“Then I said to them…’Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem’…The people replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work” Nehemiah 2:17,18

Dear Friends,

This September Patty and I will complete three exciting and wonderful years with you, our church family, at First Christian.  I will never forget the providential hand of God that engineered the events that brought us together. I recall my first visit with the Eldership and the excitement I felt meeting such quality men with the vision and the spiritual maturity to lead such a dynamic congregation.

Do you recall the Dream Teams? After just four months together, over four hundred of us met for an entire month on Wednesday nights to pray and dream of the possibilities to reach people for Christ and build the kingdom of God.  Our Deacons did a wonderful job compiling all the ideas into categories and ministry areas so our Elders could study, pray and discern God’s movement for our congregation.

There were so many great ideas the Eldership appointed a committee to work through the ministry suggestions and come up with a five-year plan. That committee, lead by Gene Wigginton, worked almost a year revisiting our Deacons, Staff, Ministry Teams, Sunday school classes, and doing surveys with the congregation, as well as working with the Eldership.

The five-year plan created and approved by the church board with complete unanimity involves a ministry structure that will allow every member to use their talents for the Lord and create good communication within our church body. It also includes a facility and parking expansion plan. 

As you know we need additional Sunday school, parking and worship space. Our Wednesday night program is using every room in the building. Our next step is to seek additional space off campus. Our children’s program has classes meeting in rooms designed to be closets!  Our 9:45 contemporary service has close to 200 people just in the balcony on any given Sunday. We are out of room, yet God continues to send new people our way! God has added 500-600 new people to our church family in the last few years. We are sharing the excitement with friends who are coming to church and bringing their friends!

The leadership is in complete agreement; God is calling us to reach more people for Christ. They believe a new worship auditorium, atrium in the front and renovation of the present worship area will allow us to continue the Great Commission mandate Christ has given to us the church.

To do this it requires a spirit of unity and sacrifice created by the Holy Spirit. What God calls us to do, He will provide!  As we launch this effort together, each of us will be asked to make sacrifices for the Lord that will provide a way for the souls of men, women and children to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Today’s launch will take us into the next generation of changed lives.

What a privilege it is to Celebrate Our Heritage and Imagine Our Future with you! I encourage you to prayerfully join with our leadership to help God actualize the dream for FCC through you!

Serving Christ together,

Tim and Patty Wallingford