WELCOME TO HEART OF AMERICA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF THE PAW LEADERSHIP DAY Diocesan Bishop Mark C. Tolbert
This Council Was Founded in 1925 & IS Presently 91 Years Old
OUR FUTURE IS BUILT UPON OUR PAST We have great legacy and great heritage but the question is where do we go from here>>>>>>>>>
IF YOU WANT TO REACH YOUR POTENTIAL AND BECOME THE PERSON YOU WERE CREATED TO BE, YOU MUST DO MUCH MORE THAN JUST EXPERIENCE LIFE AND HOPE THAT YOU LEARN WHAT YOU NEED ALONG THE WAY. YOU MUST GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO SEIZE GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES AS IF YOUR FUTURE DEPENDED ON IT. JOHN MAXWELL
I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. KJV
I AM CONVINCED WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT HOW TO HAVE CHURCH BUT HAVE NOT BEEN TAUGHT HOW TO BUILD THE CHURCH!!!
THE BISHOP S VISION FOR HACC My Vision for this Body of Churches and believers is broad and complex. I am going to give you some of the basics and I will be unfolding the vision piece by piece as we move forward in the work of the Lords Kingdom
HACC VISION 2016 Leadership Growth and Development: Church growth is ultimately what I would like to see happen for each church. We don t want to put the cart before the horse; WE must have leadership growth before we can have church growth:
HACC VISION 2016 Leaders in each church must be prepared to receive new converts so they can love them, nurture them and train them to be soul winners for Jesus Christ. The pastor cannot do everything: We must have qualified leaders who are trained and developed to lead ministries and have a vision that supports the vision of the pastor.
Youth Ministry: HACC VISION 2016 The HACC must have strong youth training; the church of tomorrow must be trained by the church of today: Youth will be trained how to build strong youth ministries, youth choirs, youth outreach; A strong youth ministry is vital for a strong church.
HACC VISION 2016 Regions: The Region concept is important to the building of the HACC. Each Suffragan Bishop who leads a region is expected to have officers, a regional choir, worship team, etc. We grow by doing: As each region utilizes more talents in their region it broadens the base of those who are qualified to lead at the council level and ultimately the PAW international church level.
HACC VISION 2016 Regions: Each Suffragan Bishop will have no more than 2 functions per year; the March meeting and one other request meeting; Each Regions March meeting should grow to an attendance of over 1000 attendees by 2020. By 2020 each regions goal will be to contribute a minimum of 3000.00 per year to the HACC.
HACC VISION 2016 Develop a System for Church Planting: Our system for church planting must allow a ministry a certain amount of time to develop; so a church in its first 3 years should be classified as a mission and not expected to pay the full per member per council rates to the local council or the PAW. However the other side of the coin is; if that church has not grown to at least 40 members by the 5 th year that ministry should consider closing and consolidating with another ministry.
HACC VISION 2016 Our goal is to add 25 churches to the HACC by 2019; These churches will be added by either church planting or church recruitment As Churches grow and pastors get closer to retirement: I would like to see every church leadership group meet with their pastor and have a succession plan written, agreed upon and register with the HACC administration for safe keeping.
HACC VISION 2016 Every Church should have a Retirement plan written and in place for planned retirement or emergency retirement; Every church must have an insurance policy on their pastor that will allow that church to pay off the mortgage if there is one on the church or at least enough insurance to pay the mortgage for one year while the church is transitioning to put new leadership in place.
HACC Endowment Fund: HACC VISION 2016 The HACC has opened an endowment fund with the Morgan Stanley / Smith Barney through American Funds; we started that fund with eight thousand dollars; My goal is to see that fund reach 500,000 by 2026 That can only be accomplished if we create some out of the box programs and fund raising dinners, silent auctions etc. and the proceeds go to that endowment fund.
HACC VISION 2016 HACC Endowment Fund: I would like to see us have a HACC awards banquet where each church submits and awards some of their members for created categories; Soul winners award; bus driver of the year award; Faithful attendance award etc. We are only limited by our willingness to be limited.
HACC VISION 2016 The Heart of America Council of Churches is on the move; The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World was founded in 1906. The NWDC was founded in 1925. Never in the history of The NWDC had there ever been a resident Bishop. I hope that we will not ever allow that to happen again in the history of the Heart of America Council of Churches. It s a new day and a new people. We will stand up and be recognized. We will stand together and not be minimized or lorded over as if we don t have talent or sharp minds in our regions or in the states of Missouri and Kansas. I pray for each Suffragan Bishop, each District Elder, each Pastor; every Minister, Evangelist and lay person to stand with me as I stand for Truth, Mercy, Holiness and Righteousness; May God Bless you and encourage you as we walk together in Love. Bishop M. Tolbert