Leaders Reach Up for Vision

After a year of church business meetings at the conference, division and world church levels, Washington Conference leaders recently met for a prayerful session to consider a strategic vision.

“We met to pray and ask God’s direction,” says John Freedman, Washington Conference president. “We are called to specifically reach our world.”

In alignment with the North American Division’s strategic theme of “Reach North America,” Washington Conference is adapting and extending this theme to “Reach Washington.”

Reach Washington has three components: Reach Up (revival and reformation); Reach In (spiritual gifts, ministry and community); and Reach Out (evangelism and witness).

With the vision in place, ministry department leaders met with Greg Schaller, pastor and strategic ministry coach, to set three vision-connected goals for each department.

“In our economic culture, we need more collaboration and evaluation to ensure that we are making good use of our resources,” Freedman says. “We want to grow as professionals and learn how to do ministry better.”

Additionally, two new team members are in place:

1) Bruce Koch, previously ministerial director, is now stewardship director. This marks the first time in many years that stewardship is a department’s primary focus.

2) Bill McClendon, a successful church planter from Tulsa, Okla., is ministerial and evangelism director.

Watch future GLEANER issues and other communiqués for more about Reach Washington.

Featured in: February 2011