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Service and the Mayor
by Joel L. Domingo, Associate/Executive Pastor
More than a century ago, historian Alexis DeTocqueville wrote about the need
for citizens to be engaged in public life:
"Such engagement demands leadership capable of collaborating, as well as
empowering citizens to perform many of the tasks of renewal themselves," he
wrote.
With that as the backdrop, combined with my firm belief that as a Christ
follower, your faith engages you to the serve and love your community, I had
the awesome privilege to have lunch with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels this past
week and talk further about this very subject.
Joining us were Drew and Tatiana, from Seattle Works, a local
organization designed to engage young people into getting involved in their
community through service.
I got the sense from Mayor Nickels that service and volunteering are towards
the top of his agenda, and the challenge for him (and us) is how we encourage
more people to get involved to make a difference in Seattle and their community. He cited a few examples, one of which was a
community partnership with the Downtown Emergency Service Center to address the
needs of those in our area affected by mental illness. Another was the city's partnership with a
local downtown church to address the needs of the homeless in Seattle.
As for Seattle's greatest need, there were many and while some of the
answers definitely carried some political overtones such as "transportation"
and "better infrastructure," what it came down to we all agreed on. We all believe that despite the effects of
the economic downturn and the tendency to be stagnant in service due to fear
and a "what is it going to cost me?" attitude, there is a need for people to
engage more into their city at all levels, and that is truly transformational. That is what changes a city.
In other words, when your personal
needs begin to overwhelm you, there is nothing better than to help someone else
out, and through the assistance that you provide, whatever that assistance is,
the results are not just tangible to what happens to the other person, but also
the transformation that happens within you.
In many ways, the Mayor espouses an attitude of our city similar to All
Saints. That is, he believes that our urban center can be a focal point
of influence, growth, and serve as an example to the rest of the surrounding
communities and the world.
All this to say, that I am so proud of the All Saints community and the
desire to serve this city. There is a
still lot of work to be done however.
Yet, I am humbled to know that together we walk forward, empowered by
Jesus to make a difference, one person at a time. I'll see you Sunday!
Grace to you.
Pastor
Joel
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General Updates
Communications: On Monday Comcast installed an internet, phone, television package for us. We believe this will be a cost effective way to manage the telecommunications services we require.
Beanaddiction Cafe: The Beanaddiction Team is working to make the Cafe a place that people will be drawn to where they can hang out, read, study, and/or just enjoy some good java. Please help them by filling out the survey you wil find inserted in this week's Sunday handout. Turn in completed surveys to the cafe for a free beverage! The team is also continuing to collect book donations for the Library they've set up downstairs.
Children's Ministries: Gian Grosso has officially taken on leadership of the 11am Children's Gathering! He is looking at how to better incorporate the believe, doubt, seek ethos into the Childrens' program and is excited to pour his passion and vision into the framework established by Ali Anderson and Jolie Lewis for the 11am class!
Music: We thank Tonette Beach for her amazing leadership of worship while Scott Anderson is away. She will be leading us again this Sunday!
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Annual Meeting Review
This past Sunday was the All Saints Annual Meeting. As required by our bylaws, the meeting provides an annual update of the state of the church as an organization.
It was a well attended meeting that drew a majority of the church membership. Some of the highlights included a brief overview of the "structure" (who does what around here? what is the leadership structure? how do decisions get communicated and carried out?, etc.) and "business philosophy" (how do our values align with financial decisions? what is the annual budget? etc.).
Pastor Bill ended the meeting further expanding upon the vision of All Saints, that "...the people of Seattle would experience the reality of an abundant life in Christ."
Excerpts and highlights from the meeting will soon be available on the All Saints website.
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All Saints Facilites Serving the Community
We are thankful to have had the chance over the past several weeks to provide a temporary space for Hilltop Children's Center while their facilities were being repaired from flood damage. A member of their Board joined us for the 11am gathering this past Sunday and shed even more light on what our help in their time of need really meant to Hilltop.
Apparently a little over a year ago, the Children's Center was told that they would need to move out of the space they had been using. They had a window of about 1 year to find a new space in the community that could safely and affordably meet the needs of over 100 children. Not an easy task! People rallied behind their effort, cashing in retirement accounts and doing whatever they could to make that move possible for the Center. Then just months after they had finally settled into a new location, they showed up to find their new facility under water! They feared that all that they had worked so hard for would be lost.
Thankfully they were able to be in touch with All Saints and our space turned out to be a great fit for their needs! Little "thank you" gifts that Hilltop left throughout their borrowed space when they left, along with the special message shared on their behalf this past Sunday all helped us to realize how much our help meant to them.
We realize how blessed we are to have such an amazing facility in this area and have long desired to use it as a resource to our community! We love that throughout the week AA groups and a Debtor's Anonymous group meet here to improve their lives. And we're excited that we've had the chance to help many families in our community by providing a temporary space for their children! We look forward to even more opportunities to share this great gift with the people of our community.
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The All Saints update is sent out regularly to the community to engage and inform people of all that takes place through All Saints Church. It is sent opposites of the weeks that the All Saints Newsletter is sent out. The newsletter and updates will soon be available on the All Saints website.
If you have any ideas, submissions, or comments, please send them to life@believedoubtseek.org
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