entitled "Did you know...?" or "Chit Chat", in which I tried to bring news ofthe congregation to the congregation. This effort was prompted by the discoveryearly on that you were pretty shy people who didn't always know one anothers' six-day lives (non-Sunday lives) and didn't want to pry, but sure wanted the inside scoop. Engagements, pregnancies, new jobs were announced and even a Blue GrassBand was born out of those columns.
I hope you enjoyed at least some of my musings. I hope that the Body of Christhere at Foothill was built up and the glory of God was declared even in the reporting of simple day to day activities. I'm pleased to know that there is finally a namefor what I was doing. It turns out that being set free by you from devotional drudgery, I enjoyed being an unintentional blogger.
Update on the Transition Team
The Transition Team has now completed the principle effort required of them – the drafting of thechurch profile to be used by the FCC Search Committee and PSWC in our search for our next pastor.The profile was made available to the congregation at our semi-annual congregational meeting andhas been delivered to Alan Forsman who will be assisting FCC in our pastoral search.
Many thanks to the members of the Transitional Team for their hard work, open and honest discussions, and their ability to come together in articulating the responses in our church profile.
Thanks also to the congregation with the significant response to the church-wide survey. This wasthe singularly important input toward defining our responses as to who we are as a congregation andthe direction we sense God leading us. The survey responses reflected in particular a broad diversityin thoughts and opinions, mostly around differences in age demographics.
It is important to note that this multi-generational makeup can serve as strength for us in the futureof Foothill. As the size of the congregation grows with regard to young families, there is an opportunity for mentoring and drawing from the life experience of so many of our seniors. This broad agedemographic also enables us to connect with the wide variety of individuals that we pray God willbring through our doors.
Additional copies of the church profile and any requests of the survey summary document can beobtained from Mark Liedstrand.
. . . and the pastoral search process:
As the Transition Team has clarified its work, the pastoral search process has become clearer. We will bid farewell to Pastor Gaderlund on Sunday, February 14th. We anticipate the following Sundaywe will be welcoming an interim pastor who will serve an initial interim of two or three months. We expect that by this time the Transition Team will be finished writing a congregational profile thatwill be given to the PSWC as they coordinate a pastoral search. About that time the Executive Committee will be presenting a process to the congregation for the appointment of a Pastoral SearchTeam which will review pastoral resumes, conduct interviews, and bring a candidate. Stay tuned fordetails.
. . . and the By-Laws Update Process
The By-Laws Update Taskforce has finished a second draft of the updated by-laws Changes weremade in response to the congregational conversation on Dec. 13th. One more congregational conversation will be held in March or April before a final proposal is ready to present to the congregation forapproval. The process will be to present the final draft ninety days before a vote is taken at a congregational meeting. Copies of the second draft are available in the church office.
I have recently been introduced to one of Campus Crusade's Ministries called Global Media Outreach or GMO. This is an internet ministry for people who like to use the internet. It is absolutely amazing. This is a majorway a large majority of people are coming to Christ in countries all over the world. Believe it or not, over 2 million people are searching the Internet every day to know about God. In 2009, GMO presented the Gospel toover 63 million people through its more than 90 different Web sites globally. At about 2 a.m. Pacific Time, on Monday, Dec. 7, GMO saw the 10 millionth person this year indicate a decision for Christ through their Websites. Over 1.8 million people have initiated follow-up for more information, guidance and discipleship duringthis same time period. Read more at: http://www.globalmediaoutreachnews.com/releases.htm
In 2009, GMO presented the Gospel to over 63 million people through its more than 90 different Web sitesglobally. From your own computer you can be an online missionary to people from countries all over the world.It is quite easy to become involved. You can decide the amount of time you wish to spend on this ministry to fitin your schedule. You can do it day or night.
It works like this: People are seeking God on the internet and are discovering websites that GMO is providing.They are praying to receive Christ as their Savior, or recommitting their lives to Christ, or just seeking answers.GMO directs each email response to Christian online missionaries in the program. I signed up for 3 emails aweek and have the option to respond to 6. You can change this number whenever you wish.
Here are some of the websites that people are connecting with. You can look them up yourself and see whatthey see.jesus2020.comjesus2020.comjesus2020.comlifesgreatestquestion.comtrueloveandgod.com4stepstogod.mobihappinessandgod.commarriageandgod.comlifesgreatestquestion.mobi GMO usually provides a prepared response that comes with the email. You can use it, add your own comments,re-write it, etc. GMO provides you with a one month training period under the direction of a CommunityLeader. GMO also provides you with unlimited materials to help you - all online. You can take a break when you go on vacation, etc.
People are encouraged to write back and every so often they will do so. You become like an online counselor. If you have ever counseled at a Billy Graham Crusade - this is a similar opportunity.
To give you an idea of how far reaching you can be from your home...In the few weeks I have been doing this I have received some 40 emails - in English - from Mississippi, from Ghana, Tunesia, New York, Texas, Israel, India, Haiti, Honduras, Pakistan, Kentucky, Ruwanda, Arkansas, Los Angeles, Arabia, Oman, Romania, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cameroon, California, Macedonia. About 11 replies have come in, as well. I invite you to please take a look at this website: http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/ Feel free to ask me questions about my experience with this new ministry.
Women's Bible Study is on Wednesdays at 9:45 a.m. Marian Ecklund will continue leading us in the study "Living Above Worry and Stress."All ladies are invited to attend. Please call Nancy Baldwinson if you haveany questions.
We will look forward to lunching together at the Country Gourmet in Sunnyvale on Thursday, February 4th at 11:30 am. Please call Ona Avent (408-984-7625) for more information.
We continue our Stretch Yoga class on Wednesdays at Noon during the winter. Call Kay Roberts (408-255-7817) for more information.
Men's Lunch
We will be meeting on Thursday, February 4th at Noon. We'll be looking for you at Brian's Restaurant in Los Altos in the Rancho Shopping Center on Foothill and Magdalena. Please call Jim Gaderlund at 650.967.7447 with any questions.
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Keep up to date on what God is doing in our larger church family. Visit the web sites for our Pacific Southwest Conference at www.pswc.org and for the Evangelical Covenant at www.covchurch.org. Each site has current news in churches and ministries around the Covenant. To have the news sent to you, subscribe to Newswire by going to the home page on theCovenant web site and looking for the link on the right side of the screen.
Find out what's going on this summer at Mission Springs for children and youth at FrontierRanch and Wild Oak and for families. You'll get your questions answered and find registration information and forms. The brochures are available in the lobby and office.
Moms & Daughters February 5-7, 2010Fifty+ Conference Feb. 28- March 3, 2010 Men's Weekend March 26-28, 2010 Dads & Daughters April 9-11, 2010
Detailed brochures and registrations information are available online atwww.missionsprings.com.
As most all are aware, our longtime pastor, Jim Gaderlund, will be retiring after 17 years offaithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ through Foothill Covenant Church. In celebration of his service, we are planning a celebration to be held February 28th, 2010 at Michaels at Shoreline in Mountain View. The celebration will begin at 4:00pm and will include a buffetdinner. To help offset the costs of the meals, we are asking for contributions of $15/personfor adults (age 11 and older), $10 per child (ages 4-10), with those under 4 participating at no cost.
Invitations are now being prepared and should be received shortly. Please respond asap butno later than February 10th so we can plan the celebration accordingly. If you would like toparticipate by assisting with the program plans for the evening, please contact MJ Lykke,Mark Liedstrand, or Brian Smith. We want to welcome all who have shared in the joy ofJim’s service and would like to take part in making this celebration a wonderful sendoff forJim and Pam.