4 minute read
Howard Costley, council of elders chair
Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Psalm 117:1
PRAISE THE LORD! (PSALM 117:1-2)
We join the psalmist in praising the Lord. We praise him for his great love and faithfulness to us as a congregation. Great is his faithfulness!
How thankful we are to be able to worship together, to study and serve together, and to have wonderful fellowship with one another. We are thankful for the continued strong pulpit ministry and the faithful teaching of God’s Word. We thank the Lord for our thriving children’s, STARS, youth, and many other ministries. As you read through the various pastoral and director reports in this annual report you will see God’s great faithfulness.
One of our five strategic initiatives is church planting. Earlier this fiscal year Pastor Zach Fallon and his wife, Christine, accompanied by Steve and Lois Krogh, moved to the south metro area of Atlanta to begin a church plant work. They had their first worship service in January and already have 55 members. I should also add that in December Zach came back to College Church to sit before an ordination council who recommended him to the elders for ordination. We are thankful for God’s faithfulness in establishing this new gospel lighthouse. Our initiative is to plant several more churches this decade.
Another initiative is to provide ministry space in the eastern end of the Crossings building. The elders have appointed a task force composed of congregants, staff and elders to develop plans for the best use of this space. We look forward to their recommendations and appreciate their efforts on behalf of the church. It has been wonderful to see Clapham School and the STARS Resale Shop already using a major portion of the Crossings.
In October the elders spent a day and a half reviewing our five strategic initiatives as well as doing in depth analysis with staff on practically every ministry of College Church.
Much preparation on the part of the pastoral staff and the elders made this a productive exercise resulting in many action points we have been working on together over the past six months. Our goal is to further strengthen vibrant ministries and to identify weaknesses in any less vibrant ones.
We have seen very large new member classes and are thankful for those who have taken this important step. Our hope is that we, as a congregation, will make our new members and visitors feel welcome from the first Sunday they visit. May we be known as a community where everyone is warmly welcomed and where they can readily find deepening Christian fellowship. This is another of our strategic initiatives.
I want to thank the pastoral staff and the support staff for their hard work and special efforts over the past two years to allow us to continue the ministries of the church. They have gone above and beyond expectations to overcome all kinds of challenges, often at significant personal sacrifice. Thank you also to the hundreds of you congregants who faithfully serve throughout the ministries of the church.
A special thank you to retiring elders Dan Lindquist, Tad Williams and Tom Nussbaum. They have served well in a variety of roles while on the council, spending untold hours on committees and serving the congregation.
I also want to thank all of you who have given this fiscal year. As I write this report in early April, we are running significantly above last year’s giving and slightly ahead of budget. Thank you for your faithful giving.
As we reflect on the past year it encourages us for the year ahead. We have seen God’s great faithfulness and we know we can trust him to guide us, to strengthen us, and to use us as he sees fit in the days ahead.
