LCC Open Letter

Haven’t you enjoyed the coolness in the air the past few mornings here in East Texas?  What a refreshing reminder that we are moving through seasons as God graciously guides us along.  As the season of summer passes into the upcoming season of fall, it reminds us of the seasons of life we move through together as part of the body of Christ.  This past season of time through the summer months has been marked by challenging transitions as Craig Moore completed his service as a staff minister here in August.  Each part of the LCC body has experienced different realities through this season of life, which has caused us all to seek the Lord more fervently than ever.

Your elders have been seeking the guidance of God’s Spirit through this entire season and continue to do so as we head into a new season of life together.  Just as autumn brings a change in temperature and the colors of the leaves, this season of life at LCC will bring some change as we begin to seek the Lord’s direction regarding future staff needs and roles.  We ask that you understand, however, that our direction as a church remains the same as we seek to lead messy people to a relationship with a real God who can eternally change their lives!

Through individual prayer, study, and weekly meetings, the oneness and unity among your elders is very encouraging.  This past season, we have strived to serve the body in order to maintain our health as a congregation and set a short term plan for ministry, enabling us to move forward together.  In that light, here’s what the elder’s will be doing over the course of the next months in order to lead this part of Christ’s body.

Throughout this process

Each stop of this process needs to be bathed in prayer, so we ask all members to pray with and for the Elders.  Pray fervently that God will provide wisdom and direction as we seek His will for our congregation. Please be in constant prayer as God leads us through this process

By early November

»  Complete an assessment of our ministry organizational structure. This is an imperative step in understanding how we will equipment the ministries of our church with leadership, and how we should staff our church to build up and support that leadership. This is not a reorganization, but more of a clear documentation of our existing organization.

»  Confirm our congregational values to help guide our ministry objectives. These values have been well documented in prior years and will serve as a foundation to guide our decision-making.

»  Identify and document our proposed staffing requirements.

By early December

»  Finalize a recruitment/selection process in order to fill our staffing requirements. This will likely result in the formation of a selection team composed of selected Elders and congregational members. Our goal here will be to create a large enough team to be representative of all of our congregation, but small enough to efficiently complete the task.

»  Communicate to the congregation these plans (using congregational, Care Group, and other settings)

By early January

»  Initiate implementation of the selection process.

»  Establish ongoing communications with the congregation regarding the progress of this selection team

We hope to complete this process as quickly as possible, while always being sensitive to God's leading and His timing.  We hope these steps outlined above will give you an idea of the path we are taking during this next season of life together.  This is a very exciting time for Longview Christian Church.  God has already demonstrated this through the unity seen in this group of Elders, the amazing, continued growth of our congregation, the health of our preaching team, and the foundation of our small groups.

We love you and are seeking God’s best for His work here at LCC.

Your elders,

Tim, Mike, Jon, Kenny, Greg, Royce, and Troy