Trinity Together | December 2015

OUR MISSION TOGETHER: HOPES FOR OUR LIFE TOGETHER

BY NICOLE FLEMING, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

It is with an overwhelming gratitude that I write to you today. As a congregation, a community, a family, we joined yesterday in prayer over an extraordinary vision for our life together in the years to come, and we consecrated these things to the Lord. On the heels of what for me was a most beautifully hopeful and celebratory day, I simply want to pause and say thank you.

I am grateful to each of you who participated over the past several months in giving honest, raw, and at times vulnerable input through congregational surveys. I am thankful to each of you who gave of your time to provide feedback in the form of focus groups, or who wrote in with ideas and opinions, past disappointments and future hopes. Thank you for—among so many other things—your virtue, your wisdom, your innovation, your creativity, and your commitment to this body.

I am so appreciative, too, of the prayerful and tireless work of the many leaders among us in this process, both lay and ordained. I am grateful to each of our leadership and ministry team members; thank you for your patience, your grace, and your guidance. To both our Diaconate and our Session, I am thankful for your work of prayer and prioritization, of listening and leading.

We emerge from this process now, with a sense of direction for our life together, both for next year and for the coming five. Find below an articulation of both.

Regarding our life together for the coming five years

Congregational Five-Year Goal

By 2020, Trinity Presbyterian Church will try to show, by demonstration in our lives and work, the existence of the Triune God in this secular age:

through the truth and beauty of biblical orthodoxy, by the transformation of people's lives through spiritual formation practices, in the unity of a multi-ethnic and multi-generational community, with a sacrificial commitment to local, national, and global mission, and generosity to others with all we possess.

NOVEMBER MEETING NOTES

The Session met on November 12, welcomed visitors, and prayed for the congregation and ministries of the church.

The Session then processed the common administrative actions of approving minutes and receiving or transferring members. There was a brief report on the latest Presbytery meeting, including congratulating our elder Bill Porter, who was elected as the moderator of the Blue Ridge Presbytery.

The majority of the meeting was spent discussing and approving a five-year goal, and the key ministry steps toward that goal. After nearly an hour and a half, the following goal was approved:

By 2020, Trinity Presbyterian Church will try to show, by demonstration in our lives and work, the existence of the Triune God in this secular age: through the truth and beauty of biblical orthodoxy, by the transformation of people's lives through spiritual formation practices, in the unity of a multi-ethnic and multi-generational community, with a sacrificial commitment to local, national, and global mission, and generosity to others with all we possess.

The rest of the detailed strategies were then discussed, with changes and edits, and finally approved as amended.

The REOC made some changes to the Session committees and proposed a change in the CGC Charter to reduce the quorum requirement and eliminate the need for alternates.

Next Meeting: Thursday, December 10, 7:00PM in room 201 as a Full Session meeting.

Questions? Email: session@trinitycville.org

Session FAQ

Do you still have a question about our Session or CGC? Let us know by emailing session@trinitycville.org and we will address it in future issues of the Session update.

Elder LEE LIVINGSTON

Lee Livingston was ordained as a Ruling Elder at TPC in 1997. During his 18 years on the Session, Lee has served as a founding elder of the Grace Community Church plant, on the CGC, and on the Personnel Committee. He has been particularly involved with teaching and has led worship a few times. He most enjoyed teaching a class on the Westminster Confession of Faith with John Cunningham and doing a section for the new members class for several years.

Lee has undergraduate and law degrees from the College of William & Mary. While in law school he met Kris, who was working on her master’s in special education after having graduated from Duke. They married in 1993 and then moved to Charlottesville for Lee to begin his legal career, first as a clerk with Judge Waugh Crigler. Joining Trinity was among their first activities in their new community.

In his 22-year career Lee was a partner at Tremblay & Smith, founded his own firm, and joined the Michie Hamlett firm as a partner 11 months ago. His days are busy as a trial lawyer focused on personal injury and professional malpractice law. He also teaches one course each semester at the UVA Law School and works with several bar groups that support and improve trial law. Lee enjoys time with his family (especially playing basketball with Daniel), exercising, and watching both Duke and UVA basketball.

Kris and Lee have two teenage children, Annalise, who attends Albemarle High School, and Daniel, who is at Jack Jouett Middle School. Kris “retired” from special education when she became a mom. She has participated on the PTO at both schools and has at various times volunteered with Women’s Ministry, children’s Sunday School, the North Parish Leadership Team, and Abundant Life. She has served as a Fellows mentor and is now in her sixth year as co-leader of the junior girls’ D-group. Lee taught fifth grade Sunday School for several years.

Kris is a sustaining member of the Junior League and participates in a weekly prayer group through Theological Horizons, where she is also a fellow’s mentor. For the last 11 years she has been dedicated to preparing food for Daniel who has been on the ketogenic diet since his diagnosis of Glut1 Deficiency Syndrome in 2004. Kris helps with the Glut1 Deficiency Foundation, which focuses on raising awareness of the disorder and funds for research, conferences, and family support.

Lee has been impressed with the willingness of Trinity’s congregants to grow and find new ways to serve the Lord and the common good. He says his prayer for our congregation is that we would be a beacon of hope for one another and our neighbors, as Jesus gives us hope in a world full of anxiety, anger, and loss. He quotes a favorite prayer, which says, “Come to the light, the beautiful light, come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright. Shine all around us by day and by night, Jesus, the Light of the World.”

DEACON ED LEWIS

Ed Lewis has served Trinity as a Deacon for more than 20 years. He and his wife Donna first arrived in Charlottesville in 1977 as Ed began his training in respiratory therapy at Piedmont Virginia Community College. They joined the new and rapidly growing Trinity soon after. In 1981, through a missions conference at Trinity, they felt led to attend Columbia Bible College in South Carolina. There they adopted their daughter Jaime-Jin through Bethany Christian Services, so when the family returned to Charlottesville in 1989, they brought four-year-old Jaime with them.

Ed has worked as a respiratory therapist since returning to Virginia, first at UVA and for the last 21 years at Martha Jefferson. After Jaime entered school, Donna felt led to join the team of Great Beginnings Preschool at Trinity, and now 25 years of kids have learned to sing with “Miss Donna” and her guitar. Jaime was raised in Trinity’s children’s and youth programs. She is a UVA graduate and now works in New York City.

When he became a Deacon, Ed first served with the Facilities Committee and later joined the Mercy Committee, “more to learn mercy than to give it,” and he continues to serve with them. He says this has helped him see the level of need in our community, and he appreciates how committee members are able to come alongside the needy. Among good memories of mercy shown are the hands-on home maintenance projects several deacons and others have undertaken for widows and single mothers. During this period Ed and Donna remained members of the same small group, which provided strong support, encouragement, and prayer as its members encountered various trials. For this reason Ed and Donna encourage others to find such a group.

Ed and Donna often exhibit service through friendship, and in their years at Trinity they have befriended and served many. They rejoice to see Trinity’s Special Needs Ministry expanding this kind of care and service. Ed and Donna were instrumental in getting Trinity first involved with PACEM several years ago and have been an active part of that work each year.

They each express gratitude to see our large church demonstrating grace, mercy, and forgiveness to each other and moving together in unity and love. Ed particularly wishes to encourage all men to consider service to and through the church, especially as part of the Diaconate, and he prays for a growth in men’s ministries that will encourage fellowship and help each man find his function within the body.

NOVEMBER 2015

Thank you for your generosity! Over the past three months, Trinity Church has recovered much of our deficit. By the end of November, giving was $1.84 million, just under 2% ahead of budget. We head into December needing roughly $430,000 to meet our annual goals and another $100,000 to replenish our cash reserves. Please consider a year-end gift to help move Trinity's mission forward into 2016 and beyond.

UPCOMING EVENTS