Update after the Leadership Team Meeting on March 17th, 2025:
After discussion 5 actionable items were decided on by the Leadership Team:
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Pastor Richie will have personal conversations with both parties involved.
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We did a day of prayer on fasting on Wednesday the 19th (some could not do Wednesday, but elected to pick a different day). Also we will plan a week of Prayer and Fasting later in the year. The Staff will pick and plan the fasting week dates.
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A Freedom Class that deals with various strongholds of the sinful nature will be developed and launched sometime this year (probably in the fall). This team will be led by Sarah Magill and will include: Zeak and Nancy Rice; and, Sarah and Dan Magill.
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Develop a mentoring system at the church to help people have access to intentional training in Christlikeness. No one was assigned to lead the R&D on this. So assembling a team will happen at next month's leadership meeting.
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We already had been working on developing a Security Team, but we will make sure to add de-escalation training. The Security Team development is being led by Michael Kincheloe, but he would love help with the R&D. Please connect with Michael Kincheloe if you would like to help with this project.
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March 17, 2025
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I, Pastor Richie,
want to apologize for the scuffle that happened yesterday after church. This was a failure on my part for not prioritizing in my schedule having the necessary conversations last week. One of our cultural values is to "lean into the awkward conversation of today to build the trust of tomorrow." I failed to honor this principle; I failed to be a peace maker; and, I failed to equip the body of Christ with better tools for dealing with conflict.
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I want to thank Dale Wilson, and so many others, who immediately jumped in to help. You guys really rallied together quickly to make good decisions in the heat of the moment.
Our leadership team is meeting tonight to discuss some solutions to move forward.
Discipleship is messy, and that’s how it should be. It means we are reaching people who need God to transform their life. Even Jesus had to break up fights with his 12 apostles several times. (Luke 22:24-26; Mark 9:33-35, Matthew 20:20-24; Mark 8:16-17; Luke 20:20-22). And we know from Paul's letter that the church he planted in Corinth had some serious issues, and the church in Philippi, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea. Messy discipleship although not fun is biblically normative.
For our church community, the challenge is: are we going to allow moments like these to break the community or to build the community; to bind us together in greater love and unity, or scatter and divide us.
Another one of our cultural values is family, and although many of us had bad families. The family of God is different, and when our family fights, we talk it out and stay committed one to another. Good families fight, forgive, and form deeper friendships in the end.
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What I would like to ask from each one of you is to not shame or look down on the gentleman involved. We all have our issues. When we fail and fall, it is vitally important that we lift each other up in prayer, inspire each other to higher standards, and extend the mercy and grace of Christ.
My prayer is that this event would be a defining moment for our church and bind us together heart and soul for the purpose of Christ as we humbly move forward.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Richie Nelson