In 2009, we began the process of launching the Chatsworth campus of Rock Bridge Community Church. Based on what we read and learned through the wisdom of churches that pioneered multi-site church ministry we set a goal of being financially 'self-sustaining' at our two year anniversary and began the work of finding a location, purchasing equipment and hiring staff.
As our first staff hire, Matt Goss has served as our worship leader at a level above and beyond what we could ever have believed and his influence has touched everyone in our church. He's laughed with us, done setup and breakdown a zillion times and led us to the throne of God on Sunday mornings. He's visited hospitals, funeral homes and prayed with us. He even took time out of his crazy life as a pilot to visit my mom in New York during the last days of her life. His title is worship leader, but his role cannot be summed up in a title.
Later, as we made our way along the road of Rock Bridge Chatsworth, we hired Daniel Kiser to lead our Student Ministry. Daniel has done an amazing job, his leadership team has grown, he has developed strong relationships with the adult leaders and students while leading them toward a deeper walk with Jesus. He too has served beyond his 'job description'.
Now, as our two year anniversary approaches we see that God has blessed our efforts with strong attendance, salvations, baptisms and small groups. Friendships have forged that will likely last throughout our whole lives, giving support and love as we go. We have not however been able to reach our goal of being financially self-sufficient and our church leadership has spent endless hours praying and seeking God's help to know what to do next. Should we forgo the wisdom to be financially stable and continue needing the financial support of our Dalton campus or should we make changes to reach that goal?
After much prayer, we feel led to make changes to get our campus on a more solid financial foundation. We then began conversations on how to do that and after exhaustive discussion and even more prayer we've made the difficult decision to eliminate both Daniel's role as student minister and Matt's role as worship leader. I cannot overstate that these decisions did not include any kind of moral or ethical or performance failure, they were a sad product of where our financial world is today.
This raises many emotions and questions so this Sunday, after we finish our church service, we will provide a lunch and Matt Evans will be joining us at Bagley for lunch and a time for questions and answers but I do want to address a few things here.
- Is this the end of Rock Bridge Chatsworth? No. This is a challenge, but we feel very strongly that God has us here to stay and our commitment is strong, so strong that we will make hard decisions to make sure we can continue for the long haul.
- Will we have quality worship or student ministry without staff to lead it? Yes. Student ministry will continue the A.B.S. groups we have and we pray for God to grow this effort. As for worship, our band will continue to play and Lori Beth Edgeman, along with our Dalton worship staff will carry this load. Long term solutions are wide open and can be further discussed on Sunday but it is safe to say that many great ministries are led by volunteers.
- If we are 'one church in many locations', why don't we forgo being self-sufficient and use the tithe's from the people in Dalton to meet our needs? There is much to talk about here, and Matt Evans will be able to do that, but a key point is our desire to be a good example of Biblical stewardship.
- Were we over-staffed for a church our size, and if so, why? Yes. As a church of 150, the typical staff would be 1 to 1.5. We 'staffed for growth' based on faith and models we saw at the time.
- Will this move allow us to do community outreach? Yes. Our budget includes funds to do 3-5 major outreach events.
- Why were these positions eliminated instead of others or something else altogether? We considered endless options. In these cases we discovered that we can continue ministry through either current staff or volunteers and more importantly, we believe that this is the way God would have us go.
- Gus, how do you feel about this? My heart is broken. Matt and Daniel are friends and this has been hard but I am certain that even through our pain, our obedience here will lead to amazing things in our future - for all of us.
- Will we refill these positions when our funds change? Our future staffing decisions will be based on our needs at the time. As a volunteer driven church we want to model the Ephesians 4 plan for each of us to do what we are gifted to do.
This is a lot to take in so if you have questions or concerns, please join us for lunch and Q & A after church at Bagley on Sunday and ask whatever questions you may have.
