Arcade Church

Dear Church Family:

A few months ago my three-year-old cell phone died and so I took the plunge and got a Blackberry. As many parents do these days, I quickly handed off my new device to my teenage son, who set it up and then announced I now have GPS on my cell. On a recent “guys’ trip” with my son to the Bay Area, I found myself in need of using my new GPS to locate our destination, Apple Corporate Headquarters – somewhere I’d never been before. When we find ourselves traveling in unfamiliar territory it is always wise to stop and look at a map (or in my case a GPS device)! A church in transition is unfamiliar territory for most. Our new study Sunday mornings through the book of Ephesians is a chance for all of us to “check the map,” God’s map for the church, His Master-Planned Community. I trust you are finding, and will continue to find, this study helpful!

A transition is also a good time for us to stop, reflect, and ask ourselves, “How do we measure fruitfulness, or success as a church?” For many congregations the common standards of ministry effectiveness are, as some say, “nickels and noses” – or giving and attendance. Unfortunately, even cults use those measures of success, and in and of themselves they are just not enough. As an elder board and staff team, we are beginning a process that will give us some benchmarks – biblically-oriented reference points to help us evaluate our overall spiritual health. In a few weeks we will be asking everyone in both Sunday services to fill out a brief “spiritual health survey” and we will be using that information to help gauge our effectiveness as a church in carrying out our mission.

In church transitions, when it comes to calling an interim senior pastor instead of the long-term senior pastor, some question why it is necessary. An intentional interim senior pastor has the unique opportunity to help prepare the way for the next long-term pastor so that when he does come, he is a good fit for the church, and the church is ready to receive him. In my season at Arcade, we’ll be following a four-phase plan to help us carry that out. Some of these phases vary in length and some overlap one another. In phase one (right now) I am simply asking a lot of questions and trying to get a sense of the key issues needing to be addressed now and what issues should wait until the long-term senior pastor is onboard. Phase two involves putting together a Transitional Leadership Team that will last for about three to four months and be charged with the task of discerning the DNA, or core values, of Arcade Church. It will not be creating those core values or DNA but uncovering and affirming what already exists. It’s from these core values that we will then be developing a senior pastor search profile. This team will be made up of our current elders and approximately thirty additional men and women from across many ministry areas and stages of life. It would be great to be able to have many more on this team, but experience tells us that larger numbers make it much less effective. Phase three will encompass ten to twelve Transitional Leadership Team members going on to form the long-term senior pastor search team, or “pulpit committee” as some know it. Phase three will last until the long-term senior pastor is called. Phase four is an overlapping phase and allows me to give increasing day-to-day attention to the current ministries of Arcade until the long-term pastor is called.

One of the most important aspects of church health in a transition is communication. If you have questions or additional thoughts, please feel free to contact the staff, elders, or email me: TomT@arcadechurchonline.com. It has been a pleasure meeting so many of you these past six weeks and I look forward to learning, growing and sharing life together in the months ahead!

In His Grip,
Pastor Tom

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
–Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV