Summer ED Update - Southwood Church

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE
Summer 2016
Hope everyone has had a great summer. This edition of The Southwood Update should
get you caught up on most activities over the summer from June to August .
RENEWAL
On June 22nd, Ed hosted lunch at
Southwood for over a dozen local
pastors (multi-denominational) for an
open dialogue on Church renewal.
At Southwood, prayer is a key renewal
practice. Our Arise gatherings, Glorious
Rejoicing and the Tuesday morning
prayer group are great examples of
where prayer is thriving at Southwood.
Over a dozen people participated in the
latest Arise Prayer gathering the
evening of August 9th. Thanks to Rick
Wedel for leading music.
Glorious Rejoicing continues to meet
every Sunday at 4 PM through the
summer.
Our Tuesday morning Prayer group,
lead by Doreen, also meets throughout
the summer and has received lots of
prayer requests.
CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES
Vacation Bible School (VBS) - This
Summer was our largest attendance in
at least 15 years … 94 kids! It was an
amazing week learning about God and
worshiping together. Thanks to Corinne
and the over 50 volunteers that made
this happen. Special thanks to Leslie
and her kitchen team for enormous
amount of amazing food the made
throughout the week.
Summer Program – Emily Sunderland
has been leading Sunday morning
KidMin programs throughout the
Summer and reports that we have had
consistently higher attendance than
last Summer.
Preschool – Our Preschool Teacher for
the last two years, Kirstin Paradis is
stepping aside as she has been hired to
teach in a Preschool during the week.
We are grateful for all she has brought
to the program over the past two years,
she has been such a blessing to
Southwood. We look forward to
continuing to see the Paradis family in
church!
We welcome our new Preschool
Teacher, Heather Myers, this Fall. She is
preparing and looking forward to
joining our KidMin team!
WOMEN’S RETREAT
24 women attended at Kingsfold
retreat centre in the Waiporous area
west of Calgary. See the “Women's
Retreat Recipe” at the end of this
update for the full details of this
wonderful event.
COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE
Look for a new info screen going up in
the foyer in September.
Council has endorsed our updated logo
(you’ll see it at the top of this update).
Southwood Church—Raising Our Profile in Our Community
In support of our congregationally endorsed values of Grace and Hospitality, council
has endorsed a strategy for Southwood Church to ‘raise our game’ regarding our
profile and engagement with our brothers and sisters who live in the neighbourhoods
around the Church.
Rhubarb Festival - We had a booth at the
Southwood Community Rhubarb Festival, June
4th. Handouts on our programs and services were
available, Bridge African items were for sale and
over 400 bottles of water were distributed by our
volunteers!
Stampede Breakfast - We had our BIGGEST
attendance ever this year! There were less than half a dozen sausages left and almost
every pancake eaten. Big thanks to Bob Steele who leads the effort year after year.
September Community Dinner - Planning is underway for a complimentary dinner
September 28th for our community neighbours. A poster advertising the event (thanks
Mary Harper) was made ready for the Stampede breakfast and lots of interest was
shown. The objective is to get our neighbours to get to know us a bit better… and
what better way than through a meal. We are looking forward to a great turnout!
Look for the poster and handbills in the lobby. Please feel free to ask Ingrid (403-9909615) or Randy Dahlman (randy@southwoodchurch.ca) if you have any questions.
Ingrid has been building relationships with local community leaders (police, social
workers, community association etc) to get an updated picture of the local needs and
challenges. We hope to integrate this information into our efforts to raise our
community involvement.
YOUTH MINISTRIES
WORSHIP
Camp Retreat at Whispering Pines
Pastor Ed has been speaking
throughout the Summer on his series:
Hope in a Summer of Discontent.
Sermons are available on our website:
www.southwoodchurch.ca. Look for
sermons on video, coming this Fall!
19 youth attended and 8 youth leaders
attended the weekend camp in June. 2
youth accepted Jesus for the first time
and 3 re-dedicated themselves to their
faith. Tons of fun was had by all and the
feedback from parents and youth was
amazing!
BUILDING & PROPERTY
• Look up…. Waaay up…. The cross has
been repainted and looks great!
• With all the rain its been a very busy
•
•
•
Catalyst - Throughout the Summer, a
wonderful group of Youth have been
meeting every Wednesday to develop
leadership skills.
Led by Riley and Corinne, this group has
been engaging in scripture study,
incredible discussion and have been
growing together as they learn some
practical leadership skills as we look to
a new way of doing Children’s and
Youth Ministry Programming this Fall.
Throughout the program we have been
looking at leadership and developing
hearts for service with the following
scriptures as our guide.
pray unendingly | 1 Thessalonians 5:17
love unconditionally | John 15:12
serve graciously | 1 Peter 4:10
forgive mercifully | Matthew 18:21-22
reflect Jesus | Matthew 5:16
This Fall, youth will have opportunities
to serve in a variety of capacities in
Children’s Ministry and in other areas of
church life.
•
•
grass cutting season. Thanks to Lorne
Kostiuk and Wayne Dawdy for
pitching in.
Interior painting touch-ups are
underway.
Our roof is in need of repairs and we
are evaluating our options. Thanks to
Earl Pearce for his advice and
coordination.
Building security review. Our break-in
‘experience’ has prompted us to
review our general building security
protocols and physical deterrents.
Suggestions are welcome.
Dave Lewis has built a temporary
platform over the baptismal pool.
This will address a key safety issue
with the opening and also provide for
extra space on the stage for the choir,
band, musical theatre, etc.
Upgrades are in progress for the
Sunday school areas. Corinne Nairn is
coordinating.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
As of mid year (June) expenses are
tracking with our budgeted forecast.
Overall revenue (contributions and
other income) is above forecast. Our
current trajectory shows a surplus,
however, we have a potentially large
roof repair cost which could
significantly change the projection.
Council will discuss this in September.
Blessings,
Randy Dahlman , Executive Director
(403-968-1694)
RECIPE FOR A TERRIFIC
WOMEN’S RETREAT
(from Connie Lewis)
Ingredients:
• 1 top notch Retreat Centre with
caring staff
• The beauty and wonder of God’s
creation
• 23 amazing women from Southwood
Church
• 1 gifted artist and retreat facilitator
• Music, prayer and worship
• A spirit of openness and creativity
Directions:
1. Gather together 24 women for a
weekend of fellowship and
seeking God’s presence in their
lives.
2. Led by Kelowna artist and retreat
leader Shari Laurie, explore the
many varied metaphors the Bible
uses to describe God. Allow our
new understanding of God to
enrich the ways we connect with
Him in worship and in prayer.
3.
Remember that we were made in
the image of God our Creator and
that He has given each of us
creative gifts to use for His glory.
4. Discover and unleash our own
creativity using a number of
different art mediums, and create
a bright and beautiful piece of
multi-media art to hang in our
church sanctuary.
5. Nurture old friendships and forge
new ones, and encourage each
other in our walks with God.
6. Wrap up the weekend by being
more aware of God’s fingerprints
on our lives and in the world.
7. Invite more Southwood ladies to
join us at Kingsfold Retreat Centre
in June 2017 for another
awesome weekend of faith and
friendship.