I think we would need Matt Brock back first though…

Service Survey Results

Surveys were handed out at both the 9am and 11am services.  Members and guests were allowed to complete survey.  Everyone handed surveys in at the end of each service.  The survey asked participants to “circle one service you would attend from these six options”.

We are considering 2 service schedules:

Option 1:  8:30am, 10am, 11:30am

Option 2: 9am, 11am, 6pm

Surveys Received: 113

Representing: 350 people (about half our regular attendees)

Results Per Service:

Option 1 was selected 38 times (34%)

Option 2 was selected 75 times (66%)

Reasons Why a Particular Service Was Selected:
At the bottom of the survey was a ‘fill in the blank section’, participants were asked to tell us why they made their selection.

The reasons for each service selection was widely varied.  The most common answer for the 5 morning options were, “Not too early, not too late.”  The most common answer for 8:30am referenced being an ‘early riser’ or ‘I like to have the rest of the day open’.

The most common answer for the 6pm service related to work schedules and family time.  For the most part, people selecting 10am service did not give an answer.  There were many people in the 11am selection that stated they “this is the service they already attend”

Yesterday, Ruben Garcia, a man in our PromiseGroup, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the pituitary gland.  I went and visited him in the hospital and he was having severe headaches.  Last night was our scheduled PromiseGroup meeting.  The night that our small group gathers for hanging out and Biblical discussion.  However, when someone in the group is going through a very difficult situation, you throw the original plan out the window and respond as a family.

Small Groups are not a Bible Study.  They are sets of relationships; therefore, when you have a need in the group and you respond to it by not following the plan of a Bible Study/discussion, you are not ruining the group.  You are actually following the real plan.  The real plan is to be a family.  Families respond in time of crisis.  They stick together.  Last night, it took a few moments for that to sink in, but we realized soon, that the issue at hand was much more important that discussing the sermon from Sunday.  In fact, we had an opportunity to live a sermon instead of talk about one.  So, we planned meals and thought about ways to serve our family member.  How could we provide for financial concerns they have?  How can we take care of their kids while treatment is being done, how can we feed them and give them rest?

We have planned out meals for the next few days and we are helping in other ways.  We are the first responders as his ‘family’.  Ruben and Christina are in 2 PromiseGroups so they have many people immediately assisting them.  Being in a small group is so awesome.

If you are not in their group but would like to help,  please comment on this blog and we will get in contact with you as to what is needed.  When in doubt…serve someone.

+robin

I just found this Word document from 6 years ago.  It was the original plan I submitted to the Phillips.  It is so interesting to see how things went better and different.  I was misguided in some areas, and in other areas I was right on.  Notice that the college was called SWT.

ENJOY:

Throughout these descriptions, when you see “Austin” that is referring to the PromiseLand in Austin.  When you see “San Marcos”, that is referring to the PromiseLand in San Marcos.

Vision

1. Mission Statement – Spread the Gospel to people in the San Marcos area, and bring each of them into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. Reach families with dynamic kids and teens programs.
   1. We will have a caring and loving nursery/preschool department second to none.  Responsibly nurturing kids will be our specialty.
   2. Children’s Church on Sundays will educate, inspire, and nurture elementary kids to love Jesus.
   3. Teenage programs will provide quality social activities as well as Spiritual guidance.
3. Reach the SWT campus with the Love of Jesus.  We will have a service geared to college kids on Sunday nights.  We are also targeting college students for our PromiseGroup meetings on Wednesday nights.
4. Support missions all over the world through projects and donations.
5. Provide 3-4 meetings a year for men’s and women’s groups
6. Support our members that are in need of prayer, clothing, finances, moral support, etc.

Goals

1. Gain 100 active/tithe paying members per year
2. Obtain 5 or more acres to build on in the San Marcos/Kyle area
3. Build first building on property within 2 years.
4. Create college ministry within one year that ministers to 250 college kids.
5. We want to send 25 kids to summer camp with Austin church in summer of ’04.
6. Support Evangelists and pastors in Brazil and Church building in Mexico

Membership

When someone wants to join the church, he or she will attend the New Members class.  This is a four-week course discussing the beliefs and customs of the PromiseLand.  After this four-week course, the ‘student’ will graduate and be able to begin their involvement in one of our ministries.  They also will be able to attend the Leadership Class. Leadership Class teaches individuals the necessary attributes of great leaders.  Once people go to the Leadership Class, and have attended PromiseLand for 3 months, they will be eligible for a leadership position.

Services

Sunday – Starting in June 2003, we will have services in San Marcos at 2pm.  This will facilitate leaders coming from Austin.  After Labor Day or in January, we will start Sunday services on Sunday morning 10:30am.

Sunday Night: In one year we would like to have a Sunday night service dedicated to reaching the SWT campus.

Wednesday – We will begin Wednesday night services after Labor Day.  The structure of the service will be a mixture of small groups and Austin’s Wednesday night format.  We will begin teaching the following content:

First 4 Weeks – New Members Class

Second 4 Weeks – Leadership Class

Third 4 Weeks – PromiseGroups

Possibly, we would convert to PromiseGroups only on Wednesdays if that were going strong.  I would also like to experiment with pre-service meals in San Marcos on Wednesdays. These nights will be a great time to pair up college kids with families.

Ministries

Our Ministries will be organized into seven Divisions.  Each Department has one Director.  That Director oversees coordinators in each area of the department.  Depending on the ministry, each coordinator may have volunteers that work under them.  For example, the Children’s ministry will have teacher volunteers under each coordinator

Pastor

I would like to phase out of my current position in the following schedule

• Education Director – July 31^st (last day of VBS)
• The Awakening – June 1^st
• Monitors – June 1^st
• PL Austin’s Website – June 1^st
• Graphic Design – Continue on an ongoing basis

I would like to continue my full salary until I am completely out of the Education Department.  After that, we can work out an agreement on compensation for the Graphic Design work.  Insurance coverage from Austin is a huge benefit for us because of Kennady.  I would like to stay on insurance until we can find adequate coverage for Kennady.

Music Minister

We are having our Sunday service at 2pm on Sundays to facilitate a music minister coming from Austin.  We are going to start training people from San Marcos to lead praise and worship (musicians and singers).   We would like our own, regular Music Minister by the time we go to a 10:30am service.  Our first Draft pick would be Jacob.  If he came to work with us, he would be able to assist Austin in any capacity as long as it does not conflict with our service times.  This would include: The Awakening, band clinics, recording and producing in PromiseLand Studios.

Pastoral Council

Our pastoral council will consist of seven members.  This will be equally balanced ethically and economically.  The pastor will select members based on prayer life, faithfulness to local church, and track history at Austin.  This council will advise pastor on FINANCE and other issues of church.

Elders

From the Pastoral Council, the pastor will select three men to become Elders of the church.  These elders along with the pastor will serve as the Board Members for the non-profit corporation.

Incorporation

We are making plans to incorporate the church in San Marcos.  The official name will be “Promiseland San Marcos, Inc.”  This will be a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.  We are patterning our by-laws after the World of Pentecost.  We will be opening our own bank account in San Marcos.

Website

We have already secured a website: www.psmchurch.com and www.promiselandsanmarcos.com.  The design of the site is in progress.  Ernie is providing all this service for $16 per year.

Outreach

We are going to break up our targeted souls into sections.  These sections will be based on geographical and age demographics.  The following are the proposed sections:

• San Marcos
• Southwest Texas State University
• Kyle
• Buda
• Wimberley
• Neiderwald / Uhland
• Lockhart
• Luling

We will select one target per month or every 2 months.  After we select a target, we will focus all our marketing efforts and dollars in that area and try to saturate the market.  This will include: newspaper ads, flyers in neighborhoods, participation in parades or other community events, etc.  We will select areas based on time of year that that area is most active.  For example, SWT will happen right after Labor Day when the students have arrived at campus for the year.

While working in Austin with Randy Phillips, he taught me to become tenacious and never take no for an answer.  To become a ‘velociraptor’ like the dinosaur in the movie Jurassic Park.

Well, I am trying to get him to speak at our church on a Wednesday night, and I am turning the velociraptor curse back on to him!!  Lets all pound him with emails and tell him that we want him to visit our church on a First Wednesday service.  His email is:
info@promiselandwest.com

In the body of the email, just say, “Pastor Randy Phillips, we would be honored for you to speak in San Marcos on a Wednesday night.  Thanks in advance!”  signed… your name

This past Friday, I took my 5 year old son to his first Hays Rebel football game at Bob Shelton Stadium.  Wow, I have so many good memories from that place.  My terrible career at football ended after my freshman year, but I have such fond memories of attending other games, hanging with friends, and cheering my classmates.  When I went on Friday, I have to admit, I was saddened.  I realized how much tradition and relationships matter.  The game was almost empty without my friends there.  The stadium is totally different because the “home” side has been switched to the “visitor” side.  That is the epitome of change.  As, I sat in the stadium, I looked across at the old home side and it looked like a ghost town.  There were only about 75 Manor fans over there.  All the nooks where students would hang out and huddle in the cold wind were empty.  The little round concession stand was gone.  For those of you who have attended games for many years, will not understand my problems.  You have seen the incremental change over the last 16 years and probably are accustomed to it.  However, for those of us that have been away, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

Some things seem to never change, though.  The coaching staff seemed to be the exact same as my freshman year (19 years ago).  That is amazing.  Truly for them it is about ‘the kids’, and not their career advancement.  What a treat for parents and students of Hays High School to have big hearts coaching their kids.  Great leaders producing great people.  And of course, the Rebels beat the mess out of Manor. The Rebels seem to win most of the time.  Although, they started this year out really rough, it looks like they will catch a good stride and make the playoffs.  The old concession on the end is still around and completely unupdated.  I had to go over to that stand ‘for old-times sake’ and buy some nachos.  For a moment, I closed my eyes, heard Dixie and the roaring crowd, smelled the fresh popcorn and regretted that I hadn’t worn my letter jacket.  Ok, so maybe I am taking it a little too far.  I do still have my letter jacket and often wear it to take out the trash in the winter.

My son, Jude,  loved the experience.  He never knew anything was different and he immediately began to create his own version of tradition.  It just so happened that we sat right next to a girl in his kindergarten class.  During the homecoming ceremony while the royalty was being crowned, she leaned over to him and said, “I wish that you were my king.”  I thought, “Hey, we are moving a little too fast here!”  It was a great time, and I am so thankful we went to see the Rebels.  On the way out, Jude said, “When I grow up, I want to play on the Reffels team.”  I thought, “His genetics probably won’t get him past freshman year, but ‘hey how about soccer’?!”

+robin

You never know who will be sitting in the seat on Sunday.  In fact, some weeks as I drive in to church I wonder if anyone will show.  Check out this letter from a man who visited on Oct 11th.  God is doing amazing things here in San Marcos.  For that we give HIM all the honor.

Thank you so very much for baptizing me this weekend! I really do appreciate it!! You just don’t know how much!

Well, my situation is this:  I decided to have a weekend getaway encounter with God to renew my relationship with Him and get on with the tasks at hand. I am not sure if you’ve had a chance to read the “pray for me” prayer on the back of the visitor’s card. I wrote something about completing the mission God has called me to (I wrote it as soon as I sat down prior to your sermon, God has a way to speak to us!).  I felt then I was in the right place.

I have been in ministry for about 20 years preaching and teaching the Word of God everywhere I go. The Lord has opened doors for me to be able to start Bible studies at the places I’ve worked. I work now at an engineering company and God has allowed me to start a study here as well. I’ve preached at several churches in the Houston area. I love the Lord with all my heart. I grew up Methodist, but once I attended college I experienced tremendous spiritual growth. I attended a non-denominational church and it was over. The power of God filled that place like I never felt. I wanted more and more of that! In the Methodist church I attended, that did not baptize in the traditional way. I said that one day I’d do it but never did, always putting it off. This time when the opportunity presented itself, I JUMPED at the chance!! I asked one of the ushers, “Can anybody get baptized today? Anybody?” I was like OK, THIS IS MY CHANCE and I do thank you Pastor Robin!!

I feel the tug of fulltime ministry in pastoring a church.  I ask that you stand in agreement with me as the transition is made, from working for the world to working for the Master! I listened intently to your sermon and the last point you made, MY FOCUS IS JESUS and that we have an expiration date, made an imprint on my soul. I was like today, today is my day to decide to go after God’s will for my life. God does not save us to sit. I will not die with the gifts and talents God has placed inside me. Thanks for that simple sermon. I will never forget it. It spoke to everything inside me.