CLA Pulpit Search Committee Update July 28, 2009
To the Members of Christian Life Assembly,
First, I would like to thank all of you for your support and encouragement after Sunday’s announcement. I want to assure you that we are as excited about the future as you are.
Many of you had questions related to the presentation on Sunday. As promised, we wanted to take the opportunity to answer as many of them as we could.
If you do not see an answer to a question you may have, please send it to me directly. My email address is ckraft@splashmedia.com.
Our plan is to update you via email again next week. We are committed to getting you the facts you need to make an informed decision.
Thank you again for your prayerful support and your patience in this process.
Thanks.
Chris Kracht
CLA Pulpit Committee Chair
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CLA Pulpit Search Committee Update July 28, 2009
Q&A
- Question -I’m confused about where the services over the next two weeks will be.
Wednesday, July 29 @ 7:00pm
Service for Freedom Church and CLA attenders on the CLA campus in the Rock, fellowship time to follow in the Rock Cafe
Sunday, August 2 @ 6:30pm
Service for Freedom Church and CLA attenders on the CLA campus in the Sanctuary, fellowship time to follow in the Rock Cafe
Sunday, August 9 @ 10:30am
Service for CLA attendeers and members on the CLA campus in the Sanctuary.
Sunday August 9 (After Service)
Special Business Meeting for CLA Members on the CLA campus in the Sanctuary for the purpose of voting, fellowship time to follow in the Rock Café
Sunday August 9 @ 6:00pm
Special Business Meeting for Freedom Members in the CLA Sanctuary. CLA Members are invited to attend a special prayer meeting in the Chapel at 6:00pm.
- Question – What if I can’t attend them all?
We are having several opportunities for you to meet the Bridges, and members of Freedom, but we understand that many people will miss one or more of them. The reason we are having three is so that as many people as possible can attend at least one of them.
- Question -I’ll be out of town on August 9. Can I vote by proxy? Can I get an absentee ballot?
No. CLA has no precedent precedence for this, and we are unable to provide for proxy or absentee votes.
- Question – Why did the announcement for a special business meeting include the mention of a change to the constitution and by-laws?
Because of the mechanics of blending the bodies, we need a change to permit Freedom people to come to the new, combined membership, without loss of their membership status (for example). There are several issues of this sort that may require a change. We are still doing the work on this. It may be that no change is needed.
- Question – Can we vote on Kendall but not merge?
No. The proposal is to merge the two churches which would enable Kendall Bridges to be elected Pastor. This will only happen if both churches have a 2/3 majority in favor.
- Question – Will we still be Assemblies of God Church?
Yes. We will still be an AG church, still in the Denton Section, still in the North Texas District.
- Question – Do AG Officials know we are considering this?
Yes. Our District Superintendent, Rev. Rick Dubose and our District Presbyter, Dr. Richard Plunk have been notified. Officials in Springfield, who we believe are interested, have also been notified. However, as a sovereign church, we don’t need approval from the Assemblies.
- Question – Where did the board and Pulpit Committee seek counsel?
From many sources, including:
• Rev. Lee Lebsack, our former pastor
• Rev. Scott Olson, former associate pastor, and interim pastor following Pastor Lebsack
• Rev. Don George
• Indirectly, Dr. Dobbins was approached (Pastor Everette did this, based in part on his long personal relationship with Dr. Dobbins)
• Indirectly, Rev. Tommy Barnett was approached (Pastor Bridges did this)
These men provided input on Kendall, the merger or both. On the merger, we had a great deal of input, and most of it was consistent. The key message we heard repeatedly was that the merger, if it was to work, would have to be based on moving the kingdom forward, not on ego or other selfish motives.
- Question – What will the name be?
The formal name of the new church will be Freedom Life Church of the Assemblies of God.
Of course this is a mouthful, and people will shorten it, probably most often to “Freedom Life” and “Freedom Life Church.” We all agreed that we don’t like using “letters” but if people MUST use initials, FLC is better than other alternatives we considered.
- Question – Why change the name?
Several reasons.
First, it shows respect to the members from Freedom Church who we will join.
Second, our church has a tradition of changing name at major milestones. Over the years, we have been Maplewood Assembly, Walnut Hill Assembly, Christian Life Cathedral, and Christian Life Assembly. This name change is in keeping with a long tradition and although our move is not of a physical nature, we feel a name change is an appropriate representation of a spiritual move of our body.
Third, it signals to our community and to us a new beginning, looking forward.
Fourth, the name has a message that has meaning to the lost – Freedom Life is, in essence the message of the Gospel – who the Son makes free is free indeed (John 8:36), and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom (Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”)
These ideas are clearly seen in Jesus own preaching. For example, in Luke 4:18, he said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…”
- Question – Which Constitution and by-laws will be used?
CLA’s documents will survive, with the public understanding that a revision may be needed with 6 months. Some minor changes may be needed to reflect the name change, and to incorporate Freedom Church board members.
- Question – Who will be on the board?
CLA will retain all 10 current board members. Freedom will name 4 lay members, which CLA approve as part of our voting to merge.
Kendall will become a board member, Chairman and church member by virtue of his election as Senior Pastor, in accordance with our Constitution and by-laws. This will give us a combined board of 15 members.
- Question – Will Steve Roemerman still be our Chairman?
No. Our by-laws make provision for a deacon to be chairman, only when we don’t have an elected Pastor. In accordance with our by-laws, our Senior Pastor will become Chairman of the Board once elected.
- Question – Did the board ask Pastor Tommy and Pastor Dave to leave to help make the merger happen?
No. Pastor Tommy resigned after the board determined a staff reduction was necessary. The board did not ask him to leave. Pastor Dave’s position was eliminated because of financial considerations. The decision was made before the pulpit board began serious consideration of Kendall.
Pastor Bridges worked to help us retain our staff. By the time we invited him to begin staff discussions, as part of the exploration, our Fine Arts position had already be eliminated.
- Question – What happened to Pastor Everette as a candidate? I think he’s great.
Everyone should agree, Pastor Everette is great. He’s a great example to us of a solid man who is deeply committed to God, to seeking God’s will, and to our church.
He’s said repeatedly that he appreciates the love people have expressed in suggesting him to lead CLA. However, his statement has been, “Thank you… however I do not wish to be considered as a candidate for the position.”
Pastor Everette has served this body during critical times. He played a crucial role as the most seasoned member of the staff during the transition from Pastor Lebsack to Pastor Richard. He been a trusted advisor to the board and pulpit committee during the search. He has been faithful to be a sounding board, and source of wisdom. Some of the most valuable advice on how to think about the risks and benefits of joining forces with another church came from him.
We owe him a great debt of gratitude, and he’s made an impact that won’t be fully know until eternity.
- Question -Will Pastor Everette stay with us and if so what will he do?
Yes. He will have similar duties to the role he played during Pastor Carl’s ministry, and will lead OK Fellowship, among other things.
- Question – Will Pastor Chris stay with us?
Yes.
- Question – will Pastor Joe stay with us.
Yes.
- Question – Who will be our Youth Pastor?
Pastor Bridges will need some time to say for sure, but Freedom Church youth are being served by Kolt Bridges. Pastor Tommy has committed to help with this
transition.
- Question -Who will lead worship?
We expect we will still use worship teams. The details will be worked out over time. We expect that our worship teams will be blended. We are going to try this in the Sunday evening service on August 2.
It is the responsibility of the Sr. Pastor to designate a Worship Leader. We expect that Dandy Bridges and Starla Bridges will fill this responsibility.
- Question -What’s happening with Fine Arts? What will happen to our choir and orchestra?
We are strongly committed to ministry through music, but it’s too soon to tell exactly what the future holds. Freedom church does not have a Fine Arts pastor. CLA has raised up lay leadership to lead the choir and orchestra during the transition. Again, it is the responsibility of the Sr. Pastor to provide leadership in the area of “style of worship”. We have had a number of discussions about the future of these ministries, with, and without a merger, and it’s simply too soon to say.
We expect that our worship teams will be blended. Again, this will take time but we are going to try to begin this in the Sunday evening service on August 2.
- Question -Will we keep the name of the Rock? Or change it as well?
No plans to change that name.
- Question – How can we afford all this staff?
Due to this being a merger of two churches, the member/giving base of both churches will be brought together.
- Question -Does the Freedom merger mean we are financially better off as a church? Are our money woes over?
We will be stronger together than apart in a number of ways, including financially. Financial analysis was done by members of the board, the finance committee, and the pulpit committee.
It’s not fair to every say that “money woes are over” but the current income levels of the two bodies generate a more stable financial situation.
If CLA’s people remain faithful, some of our current pressure should ease, but Freedom Church is smaller than CLA, and we can’t expect them to make all problems disappear forever.
Our plan is to grow together and put our financial troubles behind us and focus on ministry.
- Question -Will our Lay leaders or theirs be in charge of their respective areas of ministry?
First, the whole idea of ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’ is something we must avoid. It’s “our” church. In terms of legacy, the lay ministries we’ve looked at so far seem as though they will blend well.
We think a small group of lay leaders, working with the pastoral leaders will be able to work out more details than we’ve been able to consider thus far. That team will be announced shortly.
The group of “lay leaders” will be representative of both congregations. Because we both have gaps in our lay leadership, we think there won’t be too many places where we have redundant lay leaders.
Everyone who wants to be a lay worker will have plenty of Kingdom work to do.
- Question -I’ve heard that we are looking to become more seeker friendly… Is that true?
It depends on what you mean by “seeker friendly.” That term was not something used as a criteria by the board in its charter of the pulpit committee, nor was it anything that was considered in the selection of Kendall Bridges. So in one sense, NO it’s not true, it was just not a consideration.
But more generally, if by “seeker friendly” we mean an approach that waters down the full gospel, -NO we are not looking for that. When people mean this, they are really asking if the church plans to become a “social gospel” church, and again, the answer to THAT question is NO.
If by “seeker friendly” we mean building a place where people experience concern for them just as they are (“just as I am, without one plea”) and a place where they find acceptances and the Love of Jesus – YES we think that’s what Jesus said we should do. When people mean this, they want to know if we will make sure we are a place where hurting people can be saved, and they answer is YES. So, while we didn’t use the term “seeker friendly” the answer to THAT question is “yes”.
- Question -What about the Holy Spirit? Does Kendall Bridges believe in the movement of the Holy Spirit?
Yes. Kendall is recognized as a leading voice in Pentecost. He’s been a speaker at General Counsel, and is a sought after teacher for full gospel ministerial training.
The Bridges family represents multiple generations of commitment to the full gospel message, and no one has a better claim to understanding the legacy of ministry in the Holy Spirit that Kendall and Starla Bridges.
- Question – What’s in this merger for us? Does our church really benefit?
The short answer to “what’s in this merger for us” is that we can be more effective for the Kingdom. The New Church will be stronger and better able to make an impact in Carrollton and Plano. If you believe the mission of the church is to reach our Jerusalem first, then that’s a good example of “what’s in it” for us.
- Question -Will all those Plano folks really drive over to CLA? How many members do we think will really come over in a merger?
Yes, we think the vast majority will. Freedom has been averaging over 170 on Sunday this year; we think most of that number will come.
Of course, 170-180 in attendance means that a larger number call Freedom Church “home.”
Like CLA, Freedom is a “destination church” that some drive a long way to reach. Many of the members of both churches drive 20 or 30 minutes now. In the case of Freedom Church, some of them were going to Calvary (Irving) or Richardson before driving to Plano. They are very committed and have deep relationships with each other, so yes, we think the vast majority will.
We’d like to think that people in both churches have relationships that run deeper than a few extra minutes of driving.
- Question – I suggested a person I really thought would make a great pastor, why wasn’t that person presented to the body?
There were several reasons why candidates were not presented to the board by the pulpit committee. Some who were suggested by the body were not interested (i.e., they did not fill out an application, or seek a serious discussion about our pulpit).
It’s important to know that some candidates referred to the pulpit committee did not want to be considered.
Some who were interested were impressive in one way or another, but the committee did not achieve a consensus to move forward with them. Some have just not been in the process long enough for the committee to form a perspective.
After careful evaluation, it was determined that a merger in conjunction with calling a pastor was enabling both churches to be more effective for The Kingdom, impacting lives in North Texas.
Kendall’s candidacy moved quickly through our process, and the large number of open doors seemed to be just one clear example of God’s hand at work.
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