Grace Apostolic Church of Clawson

Greetings GAC Leadership:

I want to start by saying how grateful I am for each of you, and for your hard work, dedication, and commitment. As I look over the year in retrospect, I am stunned at the sheer volume of things you have accomplished; the special events, the programs, the special services, all requiring you to put your very best foot forward. Even with the downsizing of Michigan’s economy, and the subsequent relocation of some key members of leadership, you have managed to excel.

2008 promises to be another busy and productive year. Very soon we will be having our 2008 Planning Session. The target date for this event will be Saturday January 19, 2008, in the GAC Youth Chapel. Please plan on attending, and bringing with you the forecasted dates for events that your department will be sponsoring.

Bro. Brad will be distributing some information that we were intending to share with you at our monthly leadership meeting that was cancelled due to the adverse weather. Some key points I would like to direct your attention to are as follows:

1. Ministry Needs Analysis – We need to reassess the needs for your various departments. We have compiled a database that includes the survey responses, and provided the individuals are still interested, we can begin to plug people in to assist you right away.

2. Gracenewsinfo Online Calendar – This calendar will be the central repository for ALL dates as they relate to the church and its events. Rather than have several calendars floating around with different dates, this calendar will be routinely updated online, by the various department heads and leadership. If you do not have internet access, please contact Bro. Brad Smith and he will input the dates for you. This is critical to the coordination and success of our events in 2008. This will be launched at the 2008 Planning Session 1/19/08. NOTE: This link takes you to the new calendar. The current calendar on the Calendar Events Page is only a pilot for this new corporate calendar.

3. Elders and Ministers Meeting – Sunday, December 30, 2007, to detail the footwashing and communion service. This will take place immediately after altar call in the GAC Conference Room. In the event we have our New Year’s Service on the 30^th, this meeting will take place Sunday, December 23, 2007, immediately after altar call.

4. Sunday School – I would like to revisit the terminology of “Sunday School.” I do not want to eliminate it, but I would like it to specifically designate classes that include school-aged children. GAC offers several other elective classes (College/Career, New Converts, Adult Bible Class, Teacher’s Training, etc.) that fall under a different umbrella, that we need general terms to describe. I’m leaving this open for discussion, but some suggestions I’ve already received are as follows:

   1. Adult Christian Education

   2. Christian Education Classes

   3. Christian Electives

   4. Christian Elective Classes

5. Head Usher – Bro. Jerry and Sis. Barb Casto are retiring and will be relocating up north. We will be installing an individual soon to back-fill this opening. We are very grateful for the contributions the Casto’s have made to the Usher Board, and will greatly miss their leadership and involvement.

Thanks for taking the time to read this note and please begin forecasting dates and events for the 2008 GAC Calendar.

God richly bless you,

Pastor RDM