Once again ... an encouraging men's meeting

It would be hard to overstate the importance of our quarterly men's meetings on the life of our church. These have become indispensable times of rich fellowship and profitable discussion of all facets of church life.

This time we changed things up a bit ... moving the meeting from its accustomed Sunday night slot to Saturday morning instead. We shared a sumptuous breakfast, prayed together, and spent a couple of hours discussing various church issues. As always, the discussion was marked by a good spirit, love for the brothers, and a sincere desire to seek the Lord's will in the life of our church.

Some major items of discussion were:

• The Lord's supper ... how to make sure it is meaningful and celebrated with appropriate seriousness. One change we decided on is to have one of the brothers each week present a brief meditation before we celebrate the Lord's supper. Also, we will encourage fathers to feel free to talk with their families during the Lord's supper. (Note also that our visiting speaker on Mar. 18, Steve Atkerson, will be ministering on the topic of the Lord's supper.)

• The ministry time ... for the benefit of the newer brothers, we had a brief review of why we do what we do during the ministry time. We also talked about ways to involve as many men as possible and utilize a variety of gifts during the ministry time ... including of course teaching, but also exhortation, song, testimony, etc.

• Challenges of growth ... how to respond from a facilities standpoint to the way God continues to graciously bless us with growth and the addition of new families. We agreed that we should be open to the possibility of a larger meeting place if God opens the door. We also agreed that as growth continues we should be sensitive to the Lord's leading about possibly spinning off a new work at some point in the future. We encourage families to safeguard some of the small group intimacy that can be lost in a period of growth by practicing frequent hospitality and participating in-home fellowship opportunities.

• We had a financial report and a brief review of our philosphy on giving and church finances. For a copy of the financial report, see Dean. There is also a copy posted on the bulletin board. This is a summary report ... feel free to ask for more details. Questions on any aspects of church finances are always invited and welcomed.

• We agreed on the need for fathers to be more observant of and involved in the outside play of the children on Sundays.

• We discussed possible upgrades to the church website ... including the creation of a "members only" area and the possible addition of a fellowship forum.

• We talked about the possibility of bringing in an outside speaker to encourage and give practical counsel in the area of courtship ... perhaps in conjunction with our study of Genesis 24 (a bride for Isaac).

I think this covers most of the major discussions. Brothers, feel free to post any additions in the comments section.