On Thursday, December 13, the Governing Board of Divine Savior Ministries met via teleconference. Reports were shared by the officers, and new business was discussed. What follows is a summary of those reports and business matters, organized per campus.
Doral Campus Highlights
An update of the current call situation was shared with the Board.
Kurt (and Julie) Hoppe declined his call to Racine, WI.
Amelia Nemmers is holding a call to San Jose, CA.
Brian Kasten, Kyle Fax, and Pastor Caleb Schmiege have accepted calls to serve at DSA-Doral.
Matt Evans and Sam Kleinke have declined their calls to serve at DSA-Doral.
Our new Open House format was shared. Our prayer is to continue reaching more and more families in our community.
We continue to give thanks for our great staff and all the gospel ministry happening in the classroom, on the courts and fields, through our choirs, and more on our campus of nearly 1000 students.
On November 16, a bilingual service was attended by 341 people. At this service we celebrated Holy Baptism with 12 men, women, and children. There are 4 more baptisms pending. This was a culmination of our spiritual life surveys and baptism classes.
In October, 6 adults were confirmed and, Lord-willing, 7 more will be joining them in December.
Over 280 women participated in Advent by Candlelight. We give thanks for all those who put time into making this a special and meaningful night.
The church will be celebrating Christmas for Kids in December.
Sienna Plantation Campus Highlights
An update of the current call situation was shared with the Board.
Rachel Bushkopf accepted her call to Racine, WI.
Pastor David Bivens is still holding his call to Greenville, WI.
Pete Langebartels declined his call to serve at DSA - SP.
We celebrated the recent enrollment of our 100th student. This is a big milestone. God has blessed this first year in Sienna Plantation. We are hopeful for a few more new enrollees in the second semester. We are thankful that most of our growth has been in Early Childhood. This is important as we hope to build a base to push up.
We are working on a comprehensive site plan. This is something we need to provide the local HOA and our DS-SP community. Our hope is to present it in February.
Last month gifts were collected to provide relief funds for Amazing Grace in Panama City, FL. After enduring hurricane Harvey and receiving so much support, this was a neat opportunity to give back.
Last week approximately 70 women celebrated Advent by Candlelight. We are thankful for all those who helped make this special event possible.
Now that DSC - SP is a standalone congregation (no longer combined with Christ the Lord) they are happy to report that God’s people have responded. Stewardship continues to grow and offerings have exceeded budgetary needs for 5 months running!
Delray Beach Campus Highlights
An update of the current call situation was shared with the Board.
Sara Enstad returned her call to serve at DSA - DB
We are working with the Florida Department of Education for approval to receive several state-granted scholarships.
Our focus continues to be growing our enrollment, with a marketing push planned for early 2019.
We are working with the contractor to satisfy several liens that were filed against our project.
This is a result of the general contractor not paying his subcontractors. This has been dragging out for over 4 months. A final date of 12/21 has been set by the Governing Board to have this resolved with the contractor. They have been working towards this, but it simply needs to move faster. If they do not hit this date we will involve our attorney to expedite the process.
This will get resolved and there is more than enough money left in the job to make everyone whole. It’s simply a question of when.
The DSC - DB Grand Opening held on October 28 was blessed with 132 people in attendance...half of them guests! Each week we continue to be blessed with first time visitors and repeat guests.
God blessed our first Advent by Candlelight with over 90 women in attendance. We are grateful for the hard work and gifts of all those who made this night possible.
We are excited to reach out into our community with a candlelight Christmas Eve Service this year...another first!
Santa Rita Campus Highlights
We continue to work on the design and development of the Santa Rita campus. There are many aspects to this including finalizing our program statement, site and civil work, architectural drawings, land use agreements, budgeting, and more. Stay tuned for renderings that will be shared in an upcoming blog!
Another primary focus is securing financing. The CEF will be meeting this week to determine whether or not they want to fund this project. Last week we met with Scott Page (President CEF), Todd Pope (WELS CFO), and Ron Kerr (CEF Board Member) at Santa Rita Ranch. They were very impressed with the area and Santa Rita Ranch. They were thankful for the support of the developers, Ed and Elizabeth Horne. It was pointed out that DSM was selected from 20+ groups they spoke with regarding the land gift and subsequent church and school ministry.
Our prayer continues to be to break ground this spring.
Assuming we get financing we will begin marketing in the area. We have the full support of the Santa Rita Ranch marketing team. This is a big blessing.
This past weekend 6 new people were welcomed into membership. This makes 34 communicants and 54 baptized souls at DSC - SR. Praise God!
As a congregation a goal to plant 200 gospel seeds in 2018 was set, last weekend they celebrated surpassing this goal. They are sitting at 210 and counting.
They are actively looking for a worship coordinator. This would allow for live musicians to get involved and enhance the overall worship experience.
West Palm Beach Campus Highlights
Last month, our DS Seniors spearheaded a congregational service opportunity to collect and distribute supplies to the 90 Veterans who call the Palm Beach County VA Hospital their permanent home. Over 1,000 items were collected by members and friends of our church.
On December 15th, our congregation will hold its first Christmas for Kids celebration, welcoming children from the community for a one day VBS-style event.
Throughout Advent, our congregation will be holding "Divine Savior Night" Advent gatherings for adults, teens, and children.
Beginning Sunday, December 23rd, our West Palm Beach campus will be moving to a Sunday-only worship schedule. Due to several factors, the praise band informed leadership earlier this fall that they would no longer be able to continue into the new year. A new worship planning committee has been formed and will have its second gathering next week as we look to the future. We will also be using this change in schedule to begin a new 4-6 grade bible class in between worship services on Sunday morning, in addition to our DS Kids program, as well as confirmation classes.
Divine Savior - West Palm Beach continues to explore avenues they can use to reach out into the community.
The Divine Savior School
A business plan was presented and accepted for the Divine Savior School.
We are still working with the developers to finalize a contract that makes said business plan feasible. The developers will be breaking ground soon. Our prayer is to occupy the building in late fall for a soft start opening in January of 2020. The soft start is made possible due to the fact that we will not be paying rent in year one as negotiated. This community is more flexible making a midyear start viable. God-willing, we will launch our first full school year in August of 2020.
As we draw near to the end of another year, we offer up prayers of thanks and praise to our God for the ministry he has enabled across our Divine Savior campuses. To God be the glory, great things he has done!