God has given so many gifts to His church, including the spiritual gifts at work through each one of you in the life of this body at Crossgate. He also calls some to take up particular roles of leadership in the church, in the offices of elder and deacon.

 

As I mentioned this past Sunday, we have wanted to intentionally grow and develop our leadership at Crossgate because this is one of those gifts Christ gives to benefit the whole body. Please continue to pray for God to use and guide the steps in this process and to strengthen Crossgate through it.

 

Since the officer nominations last October, we have engaged in a season of discernment and training with several men who were willing to consider if God is calling them to serve as an officer in the church. For those who are ready to move forward once this training is complete, (1) there will be an examination by the Session; (2) then we would hold a congregational meeting, where they would be presented to the congregation for election, and (3) those elected would later be ordained and installed. We hope for these steps to take place near the end of summer and early fall.

 

This is a weighty consideration and significant step for Crossgate. Please pray for Chris McKean and David Warlick who have been going through elder training. And also pray for our Deacon Assistants: Bill Jones, Craig Whitman, Ed Zeagler, Jason Padgett, Michael Thorsland, and Wayne Hagins, who may choose to continue serving as a deacon assistant, to step down from that role, or to move forward toward ordination as a deacon. All of these men are already a great help and blessing to our church!

 

Additionally, I mentioned that Jay Brown is doing a fantastic job as Assistant Pastor, and the Session would like to present him to the congregation for Associate Pastor. You might wonder, besides the title change, what’s the difference? 

 

There are two main differences: (1) an associate pastor is called by the congregation, while only the Session is needed to call an assistant pastor, and relatedly, (2) an associate pastor is a voting member of the Session but an assistant is not. This means that if the congregation voted to call Jay as Associate Pastor, he would be part of the full spiritual leadership and oversight of the church. 

 

This would include an expanded job description involving his oversight of the youth and children’s ministry as well as his engaging in outreach and missions. Since Jay has been faithfully ministering with us for more than a year, hopefully it feels like you already recognize and appreciate his giftedness for serving in these ways. We trust that he has been a blessing to you as he has been a blessing to me, to our youth, and to the whole of the church.

 

We believe that it is an important principle that the congregation is able to choose those who provide them spiritual oversight in the Lord, by recognizing the gifts of leadership that Christ has given within His church. So please continue to prayerfully consider these steps, and if you have any further questions, please reach out to me or to any of the elders. We will also send out more information before a congregational meeting is held.

 

As God continues to work through Crossgate and use us for His purpose, please pray that He will use this process to strengthen and grow the church.

 

In Christ,

David Story