One...Two...Three...

Four. That’s the number of subjects this column will cover. Four bases covered. Four seasons enjoyed. Four winds that blow. Four quarters that make a whole. Okay, alright already, you get it: four subjects. Here goes:

First, as you know, we moved into our new facilities at Madison Park last summer juggling some key staff portfolios temporarily. Many members of our staff team picked up new responsibilities in the short-term to see us through, wearing several different hats at once. Now that the dust has settled, the Board of Elders and Personnel Committee have confirmed some new staff permanent appointments:

Jeff Matas has stepped in the role of Senior Associate. Originally hired to work with Front Door Ministries and Assimilation—and then adding some Discipleship and Education management to the mix, Jeff served as interim Senior Associate during the last half of 2007. The Senior Associate’s first call is to come alongside the associate pastors and ministry directors, helping them to succeed and work together as a team. It’s a big job—and a critically important one. Jeff worked abroad for a large multinational corporation and then served as Senior Pastor in several churches Stateside, before moving to North/Madison Park three years ago. He has a bachelor’s degree from Anderson University and a MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia. His experience in secular management and in pastoral ministry brings a skill set to our table that’s hard to beat.

Shelly Stottlemyer has been called to serve full-time as our Front Door and Assimilation Ministry Director. Shelly has worked for the last four years as part of our Children’s Ministry team; her success in welcoming new children and their families into the church and her ability to dream and work with others to bring those dreams to life have impressed all of us. Energy. Life. A welcoming smile. And so much more. Shelly will be managing all of our church life initiatives that help welcome and integrate new friends into our church family—from children to adults.

Sarah Trick has been called to serve full-time as our Discipleship and Education Ministry Director. Sarah graduated from Anderson University prepared to teach school—but, the conventional children’s classroom wasn’t her ultimate destination. She has always had a passion to work with adults, facilitating relationships, organizing systemically curriculum and small groups to deepen our experience with God and each other. For several years, she has been employed part-time at Madison Park, working with our small groups; in the last few months she picked up some new pieces (like adult Sunday School and mid-week adult learning electives)—and now she has stepped into the Discipleship and Education role full-time. Passion. Ideas. A commitment to spiritually nourishing relationships. And so much more. Sarah is up and running with our discipleship and education portfolio.

There are some other staff appointments and adjustments that are falling into place, too—more on those later. But today, thank God for these three.

Second, our Volunteer Coordinator, Marti Freeman, has been hard at work in the last few months organizing a data base of our church’s volunteers. Last week she presented a report to the staff that was a great encouragement—and I’d like to share it with you. No matter how talented the staff, a living community of faith is dependent on volunteers. Marti has identified 870 adult volunteers at Madison Park, who serve each month in our church family, filling 1361 adult volunteer positions (some people volunteer in more than one area—but 870 individuals are committed and serving). That represents about 48% of our adult membership at Madison Park—awesome. There’s always room to grow—but this expansion of volunteer participation is a significant index of our church’s expansion since we moved to Madison Park. If you’d like to get involved, give Marti a call in the Church Office—she can help connect you to a ministry in which you can serve.

Third, Easter comes early this year, March 23. Start praying now, if you haven’t already, about who you might invite to join us at our first Easter at Madison Park. The services (at 9:00a and 10:45a) will be moments-never-to-be-forgotten. Jesus B. Bring somebody to celebrate.

And, fourth, “Go ahead. Ask anything.” It’s a new sermon series that I’ll launch on the first Sunday in April—but you get to help decide its content in March. Go to our website (www.GoAheadAskAnything.com) and pose a question or two—go ahead. Ask anything. Ask a question you’d like to hear answered from the pulpit in a sermon on Sunday, any question, about anything. Your questions—and the questions of others posted on line (you can do so anonymously, if you like) will then be listed on a ballot, also online—and then you can vote. Vote for three of the questions on the list—and the top ten will be answered on Sundays in April and May—one question will be the subject of the sermon each week. Go ahead. Ask anything. And, invite your friends (outside of the church, too) to do the same. Stay tuned.

There you have it. Four bases covered. Thanks for reading through to the end. I thank God for you, Madison Park Church!