A big thank you goes out to all who helped make March Maintenance Montrose a huge success. Our church had over 30 people present making sure that our responsibilities were being taken care of. Thank you to those who greeted guests who came by our table, those who handed out food tickets and those who greeted our guests in the church building. There were also a good number of people who were walking around engaging in positive conversation. I also want to thank those who worked ahead of time to make the outside of our building and grounds look fresh and clean.

It is always a pleasure to work with both the Henrico and Richmond City Police Departments. They pulled together several different organizations and businesses to make the event a huge success. Rosa Coleman and I went with them on Monday before the block party to invite our neighbors to come and we both enjoyed the interaction with both our neighbors and the officers. We are fortunate to have a relationship with both departments in that when they want to do something in our neighborhood, our church is the first partner that comes to mind.

On another note, the Quarterly Business Meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:15 pm. This is a change from the usual 3rd Wednesday, because of Holy Week and not having any activities on Wednesday, April 17. The report of the 21st Century Team will be presented and voted on at that meeting. We will have had a discussion at the past Quarterly Business Meeting and then three discussion opportunities were held in the month of March. Please come and let your vote count. If you cannot attend, you may cast an absentee ballot by calling or coming by the church office.

Speaking of Holy Week, pay attention to the information on the right-hand side of this page which will give you the dates and times for all Holy Week Services. I hope you make plans to attend these special services.

Howard

There are two very important conversations taking place in the life of our church. Both of those have been on going in two different groups. Both groups have reported out information in the past couple of weeks with the intention of having some discussion sessions. The two topics relate to our governing struc- ture and the aging building.

The 21st Century Carlisle Team that has been working on a new governing structure is nearing the completion of their work. They have set three discussions (question and answer) sessions for the month of March. The first is on Wednesday, March 20th following dinner and the other two are after church on Sunday March 24th and March 31st.

The Trustees are working on dates for discussion of the report that was handed out on Sunday, February 17th regarding the plumbing, electrical, heat and air systems in our building. When those dates and time are finalized they will be announced. If you were not in church on the 17th and did not get a report, you can call the church office and we will get one to you. Because the report is lengthy and detailed, we would prefer to email it if you have access to email. If you do not have email, we will mail a copy or you can come by the church office and pick one up.

These are important discussions that are taking place and both teams want the church to have a voice as we move forward. Pray for God’s leadership as we make these important decisions.

Howard

The 21st Century Carlisle Team made its initial report concerning a major revision to our organizational structure at our Quarterly Business Meeting on Jan. 16. The changes that are being recommended are not just to make changes. The team that worked on the update did so because we are working from a document designed for churches in the 1950 and 1960’s. That design worked well in that period, but it is not working so well for us today. Change just to change is not a good thing. Change to improve the way we make decisions and to respond to needs in our world today can be a good thing.

Our current structure followed the business model that was prevalent in the mid 20th Century. Granted it is one many of us grew up with and therefore we are very comfortable with, but we are finding that that structure does not work well in the 21st Century. As I said at our Business Meeting, the BGAV (Virginia Baptists) have recently gone through a restructuring. They saw the need to become more nimble and be better equipped to make decisions faster, with less hoops. It has taken a couple of years to learn and navigate the new structure, but it is working. I expect we will have some of the same pains as we adapt, if we approve the new structure. In the end though, I believe we will have a less cumbersome structure and that people will be serving where their gifts and passions are.

There will be opportunities in February and March for you to come and ask questions and share your concerns about what is being proposed. The 21st Century team will work hard to provide times that meet the needs of those who want to learn more. These sessions will also be opportuni- ties for the team to explain their rationale for the new structure and how they believe it will help the church to function more effectively. Be looking for announcements about those sessions and come take part in the dialogue.

Howard

Happy New Year! The last year of the decade has arrived! I don’t know about you, but I find that hard to believe. As we finish out this decade, we recognize that as the years move forward things continue to change all around us. God has called us to a journey and asked us to follow him. We do not know where He is leading us, we do not know where what it will look like when we get there, but we do know that the future, just as the present is in His hands.

The Vision Team has been busy for two years trying to understand current trends. This includes trying to understand our culture and how to do church in this world where we find ourselves. We have learned many things along the way. Some ad hoc teams have been given assignments to work on and you will see information in other places in this newsletter about the 21st Century Carlisle Team that has been working to rewrite the Constitution and By Laws with the hope that we will have a leaner and more flexible document to guide us.

Once we have a new structure in place, there will more decisions to be made about the future. Hopefully, this structure will give us what we need to accomplish decision making easier by defining who the responsible groups are for the decisions that need to be made. The church body will be introduced to these concepts at the January business meeting on January 16. There will be opportunities for questions and comments during the next three months with any changes to be made and reported at the April business meeting on April 24 (that is a week later than normal because of the 17th falling during Holy Week and we already have services planned on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday).

I trust that 2019 will be a good year for CABC and a good year for each family and individual that is a part of the CABC family. Happy New Year!

Howard