There were so many amazing things from 2021!
What was your favorite? THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
SNAPSHOTS JANICE COOPER TGP KIDS
GAIL TAYLOR TGP WOMEN
PASTOR BEN TINSCH WORSHIP/MUSIC
In the past year, 47 new families with kids have visited our church, we’ve been able to continually provide classes for infants through 6th grade all year. There are 18 new people who serve on Sunday morning, helping to disciple these children. We started The Gospel Project in September, a curriculum that teaches through the whole Bible in 3 years. In 2021 we saw 19 kids make first time salvation decisions, and along with TGP Youth were able to pack 70 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We were able to host VBS, Trunk or Treat, a movie night and our kids Christmas celebration.
This year, women wanted to connect in-person. Our spring Bible Study was on Elijah, and had 51 women attending, with 7 of them being new to our church. In September, over 40 women attended a Priscilla Shirer simulcast. Then our fall Bible Study was on Haggai, with 45 participants, 8 of whom were new to our church, and one prayed to receive Christ. 301 women attended Christmas Coffee Talk and at least half were not from our church. 23 women responded to the salvation invitation that day. MOPS has started meeting in-person and we’ve seen a lot of new faces, including a new influx of children’s workers.
The Worship ministry exists to Glorify God and help the Church [the family of God] lead worship to God, our Audience of One. We do this by seeking to engage everyone as best as we are able. The worship ministry has served our church diligently week after week through some tough times over the last year. We are grateful for everyone who plays, sings, and leads as a ministry to the Lord and to His Church. They all put in preparation and practice time, going above and beyond regularly.
JANICE COOPER LITTLE LAMB
PASTOR BEN TINSCH TGP YOUTH Over the course of this last year we have seen God do some amazing things. At TGP Youth we have brought new focus to leadership and leadership responsibilities with emphasis on student relationships and development. In spring of 2021 we began to meet again in-person after having been off because of Covid restrictions. In the fall we were able to launch with a new focus on Biblical literacy and understanding, and an average of 60 youth a week. We want to be faithful to the Word of God and so we have started weekly student lessons from LifeWay's Gospel Project curriculum, which teaches through the Bible in 3 years. This is so our students and the next generation can be learning what the Bible teaches. We look forward to what God has in store for this student ministry and making disciples of Jesus.
At the beginning of our 2021 school year, we hired 12 new teachers and assistants, which is more than we’ve had to hire in many years. Praise God that most of them came from our own church family! There are 75 children in 7 different classes. All of our classes are running successfully without complaints and we’ve made our way through the ever changing COVID guidelines. It’s a privilege to reach out to our community through 2 successful fundraisers and a Christmas Birthday Party for Jesus with over 300 in attendance. God is at work, as I’ve had opportunities to sit with parents and pray with them, and as a couple of Little Lamb families have begun attending on Sunday mornings.
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
NATE SOUTHWICK TECH AND MEDIA Every Sunday morning, there are 10 different tech volunteer positions that help make our Sunday morning gatherings happen. Our volunteers range from grade-schoolers to retirees and their goal is to equip our church family to worship well and engage our church family through streaming and recording. They serve with excellence and faithfulness. We’ve had over 11,500 people in online attendance this past year, an average of over 200 every Sunday morning! Many people who are checking out our church attend online for the first several weeks before attending in-person. One of our goals for 2022 is to make that transition smooth and encourage our online church family towards discipleship.
www.tgponline.org
SNAPSHOTS PASTOR MIKE PESCHKA CAFE/YOUNG ADULTS We reopened the cafe in May 2021 after being closed for over a year. We have expanded our menu, with many new additions such as seasonal flavored drinks, various coffee origins, and even different beans from different coffee roasting companies. We have a great team of baristas and are so thankful for their willingness to serve. In the New Year, we’re launching Young Adults First Fridays. As we meet monthly, we will be digging into an overview of God’s Word, asking questions as we go, and digging into God’s identity, our identity, and our purpose. It will be a great time of fellowship, discussions, teaching, and community.
TGP DEAF For most of the year, approximately 12 of our Deaf returned in-person for Sunday’s Bible study and worship gathering. An average of 10 Deaf attended Wednesday’s Bible Study weekly. In the last quarter of 2021, we started to see growth, with an average of 20 Deaf during the Christmas season. We had our annual summer Deaf West camp in Machias, NY in June, with excellent attendance and fellowship. During Fall Mission Weekend, we helped a Deaf man and his daughter move to a new home in Oswego. We’ve continued live-streaming, allowing us to connect with Deaf all over the USA and around the world. Our Facebook group page grew by about 20%. We wrapped up the year celebrating Pastor Steve Blann’s retirement. In 2022, we’re praying to be able to gather in-person more often and reach even more Deaf with the Gospel. Another prayer request is more ASL interpreters to help minister to our Deaf.
PASTOR LARRY TAYLOR MISSIONS/DISCIPLESHIP
SPENCER WRIGHT ONLINE CONTENT
At TGP we are a family of servant missionaries, all of us. We thank God for the privilege of serving fellow servant missionaries with specialized callings to take the light of the Gospel to the dark places of the world. There are still 7,398 unreached people groups around the world that make up 41.8% of the world’s nearly 8 billion people. In 2021, we supported 37 active missionary families, 11 retired missionary families and 5 mission organizations, and we commissioned Don and Wendy Tinsch to be sent as missionaries to JAARS. During our mission weekends, we focused our attention on the ‘mission,’ singular not plural. That mission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20) is the mission of God and His Church, so it is the mission of TGP as well, starting right here in our “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria” (Acts 1:8). That is where mission begins. We also saw many exciting things happen with discipleship at TGP (keep reading to find out more). Griefshare was able to re-launch and we’re laying the foundation for Gospel Communities, a new type of small group.
2020 changed the way we thought about reaching people online. We depended upon it for teaching, encouraging, and discipling. 2021 again, called for a re-evaluation of how we reach people effectively. Coming out of a time where online media was the primary medium for delivering our message, we were able to keep a strong presence online while shifting back the focus to in-person discipleship. This year we were able to reach over 82,000 people on Facebook alone. Dr Miller’s Passion Week devotional highlighting the love of the Father was seen by over 6,000 people all over the world. On Instagram, a portion of Pastor Rob’s message about the church being a shining light of unity to the world around them reached over 5,000 people. On air, our surrounding communities saw 2,912 minutes of Gospel-centric content on 2 separate local TV stations. We saw the completion of our “Book by Book | Through the Bible” series. These 61 halfhour videos did a deep dive into the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. TGP Worship made their online debut with renditions of “The Blessing”, “House of the Lord”, and “Famous For” reaching over 1,200 online viewers. Through it all we continue to give praise to God for what he’s been able to accomplish through online presence. As we look into 2022 our mission will stay the same, declaring His glory in an excellent way and bringing the Good News to every man, woman and child.
HENRY ZABOROWSKI OPERATIONS This past year was “The Year of Transition” at TGP and there was transition in how we handle our accounting in Operations as well. We traditionally had three sets of books: Missions, Little Lamb and our General Fund. We hired an outside accounting company to help merge and manage these three into one budget and balance sheet. This may sound simple but this was a huge task as we have done this in the past with many wonderful volunteers. God has been very gracious to us at TGP this past year as we softly exit this pandemic with no debt, no government-issued funds accepted and the hiring of this outside accounting agency. The church also managed to purchase a new property at 103 Wells Ave West through a generous donor. God also allowed us to renovate this property for The Peschka family to live in as Mike serves here on staff. All this while not going into red ink for the calendar year of 2021. Praise the Lord for all he done spiritually and financially!
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
www.tgponline.org
2021 saw a lot of things start happening in-person again!
Including MOPS TGP YOUTH VBS Bible Studies and more...
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
ELDERS SERVE IN THE CHURCH BY LEADING. DEACONS LEAD IN THE CHURCH BY SERVING. In January of 2021, our church voted overwhelmingly to begin the process of transitioning our church governance to an Oversight Council of Elders. During the next several months, the first slate of men to serve on the Oversight Council was considered and presented to the membership for prayer and approval. During the Semi-Annual Meeting in July, our church voted unanimously in favor of approving our first Oversight Council and the following men as Elders:
Mark Bingham Roger Burdick James Burns Pastor Rob Burns
Chris Close Gary Cooper Aaron Rank James Weigner
From L to R: Gary Cooper, Jim Weigner, Roger Burdick, Pastor Rob Burns, Jim Burns, Aaron Rank, Mark Bingham, Chris Close THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Eldership is a high calling because both the reputation of the gospel in the community and the health of the church are contingent upon godly, qualified men who keep in step with Jesus and who can lead the church to do likewise. Please be in prayer for your elders, by name, every day. At the same time, we’ve been training a new-look Deacon Team to be lead servants in the church. This team has been made up of former board members and lay leaders who are excited about meeting needs of the church. They are ready to hit the ground running in 2022, and you’ll be hearing a lot from them. www.tgponline.org
Passing the Leadership Baton
Dr. George Miller III and Pastor Rob Burns THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
PASTORAL TRANSITION "There is no such thing as a permanent Pastor. Every single Pastor you have is an interim Pastor. And when a man of God dies or moves on, nothing of God dies or moves on. God just says, “Next.” DR. CRAWFORD LORITTS THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
June 27, 2021 was a historic day in the life of our church, as Dr. George Miller III officially passed the leadership baton to Pastor Rob Burns. The prior year had been a year of co-leadership as they led our church through a governance transition and also a leadership transition. They shared the pulpit, leadership responsibilities and submitted to each other as they both submitted to God. On that Sunday, we were blessed to have Dr. Crawford Loritts preach God’s word and he reminded us that when we’re born we look like our parents, but when we die we look like our decisions. As we looked at the transition from King David to King Solomon, there were 3 most important decisions that David exhorted Solomon to make. Decide to always live courageously, decide to always live obediently, decide to always live faithfully. We are thankful for Dr. Miller’s leadership of our church from 2008-2021, and are trusting God for a long tenure with Pastor Rob. May God lead and get all the glory! www.tgponline.org
Rev. Stephen Blann Retirement Celebrating 39 years of serving as Pastor to the Deaf THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
PASTOR STEPHEN BLANN Pastor to the Deaf for 39 years
Rev. Steve Blann began ministering to the deaf at our church in 1983. After only two weeks of sign language classes, Pastor Steve helped establish an official Deaf Ministry. God grew and built that into what it is today, with lay interpreters and teachers and many Deaf who call our church their home. But Pastor Steve not only ministers at our church; his ministry is global. He has traveled extensively throughout North, Central and South America, establishing new Deaf Ministries, encouraging existing ministries, equipping lay people and ministers to reach Deaf people for Christ. THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Pastor Steve retired at the end of 2021, after serving for 39 years as the Pastor to the Deaf at our church. His life has been marked by faithfulness and integrity, and God has blessed his faithfulness. Our Deaf Ministry has many faithful leaders who are going to continue to teach and minister to Deaf. They will also continue to offer sign language courses so that more can learn ASL to communicate with our Deaf. From all of us at TGP, THANK YOU!
www.tgponline.org
VBS 2021 165 kids and 68 workers THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Pastor Mike Peschka isn’t a stranger to our church, or even to our team. In 2017, he came on staff for 6 months as Interim Youth Pastor while he and his wife Jess prepared to leave for full-time ministry in the Philippines. Our church sent them as missionaries to serve with Ethnos360, and the next few years were spent exploring ministry opportunities and language learning. When the pandemic hit, God gave Mike and Jess an opportunity to come back to the States on furlough. And as they spent time seeking God’s specific direction, He answered. Pastor Mike was offered and accepted a Pastoral position (Young Adults and Cross-Cultural Connections) at TGP earlier this year. Throughout their transition, God constantly reminded the Peschka’s that He doesn’t move us away from things, He moves us TO things. And time and time again, God confirmed that this role at TGP was the direction He was moving them towards. THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
PASTOR MIKE PESCHKA Young Adults and Cross-Cultural Connections Ask Pastor Mike to tell you the story sometime. It’s a powerful display of God’s answer to prayer. Pastor Mike has already been influential in reopening the TGP Cafe. He loves coffee and is always trying new flavors and blends. God’s given him and Jess a heart for Young Adults, and launching this year is First Fridays, a Young Adult Gathering. On the first Friday of every month, young adults from ages 18-35 gather for coffee, time in the Word, small group discussion and fellowship. Pastor Mike has also helped provide staff support for Upward as it has begun its season.
www.tgponline.org
2021 saw TGP be able to make an impact in our community.
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
We live out the mission of God by being His hands and feet.
"EVERY CHURCH NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER TWO QUESTIONS. FIRST, WHAT IS OUR PLAN FOR MAKING DISCIPLES? AND SECOND, DOES OUR PLAN WORK?" - DALLAS WILLARD At TGP we want to be Disciples who make disciples as a family of servant missionaries. What does that mean? It means that we are constantly striving to DISCOVER more about God and who He says we are, BELONG to that God-given identity, GROW to be more like Christ, and LEAD others to do the same. Over the past year at TGP, we’ve been designing a Pathway to connect new attenders to our mission, help attenders and members continue their own discipleship, and give everyone in our church tools to become fully mature disciples who make disciples. There’s a lot more to be rolled out to the Pathway, but so far we’ve been focusing on the Discover and Belong tracts. A key part of the Discover tract is the Discover Lunch. The Discover Lunch happens after the worship gathering on the first Sunday of every month in the Cafe, and it’s a time to meet our team, hear about who we are, what we believe and what we’re about, and ask any questions. Over 60 new attenders have taken part in 10 Discover Lunches since we launched in March, and we’re seeing these attenders stick around and get plugged in.
Pastor Mike teaching Belong: Faith
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
DISCIPLESHIP AT TGP The Belong tract has 3 classes: Foundations, Faith and Family. Foundations teaches how to better live in light of the Gospel. Faith covers the fundamental doctrines that we believe. Family instructs us how to be a part of the family of servant missionaries here at TGP. Each class is 4 weeks long, and over 80 people have participated in a Belong class so far, with 15 completing all 3 Belong classes. If you haven’t taken part in the Pathway yet, figure out where you fit. Get plugged in and grow in your own discipleship. Or find someone who needs to be discipled and go through the Pathway with them. www.tgponline.org
2021 Worship Gatherings saw 18,300 attend in-person
Most sung song: Great Things Most used book of the Bible: 1 Peter
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
FINANCES God consistently turned our money into everlasting treasure in 2021. There were 44 people who accepted Christ as Savior for the first time in 2021, and many of them followed him in baptism. We’ve been able to share the Gospel faithfully and have seen so many people take steps toward becoming mature disciples. Our Benevolence Fund is strong and met many physical needs this past year. Community Care outreach was a focus this past year, distributing household supplies and food to families in our neighborhood. Our attendance has been trending up, and God has sustained us financially in a time where many churches have had to scale back or even close. All of this is because of the gracious hand of God and your response to Him in faithful giving. We were able to end our year in the black and met our Year End giving goal of $85,000 over regular giving. We are in a strong financial position going into 2022. As we begin the new fiscal year, our prayer is that God would continue to sustain us, that He would supply more than we need, and that He will continue to make us into the family of servant missionaries that He has called us to be. THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
THANK YOU for your faithful giving. “As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.” A.W. Tozer www.tgponline.org
Little Lamb at TGP
THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
75 students and 15 staff
175TH ANNIVERSARY 1847-2022 JUNE 19-JUNE 26, 2022 On June 19, 1847, 28 charter members formed the Plank Road Baptist Conference. These original members of our church began meeting faithfully, changing their name to North Syracuse Baptist Church in 1898. The church building was moved to its current location in 1950, and the current era as The Gathering Place started in 2012. God has graciously sustained us for 175 years, and we are celebrating our demisemiseptcentennial in June. Throughout the year, we’ll hear stories of how God has protected and provided, be reminded of what those first members believed and how it’s still true today, and spend time thinking and praying about the future. You can find out more and share your memories of our church by visiting tgponline.org/175
$175,000 FOR 175 CAMPAIGN As a part of our celebration, we’re making an investment into the future, and the goal is $175,000. Our desire is for everyone to participate, whether it’s $1.75, $17.50, $175, $1,750 or $17,500. You can give by visiting tgponline.org/175 THE GATHERING PLACE ANNUAL REPORT 2021
Original Church Covenant www.tgponline.org