We will be sharing this information in a number of ways in the coming days. These are great days to be a “brick” at the Red Brick Church. If you’re reading this and you don’t have a church home, consider visiting us. We have many in our church from Rockford, Byron, Oregon, Monroe Center, Stillman Valley, Davis Junction, Rochelle, and other surrounding communities.

January 3, 2014

Dear Church Family:

What a tremendous 2013 our church enjoyed. God blessed us beyond what we could have imagined (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Annual reports (the Annual meeting is at 4:00 PM on January 26) are coming out soon, so I won’t give a detailed summary of 2013. Instead, let me just point to a few blessing:

• We are bursting at the seams with people of every age;
• We had a tremendous year financially;
• We replaced a  literal brick chimney and many figurative bricks joined;
• Our youth engaged in both inter-generational and peer ministries;
• We have shared the gospel and baptized – – served, prayed, loved one another.

In all, our church enjoyed unity and the joy that comes with being of one mind.

Now it is time to forge ahead in 2014. As leaders, we continue to keep our overall vision in focus as we target goals for the coming year. If you haven’t reviewed our overall areas of vision, this document summarizes the major areas we are targeting.

Our specific agenda items for 2014 should make it one of the more exciting in the history of your church. Highlights will include:

• A vote at our annual meeting to replace our doctrinal statement with the EFCA doctrinal statement. See the comparison of our current doctrinal statement with the church doctrinal statement. This vote is absolutely critical!
• The exciting possibility of Mission Trips and a Direct Connection with a Local church in Tajikistan. Don’t miss church on January 12. Eric Mock of SGA will be in our services.
• A vote at our annual meeting to add a pastoral staff member. For more information, a question and answer document is available at church or online. See also: Philosophy of Youth at the Red Brick Church and proposed job description for the staff addition.
• An upcoming preaching series: “Fixed on the Cross.” In this series we will consider Jesus’s determination to go to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 9:51). We will also be finishing 1 Timothy.  It would be good to review Introductory Thoughts on 1 Timothy prior to Sunday.
• A Young Parents Adult Fellowship will begin on Sunday mornings in February. More details will follow but our goal is to assimilate, care for, and educate the many young parents that God has called to our church. See a key principle for discipleship in the local church.
• A dream of going to the next level in encouraging our young people to continue following Christ beyond high school. We hope to go to the next level in growing our endowments and offering scholarships to those attending Christian colleges. We have had an endowment for many years, but have done little to grow that fund or use it to invest in ministry.

In the coming weeks, we are looking forward to a number of Sunday morning special announcements / interviews that will our congregation the chance to hear from different people in our church family. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Sincerely in Christ,

Pastor Chris Brauns