Transition Update Over the last 12 months, we've been working on many fronts to reorganize, refocus, and reenergize our church. With Ben and Tina going to Peoria to plant a new church, we needed to rethink our entire staff. Our new team has taken to leading like ducks to water! I'm excited about how well they are fitting in and being received.
Our numbers are up (keep bringing your friends), worship is vibrant, Holy Spirit ministry is exciting, our youth ministry is surging, and our outreach has been steady and growing. Wow! It's fun to be part of a church that's moving ahead in God's plan and purposes.
We Are Growing Our multi-site campuses have done amazingly well. Sullivan is averaging over 400 per week in January with one Sunday over 500. The other campuses are reporting strong attendance as well. As of now, about 1/3 of our attendance is at the other four locations. This has gone way beyond what we could ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20 - "Now all glory to God, who is able, through his might power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.")
Reorganizing In late 2010, I began to realize I had two issues I needed to address as the senior leader. First, I began to see I needed an Executive Pastor. In a church our size, most have an Executive Pastor who oversees the entire staff and helps the Senior Pastor implement the vision.
In addition, I realized that I was mostly pastoring the Urbana campus and not paying enough attention to the other four campuses. I knew that I needed to make a significant change so that they would receive the same leadership as our campus.
God Sends a Man Named Dennis As I was praying on who could be our Executive Pastor, I looked at several individuals. God amazed me by bringing a man out of retirement named Dennis Starkey. Many of you know him as the one who helped us launch Danville. He has also been a part-time pastor here in Urbana for the last couple of years. Dennis had a plan to retire and was gradually working off the staff. However God, in a single 48 hour period, changed Dennis's heart from that to an entirely new dream. He believes God led him to be our new Executive Pastor.
This job fits well with Dennis as he has been a school principal for a number of years and has worked in sales. He loves to work with people, understands implementing vision, and has a great personality for moving the ball down the field under the leadership and direction of the senior pastors (Di and I).
A New Leadership Format Once Dennis agreed to become Executive Pastor, I authorized him to take the other senior leaders and develop a new strategy. This strategy calls for several redefined positions and some oversight changes, which resulted in no salary increases or additional hires. First, Dennis as Executive Pastor is now the pastor immediately over each of the campus pastors. In addition, he will have a Vineyard Ministry Pastor and a Vineyard Business Pastor report to him.
The Vineyard Ministry Pastor oversees all the ministries throughout the five campuses. This job is to make sure all the campuses maintain the same DNA, focus, and feel. This is a challenging job which Jim Egli feels he can handle in the days ahead.
The Vineyard Business Office will work under the direction of Carla Green to make sure that all of our campuses are functioning in a financially appropriate way. This will also include HR and facility oversight issues. Both of these latter individuals will also have extensive teams under them.
Urbana Campus Pastor To make this leadership model work, we needed to appoint an Urbana Campus Pastor. This individual will make sure the day-to-day operations on this location are given priority and that things work well here from a local perspective. We are asking Adam Waters to fill that role. Thus, he will be in charge of overseeing pastors at this church and making sure ministry and weekend services come off in an effective, Godly way.
Adam has not been chosen as my successor. Di and I will be responsible for overall vision and direction for all campuses and will continue developing the preaching for this leadership structure.
Final Thoughts As Senior Pastors, Di and I have never been more excited about the future of this church. We believe God is promising the best is yet to come. Quite frankly we are amazed and somewhat undone when we hear Him say that. Yet as I look around, I see things coming into place in a positive and powerful way as we are surging into the plans for which God created us.
I know that Di and I personally have renewed energy and vision to approach the challenges that God has given us. We believe He has given us favor and understanding to help us achieve the very plans and purposes that He has for us. We ask that you pray for all the leaders above as well the church. We believe that God has special plans for us.
Should you have any questions about this plan, feel free to ask one of the pastors. Thanks for being part of the team. Blessings.
Happy
Happy Notes at Home are a monthly reflection of community life at The Vineyard Church and are produced by Happy Leman. | 
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