Scott's Thoughts: Sun, Mar 13, 2022
Total Reading Time: 4 mins.
Kids Check-in: Couple Changes Being Implemented & Admin Team Help Needed — First, starting today, Sun, Mar 13, we are beginning to implement two Kids Min changes on Sunday mornings. They are primarily about creating and protecting an environment where kids are safe and well taught, but they also help us clarify and simplify our systems to be ready for 3 campuses.
Helping WOMEN Find and Follow Jesus – A few times lately I’ve mentioned a personal burden for the ministry of training men to be godly husbands, fathers, workers, and leaders in the church and community, as I said in last week’s ST: Helping MEN find and follow Jesus. In that vein, I just wanted to also say, for the record, that this burden is not in any way whatsoever mutually exclusive with the equally important value of helping ensure that women, moms, and daughters become the godly and fruitful wives, mothers, workers, and leaders in the church and community that God created them to be! In fact, not only do we already have tons of godly women who are leading well, serving faithfully, and making disciples through dozens of mentoring and accountability relationships in numerous ministry areas, but if God’s design for manhood is indeed what I believe is the Scriptural witness—to serve those in his care by personally owning the responsibility to provide for and protect an environment that produces their flourishing and godliness—then Helping MEN find and follow Jesus definitionally involves the Christlike self-sacrifice of Helping WOMEN find and follow Jesus. (Btw, I am not subsuming Helping WOMEN into Helping MEN nor equating the two.) Now, you may disagree with the distinctions in role implied in the previous sentence or our church’s official stance on “complementarian” roles between men and women, but please know that a properly understood “complementarian” view of God’s design for manhood definitionally involves taking seriously the responsibility to personally and lovingly sacrifice for the flourishing of those under his care. That means not only ensuring that—for the sake of all women—all of our church’s environments are safe and focused on loving, protecting, caring for, and encouraging their gifts, but it also means teaching that vision to our men, for the sake of the flourishing of women who glorify God.
Hope Center, Greene County Right to Life – Speaking of the responsibility to provide for and protect an environment for the flourishing of our community, I wanted to let y’all know that the Elders have allowed me to become involved in a couple organizations that have long been close to my heart. Going back to my first experiences of learning about what abortion really is, hearing early pro-life advocates at my home church, and reading a couple books in my teen years, I’ve always known I would eventually become engaged in the fight for life. I’ve recently become part of the Advisory Board for the Hope Center, our local Pregnancy Resource Center, and I’m about to help relaunch the Greene County Right-to-Life chapter that was begun by our own Rita Sexton, whose incredible story is what God used to motivate her involvement. Without being able to tell more, please pray for God to use my involvement in these areas. I'll provide more detail and info soon, but I wanted to mention at this point that we have an upcoming Coffee Convo where I interview Pam Crank, the Executive Director of the Hope Center. It’s a fascinating conversation that gives some helpful insight into how comprehensive is their work. Also worth mention is that very soon our own Nathan Dickerson, Catalyst Coffee General Manager, is going to be handing the Hope Center a check for $500 from Catalyst profits! (This starts what will be a monthly minimum of $500 in profits that Catalyst will begin giving away to local ministries like this. And yes, we also plan to do a Coffee Convo with each one to highlight their work. Cool, eh?!)
All-Church Multisite Vision Night and Q & A – Sun, Mar 27, 6:30-7:30p, Greeneville campus – An Elders Letter is going out this week to tell you more about this, but you will not want to miss this important meeting. We will outline our vision, why we are a multisite church, how it works, South Greene campus launch plans, launch timeline, how to choose a campus, and how to get involved, followed by at least 20 minutes for Q & A. Only an hour. Lots of info. Don’t miss it.
Kids Check-in: Couple Changes Being Implemented & Admin Team Help Needed — First, starting today, Sun, Mar 13, we are beginning to implement two Kids Min changes on Sunday mornings. They are primarily about creating and protecting an environment where kids are safe and well taught, but they also help us clarify and simplify our systems to be ready for 3 campuses.
- Check-in and Check-out Your Kids – Starting today, we are going to be checking all kids both in and out. This helps us ensure kids are in the right place, the same person is picking them up who dropped them off, teachers can focus better on caring for kids well, and it helps us simplify our admin process and eliminate some needless extra work.
- Parent/Guardian Must Wear Check-in/out Tag – Yes, I know, who wants to have to worry about another thing in life, right?! But this is important for ensuring the right person is in the Kids area and not the wrong person, for the safety of our kids, families, and teachers. This means not just holding it, but wearing it so that Safety Response Team people can easily identify you, (which they can’t if you’re just holding it. And yes, I’m well aware you’re able to manage holding it up instead of wearing it, but this is one of those exceptional places where we just need to have and enforce one policy—that you help create and protect by wearing it—instead of making an exception because you’re capable.) This stuff matters because we have lots of new families and kids, and some have exceptional circumstances like foster and adoptive parents and families who have cause for extra concern.
Helping WOMEN Find and Follow Jesus – A few times lately I’ve mentioned a personal burden for the ministry of training men to be godly husbands, fathers, workers, and leaders in the church and community, as I said in last week’s ST: Helping MEN find and follow Jesus. In that vein, I just wanted to also say, for the record, that this burden is not in any way whatsoever mutually exclusive with the equally important value of helping ensure that women, moms, and daughters become the godly and fruitful wives, mothers, workers, and leaders in the church and community that God created them to be! In fact, not only do we already have tons of godly women who are leading well, serving faithfully, and making disciples through dozens of mentoring and accountability relationships in numerous ministry areas, but if God’s design for manhood is indeed what I believe is the Scriptural witness—to serve those in his care by personally owning the responsibility to provide for and protect an environment that produces their flourishing and godliness—then Helping MEN find and follow Jesus definitionally involves the Christlike self-sacrifice of Helping WOMEN find and follow Jesus. (Btw, I am not subsuming Helping WOMEN into Helping MEN nor equating the two.) Now, you may disagree with the distinctions in role implied in the previous sentence or our church’s official stance on “complementarian” roles between men and women, but please know that a properly understood “complementarian” view of God’s design for manhood definitionally involves taking seriously the responsibility to personally and lovingly sacrifice for the flourishing of those under his care. That means not only ensuring that—for the sake of all women—all of our church’s environments are safe and focused on loving, protecting, caring for, and encouraging their gifts, but it also means teaching that vision to our men, for the sake of the flourishing of women who glorify God.
Hope Center, Greene County Right to Life – Speaking of the responsibility to provide for and protect an environment for the flourishing of our community, I wanted to let y’all know that the Elders have allowed me to become involved in a couple organizations that have long been close to my heart. Going back to my first experiences of learning about what abortion really is, hearing early pro-life advocates at my home church, and reading a couple books in my teen years, I’ve always known I would eventually become engaged in the fight for life. I’ve recently become part of the Advisory Board for the Hope Center, our local Pregnancy Resource Center, and I’m about to help relaunch the Greene County Right-to-Life chapter that was begun by our own Rita Sexton, whose incredible story is what God used to motivate her involvement. Without being able to tell more, please pray for God to use my involvement in these areas. I'll provide more detail and info soon, but I wanted to mention at this point that we have an upcoming Coffee Convo where I interview Pam Crank, the Executive Director of the Hope Center. It’s a fascinating conversation that gives some helpful insight into how comprehensive is their work. Also worth mention is that very soon our own Nathan Dickerson, Catalyst Coffee General Manager, is going to be handing the Hope Center a check for $500 from Catalyst profits! (This starts what will be a monthly minimum of $500 in profits that Catalyst will begin giving away to local ministries like this. And yes, we also plan to do a Coffee Convo with each one to highlight their work. Cool, eh?!)
All-Church Multisite Vision Night and Q & A – Sun, Mar 27, 6:30-7:30p, Greeneville campus – An Elders Letter is going out this week to tell you more about this, but you will not want to miss this important meeting. We will outline our vision, why we are a multisite church, how it works, South Greene campus launch plans, launch timeline, how to choose a campus, and how to get involved, followed by at least 20 minutes for Q & A. Only an hour. Lots of info. Don’t miss it.
Posted in Scotts Thoughts