An exciting start to a new year

Madison FBC is having a great start to 2018. In yesterday's post I talked about the various small groups that will begin meeting this week. There is still time to sign up for one of these groups if you live in the Madison area. You do not have to attend this church to take part in one of these small groups.

The church also entered into a 40 day period of prayer and fasting as we began the new year. This came from a suggestion from one of our members to the deacons who then invited the congregation to participate. They put up a sign-up sheet for anyone who wanted to volunteer to fast and pray for a day or however many days they wanted. The sheet quickly filled up, and we know that some are fasting and praying who did not sign up.

A few years ago the church was able to purchase an abandoned school building. Although it is being used, there is still a lot of unused space in the building that could be used for a variety of ministries and, potentially, other ministry groups in the community. We had a brainstorming session last week to discuss some possible ways to maximize that space. There was a nice turnout of people who shared a variety of ideas that could expand the ministry of this church.

Last, but certainly not least, this past Sunday, the church voted to called Randy Crutchfield to be their new senior Pastor. Randy has served this church as Youth/Associate Minister for the past 25 years and will soon be stepping into his new role as senior Pastor.

However, Randy is scheduled to take a sabbatical this summer so he will not officially begin serving as pastor until he returns from the sabbatical in August. The church has asked me to remain as Transitional Pastor until that time. During this time he will continue working with the youth and fulfilling his other current responsibilities. We will work closely together as co-transitional pastors although we have not yet had time to discuss yet what that might look like.

The church has been seeking a pastor for around 18 months. During that time we've seen a lot of positive things happen. The church has certainly not sat idle waiting for a new pastor. We spent time discerning a fresh vision from God for the future of the church. We've been involved in community outreach activities. We provided leadership for a Community Vacation Bible School that reached over 220 children. One group visited our sister church in El Salvador, and our youth made mission trips to a community in  Appalachia and to the Dominican Republic. There is much more I could mention but lack the space to do so.

So many churches go into a holding pattern when they are seeking a new pastor. I am so proud of this church for not doing that. The people have continued to seek ways to serve God and this community during this transition time. With Randy's leadership I believe this church will only continue to expand its ministry to this community and around the world!