North Michigan District Superintendent Thomas K. Schmidt

Report to the DBA on April 11, 2008

January 24 – April 7, 2008

 

            God is so gracious to allow me to serve Him in the capacity of District Superintendent of North Michigan District of The Wesleyan Church.  The need to keep on learning, love in the midst of distress, lead as God directs, listen in every situation and just let God give His guidance is of such necessity as District Superintendent.  Your support and prayers have truly been measurable and helpful.

            District responsibilities have included pastoral votes at Blanchard, Coleman, Dighton, Greenville and Breckenridge and DS visits to Muskegon Friendship and Ithaca.  Bringing together the District Lead Team was a valuable event and the need for such a time was evident.  Also, the District Committee day is a full day for everyone involved but such a great opportunity to have many committees meet at one time. 

Insurance Committee and Finance Committee meetings took place in February.  It is very evident that our district pastors and families have a high utilization of medical expression.  This high utilization and lack of knowledge has resulted in a rather high cost of insurance.  Mandatory health insurance meetings are planned throughout the District.  Also, we learned at the finance committee meeting that budget assessment payments are extremely low at this point in the year.  The economic crunch has affected and effected many of our churches.  Fiscal responsibility is a must and a close look at expenses and income is taking place.

Wesleyan Bible Bowl competition was excellent.  Every teen involved, along with coaches, are deserving of commendation in the highest form!  Learning God’s Word is valuable in itself and applying principles of God to daily life follow.  “Hiding God’s Word” in our life has unlimited potential and strength.  Every church could field one or two teams for Wesleyan Bible Bowl.  Kudos to Bayview, Fremont and Merrill churches for leading the way and thanks to Mark Brumels for having a heart for WBB and helping teens to study God’s Word!

Travel in the past two months included a couple of trips to Florida for Indiana Wesleyan University Board of Trustee Retreat and the District Superintendent Institute which included the General Board of Administration meeting.  The GBA mtg was a review of memorials being presented to the General Conference in June.   One of the memorials adds student membership to the membership opportunities in The Wesleyan Church along with giving voting privileges to Community members.  Other memorials included 5 years between General Conferences, possible 3 year term for LBA members, rewriting of membership commitments, and addition of a Domestic Abuse statement.

                                                                        Page 2 DS report to the DBA April 11, 2008

 

Another IWU event was the regular scheduled Board of Trustee meeting and Denise and I were able to have a pizza party with several of the North Michigan students at IWU.  What joy is discovered in spending time with the students and learning about IWU.

District Ministerial was excellent!  Speaker Rev. Richard Meeks, music with Missy (Tibbitts) Pococke, seminars by Rev. Tom and Valeda Shelder, West Branch Quality Inn as a facility and great food all contributed to one very enjoyable and enriching weekend.

Lighthouse Leadership events proved to be challenging and insightful.  Pastor Kyle Brown from Berkley Hills, Pastor Phil Struckmeyer from Lowell Impact and Pastor Jim Bowen from Belding Encounter presented stories of ministry to make a difference in their communities.  Thirty churches participated with over 220 people present.  The next Lighthouse Leadership event is with Dr. Dick Wynn on May 2 and 3.  Dr. Wynn will be sharing Lifelong Leadership Skills.

New Bridge Coalition continues to experience some exiting new beginnings.  The evidence of reaching unchurched people has been documented.  People are coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior and connecting with local churches.  Work is needed in training cell group leaders and keeping momentum in continual growth.  Chaplain Chuck has demonstrated his commitment to ministry and ministry entrepreneurship.

Rev. Richard Thomas attended a Transitional Interim Pastor training session with New Church Specialties.  The training time was rewarding and experientially valuable.  The continued cost of placing a transitional interim pastor is extraordinarily high.  Rev. Thomas recommends that we create a means of training pastors in our own district for transition placement.  I asked him to work on creating a plan as he works as interim pastor at Walkerville.  Developing our own system will have greater advantage for placement and preparing people for placement.

Three additional items of expression include the 1st birthday of our grandchild Emily in February and we departed to Indiana for that special family gathering.  The second family gathering took place in Mississippi as we celebrated Easter with my parents and more than thirty others.  The third item was that we were able to spend a few days in Florida enjoying some sunshine before the DS Institute/GBA meeting. 

 

In His Service,

 

DS Tom Schmidt