Harvest Family,
After our meeting earlier this week, we wanted to share some updates with you.
Elder Meetings
In our quest to partner more effectively with the staff of our church, we have changed the format of our meeting times together. This past week, and moving forward, our meetings will be comprised of not just the Elders, but the Campus Pastors, the Lead Team, and senior staff. We are expectant to see how God will use this to unify us in our vision for the church family.
We have also not only changed who attends the meeting, but also the structure of the agenda. We now start with approximately 30 minutes of working through a discussion on doctrine and theology. This week, we focused on how to ensure that we are correct in our methods of interpreting scripture.
We then spend the next 30 minutes in prayer, focusing on requests that come to us from each campus, and from our ministries. We count it a privilege to be able to lift these requests and praises to our loving heavenly Father who hears His children. If you have a burden or a request that you would like to submit to the elders, we would love to hear from you. Email your prayer requests to [email protected].
We are also looking forward to working through a study together, based on the book 40 Questions About Elders and Deacons by Benjamin Merkle. Our desire is to refine our understanding of what the Bible prescribes to us regarding the offices of Elders and Deacons.
New Elder
In keeping with the structure of the governance of the church as set out in our by-laws, we have elected Jeff Sharda, Lead Pastor, Finance and Operations as the newest member of the Elder Board. Jeff has been an incredible resource and a blessing in the past, and we look forward to him formally coming alongside us moving forward.
Pastor Jeff Bucknam and Pastor Jeff Sharda are now the voting staff elders.
Also, there are other lay elder candidates that are currently working through rounds of interviews as we look to rotate new members onto the board. We invite you to pray with us that every step of this process would bring glory to God as we strive to place the proper people into the proper positions.
Staff Positions
Also, join us in prayer as we ask God to help us in finding the right people for two key leadership positions within our church. We are searching to fill the position of Campus Pastor for the North Shore Campus (someone with a call to church planting as communicated in recent Town Hall Meetings) and the Superintendent of Harvest Christian Academy (HCA) as Talbott Behnken concludes his ministry at HCA at the end of this school year. We ask you to pray alongside us that God would lead as only He can and that we would find the people that He wants for His church as we move forward together.
We continue to trust in our God, and we’re excited to see the things that He will use us to accomplish at Harvest Bible Chapel and beyond as we strive to live out our lives for Him.
—The Elders of Harvest Bible Chapel
