Another quick summary of our Council meeting.

Bob Swanson opened with devotions, then the Elders and Deacons went into their districts. They spent time sharing prayer requests from their own lives and their districts, then prayed together.

Last month, the staff was given permission to take a more directive role in guiding the direction that Bethel moves in. In this first discussion time, we dealt with the most basic task of any church: making disciples. After coming up with some characteristics of disciples, we asked how we intend to take people from where they are at now to becoming fully committed followers of Jesus Christ. The bar is set high: we’re looking for people who not only are learning what Jesus teaches and becoming more like Him; we’re also looking for people who serve readily, give freely and are also able to lead others to becoming disciples. With such a noble and audacious goal, we can’t really just bring people in and “hope” that they will eventually become disciples of Jesus Christ. But how will we as a congregation pursue this?

We finalized a list of Elder and Deacon nominees, placed them in the order that they will be contacted and assigned people to call them to answer questions. We are very thankful for all of the people who are capable of serving and are looking forward to discovering whom God will call to serve in leadership in our church over the next three years.

The Deacons have come up with a letter to send out to the congregation that describes our budget process. We are looking for commitments from each family or individual for the next budget year. The budget the Deacons propose will be based on these slips, so we’d really like to have a good response to these cards. We’ll also be asking for people to indicate how much above their budget giving they’ll be able to give to reduce the Building Loan. Please prayerfully consider how God would have you give to His work here.