Christian greetings!
As you have been previously notified, the decision was made by the Camp Meeting Committee and approved by the District Board to move Camp Meeting to The Sanctuary in Bessemer this year. Decisions on meetings of this nature have to be made early, and the pandemic has created havoc in planning. The decision to make this move was based on the average attendance of our state meetings this year, which have been running at about 65% of normal attendance. We have to meet deadlines for making these plans, so we had to make the decision based on where we were at that time.
Things are opening up a bit, although some of our churches are still dealing with COVID cases. We anticipated that this may happen, so we made contingent plans. The Sanctuary will seat around 450 at capacity, but we can stream to the Life Center if there is an overflow. We will assure that both venues are set up to promote a great worship experience. Every contingency is being considered as we move forward, and we believe that, while the space will be tight, we can accommodate a good number of people in this venue. We will also Livestream the services for those who cannot make it to the meeting due to quarantine or other considerations.
A full promotion is forthcoming, but I will give you an overview of the schedule:
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
- 6:30 P.M. – Corporate Prayer in the Sanctuary
- 7:00 P.M. – Ordination Service; Speaker District Superintendent Stan Davidson
Thursday, June 17, 2021
- 9:00 A.M. – Seminars
- 10:00 A.M. – Seminars
- 11:00 A.M. – Day Service; Speaker Victor Jackson
- 6:30 P.M. – Corporate Prayer in the Sanctuary
- 7:00 P.M. – Evening Service; Speaker Jimmy Toney
Friday, June 18, 2021
- 9:00 A.M. – Seminars
- 10:00 A.M. – Seminars
- 11:00 A.M. Day Service; Speaker Jimmy Toney
- 6:30 P.M. – Corporate Prayer in the Sanctuary
- 7:00 P.M. – Evening Service; Speaker Victor Jackson
I am excited about the Seminar Schedule this year. There will be three seminar threads:
- Church Administration (For Pastors and Leaders conducting church business.)
- Effective Leadership (Innovative resources for leading in this culture.)
- Purpose Institute (Apostolic Patterns and Methods – General Studies)
The schedule is as follows:
Thursday 9:00 A.M.
- Church Administration – Legal Setup and Operation (Stan Davidson)
- Effective Leadership – Spiritual Dynamics of Prayer, Fasting, Teamwork (Shane Britt)
- Purpose Institute – Apostolic Patterns and Methods (Philip Trawick)
Thursday 10 A.M.
- Church Administration – Church Software, Online Giving, Information Storage (Tony Roberts)
- Effective Leadership – Connecting a Team, Teaching Home Bible Studies (Kendall Bozeman)
- Purpose Institute – Apostolic Patterns and Methods (Stan Davidson)
Friday 9:00 A.M.
- Church Administration – Church Relationships, Communication, Working as a Team (Shawn Meeks)
- Effective Leadership – Livestream, Audio/Visual, Producing a Quality Worship Experience (Bradley Essary, Anthony Roberts)
- Purpose Institute – Apostolic Patterns and Methods (Philip Harrelson)
Friday 10:00 A.M.
- Church Administration – Worship Software, Hardware, Etc. (Bradley Essary, Anthony Roberts)
- Effective Leadership – Online Resources for Sermons, Lessons, Notes, Etc. (Philip Harrelson)
- Purpose Institute – Apostolic Patterns and Methods (Tony Roberts)
You can see that there is a bit of overlap in the two leadership threads, so it may be advantageous for you and someone from your church to split up to catch both sessions. As District Superintendent, I quite often run into situations where churches are not properly set up from a legal perspective. While these things should not be the dominant issues, it is imperative that we operate within the guidelines of the law and our own local church by-laws.
We also believe it is imperative to bring our church up to the modern standards for giving and management. These seminars are given to help the pastor and local church.
I look forward to seeing you at Camp Meeting. We will attempt to have these resources available for those who cannot attend, but an in-person experience will be best. Please let us know how we can help you.
Sincerely,
J. Stanley Davidson
Alabama District Superintendent