Dear Church Family,
Since I can’t talk to all of you on Sundays in person due to this pandemic, I’m sending you letters from time to share important information. I hope you find this helpful.
Middle School and High School Ministries:
I’m thankful for the effort being made by Grant and Chris to connect with our students during these challenging days. They are doing a great job. Beginning, August 19 both groups will begin having a weekly large group worship time in the Apex on Wednesday nights. This means that on Sunday mornings starting August 16, they will attend worship with their family instead of meeting together in The Rock as they’ve been doing this summer.
Worship Center Upgrades and Church Vote:
On July 26 the church voted by ballot to approve the replacement and upgrade of the television cameras, recording equipment and sound system, as well as the repurposing of the TV control room to a recording studio at a cost not to exceed $600,000 and authorized the stewardship committee to execute the financial plan to pay for the project.
A second vote to approve the financial plan, which now has more details, will take place during the worship services on Sunday, August 23. Church leadership will be available during a called business meeting on Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 pm in the worship center to answer questions regarding the project.
Financial Plan Recommended for approval by Stewardship Committee, Deacons and Executive Staff:
- Utilize $300,000 from current funds:
- designated for this purpose and
- the church’s budget general fund balance
- Borrow up to $300,000 from South State Bank with a 6 month draw period and 10-year amortization at 3.49 interest (same as our current building loan) with no pre-payment penalties and no closing costs
- Pay the loan in full by adding a new line in future budget and receive funds designated for this purpose.
- Authorize the church trustees to sign on behalf of the church all documents associated with the loan.
New Testament Reading Plan:
In January we launched a plan to read the New Testament in 2020 and many of you are participating. Enclosed is a bookmark with the reading plan for the remainder of the year. The bookmark we sent out a couple of weeks ago had a mistake, so this is the corrected one.
If you haven’t been participating in the reading plan, I encourage you to start. Don’t worry about catching up, simply begin with this week’s schedule. To help you I record a video devotion for each of the five chapters to be read that particular week. The videos premier each Monday-Friday at 6:00 am on our church’s YouTube page, Facebook page, and church website. Most videos are five-ten minutes long.
Sunday School:
We are investigating how to move toward having on-campus Sunday School and would appreciate you praying for God to guide us. Since it’s clear that in the short-term we will not be able to have the traditional schedule of all classes meeting on Sunday mornings on campus, we are looking at several alternatives. Meanwhile you are encouraged to continue meeting with your class online. While online classes (such as zoom, etc) are not the same as in-person classes, they can still be a meaningful way to gather and are definitely better than not meeting at all.
Sermons:
This Sunday I’m preaching from Hebrews 11 a message titled “Faith that Works” and I hope you will join us for worship either in person and on-campus or online on YouTube or Facebook. Our website and all social media platforms will link you to the service. I’m preaching from Hebrews 11 because it is one of the five chapters in our New Testament reading plan for this week and I made a commitment to preach most weeks from one of the chapters we’re reading that week. It will be the same sermon on campus and online.
Again, I hope you find the information in this letter helpful. Your prayers for me, our staff and our church family are needed and appreciated. If you have prayer needs, please let us know. None of us need to face the challenges of this new reality alone.
I pray you have a blessed week.
In His Service,
Pastor Steve Hogg
Written Tuesday, August 11, 2020