There are so many great things happening right now in the life of our church. I hope you’ll take time to read this February Monthly as a way of tuning into many of them. I’d like to highlight just four in this brief note:
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Gwen Phillips, our beloved Children’s Pastor of nine and a half years, has just retired. I wrote about this in my own love letter to Gwen on the front of our January Monthly, and I hope you are writing your own love letters to Gwen now. We will celebrate Gwen on Sunday, February 2. There will be a come and go reception for her from 9:00 – 10:30 that Sunday morning, and we will also recognize her at the end of our 11:00 worship service. If you haven’t yet, please find the note cards located at our Welcome Center desk and in the children’s areas marked “notes for Gwen” and write a note of affirmation for Gwen today.
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We just received some very good news regarding our Pastoral Residency program. The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation have awarded us a $200,000 grant to grow our Pastoral Residency Program. The grant’s purpose is to support us adding a second Pastoral Resident, starting this fall, so that we will have a first and a second-year Pastoral Resident serving together. Special thanks to Kim Kankiewicz and Connie McNeill, who collaborated in writing the grant proposal. We’re so energized by this great news.
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During February, we will have a three-sermon series in worship based on our church mission statement. The series, entitled “We’re Committed,” will explore what it means for us to be “committed to fostering meaningful, Christ-centered community, whole-life faith, and a transforming, missional presence.” We hope you’ll plan to worship with us on February 2, 9, and 16 for this important mission focus in worship.
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This weekend we had a wonderful whole-life all-church retreat, led by Hunter Mobley, focused on learning more about the enneagram. We hope the enneagram can become a helpful resource for spiritual and emotional growth at Second Baptist, as well as a tool for strengthening the way we work together in ministry teams. Some of you may be wondering: What is the enneagram? Why the enneagram? You’ll hear a bit more about that today from Hunter in worship, and Emmitt Drumgoole has also written an article reflecting upon his experience with the enneagram. I commend that article to your reading now.