Agenda for the 2011 Meeting of Calvin Presbytery to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Prepared by John E. Stoos, Presiding Minister of Presbytery
Wednesday October 5, 2011
Business meeting for Calvin Presbytery 9:30 – 11:30am
Meeting called to order
Opening Prayer & exhortation
Introduction of delegates & establishing a quorum
Approval of the minutes for 2010 meeting
Report from the Presiding Minister of Council
Church reports and prayers from Calvin Presbytery
Lunch 12:00 Noon
Business meeting for Calvin Presbytery 1:30-?
Update from CREC churches in Russia from Igor
Consideration of CREC name change
Consideration of other items on Council Agenda
New business for Presbytery or Council
Church reports and prayers from Calvin Presbytery
Election of new presiding minister and council delegates for 2012
Discuss time, place, and budget for 2012 Calvin Presbytery meeting
Recess or Adjournment
Calvin Presbytery Church Reports for A.D. 2011.
Christ Reformed Church of Meeker, Colorado
8 East Main Meeker, Colorado
81641
Office Hours 10a.m-6:00 pm (MST) Monday-Thursday
Phone: 970 878 3181
Website: www.christreformedkirk.org
Synopsis:
Christ Reformed Church began as a mission church of the Southern Baptist Convention (White River Southern Baptist Church) sometime in the mid 1980’s. She has a long history of “Calvinistic” pastors and congregants, a trend that eventuated in her calling her first paedobaptist minister in 2005 and her subsequent entry into the CREC in 2007. She maintains dual affiliation (CREC, SBC).
Membership and Leadership:
Members/Adherents: 13 families and around 38 congregants.
Leadership: (Elder) Craig Thiessen,(Elder) Keith Fitzgibbons (Minister) Rogers Huck Meredith.
Deaconate: Mr. Barnabas LeBlanc, Mr. Paul Kindall.
Baptisms: Five.
Weddings: None.
Ministry of the Word:
Finished 1 Cor. Malachi. Currently in The Gospel According to Matthew.
Several Topical Sermons.
Adult Christian Education: .Finished Genesis, Study on Christian Vocation (Elder Keith Fitzgibbons).
Services:
Wednesday Evening Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday evening young people’s bible study and supper led by Barney and Kelly LeBlanc. Last year’s group was composed of homeschoolers from other churches.
Worship: Sunday Morning at 10:00 a.m., service patterned after the Strasbourg liturgy. Weekly Communion.
Christian Education: Every Lord’s Day at 9:00 a.m.
Other ministries:
Meeker Ministerial Alliance (All Church Picnic, Baccalaureate, Good Friday Services, Easter Sunrise Service, High School Lunch, benevolence).
Joint Good Friday Service (Meeker Assembly of God, Emanuel Baptist Church, Christ Reformed Church).
New Eden Pregnancy Care Services are up and running and now has offices.
Rio Blanco County Council of Churches (ministers from six churches and two States, Colorado and Utah). RBCCC currently serves as oversight for New Eden. Rogers Meredith serves as Moderator.
Home school study hall meeting in the basement of our church. This effort involves families from three
churches.
Mission Churches:
Trinity Reformed Church of Edgewood, New Mexico
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the consistory of Christ Reformed Church,
By
Rev. Rogers Huck Meredith
Pastor
Providence Reformed Evangelical Church, Grand Junction, CO
Calvin Presbytery of the CREC September 2011 Annual Report
Session:
Elders Michael Ferguson, Kenneth Mazon, and David Zollner.
Diaconate:
Ted Saint Amour, Charlie Lee, Fred Phelps and Calvin Barendregt
Phelps ordained 6/11
History and Faith:
*Established as mission church of CC Moscow in August 2002
*Full member of CREC in October 2005
*Meeting at “Orchard Worship Center” 2430 Orchard Avenue, Grand Junction, CO
*Confession of Faith: Westminster Confession of Faith (with exceptions)
*Polity: Two-office view (with traditional division of labor)
Membership, Attendance, Baptisms, Discipline:
*Twenty-five households in membership, (85 saints)
*Average attendance on Lord’s Day: 90-100
*Since presbytery last year we have had one covenant and one believer’s baptism.
*One wedding in our congregation in 2011
*One woman under suspension from Supper.
Regular ministry:
*Lord’s Day worship: Covenant renewal pattern; Cantus Christi; Five evangelical feast days,
Reformation Sunday, Anniversary Sunday observed.
*Currently preaching series on “Sermon on the Mount”.
*Weekly morning prayer; Wed, 7-8am at the church
*Men’s study and prayer occasionally. We usually meet for 6-8 weeks for a particular study.
*Monthly fellowship meal following service, 1st Sunday.
*Quarterly heads of households meetings.
*Women’s book group meeting occasionally.
*Almost Annual marriage retreat.
*Adult Sunday School and Children’s catechism class before service.
Missions Support:
Regular Support
*Local Crisis Pregnancy Center
*Slavic Reformation Society.
*Greyfriars’ Hall
Mission Churches:
*Christ Covenant Church, Steamboat Springs, CO (2006)
Other news:
*Recently began having “parish” fellowship meals once a quarter. Well received.
*Took a group of 13 boys and men to Christ Church “Grace Agenda” conference.
*Worked through Strauch’s eldership material with a small group of men.
Prayer requests:
*Young men becoming inconsistent in attending worship. One denying the faith. *Evangelism/Outreach
Reformed Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg, Russia
Church Officers:
• Pastor: Oleg Volkov
• Ruling Elders: Blake Purcell, Alexander Firsanov, Vlad Nebjidovsky, Alexander Golov
General Information:
• Mailing address: 47-19 Furshtatskaya, St.Petersburg, Russia
• Meeting Location: 47-19 Furshtatskaya, St.Petersburg, Russia
• Phones: +7 812 460 0787 or +7 921 309 4378
• Website: www.rpcspb.org E-Mail: ministerov@gmail.com
Statistics:
• Membership: We have 51 Covenant members; 7 households
• Attendance: Our average attendance for Lord’s Day service this past year has been 35 people
• Baptisms: We baptized one new covenant children this past year
• New Members: We received one new adult members.
• Discipline: None
History & Polity:
•October 2006: Reformed Presbyterian Church, St.Petersburg, Russia became a full member church in the CREC
• October 2006: The Presbyterian Church “Annunciation“, Pushkin, Russia became a full member church in the CREC
For the last 10 year two Reformed churches ministered in different parts of St. Petersburg. The Reformed Presbyterian Church ministered in megalopolis itself and the Presbyterian Church “Annunciation” worshiped in Pushkin, which is the outskirt of St. Petersburg. All this time two communities were friends, prayed for each other, had common services at Christmas and Easter.
In fall of 2010 an idea to merge these churches occurred. The point was to merge all gifts, talents and resources to fulfill with joint efforts the ministry that our Lord Jesus Christ has commissioned to His Church in St. Petersburg. The elders of two churches decided to discuss this idea with all members. All brothers and sisters expressed their full agreement to merge two churches. After that two communities began to pray about it. In the long run it was decided that two churches become a single whole, i.e. the one Body of Christ.
On December 25, 2010 there was a Christmas worship service of the new church. This day is considered to be the birthday of the new community – the Reformed Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg.
2011 Calvin Presbytery Report
Reformed Presbyterian Church
St.Petersburg, Russia
47-19 Furshtatskaya, St.Petersburg, Russia
+7 812 460-0787 or +7 921 309 4378
E-Mail: ministerov@gmail.com
Trinity Reformed Church of Edgewood, New Mexico (Mission Church of Christ Reformed Church of Meeker, Colorado).
Church Officers
• Pastor,TE (local): Tom Brainerd
• Pro-tem Elders (Meeker, CO): Rogers Meredith, Craig Thiessen, Keith Fitzgibbons
General Information:
• Mailing address: PO Box 1592, Edgewood, NM 87015
• Meeting Location: 216 Horton Rd., Horton Rd., Edgewood, New Mexico
• Phones: 505.286.1436 or 505.359.0356
• Website: www.trinityreformed.net
• E-Mail: tom.brainerd@sbcglobal.net
• Sermons: www.sermonaudio.com/trcnm
Statistics:
• Membership: We have 31 Covenant members in 5 households. As of 9/15/2011, one family (7 members) is looking for a church closer to their home in Santa Fe, an hour away. After they transfer membership we will be four households and 24 Covenant members. Breakdown is 8 parents, 4 adult children (3 away at college, 1 at home), 12 non-adult children.
• As of 9/15/2011, we have one regular visitor
• Attendance: All of our members are faithful to attend unless sick or travelling
• Baptisms: No births since last presbytery
• New Members: No new members since last presbytery
• Discipline: N/A
History & Polity:
• Fall 2004: A home church forms with two families
• July 2007: Trinity constituted as a mission work of Emmanuel Covenant Church, Glendale, Arizona
• April 19, 2010: Trinity calls Tom Brainerd to be her first pastor
• September 2010: Tom Brainerd begins ministry as pastor of Trinity Reformed Church
• October, 2010: Calvin Presbytery transfers oversight of Trinity to Christ Reformed Church, Meeker, Colorado
• Trinity subscribes to the Reformed Evangelical Confession
• Trinity holds to the three-office view of church government
• All member families are currently paedo-baptist, but our constitution still waffles on the point.
Worship & Ministry:
• Our Lord’s Day Covenant Renewal services are held each week
• Bi-weekly fellowship meals are held after each service with a time for questions
• Pastor Brainerd preached through Philippians and is now preaching through Isaiah.
• On Sundays when Pastor Brainerd is not in attendance one of the men from the congregation fills the pulpit.
• From reliance upon the first Trinity Hymnal (BlueTrinity), we have incorporated both Psalms for Singing and Cantus Christi into our worship. CC will become our primary source for worship music
• Our departing family had the depth of musical talent in the church. We do still have a competent piano accompanist and a violinist.
• Our bi-weekly (second and fourth Tuesday) family Bible Studies covered Ruth and are now going through James
• Monthly HoH dinner and meeting (first Tuesday)
• Monthly women’s dinner and prayer meetings (third Tuesday)
• Pastor Brainerd teaches a logic course (Fallacy Detective) Wednesday afternoons to some TRC children and some children of Hockley church via Skype
• Trinity and Pastor Brainerd have joined the local chapter of The Gospel Coalition
• Pastor Brainerd participates in a monthly breakfast meeting of the pastors in the ‘East Mountains’ area
• Trinity had its first Christmas Eve service in 2010, and is planning the next.
Additional Statement of Pastor:
Fathers and Brothers,
Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It has been a year since the Brainerds moved to Edgewood and I assumed the pulpit of Trinity Reformed Church. After a year I can report to you that we are a congregation of black-hearted sinners, saved solely by the Grace of Yahweh Sabaoth through the finished work of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We have a hypocrite in our pulpit (at least I hope we do). I strive to ‘preach to my own hurt,’ knowing that I must preach against my own sins, as well as sin in general and those of my congregation in particular. It’s a sobering experience. 4
Losing one of the original families who met before the constituting of the church has been a hard thing for this congregation.
I am blessed to serve in a congregation of faithful families. Those men with children at home regularly and continually sacrifice to husband and parent well and to honor parents. All households with children at home currently homeschool, although we are not a ‘homeschool’ church.
I am paid a half-time salary, which was understood and agreed up front. I am free, by terms of my call, to seek other employment up to half-time. However, various demands keep me close to home and living on the ‘burn rate.’
As a congregation we give thanks for the willingness of Christ Reformed Church and her pastor, Rogers Meredith, to serve as our sponsor. They have been engaged in our ministry and lives, and we ask your commendation to them in that regard.
If you have further questions, I will be at presbytery and Council, and will make myself available to answer.
Christ’s blessings on you, your families and your ministries.
Your fellow servant,
Pastor Tom Brainerd
Christ Church, Santa Clarita, CA
Annual Report
Calvin Presbytery
September 2011
Session
Pastor: Garrett Craw
Associate Pastor: Andrew Richardson
Ruling Elder: Steve Robertson
Diaconate
Tate Anderson
Trent Hunter
Hector Rodarte
Patrick Webb
History of CCSC
_ Established in the spring of 2006
_ Joined the CREC in 2007
_ Current location: worshipping at the Newhall Seventh Day Adventist Church
_ Doctrine: Reformed (High Church Calvinist in orientation)
_ Polity: Presbyterial (Continental)
Memberships, Attendance, Baptisms, Discipline
_ Reckoned by household, we have 28 members.
_ Reckoned by individuals, we have 78 members.
_ Average attendance on the Lord’s Day is 87.
_ Since presbytery last year, we have had 5 water baptisms.
_ 13 members were added since last year, and 2 members were dropped.
_ There was 1 suspension from the Lord’s Supper.
Regular Ministry
_ Divine Service Sunday mornings at 10:15 a.m.
_ Prayer Meeting each Thursday
_ Parish Groups 3rd Sundays following the service
_ Women’s Group, Uncorked, 2nd Fridays
_ Men’s Group, Calvin on Tap, 4th Fridays
_ Hymn/Psalm sing, 5th Sundays
Missions Support
Currently giving minor support to a missionary in Tokyo, Japan and hope to begin more
substantial support for Russian missions in the near future.
Mission Churches
Currently working with Pre-Mission groups in: (a) The East San Francisco Bay and
(b) San Luis Obispo, CA.
Sponsored Churches
None
Church of The King of Sacramento, California
Church Officers
Elders: John E. Stoos, Theron Johnson
Pro-tem Elder: Dennis Tuuri
Deacons: Roger Walker, Mark Echols
General Information:
Mailing address: 4246 2nd Avenue, Sacramento CA 95817
Meeting Location: Eagle’s Hall, 124 Vernon Street, Roseville CA
Phones: 916 451-5660 or 752-7911
Website: www.COTKS.org E-Mail: info@cotks.org
Statistics:
Membership: We have 90 Covenant members in 25 households
Attendance: Our average attendance for Lord’s Day service this past year has been 94 people
Baptisms: We baptized four new covenant children this past year and one by profession of faith
New Members: We received no new adult members.
Discipline: We had one excommuinication.
History & Polity:
September 2004: Church of the King was founded as a mission work of Reformation Covenant Church in Oregon City
January 2005: John Stoos begins full-time ministry as pastor of Church of the King
October 2006: Church of the King became a full member church in the CREC
Church of the King subscribes to the Reformed Evangelical Confession and encourages the use of the Heidelberg Catechism for the instruction of our covenant children
Church of the King holds to the two-office view of church government
Worship & Ministry:
Our Lord’s Day Covenant Renewal services are held each week
Our weekly fellowship meals are held after each service with a time for questions
Pastor Stoos has continued preaching through a series on the Book of Acts
We continue to practice our singing before the service & are learning more Psalms
Our weekly family evening Bible Studies are going through the Book of Romans in Sacramento and I John in Grass Valley
Weekly men’s breakfasts are held in Sacramento and Grass Valley
Weekly women’s studies are held in Sacramento and Grass Valley
Mission Support:
Our foreign mission support consists of a tithe on our tithes going to the Slavic Reformation Society to support Blake Purcell’s work in Russia.
Pastor Stoos also serves as a board member of the Slavic Reformation Society
Our domestic mission support consists of another tithe on our regular giving going to support local ProLife ministries, Biblical Horizons, and local ministries to the poor.
Diaconal support has been used to meet various medical needs, provide housing for an elderly couple in our church and to assist with emergency needs in the congregation.
Pastor Stoos and Elder Johnson direct Cherish California’s Children which supplies ProLife materials and support for those ministering at abortion clinics.
Community Life:
In addition to our regular fellowship meals and studies we encourage ongoing hospitality among our families with each other and those outside of our church.
We celebrated our 7th Annual festival at the Fisher property in Georgetown on Memorial Day with over 225 people in attendance. We are planning our 5th annual Fall Festival at the Trinity Ranch. Our annual church meeting was held in February and we plan to do so again.
This year brought our fifth annual Church Family Camp in the spectacular California Redwoods! Pastor Dennis Tuuri was our featured speaker and spoke on the topic of time from a Christian perspective with a focus on the Lord’s Day as well as the Old Testament festivals & sacrifices
Mission Churches:
Sadly we have discontinued our work with Doug Devine and Ken Wolf in trying to establish a solid foundation for a CREC mission work in the Bay Area. These families are in the process of transferring to a local PCA church and we look forward to many years of rich fellowship with them. Funds collected for this work have been distributed to the NSA scholarship fund, Trinity Church in Santa Cruz and our local diaconal needs.
Trinity Covenant Church of Santa Cruz, California
Church Officers
Elders: Jason Farley, Jordan Brownlee, Chris Reno, Troy Martin, Marcus Schwager, Tim Claydon
Mailing address: 7200 Freedom Blvd. Aptos, CA 95003
Meeting Time and Location: 9am at Aptos Christian Fellowship
Phones: 831-251-0485
Website: we still live in the dark ages E-Mail: tccsantacruz@sbcglobal.net
Membership: We have 142 Covenant members in 35 households
Attendance: Average attendance on Sunday this past year has been around 140 people
Baptisms: We baptized ten infants this past year and baptized one after confession of faith
New Members: We received six new Member Families.
January 2007: Trinity Covenant Church was founded as a mission work of Christ Church in Moscow, ID.
June 2008: Jason Farley is ordained as the pastor of Trinity Covenant Church
Trinity Covenant Church subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith
Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Fallon, Nevada
Immanuel Presbyterian Church is now eleven years old. We meet at the corner of Fairview and Esmeralda in Fallon, Nevada. Worship time is 10:00 a.m. each Lord’s Day. We have seven member household. We had one infant baptism.
At present we have no deacons. Our current elders are as follows:
Pastor:
Tim J. Tucker
255 Dalton St.
Fallon, NV 89406
775-867-5497
friartuck53@cccomm.net
Ruling Elder:
Robert Holley
P.O. Box 471
Dayton, NV 89403
775-246-1032
ponystop1860@yahoo.com
Pastor Tucker continues to work bi-vocationally. He is currently working at a hazardous materials disposal plant in Fernley, NV.
Our men (and teen boys) are studying the history of philosophy with R.C. Sproul’s “The Consequences of Ideas.”
For the first time in our history we moved into our own (rented) building. It has been a real blessing to have our own “space,” especially for Church Feasts. We added a new couple to our congregation soon after our move.
Here are some prayer requests that we would ask you to remember as you pray for Immanuel Presbyterian Church:
1. Pray that the Lord would give wisdom to the elders as they shepherd the flock. Pray for us as we seek to add an elder to our session this year.
2. Pray that the Lord would be gracious in adding new families to our congregation and that we would one day be able to support a full-time pastor.
3. Pray that the Lord would use our congregation to further the reformed faith in the Fallon area and in the whole spiritually arid state of Nevada.
4. Pray that the Lord would help us to continue to grow in our worship and in our knowledge of the Scriptures and of sound doctrine.
We look forward to serving the Lord in the year ahead and pray that He would use us to spread His Kingdom relentlessly throughout the earth.
Emanuel Covenant Church of Glendale, Arizona
Church Officers
Elders: Richard Klaus, Dirk Uphoff
Deacons: Greg Markov, Walter Lindsay
General Information:
Mailing address: 4902 W. Tierra Buena Lane, Glendale AZ 85306
Phones: 602-866-7700 or 623-399-0589 (Richard’s cell)
Website: www.emmanuelphx.org
E-mail: Richard@emmanuelphx.org
Statistics:
Membership: We have 23 households
Attendance: Approximately 80-90 people
Community Life:
Richard Klaus was installed as pastor in April 2011
Over the past year the pulpit ministry has gone through: 1 Peter, a series on the cross of Christ, Philemon, Vision in the Church, and prayer.
Our men’s study (every other Saturday) has been going through J. I. Packer’s Knowing God
Our women’s study has gone through Douglas Kelly’s If God Already Knows, Why Pray?
Over the Summer we had a series on Wednesday nights on the topic of Bioethics and the Believer.
On October 2 we plan on joining in a local pro-life organization in praying in front of a local Planned Parenthood.
In November we plan on having our annual Fall Festival.
Our current missions support goes to a family from our congregation as they minister in Zambia.
