summit (sum’it) n (L. summus, highest)

The highest point; the top

A place from which to see

Congregational Summits: Creating space where we can begin to see the big picture!

Summit #5 was convened to harvest congregational input from members and attenders of KHC regarding pastoral and affiliation preferences.  What follows is the input from four table questions – two related to pastoral preferences and two related to affiliation.

An online survey is now available for you to give more specific input related to your preferences for the next Lead Pastor at KHC as well as where you currently stand on four of the non-essential theological issues that were unpacked in Summit #4.  You can access the survey here.

Pastoral Preferences

1. What should we be most careful about in choosing our next pastor?

• Individually and collectively in prayer about the man God is choosing for KHC.
• Humble and approachable who love and lead us with a shepherd’s heart.
• Humble servant leader who values the team and is willing to delegate.
• Careful not build up our role and pastors role too much, trust God to lead us to the right person through prayer.
• Careful to choose a man after God’s own heart.
• Careful to find someone who is well balanced: teacher, leader, and shepherd. Has aim that this is God’s church, not his.
• Gospel centered person with a humble spirit; submits to authority and willing to held accountable.
• Careful to find teaches and helps us reach the community.
• Believes knows and can communicate the word well. Humble, submissive & accountable.
• Marriage that is already established. Reputation of knowing God and loving the word well enough to provide in depth bible teaching.
• Believes, knows and can communicate the word. Someone who works well with people.
• Has the pastoral essentials and is theologically sound but doesn’t have to be perfect in every way.
• Humble, sound in his marriage. Congregation humble and open to the leading of the Lord.
• Accountability, strong family, theology.   Not a clone of past pastors. Biblical knowledge of old and New Testament.
• We would remain a Christ centered church and not return to being a pastor centered church.
• Motivation of the pastor.   Age and experience matter. Integrity, transparency and delegator.
• Careful to find a person who has a strong relationship with the Lord. Man with his priorities right.
• Careful not to rely upon a resume. Approachable amongst conflict. Good vetting. Not an emotional decision but a prayerful one.

2. What two personal qualities would you like to see in your pastor?

• Authentic worshiper
• Humble
• Genuine effort to know people
• Servant’s attitude
• Good father
• Approachable
• Personally inclusive
• Relational
• Genuinely loves the Lord
• Genuinely loves people
• People Loving
• Persevering
• Approachable
• Teachable
• Theologically deep thinking
• Pastoral
• Humble
• Self Disciplined
• Gifted Communicator
• Good Listener
• Spirit Led
• Teachable/Team Player
• Approachable
• Real
• Passionate for Jesus
• Laugh at himself
• Joyful and has hobbies
• Personally inclusive
• Passionate zeal
• Teachable
• Shepherds Heart
• Disciplinarian
• Relationally trustworthy
• Better hair than Bryan

Affiliation Options

3. What should characterize the organization we affiliate with?

• A gospel centered organization/network, with no affiliation fee, which possesses a strong equipping infrastructure.
• For it to cost something to a part of creates accountability and support for our pastor.
• Our non-negotiables are matching and freedom on the secondary issues.
• Organization that celebrates strong leaders and strong accountability.
• Accountability and supportive but not a directive. Willing to pay in exchange for resources.
• Network gives accountability, full disclosure.
• Provides strong, good oversight but doesn’t micromanage.
• Organization that is covenantally supportive.
• Like minded in core values, allows us to maintain our individuality. Provide pastor/leadership training.
• Overlay our church governance and theological beliefs. Providing support and accountability.
• Wisdom and resources that foster growth and accountability.
• Non-controlling, theological alignment and theological consistency over a period of time.
• Biblically sound with a good reputation.
• Good reputation and aligned theologically. Missional.
• Theologically tight ad a denomination or affiliation relative to the doctrines of KHC.
• Resourceful theologically aligned network with an established track record.

4. How will a potential affiliation advance our church’s mission?

• Depth of Resources (x 10)
• Potentially increase our attendance
• Experience/Ideas
• Resources for missionaries
• Unity with the body of Christ
• Training/Equipping
• Access to networking and resources
• Establish Resources
• Support for missionaries
• Criteria and guidelines
• Establishing mission trips
• Online resources
• Provide direction to church leadership/staff
• Provide support for missionaries in the field
• Networking/Experience
• Doctrinal Accountability
• Theological training (Love God)
• Love people by offering training opportunities for ministering.
• Equip and train all local leaders.
• Better support for missionaries internationally.
• Possible hindrance to be a part of
• Encourage us in our mission (resources/training)
• Help us see our blind spots before big thing happen
• Opportunity to get benefits collectively (ie: insurance)
• Opportunities to hear other teachers from other areas
• Win-win being able to pull for an affiliation’s strengths, resources and infrastructure.
• Provide scaffolding for structure, growth and safety.
• Spur one another one.

As Linda and I reflected on Summit #5 we both commented on a strong sense of joy that seems to be returning to KHC.  As a church we have all put a lot of work into this transition season both with lots of all-church opportunities — beginning with the diagnostic assessment, all the Family Gatherings, and five Summits since last November; as well as lots of behind the scenes leadership training and development.  KHC is squarely in God’s good hand (Nehemiah 2:18).

Following are my notes from last night’s Summit #5.  We will put up all the table talk notes in the next few days.  At the end of this post there is a link to an online survey to give further input on what you are looking for in a permanent lead pastor as well as an opportunity for you to communicate where you stand on the secondary doctrines of faith that were unpacked at Summit #4 and in an earlier blog post.  Again, your input is requested.  (And just a reminder/clarification: the essential elements of the Christian faith are those related to salvation.  “In the essentials of the faith we must have unity, in secondary issues (sometimes referred to as “nonessentials”) we have liberty, and in ALL things we must have charity.”

Summit #5 Notes

1. INTRO – Where We Have Been
   • Transition Team assembled to accomplish deacon-type projects and tasks for the transition season (June 2015)
   • Diagnostic Assessment (Aug 2015)
   • Summit #1: Ministry Milestones (highs and lows) of every year since the church was launched in 1997 (Nov 2015)
   • New Elders ordained (Dec 2015)
   • Summit #2: KHC Core Values reaffirmed and restated (Jan 2016)
   • Summit #3: KHC Mission reaffirmed and restated (Apr 2016)
   • Summit #4: KHC Basic non-essential theological parameters reaffirmed (May 2016) (Theological essentials are the doctrines related to salvation and do not need to be reaffirmed at KHC – they are solid.)
   • Other areas of significant progress:
     1. Communication upgrades including: weekly e-News, Pastor’s Blog, consistent Family Gatherings, regular Leadership Community Gatherings (LCG’s), financial updates in the bulletin
     2. Bookstore launched with basics of the faith focus including authors like Stott, Packer, Lewis, Piper, Grudem, and Keller
     3. Staff job descriptions updated and finalized – with a shift in focus from “ministers” to “equippers” (see Eph 4:12)
     4. Middle School Director position filled by Andrew LaBree (FT)
     5. Receptionist/admin assistant position filled by Linda Barbara (PT)
     6. Financial Advisory Board (FAB) assembled
     7. Reengagement by the elders with the former pastor for the purpose of reconciliation.
     8. Created a Director of Ministry Development position to focus on effective assimilation, communication, ministry flow, and calendarizing filled by Kim Hopper (FT)
     9. Created Life Group “Champion” position filled by Kapena Cavuto (a new updated Ministry/Life Group model will launch in the Fall) (PT)
     10. New internal back-end church management software for data, calendarizing, and workflow analysis migrating to Planning Center
     11. Governance model in process to clarify the roles and relationships between the elders, lead pastor (also an elder), and staff. Policies being identified, developed, and recorded to distinguish between “ends” and “means” as well as provide both freedom and accountability to all
     12. Reception office refurbished and decorated
     13. New campus signage throughout plus flags for Lomita, Sky Park, and Garnier entry
     14. 12-week Foundations of the Faith class with Pastor John Svendsen to secure stable theological undergirding for KHC
     15. Three new projectors for the worship center (funds donated)
     16. Beginning electronic check-in in the Children’s Ministry (up and running expected by the Fall)
     17. Transition Team sub-teams created to work on: by-laws update, doctrinal statement update, affiliation options, relational reconciliation, racial conversations, local outreach and evangelism, all-church relational opportunities (picnics, beach days, etc.), discipleship pathway options.
   • KHC Core Values & Mission Reaffirmed & Restated (some wordsmithing continuing)
     1. Mission Statement:
        • We exist to bring glory to God by loving God supremely, loving people unconditionally, and making passionate disciples of Jesus in the South Bay and beyond.
        • Simply stated, we aim to: “Love God, Love People, Make Disciples”
     2. Core Values (bringing clarity to the things that matter most at KHC):
        • CULTIVATING a passionate relationship with God by glorifying God, enjoying God, and treasuring Jesus Christ above all else.
        • PROCLAIMING the good news of reconciliation with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to all people.
        • REACHING out to the poor, lost, sick, broken-hearted, and marginalized in the South Bay and beyond with active love, care, and service.
        • BUILDING a strong church family that meets consistently in various small group settings to “do life” with one other.
        • Simply stated we: Cultivate, Proclaim, Reach, and Build
2. Search Process Overview
   1. Seven Basic Stages:
      1. Form Pastoral Search Team
      2. Develop a Lead Pastor and Church Profile
      3. Strategically Place Profile To Attract the Best Candidates
      4. Evaluate Candidates
      5. Schedule Candidating Weekend for each strong candidate
      6. Seek Input/Affirmation From KHC Congregation
      7. Schedule an ordination service to “Pass the Baton”
   2. Nominations are underway – from elders, staff, and transition team
   3. Contemporary pastors are expected to have:
      • The entrepreneurial skills of Bill Gates
      • The counseling skills of Dr. Phil
      • The organizational abilities of Stephen Covey
      • The authenticity of Oprah
      • The compassion of Mother Teresa
      • The courage of William Wallace (Braveheart)
      • And the humor of Jerry Seinfeld.
   4. In a sermon around A.D. 400, famous North African bishop Augustine described a pastor’s job:

      “Disturbers are to be rebuked, the low spirited to be encouraged, the infirm to be supported, objectors confuted, the treacherous guarded against, the unskilled taught, the lazy aroused, the contentious restrained, the haughty repressed, litigants pacified, the poor relieved, the oppressed liberated, the good approved, the evil borne with, and all are to be loved.”

1. Table Questions
   1. Pastor Preferences
      • What should we be careful about in choosing our next pastor?
      • Based on your experience, outside of preaching, what two personal qualities do you want in your pastor (e.g. fun, sober, punctual, laid back, diligent, energetic, measured, etc.)
   2. Affiliation Preferences
      • What should characterize the organization we affiliate with? (e.g. Open minded, theologically tight, directive, hands off, costs nothing to be part of it, costs something to be part of it)
      • How will a potential affiliation advance our church’s mission?
2. Online Survey
   1. Two parts:
      • Congregational Input on Pastoral Preferences and Affiliation
      • Congregational Input on Non-Essentials of the Faith
   2. Two benefits:
      • Will help the elders to “hear” where our congregation is at concerning pastoral preferences and current theological leanings
      • Will help us put together a KHC profile for candidates
   3. Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KHC-pastor-profile

By George Negrete, KHC Elder Chairman

Thank you for your presence, support, and interest in the Lord’s work here at KHC.

I am George Negrete, one of the elders appointed November 21, 2015 and I am speaking on behalf of our elder team.

I’d like to begin our time by offering a bit of background regarding what the elders have been up to.  I have an important piece of information to share with you, but before I get to that I’d like to offer what might seem to some of us boring details…

First I want to ask a few questions:

• Anyone here as a guest – i.e., any first timers or folks fairly new to KHC in the room?
• Anyone less than a year?
• How about this, who’s been attending King’s Harbor since 2014?

Thanks

Timeline:

1. July 2014 lead pastor resigns
2. After July 2014 several staff moved on from KHC for other positions and other parts of the country and for budget reasons some staff were let go
3. A group of South Bay pastors joined together to form the Pastoral Advisory Committee (PAC) to provide temporary church over sight
4. April 2015 IIP Gregg Caruso is hired to lead the transition period
5. November 2015 five new elders appointed (having been vetted by the PAC)

By way of reminder KHC is led by a plurality of elders, in other words we are not led by one senior or lead pastor, nor are we ruled by congregational vote.

While KHC is elder led it is not elder run, the elders are volunteer members of the congregation, in our case two are retired with three still gainfully employed.

Good News:  we are volunteers without pay, the bad news is we are volunteers without pay!

This means that the day to day ministry of the church – ministry that happens seven days a week, rests in the hands of the capable KHC staff. For the time being the staff is overseen on a daily basis by IIP Gregg Caruso.

So, what have the elders been doing for six months – glad you asked! Smile

One of the items the elders have been spending time is reading. Together we have been assigned books in addition to the bible that further explain the intricacies of being an overseer.

The elders meet together with Gregg Caruso as a group at least twice monthly.

These are business meetings with agendas established by the board chairman – myself and Gregg Caruso.

As the elder chair I have started meeting with Gregg weekly to set our meeting agendas.

The focus of elders can be defined by three primary words: Doctrine, Direction, and Discipline.  We speak into – or focus on matters related to:

• Discussions around things like the sermon series in Ephesians, Nehemiah, and 1 John
• Matters of church Discipline
• Direction – another word for that might be Vision, this is an area the elders plan to be more proactive in, for the past six months we believe it was necessary to devote a bit of our time through various means to looking at and hearing about KHC’s past.  We are now free to focus more on the present as well as the future.

We have read and will continue pouring over and discussing scriptures related to being an overseer, church discipline, and God’s intended design for His bride the church.

Things like Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

            *I’d Ike to share with you a short sample of it’s rich and helpful content

           This is from Part 6 Chapter 44, The Nature and Purposes Of The Church pages 867 – 868…

Now I’d like to offer you a quick overview of some data or numbers related to time invested since November. Since November 22 the elders have participated in:

• 15 – business meetings & 1 – 24-hour retreat; all five elders and Pastor Gregg
• 2 – meetings with all staff and 1- dinner with them at Christmas – these are critical to the health of the church – we want to strengthen, encourage and hear from staff
• 3 – elder led prayer and worship hours – all are welcome first Sunday of the month 6:30 – 7:30pm – come one come all – it’s casual – join us as we join the Lord in what He’s doing at KHC and in the South Bay.
• 3 – Family Gatherings & 3 – LCG’s – we attend all of these as well as the Summits – please sign up for next Sunday’s Summit 5 – more about that in a minute
• 15 – individual meetings with people in the congregation – we meet with a minimum of two elders at a time
• 7 – meetings specifically related to fact finding for the purpose of reconciliation with Chris (and Anne) Cannon.

Our very first meeting we were handed the KHC 2016 budget to review!

Thankfully Bryan Collins had already invested several hours and his financial committee had already done pre work for us – by December 31 we had an answer and January 1 the newly approved budget was applied. Just last week Bryan presented us with a quarterly financial up date.

Anyone with a middle schooler in the house?

KHC recruited, interviewed, prayed and hired Andrew LaBree as the new Middle School director.

We’ve also had input into the staffing a part time temporary staff person Kapena Cavuto to organize and train life groups and LG leaders, Elder Dennis Fevergeon who has an M.Div degree with a specialization in small group ministry is working with Kapena, Gregg, Bryan, and Kim to upgrade our small groups.

Anyone here been to the Foundations of the Faith classes? They have been fantastic!

Through the surveys KHC asked for training in theology, Pastor John Svendsen is taking us on a rich journey through various key teachings of scripture.

Please join us on Thursdays for any one of or all five of the next six classes right here in the Harbor Room as we find out not only what we believe, but why we believe it

The great class – Perspectives of the World Christian Movement was hosted here and overseen again – in the world of global missions this is a perimeter piece of opening eyes to God’s great plan of salvation from Genesis to Revelation.

We have teams forming for short term outreaches to Mississippi, Puerto Escondido, and Royal Family Kids Camp…and VBS is coming at the end of June!

The elders are in no way taking credit for these things, we just want you to hear about some of the key things that are happening, sometimes we can get fixed on a glass half empty.

Every week children’s ministry, student ministry, COTB, prayer…

TRANSITION

Since taking office in November 2015 the new elders have been discussing and praying together seeking the Lord for what’s best and TIMELY for KHC, many of you have been doing the same, and we thank you for that.

As I mentioned, the elders have had multiple meetings for discussion and prayer.  We’ve waited on the Lord while also attending LCG’s and FG’s and the four Summits. We’ve tried to do our best to hear and understand your ideas and criticisms. We’ve read and responded to a number of email inquiries regarding various concerns people have about past and present issues at KHC.  In several cases we’ve held one to two hour meetings while hearing from you.

The elders have done this out of love for God and respect for His church.  In light of King Harbor’s recent past and subsequent season of transition the elders want to be extremely careful to listen and not rush while God is working out all things for the good of His people at KHC.

We know intimately the feelings of fatigue and the desire many of you have to leave the past behind and get on with the future.  We assure you that there has been and is a process going on – we are not idle, we realize we are responsible to God to shepherd His flock.  The elders are committed to being faithful to God in our calling as overseers and we are committed to serving you.

Having said that it is my job today is to share with you that the elders, along with Pastor Gregg Caruso, believe that it’s time to move KHC forward.  We are planning a pivot.  Next Sunday’s Summit #5 will provide a more complete announcement that KHC is ready to begin laying the groundwork for the process of finding a new permanent pastor.  The elders want to be clear that we are not announcing that we are currently searching, but that we believe that it’s time for the church to begin making plans and putting things in place for a search.

Summit #5 will introduce a two track process: one track is laying the groundwork necessary that will allow us to search for a new permanent pastor, the other track is church affiliation.

We have benefited from data gained from the diagnostic report, the Journey Wall, Values and Mission Summits and the non-essential Theological Positions Summit.  Work will continue on these and other related tasks simultaneously as we begin a careful process to form a search team.

Next Sunday at Summit #5 with your input KHC will begin to develop a profile for a permanent Lead Pastor.  Eventually KHC will have a list of non-negotiables and preferred qualities for the permanent pastor.  Summit #5 will also touch on church affiliation options.

Also next week KHC will launch an online survey that will allow you to speak into this process.

Please keep in mind that we have not started the search yet, but are only announcing that we believe it’s time to make a move to begin preparing for the methodical process of recruiting, interviewing and selecting a permanent lead pastor.

We are still committed to the process: i.e., Mission, Core Values, doctrinal statement, by-laws, governance.  The goal is that all these things will be worked on simultaneously.  The Transition Team will take on some of this work.

Next Sunday afternoon from 4-6:30pm please join us for a more detailed roll out regarding moving the church forward. You can register here.

We spoke of the Trinity in last weekend’s sermon.  Listen to three smart guys talk about the Trinity…

Panelists: John Piper, Tim Keller, Don Carson

Event: The Gospel Coalition 2012 Colloquium in Louisville, Kentucky

John Piper is a TGC Council member, founder and teacher of DesiringGod.org, and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. Tim Keller is senior pastor ofRedeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.Don Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. As president and vice president, Carson and Keller founded The Gospel Coalition.

An 18-minute panel discussion can be heard here.