Ralph's Notes

When's The Right time To Promote

2007-08-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

When’s the Right Time To Promote? For adults there no easy answer to this question. A number of factors must be considered—your age, your spouse’s age, your children’s ages, or your general life situation. However, it is true that a growing church like Ash Creek needs to keep the posted ages of a departments members in line with the actual ages of its members. Because of that we’ve done some adjusting of the age ranges of departments so that they reflect the membership and so that the age ranges are not so broad that the oldest and youngest members of a department have little in common. (Note: we hope that in the near future we will be able to separate the married-29 age group into it’s own department). Please take a look at the new age / life situation guidelines. If your age or life situation fits better with the next department up it’s probably time to promote to that group. Probably there are others of your friends and fellow members in the same situation. Now would be a good time for all of you to promote together to the next group. Promotion Day is August 26. Please talk together and pray about this choice which you may need to make. Promotion is a good thing. It keeps the whole Sunday School organization alive and vibrant as new people move into new groups. Promotion is a good thing. Try it you’ll like it.

New Age Ranges For Adult Departments

Current Age Range--------New Age Range / Life Situation or Children’s Ages
Adult 1 71 and up ---------76 and up / Senior Retired
Adult 2 63 to 70 ----------67 to 75 / Retired
Adult 3 52 to 62 ----------59 to 66 / Empty Nest
Adult 4 44 to 51 ----------48 to 58 / High School to College
Adult 5 39 to 43 ----------40 to 47 / Jr. High to High School
Adult 6 Married to 38 ----Married to 39 / Newlywed to Preschool and Elementary School

Time To STEP FORWARD for Sunday School

2007-06-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the days when you used to get together for a ball game on the play ground at recess? The first order of business was to “choose up sides.” At my grade school there were usually three or four ball players who were the obvious choice for captains. Two of them would be selected for that day. They would take the bat (we usually had just one bat and one ball) and alternate grasping it, one fist over another until the last one who could grasp and hold the top of the bat would get to chose first. Players were selected one at a time by the captains for that day. That’s how the teams were built.

Sometimes we would dispense with this process. Joe might say, “I’m going to be captain today. Everybody who wants to be on my team come over here with me.” If Joe was the best player, and he usually was, everybody moved. That left Jack without teammates. That’s when somebody would say, “We need somebody to volunteer for Jack’s team.” We all knew that to have a good game some of us had to STEP FORWARD and be on Jack’s team. It didn’t happen often, but it was really sweet when Jack’s team won!

Here at Ash Creek we are building our SSTeam for next year. Just like on the play ground, it’s comfortable to be on Joe’s team. You can sit back and let the good players take care of the game, make most of the plays, and get all the hits. However, if you really want to grow as a player, be more involved in the game, enjoy the satisfaction of being a meaningful part of the team, you must STEP FORWARD. Ash Creek can’t build the Sunday School team we need, unless enough individuals STEP FORWARD. Now is the time for new players to join with our veterans, accept the challenge, and join the SSTeam of Ash Creek Baptist Church for 2007-2008. WILL YOU VOLUTEER FOR A PLACE OF SERVICE TODAY?

New Child Safety Policy Requires Criminal Background Checks

2007-01-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

At the January Church Conference the congregation approved a recommendation from the staff that every adult who is enlisted to serve in any church organization or ministry in which they would be working with minors (preschool, children, or youth) be asked to sign a form giving the church permission to do a criminal background check. This is a practice which is now being followed by most organizations which have adults (both paid and volunteer) who are working with minors.
Last summer Ash Creek was required by River Bend Baptist Encampment to have every adult sponsor for Youth, Children’s and GA Camps to attend a course on Child Abuse and to provide a criminal background check on each sponsor. Authorities—professional, legal, and academic—for several years have counseled churches to do criminal background checks on all workers with minor children.
Permission forms to do the background check will be available beginning as early as next Sunday. They will be distributed through the record boxes, ministry leaders, and by mail. Forms should be returned to the church office as soon as possible.
Van Drivers Will Require Driving Record
The church also approved another staff recommendation that beginning by March 1 all drivers of the church van have a copy of their drivers license and a three year driving record on file with the church office. Driving records may be obtained via the internet by the individual with the cost of obtaining the record paid from the budget of the organization(s) for whom the individual will be driving.
A Church vehicle will not be available to groups unless copies of these two things are on file for their designated driver(s).
Both of these new policies are being implemented to enhance the safety of our members and others who participate in our church’s programs. If you have questions please visit with any of your Ministerial Staff members.

Thankful Still

2007-01-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

When last I wrote on this "notes page" the holidays were still in front of us. So much as transpired in the days since November. We've had great Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations here at Ash Creek. So have the Masseys.

Our celebration was tempered by the passing of my brother, Richard on December 26. Thank you so much for the many, many cards and expressions of care and sympathy during these days.

I'm sad at this loss. We usually talked every week on Saturday or Sunday. I'll miss that. But it is a great comfort to know that he had such a full life, lived the way he chose up until the last few days.

Richard, was an artist, a collector of books and assorted other things (you never know when you might need that piece of something which was just too good to discard just yet), and he was a steward, quite literally of the Lord's house. He was never on a church staff officially, but was always busy taking care of the church's business and facilities.

At his memorial service it was evident that his servant attitude and his continual behind the scenes acts of service were recognized and will be missed. In the thirty years since he and his family moved to the northwest they've been members of three different churches, one in Pullman, Washington and two in Spokane. The presence of members from those three churches and their testimony that he was the same kind of servant leader in all three made my heart glad.

Our conversations on Saturday or Sunday were often filled with what was going on at church. He would share the good things that were happening and the concerns he had, often filling me in on his newest project or repair job. One of his pastors, a mutual friend, once remarked that Richard could have been a Minister of Education - he was their Sunday School director at that time. My friend was right, but my brother chose to serve behind the scenes as a layman. He was a minister for sure, just not a vocational minister.

I'm thankful today for Richard and his life of service. I'm thankful that I serve with so many ministers just like him here at Ash Creek. Our church is blessed with lots of servant leaders who work behind the scenes because they love God and His church. I'm blessed to be called to this church to share ministry with you.

Thankful still,
Ralph

Thankful For Each One

2006-11-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

As we look toward Thanksgiving this week I want to give special thanks for wonderful leaders throughout our Sunday School. In particular I’m thankful for Preschool and Children’s Division Directors, Wilma Rutledge and Pat Brown. They take care of so many things behind the scenes that make a real difference in the lives of our children. Like wise, I’m thankful for a great Youth Ministry, including Youth Sunday School, led by Luke Riley. I want to say thanks to Adult Directors. The backbone of any strong Sunday School is the work and ministry in the Adult Division. Our Adult Directors lead with excellence. Lastly, we are blessed with a great corps of Bible teachers and other leaders. You have brought Ash Creek to new heights of outreach, ministry, and service again this year. I Thank the Lord for each one of you. Praise the Lord!

Thanks for the Celebration

2006-11-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

October was truly a wonderful month of celebration. Thanks to every leader and member who did extra work. Together you've created a Sunday School that continues to bring blessings on the name of the Lord, to His people, and to the whole Azle community.

Thanksgiving and celebration will continue to be a theme of our Sunday School and church through November and December. If you are thankful for someone or something in your department share a word of thanks and appreciation this week.

A Month To Celebrate Our Mission

2006-09-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

As we gather each Sunday during October we will celebrate the Lord, His work and His ministry, to His people and through His people here at Ash Creek. We have been challenged to be “on mission” to build relationships, to change lives through Bible study, to experience Christian fellowship, to serve others and to worship Him. As we celebrate these things and others, let’s remember to celebrate that the Lord has called us to more than reflection and rejoicing but also to actions. Let’s celebrate in a manner that will encourage and involve more people in being "on mission to BLESS" this month and throughout the Sunday School year.

Five Step Formula

2006-06-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Five Step Formula For Sunday School Growth
Arthur Flake became the first leader of the Sunday School Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board in 1920. What career path do you imagine bought him to that position? Was he a prominent pastor? a minister of education? a seminary professor?
Mr. Flake, a committed layman and traveling salesman, settled down in Winona, Mississippi, in 1894 to enter the department store business. By 1895 Flake led the Winona Baptist Church to form the first Training Union in Mississippi. He served as the church’s Sunday School director and was so successful that he was employed in 1909 as a field worker for the Baptist Sunday School Board. Then this outstanding layman was asked to move to Nashville in 1920 to head the Sunday School Department, which became the major work of his life for the next 17 years. He died in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, but his legacy lives on.
Flake’s Five Step Formula
Arthur Flake’s work with Sunday school in the early 1900s led to the development of what he is perhaps best remembered for. Flake promoted a five step formula building and growing a Sunday School:
1. Know the possibilities
2. Enlarge the organization
3. Provide the space
4. Enlist and train the workers
5. Go after the people
Although Mr. Flake authored many books that included allusions to portions of the formula, we have been unable to discover his five steps explicitly stated in any of them! Rather, this remarkable formula apparently formed the “talking points” of his “stump speech” or perhaps even the subject matter of a five-session Sunday School revival, enlargement campaign, or clinic.*
Today’s Sunday School at Ash Creek
Throughout our church’s history we’ve employed these “talking points” to build. Laurence Klempnauer was instrumental in starting new classes and adding interim education space (now the office) in 1998-2000. With the addition of our newest building in 2002 and the expansion of the organization we’ve seen continued growth. Since Promotion Day last August we’ve averaged 429 per Sunday.
Now is the time to apply the formula again. In 2006-07 we should start more new classes. We’ll need new workers with a vision of the possibilities who will train and go, seeking to build relationship with new people for the Lord. Will you do your part? Pray the Lord of the harvest that He will call forth laborers...the fields of Ash Creek are white...

*From The Five Steps Formula for Sunday School Growth by David Francis, LifewayPress