News & Views March 25

MARCH MEMORY VERSES
Psalm 23:1-4
“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths,  bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”

MARCH 28th PALM SUNDAY WORSHIP  - 10:00 A.M.
Family Center Gym
Pastor Mark, preaching  -  Music by Henry Serrato, Bruce, Phyllis, & Brian
"Follow Jesus All the Way"
Read ahead: Luke 9:51-62,  John 12:12-19,  Revelation 7:9

ONLINE - watch live from anywhere at 10:00 a.m. or when you can

In preparation for our upcoming members' meeting after church on Sunday, April 18th, I want to provide an update on the reorganization of our staff.  This has been done as part of the implementation of our church vision in the same way we've reorganized our church's ministry teams and budget, and renamed our church. Those changes are not as personal as staff changes are, and yet shaping our staff to reach our vision is no doubt the most effective way to make our vision a reality.

That's important to keep in mind. New Life Community has a vision for our church, and we're taking the steps identified in the fall of 2019 to implement that vision. Where there have been changes among our church staff, they are not changes made because of personnel issues or deficiencies. These are changes made to move our church forward toward our vision.  

Our church's top priority is to shift more strongly and cohesively toward transformational community ministries. Cece Olea was hired half-time in March 2020, to strategize our effort at this and also, suddenly, to ramp up our church's online presence in the pandemic. In January 2021, Cece increased her role to full-time as our Community Strategies Director and has overseen the creation and launch of several ministries including: Life Skills, Faith & Finances, Grab & Go meals, and the Home Resource Center. She is working to integrate and coordinate those ministries along with our developing Ropes Ministry and Pray & Go ministry.

To drive our effort at welcoming and assimilating new people from our community into our church we are actively searching for a new Connections Specialist. This person will design and manage processes to quickly include newcomers into the life and ministries of the church, as well as train and help us "old-timers" engage in our growing ministries and with newcomers. This person will be bilingual in English and Spanish and join Elaine in the office, which itself will be turning its orientation outward. The Connections Specialist will be inviting and training volunteers to assist in some of the church communication pieces, like the monthly newsletter and other mailings that Jane Jantzen did as our former Office Assistant. Jane's role ended officially in early February, though she continues voluntarily to make and send birthday cards on behalf of the church family to its members and attenders.

Elaine Isaak's position as Business Administrator remains full-time, but has been reduced from 40 to 30 hours per week. Sustainable operations is one of our strategic anchors. To provide for the continuity of all church business when she is away Elaine is training Kelly Friesen as an On-call Administrative Assistant. Kelly is new to NLC in the last year and half from San Jose, where he was an auditor. After retiring, Kelly offered his expertise to Lincoln Glen MB Church as their Treasurer in the same way he has voluntarily taken on this new role at NLC.

During the pandemic our two worship services were cancelled and new ones were created. Our 1st Service worship leader/choir director, Brian Hixson, shifted to assist in the creation of weekly KRDU radio broadcasts with Dwight Heier and a worship team from the first service. Brian's role ended shortly after our KRDU broadcasts ceased at the end of December. Aaron Bryan, our 2nd Service worship leader, pivoted to provide worship music with members of his team for a new weekly online service. Those online services were replaced at the end of February by a live stream of our new indoor service, which Aaron helped refine. His role ended in March. To lead our new worship service, integrate it with our live stream production, and engage musicians in our church, the Elders are bringing in a new worship ministries leader as a temporary employee through the summer while we lead a conversation about worship and what it will look like when we finally emerge from the pandemic tiers.

Our Nursery Coordinator Christina Mejorado and assistant Samantha Rodriguez were kept on payroll with all other staff during COVID with the help of federal Paycheck Protection Program funds. When those funds were depleted in August 2020, Christina and Samantha were furloughed in hopes they might be rehired when the pandemic was over. They both chose recently not to wait, though Christina is committed to training new staff when the time comes to reopen our nursery.

When Kayla Isaak moved to Visalia, Tracy Bryan stepped up to the role of Children's Ministry Leader on a voluntary basis. Before stepping down from that role recently she cleaned up the children's building, planned Sunday School curriculum through May, and set up a solid team of children's workers through September! One of those team members has already expressed her willingness to take leadership going forward, and I hope to make an announcement soon. It is also our hope and prayer that we find a new Youth Ministries Leader soon.

Joe Ehoff's role as our Facilities/Maintenance Director has not changed, nor has my role as Lead Pastor. At my request, however, the Elders and Trustees considered and agreed to a new set of compensation guidelines for ministry staff that reduces my salary to a more equitable figure for ministry in the Dinuba community, particularly for a church with our vision.

This reorganization may be the most challenging part of implementing our vision. It has not been easy and I have made some mistakes as leader of the staff that have been hurtful. I am grateful for the forgiveness of my brothers and sisters and for their faithfulness to serve in the body of Christ however the Lord leads and gives them opportunity.  I have also tried in this post to give as much information while honoring employee confidentiality. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or want to better understand this process.

Please be in prayer for our staff, for our former staff, and for those who will be joining us. We plan to recognize and celebrate the many gifts and many years our former staff have given to our church. Watch for that soon, and feel free to offer them your thanks as you see them.

Received Last Week (3/21/21): ........ $13,628.20
Received this year to date:............... $267,165.07
Budget Goal: ..................................... $521,591.00
Budget to Date: ................................. $285,398.85
Needed Weekly to Meet Budget: ...... $10,601.08

If you received a special check from the 2021 Federal Stimulus Act and are considering how you might use it, please consider encouraging the outreach work of New Life Community. One such opportunity is to help us connect better with our community through using up to date media. More funds are needed to finish out the digital streaming improvements underway in the gym.
Please designate your gifts as REMODELING FUND. For more information see Chuck Boldwyn.

COVID-19 precautions: For your safety and others, please maintain 6' of distance
and wear a face covering on campus, unless otherwise posted. Thank you.

NLC has installed ionization generators for air sanitization in the gym.

Questions? Call 559-591-1176 or office@newlifedinuba.org