We will be Rolling Out the Road Exchange (the DRJLs attempt at filling gaps between inhouse needs and provisions via an online exchange- like craiglist)

And we will be hosting the Congregational Surveys!

We would love your feedback and we want to give you additional ways to tell us about your thoughts on DRC.

Joe also will be sharing a mini sermon (that’s DRC language!)

Hope you have an excellent weekend with a DRC gathering on Sunday being part of it!

GOOD THINGS TO COME!

We will be hosting another DRC Family Mtg. on right after our Sunday Service next week.  We want to share with you what has developed in the past month of our transition season. We have a good plan for the Summer that will encourage you and give vital information about what’s happening.  We will be highlighting:

- Assessment Process
- Preaching Schedule
- Ministry and Budget Reporting
- A Generous Q & A time

As always, we welcome your input. There will be a variety of ways to have your voice heard in the coming weeks.

Dear Damascus Road Friends and Family

We are encouraged by the responses we’ve had over the past week following Sunday’s announcement of Shane’s transition to serve in another church. The Elders and ministry leaders hosted a Family Talk this past Wednesday to address the immediate emotional responses and questions that naturally arise around this sort of moment in the life a church family. We want to share some of that conversation with you that gives guidance to our current process as we seek to honor Shane and give understanding to how we are navigating this transition season.

We also understand that for many of us, this presents opportunity for many feelings and questions to arise that we want to validate and give you a chance to be heard. You should be feeling the things you’re feeling, asking the questions you’re asking, and getting insight from answers that help you entrust your heart to God in and through the leadership at DRC.

Let me assure you that none of the negative perceptions that come rushing in around why Shane is leaving have any reality in his or our experience together. What you heard him say on Sunday, and what we shared at the family talk on Wednesday night, is us wearing our heart on our sleeve. There’s nothing to hide, nor is there any internal disappointment of anything toward DRC from Shane. His decision, in concert with the leadership, was an arduous conversation that had all the right drama of a loving band of friends discussing and discerning a big life decision. We believe, along with Shane, that God is leading him to a situation that will be healthy for him and his family for the next season of their lives and his life work.

We invite you to step in a little closer, let your voice be heard as we go through a process of rediscovering and defining who we are as a church family. Throughout these two years and this past week, this is what we have come to love and know about you, that you are in this for the journey and want to contribute and participate in helping us become the unique family the Father intends us to be.

Thanks for offering us your honesty, your gracious trust, and invested interest in this house’s health and future.

On behalf of the Elders and Leadership Team,

Joseph Steinke
Co-Founder and Team Leader
Damascus Road Church

DRC Family Letter

“Who is in charge?”

A deeply committed and capable group of Elders and Pastor Joe currently operating as the interim lead pastor for DRC and the ministry leadership staff (John Gilmore, Travis & Amy Agnew and Deanna Lokken)

The Elders of Damascus Road Church Are: Bob Zimmerman, Brandon Vincent, Matt Spransy, Patrick Gilbert, Paul Vandervelde, Paul Lackey, Paul Vanden Boom, Tony Tucci, Travis Agnew.

We would invite you to keep them all in your prayers as they have invested an incredible amount of time and emotion in seeking to listen where God might be leading us in this next season.

“Who is going to be preaching?”

All of us leaders at DRC love a great Sunday service just like everyone else. We are being very open in this process and considering several options. Shane will be preaching the next two Sunday’s and it’s just a little early to announce who will be preaching after that. Our primary goal is to continue to have great bible based, DRC style teaching that is real and applicable in our every day lives. Sundays and we will be announcing our plan for interim/guest preachers within 30 days.

“What is the GLBC and what it means for Damascus Road Church?”

In 2009 Damascus Road Church partnered up with the GLBC in order to help bring support and resources to us in our process of a young growing church. We saw that coming under the umbrella of an organization like the GLBC would help to bring greater impact, safety and effectiveness in our mission and goals as a rapidly growing church.

With over 100 partner churches in the great lakes area , the GLBC comes alongside each of her member churches in helping them accomplish Christ’s mission in the communities that God has called them to reach. Simply stated, they exist to ensure that churches succeed in reaching communities for Christ. They offer essential ministry services through consultation and systems in church planting, church renewal and pastoral placement. For more information about who and what the GLBC is we encourage you to check out their website: www.glbc.net

GLBC is here to offer their support to Damascus Road Church only as we request. It is important to note that in no way do they dictate who we are or how to operate our Church. They do have many resources, years of experience and advice that has been helpful to us and they have been a great support of us with prayer and consultation.

“What is Damascus Road Church without Pastor Shane being here anymore?”

Whether it was on the bulletin each week or mentioned from the pulpit, from the beginning, the banner statement of Damascus Road Church is “Encounter Jesus… Experience Life”.

Our Pastor and founder for the last two years, Shane Holden, has taught us well that being a believer in Jesus NOT about behaving a certain way, dressing a particular way or about following a certain man. We have been taught that being a believer in Jesus is actually a very real and personal encounter with the living God. As we have this encounter with God, we come face to face with the reality of how He truly see’s us and He feels about us. What we find is radically different than what many of us thought…that He is ferociously in love with you, that He delights in you (even in your weaknesses) and that He longs for you to experience real life, freedom, purpose and power.

This message comes from the heart of God and He is still on a mission to convince us of His radical love for us and the freedom that it brings. Though the voice we are used to hearing will have moved on, the life giving message will continue on in other voices and expressions at DRC. As we move forward, we will continue to live out and promote this one statement “Encounter Jesus… Experience Life.”

“Where are we going from here?”

As you may suspect, this is a challenging season and new series of events for us all. As the DRC leadership team, we felt it was incredibly important to do our best not to react, but to respond in a way that was honest, thoughtful and healthy for both the DRC family and Shane and his family. With the help of some of the unique resources available to us from the GLBC, we come up with a preliminary plan to help guide us through this time. We felt that this plan would allow our Church body to go through this uniquely challenging season, but come out growing from it, becoming more united as a church family and overall spiritually and emotionally healthier in the end.

One of the initial steps in this season is to answer the question “Who we are? What is the unique make up and identity of Damascus Road Church? “And also find out who our surrounding community really is and how we can best serve them.” The technical term for this is the “Assessment Process” (for our Church & Community)- In the next two months we are going through a process that is broken down into two main areas of discovery: Congregational and Community Assessments that will be lead by about 3-5 Damascus Road members and a couple of the DRC leadership team.

Another very vital thing we want to do is to continue to foster and encourage growth in the life that is already going on here DRC. What this looks like is continuing on with great Sunday preaching, weekly classes and multiple opportunities to serve within the DRC Family and into our community. This is about building our church together just like we said from day one.

Lastly, a critical and extensive process will go underway to discover who God might have in the future for us as a Lead Pastor for Damascus Road Church.

Right now our plan is to have good Sunday preaching/preacher(s) without committing to the process of hiring anyone as a long term pastor, yet. After the assessment phase is completed we will summarize all the results from the assessment research and then consider moving forward to find another pastor who fits the DAA of our church the best. We will be having a lot of discussion as a leadership team before we make any lasting big decisions.

It’s very possible that we may come to decide to bring in another pastor. If so, then we will move forward with patience and integrity into a four stage process to determine the right candidate for DRC. The process is broken down as follows:
Assessment / Gathering / Narrowing/ Candidating.
(This four step process broken down in 21 detailed steps that will be uploaded on our website in the next few days if you’re interested.)

“Why is Shane leaving (and why so fast)”

It’s been extra hard on everyone because of the short time frame for all of us to see how we feel, be heard, come together and have a unified vision for the future. We wanted everyone to know what was going on as soon as possible, but we had little time to pull this all together (as well as ourselves). Your team leaders and pastoral staff came together numerous weekend and night meeting over the past few weeks trying to figure out the best way to share the news of Shane’s departure, then come up with a open and yet solid plan for the next few months and that is what lead us to this past Wednesday’s meeting and this summary of our family church meeting.

Final Note

We clearly understand that you may have other question and thoughts and we strongly encourage you to connect with us to answer any other questions or concerns you may have. Please contact the us at the office or anyone of the following DRC staff you feel comfortable contacting via email and we will do our very best to respond to you as soon as possible.

608-819-6451

info@damascusroadchurch.com
Joseph Steinke: joe@damascusroadchurch.com
John Gilmore: john@damascusroadchurch.com
Deanna Lokken: deanna@damascusroadchurch.com
Travis Agnew: travis@damascusroadchurch.com
Amy Agnew: amy@damascusroadchurch.com
Tony Tucci: tony@damascusroadchurch.com

The Damascus Road Church elders:

Bob Zimmerman bob@damascusroadchurch.com
Brandon Vincent brandon@damascusroadchurch.com
Matt Spransy matt@damascusroadchurch.com
Patrick Gilbert patrick@damascusroadchurch.com
Paul Lackey paull@damascusroadchurch.com
Paul Vanden Boom paulvb@damascusroadchurch.com
Paul Vandervelde paulvdv@damascusroadchurch.com
Tony Tucci tony@damascusroadchurch.com
Travis Agnew travis@damascusroadchurch.com

Joe Steinke joe@damascusroadchurch.com

Moving Forward

What are WE about?

What does God have in-store for the DRC FAMILY in this next horizon of growth?

Please make every effort to come and be apart of this important DRC family meeting regarding where we are going from here and what this next season looks like for Damascus Road Church.

(*Sorry, but child care is not provided at this meeting).

April 18th – 10:00am

We want to gather everyone at one time for an important DRC family talk.

PLEASE DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO BE PRESENT. PASTOR SHANE AND THE ELDERS WILL BE SHARING.

First service: 9:00am – 10:30am

Second service 11:00am – 12:30pm

Here’s a great way to get yourself in shape, and feed the hungry at the same time!
It is called the Million Pound Challenge.

Here is how it works: For every pound of weight you lose, the Princeton Club and its corporate sponsors will contribute 10 pounds of food to Second Harvest Food Bank, up to ONE MILLION POUNDS. You even get to pick which local neighborhood food pantry receives the food.

Think about this, if only 100 people from DR each lost only 5 lbs, that would mean 5,000 pounds of food would be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. That’s 2 1/2 tons of food to feed the hungry, right here in our neighborhood!

If you are already in great shape, you can join the Million Pound Challenge, by pledging to exercise 2 or more times a week, and you get credit for 200, 400 or even 600 pounds of food that will be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

The Million Pound Challenge starts January 1st – May 31st, 2010

All you do to get started is register at: http://www.princetonclub.net/mpc

During the registration, when asked "Would You Like to Join a Team?" Click Yes, and select Damascus Road Church

You are also asked which local food pantry you would like to support. If you don’t have a preference, we would encourage you to choose the River Food Pantry, which Damascus Road supports.

We hope you will join us!

The Million Pound Challenge is sponsored by the Princeton Club to benefit Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. It is open to anyone in South Western Wisconsin. No purchase is necessary.