Vocation & Leadership
The 3 teams of the Ministry of Leadership and Vocation continued working to help people live out their faith in the body of Christ at Forest Hill Church.
The Ministry’s work always starts with the Church Growth Team, which promotes FHC to the community through:
- personal invitations to worship and other FHC events,
- our website at www.fhcpresb.org,
- various social media including Facebook, and
- traditional print media including select advertising pieces and stories about the work of Forest Hill Church in local newspapers.
In 2009, Church Growth held a series of after-church pastoral get-togethers along with several dinners at which visitors could meet the pastors and other church members. They also worked to welcome and assimilate new members by reinstating a Shepherding/mentoring program for new members. Christina Hidek “retired” at the end of 2009 after chairing the team for the last 4 years, with Susan Reese stepping into the role for 2010. The team’s Elder representative, Jeff Smith, was joined by Peg Weissbrod in her role as Publicity Coordinator and Webmaster.
Equipping members and friends of FHC to identify how God has gifted and called them to ministry continues to be the focus of the Leadership Development Team. Thanks to the ministry of Todd Webster and Jeannine Gury, the team “graduated” its 3rd FaithLeader group in the spring of 2009. Another 9 participants began the 26-week program in October under the guidance of Jeannine Gury and Ed Gemerchak. When this class completes the program in 2010, almost 40 people will have developed spiritual practices, identified their spiritual gifts, and discerned God’s call for their lives. Our Director of Lay Leadership Development, Clover Beal, continues to participate in these weekly gatherings, gently guiding and encouraging faith-building conversations. And the Sycamore Group, led by Jean Reinhold and Ron Polderman, continues to build on the growth begun in FaithLeader through weekly discussions of faith and spiritual practices.
Also in 2009, the Leadership Development and Church Growth teams joined forces to sponsor an evangelism initiative by Elder Keith Logan. Throughout the spring and summer, a working group met weekly to explore this topic and its relevance for Forest Hill Church. Based on its recommendations, a 12-week pilot group will start in January 2010, reading, discussing and putting into practice the evangelism techniques in Richard Peace’s Holy Conversations book.
With so many members invited and welcomed by Church Growth and equipped by Leadership Development, the Nominating Committee once again worked diligently to consider and invite people to serve as Deacons, Elders and elected leaders in roles consistent with their God-given gifts. Under the tireless leadership of Kate Burleigh, the team met dozens of times throughout 2009, sifting through individual gifts and interests, consulting with the pastors, and studying the Time & Talents Survey (which for the first time was available to be completed online.) Thanks to their faithful and faith-filled work, a tremendous slate of new deacons, elders and elected leaders is presented in this Annual Report. Elder Kate Burleigh expresses her gratitude for the dedication and incredibly hard work of the 2009 committee members as they struggled to identify persons called by God to leadership positions in Forest Hill Church.
Elders Kate Burleigh, Jeff Smith and Peg Weissbrod