Thank You

We spent this week preparing for the Annual Meeting and Celebration of Ministries that will take place on Sunday after the second service. I have had a wonderful time reflecting on all the wonderful accomplishments of the past year. We have many generous and capable people contributing to the life, ministry and worship at St. Dunstan’s Church. It is very rewarding for me to work with our staff and leaders.

This has been a really great year. The vestry led us through the capital campaign last year with fabulous results and they are managing the construction projects carefully and well. We are blessed to have such dedicated and good leadership. We will be thanking three outgoing vestry members: Madeline Sego, Jonathan Thoms, and Rebecca Daniels. Each of these people is deeply involved in the life of our congregation, generously serving and leading and sharing their many gifts.

Over the past several weeks I have been working on the materials we will use for our Vestry Retreat in mid-February. Our Bishop has called on each congregation in the diocese to intentionally move from maintenance to mission. This means moving from surviving, keeping the doors open, to thriving, welcoming new people into a life in Christ.

The good news for us is that we began that work all the way back in 2012 and we have been very successful. Our feeding program and homeless ministries are the fruits of those labors. They are an expression of mission. The next dimension of growth for us will be in offering the blessings we enjoy to more people. To support this work, the vestry will be using a ministry out of the Episcopal Seminary at Sewanee called Invite, Welcome, Connect. This is a creative and fun program that has shown excellent results at hundreds of Episcopal Churches.

I am grateful for the year we just completed and very enthusiastic about the work we will do together this year. I love working with you all. I love my job and I love our congregation. It is a joy and a privilege to lead you in worship, to pray with you, and to grow with you. See you Sunday!

Yours in Christ,
David+