Board Happenings

Tuesday October 18, 2011 the board of FEB Central gathered together for its 3rd annual day-long meeting.  It was an exciting meeting given the nature of our discussions and our new venue.  Heritage Seminary and College is now also the new home of FEB Central.  What a historic event, brought together by the hand of God.  If you haven’t visited either Heritage or FEB Central in the past year, I invite you to do so - you will be pleasantly surprised!

Here are a few highlights from the day:

• Heritage is ending its fiscal year in the black and the Seminary’s accreditation under ATS has been reinstated!
• A bursary proposal for students studying at Heritage and interning in Fellowship churches is on its way.  This is going to be a huge step forward in terms of ministry training and deployment for our Region.
• Our Regional staff (Bob Flemming – Church Health & Regional Director; Tom Haines – Church Planting; and Godfrey Thorogood – Leadership Development) have been ministering in churches and associations across our region with a renewed passion and vision.  The relationships being developed on a local level are moving us towards our common vision of Spirit led, thriving and reproducing churches.  We have the right people, the right team, and the right priorities.

These are exciting times for all of us as a Region.  Over the next months and year you will be hearing more about what God is doing in and through your Region.  There’s a lot of vision and work being done that we want you to be aware of and a part of.  One thing you will hear repeatedly is the need for a new financial model that emphasizes our interdependence, not our independence.  This is not a guilt trip or money grab.  The vision for healthy, thriving and reproducing churches will only be blessed by God to the measure that we’re in this together.  Currently, of the 270 churches that make up our Region, only 88 support their Region.  As you can imagine, that’s got to change.    What we’re suggesting is that all of our churches work towards supporting the Region with 3% of their budget.  For most churches this will probably take some time.  That’s OK.

Thanks for taking the time to read this update.  Here’s a verse I have treasured for years, it was passed on to me by an elderly saint named Grace.  I pass it on to you:  May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Love,

Paul Gazdik
Maple Avenue Baptist Church & FEB Central Board Chair

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