From Pastor Chris: What to Expect After Easter

It is great to celebrate a joyful thing like Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. But it is easy to forget that the resurrection is not something we celebrate once a year but something directing how we live every day. Everyone is familiar with the season of Lent and it as a time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. But many people are unaware of what comes after Easter. Eastertide is the season of celebration. It is the season of Jesus' many appearances before his ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit marked by Pentecost (Acts 2). This is a time to take up new things. Embrace new habits to replace some bad ones you may have tried to kick during lent. It is a time of feasting and looking forward to what is new.

Now, therefore, is a good time to give an update on our leadership transition with Pastor Jason moving to Chicago. Some of you may remember that our elder John Lunsford has been on a long vacation in Hawaii through the end of April. We have had conference calls with him but we are waiting for some face to face time with him and all the elders when he returns on April 30th. When John returns the Elder board will review our current leadership needs and some next steps for our ministry.

I myself will also be reviewing our leadership needs and next steps for our ministry in early May. So, I will be away from the pulpit for the first couple of Sundays in May. Bernard Emerson (a church planter in Oakland) and Alvin Lin (Community Pastor at East Valley Church) will provide excellent preaching those two Sundays. I am taking time to evaluate our church ministry, our leadership needs, and my personal gifting and calling. I will consult with some advisors as I pray and plan. I will consult with the Elders and we will evaluate all they discern and what I discern. We will also speak with our regional director David Yetter about our transition.

All of this is essentially to help myself and church confirm what the future of the ministry ought to be and what kind of leadership we ought to have. We are attempting to move forward both quickly and wisely, so that Dwell Christian Church can continue to fulfill its purpose of gospel ministry.

We will give updates as we progress through May with hopefully a more substantial report and plan coming in the early summer.

You can be in prayer for me and the Elder Board that we will be faithful stewards with all that God has entrusted us.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

A Letter from Your Dwell Elders

From the Elders,

We want to start by saying the last four years of ministry with Pastor Jason has been such a blessing for our church. He and Laura have been with us through some difficult transitions and seasons of life. Jason has always provided wonderful preaching for us and strong leadership. We will miss them and their two wonderful children. We want to wish them a fruitful ministry in the future. We hope and pray the Lord would continue to use them for his glory at Park Community Church.

Naturally people are wondering what the transition of leadership will look like. The staff will continue to regularly communicate our events, ministry opportunities, and our future plans through things like "Hey Church." Pastor Chris will assume the majority of the preaching beginning in April. Our conference will supply guest speakers about once a month in order to give Pastor Chris time to adapt to a new schedule and discern the next season of ministry. Chris will continue to oversee overall discipleship efforts and Gospel Groups but will now also oversee staff and lead staff meetings. He will meet with individuals as time allows and to the best of his ability.

We are consulting with our Converge PacWest director, David Yetter, and other wise leaders concerning our pastoral leadership needs. Over the next three to four months we ask you to pray with us for discernment that we may chose the best course of action for the future. The elders will continue to seek the Lord's will through prayer and counsel.  In addition, Pastor Chris will spend time in a personal assessment about his future role at our church with the elders. We hope by the end of the summer we will know what the best course of action is for our church. We trust there will be confirmation and unity from the Lord from all involved. We are very confident and encouraged. We believe that this church is in the best place it has been in a long time and that we are well positioned to move forward with continued growth in our ministry.

In the meantime, we will continue to use the insights we gained from the NCD report last fall by identifying people's gifting and effectively building ministry structures so that people grow in their use of gifts for the edification of the body and the glory of God. We would still love for people to get involved in anyway they desire. No doubt there will only be more opportunities now in this next season to enable Dwell Christian Church to be all that God intends.

Blessings,

John, Frank, Brian, and Chris