With the beginning of 2010, we have decided to send out only one FOCUS a month.  While this does cut down on the amount of information you will receive from the church, it saves a fair amount of money in postage and paper, and in the number of hours it take Kay to put the newsletter together.  All in all, we’re better stewards of our resources sending out only one FOCUS a month.

As we were making this decision, I received an electronic newsletter from our sister congregation, Shell Ridge Community Church.  They’re now sending out their newsletter primarily by e-mail.  Those without computers or access to e-mail, or those who prefer, receive a copy of the newsletter by regular mail.  When I talked with their minister, Greg Ledbetter, he said that they send out 20 to 30 newsletters each month, thereby saving a substantial amount of money. 

Our Governing Board is now considering this possibility.  To mail with a Bulk Mailing permit, we are required to mail 200 copies of the newsletter.  This costs us $31.68 each mailing, plus the cost of the Bulk Mailing permit itself (which is good for a year).  It’s also the case, that nearly every time we send out the FOCUS, we receive one to three or four of the newsletters back because people have moved, or are gone or vacation, or some other reason.  When these come back, we are required to pay 44¢ per returned newsletter. 

If we mailed out 60 newsletters by regular mail, it would cost us 60 x $.44, or $26.40.  Having looked through the FOCUS mailing list, it doesn’t appear to me that there will be 60 that request the FOCUS to be mailed to them.  If we mail any less than 72, we’ll save.

Further, Shell Ridge’s newsletter, which is sent in PDF format and is thereby readable by almost all computers, is much more attractive in electronic form than when it was mailed.  This is because it’s in color electronically rather than in black and white as our FOCUS must be.

So, we’re thinking about making this change.  But the change depends upon your response.  We need your input to make an informed decision. Let us know if you are in favor of this proposal.

Even more: (1) If you are currently receiving the FOCUS, and we have your e-mail address, we will send you the FOCUS (should we decide to go this route) by e-mail.   (2) If you have an e-mail address, but haven’t given that address to the office, and you would be willing to have the FOCUS sent to you by e-mail, please give the office your e-mail address.  (3) If you don’t regularly attend worship and want to continue receiving the FOCUS, please let the office know, and we will gladly send you a mailed FOCUS, otherwise we will remove your name from our list.

I hope this is clear.  If not, please ask me.  We’re attempting to be good stewards of God’s resources.

I’m excited about the possibilities of having an “electronic” newsletter.  I suspect there will be many positives that come out of this new way of communicating.  I hope you’ll agree.

 

 

Cheri and I took our son Paul to the Sacramento airport this past Monday night so he could catch the red-eye flight to New York City.  The flight was a couple hours late getting into Sacramento, but thanks to Jetblue’s web site, we knew it was going to be late so we delayed the start of the trip to 10 pm.  That was a little earlier than we needed to leave, but it was foggy in Chico, and I was afraid it would be foggy all the way to Sacramento – which turned out to be the case.  The drive to and from the airport was late and required a great deal of concentration.

I don’t know what you think about in such situations, but I thought about what to say in this newsletter.  (Coming up with ideas for these articles usually is much more difficult than actually doing the writing.)  I thought about writing on how time flies (it seems like a week ago we were worried about our computers making the transition to 2000).  I thought about writing on my hopes for the coming year.  What is it that I’d like to see happen?  (Continued faithfulness to God and a new evangelistic spirit spring quickly to mind.)

Instead of writing on one of those ideas, I thought I’d share with you my reflections on driving in the fog.  Not that any of this is probably original, but I share it, nonetheless.

First, as I drove down 99, I was very thankful for the yellow center markers, and the white line on the right.  Because of those lines, I was able to stay in my lane.  That got me to thinking.  I sure wish life had markers like that, something that could direct me down life’s highway, keep me headed toward my destination. 

I immediately thought that the Bible does this to some extent, as do my prayers.  These “faith” lines, however, that guide my life aren’t as clear as the highway lines.  My own prayer life  to a large extent, and the Bible to a lesser extent, are too open to my own interpretation at times.  Some situations are very clear.  “That’s wrong.  That’s right.”  Other things remain foggy.  “How do I witness in a changing world?  What’s the best way to proclaim the Gospel?”  To answer questions like those, I wish faith’s “lines” were clearer. 

But I confess, faith’s lines may be as well defined as Highway 99's lines if I concentrated on the Bible and my prayer life as intensely as I had to concentrate on the highway lines in the fog.  Maybe the problem, then, is my lack of focus.  I’m thinking now that it’s a good idea if I spend 2010 concentrating on the “lines” of faith.  Perhaps I’ve only thought I’ve been concentrating on the Bible and my prayer life, just as I think I’m focusing when driving in good weather.  I invite you to join me this year in looking for, and focusing on, the lines of faith that God provides to all of us.