Youth Director Hire

We are excited to welcome Mark Fowler to our staff as youth director, starting September 1. I’ve known Mark a long time because we served together at St. Luke’s UMC in 2003. I was one of the associate pastors and he was the youth director. Mark has been serving in youth ministry for many years and still finds it to be his greatest passion. I’m stoked that Mark would accept our offer and even more excited that he’ll soon be with us full time.

We announced our open youth director position mid-April, but has taken several months for the right person to hear about our position and apply. I have every faith in our hiring committee who unanimously endorsed Mark as the exact right person to be the next youth director at Faith.

A word of thanks to Alec Davis for his commitment to serve this position in the interim. He stepped in for us mid-August to give us the time we needed to find the right person for the position. Alec is on our hiring committee and he agrees, Mark is the right choice. I feel grateful that God has brought the right person to our staff for just such a time as this. Mark’s introduction to our students will be Wednesday evening, Sept. 1, when we launch our fall Wednesday night schedule.

Our called charge conference will be Monday, Aug. 30 at 7:00 pm on Zoom. You are encouraged to join us on this Zoom call. (This link will connect you with the call.) The voting members of the charge conference are the Administrative Council plus any retired clergy that are connected to our congregation.

We are holding this charge conference because we received an invitation from our district superintendent, Rev. Connie Gibson, to name an extra lay delegate for the 2021 Annual Conference. The nominations committee will be bringing forward the recommendation of Ruth Storts to serve as our third lay delegate. (We already have Mike Miller and Lynn Goodrich serving as lay delegates.) This election will be the only agenda item for the charge conference.

Faith, we’ve had several Christ-centered service opportunities show up in the last week. Our ministry with Care Portal continues to expand. This Sunday, you’ll hear about our Provide the Ride request. One of the most frequent requests we receive from the foster families served through Care Portal is for bus passes. Tulsa Transit has gone back to charging for rides, so we need to provide these passes again. You can purchase bus passes at QuikTrip and donate them. You can also donate funds and we’ll purchase them. Be sure to note your donation for “Provide the Ride.” The bus passes are $45 for a month of unlimited rides. We will also begin offering homemade blankets for each child served by a request. If you or someone you know can make blankets for kids, we’ll need lots of blankets to support this effort.

We’ve also had requests for cards of encouragement and prayer shawls for COVID patients at St. John’s Hospital. We have the blank cards for you to decorate, adding a note on the inside. These cards will be placed on the lunch tray patients receive. Stop by the service station on Sunday to pick up these cards, or by the office during the week. You can drop finished cards by the church office at any time. Let’s bless those in the hospital with prayers and encouragement.

Peace,

Mark & Alison Fowler, and daughters Morgan & McKenzie.