Conversations that Matter - Healthy Board Governance
This webinar is designed to empower and equip pastors and their church boards with the knowledge and tools necessary to lead effectively and in a Christ honoring way. Strong, ethical, and visionary church leadership is crucial. This webinar brings together a panel of proven Christ-centered leaders who have excelled in both the corporate and church-based sectors. Our webinar speakers include:
Pat Gelsinger - CEO of Intel Corporation
Pat Gelsinger brings a wealth of experience from the corporate world, having led one of the world’s largest technology companies with a commitment to integrity, innovation, and excellence. He also has board experience from previously serving as an elder of his church.
Nancy Ortberg - CEO of Transforming the Bay with Christ
Nancy Ortberg offers profound insights from her extensive experience in both consulting and church leadership, focusing on transformational leadership and organizational health.
Steve Clifford - Pastor Emeritus of Westgate Church, San Jose
Steve Clifford shares his decades of wisdom from growing and leading a thriving church community, emphasizing the importance of vision, unity, and resilience.
Mark Russell - Chairman of the Elder Board, Westgate Church
Mark Russell provides a critical perspective on the role of church boards, highlighting practical governance strategies and the significance of a spiritually grounded approach.
State of the North Bay: Students and Schools
As We aim to understand the challenges our neighbors face and find ways to alleviate their burdens we’ve developed the state of the NOrth Bay Report.
Join us as we discuss our analysis of Student Readiness, Educational Outcomes and Achievements, and School Readiness as well as hear some stories of impact from local church partnerships.
Conversations that Matter - Cultivating Civility in an Election Year
What does it look like to engage in politics with both compassion and conviction? Join us to learn innovative ways to be constructive policy influencers while demonstrating the importance of our faith.
Conversations that Matter - Post Pandemic Marketplace Ministry
The Pandemic drastically changed where, when, and how we work. The challenges of the last two years provide a chance to rethink work and how we approach it as followers of Christ. Tune in to an encouraging conversation with Denise Lee Yohn - Director of Faith & Work Journey, and Roy Tinklenberg, Co-Founder of Faith & Work Movement to discuss how Church leaders can approach the question, " What does Marketplace Ministry look like post Covid?"
Aslan Housing Foundation: Making a home for ministers in the Bay Area
As mortgage rates continue to increase the housing market is softening in most parts of the country. However, here in the Bay Area where the median sales price for a single-family home is $1,250,000 even with a slight dip, homeownership is out of reach for many including those working in full-time ministry. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment here is between $3000 and $4000, also challenging for many pastors and church staff members.
“The housing crisis here is affecting recruiting and retention in our churches. We need to create solutions to address the crisis to keep our pastors here.” - Nicole Bergeron, president & CEO of Aslan Housing Foundation.
According to Glassdoor, pastors in the Bay area earn an average annual income of $81,049. Input this salary into a home affordability calculator and you’ll find that these pastors can afford a home priced at $388,175. There’s just a handful of homes listed at this price in the region.
“At Peninsula Covenant Church we almost lost two very strategic hires who had been recruited from out of state because of the cost of housing here,” Bergeron recalls. “A group of us lay folks at the church decided to work on helping PCC figure out an approach to housing the staff.”
Bergeron and Aslan co-founder Doug Morton decided to be the change they wanted to see and founded Aslan in 2018 in response to the housing crisis and its impact on PCC staff members.
Naming the organization Aslan was strategic as Bergeron explains, “Of course, Aslan is the Christ figure in the Narnia stories. We were sure the Christian community would recognize this evocative name. We adopted it because of Aslan’s benevolence, fierceness, and wisdom. To be operating in this kind of market we need to be wise, to be discerning, to be fierce, and to be ready to pounce.”
As a first step, we created criteria to prioritize staff needs. Then we decided to build.an equity share for the most senior staff at PCC who met a criteria the church had developed. “We found this to be a hard target for someone to actually shoot an arrow at,” says Bergeron. “So, we decided to instead build an inventory of homes to rent at below market prices. We own a handful of homes seven households occupy right now.”
As the organization evolved, they developed three core actions: coaching, discipling, and solving. “We coach pastors about how to save for housing and how to get the most out of a housing allowance,” Bergeron notes.
“We disciple stakeholders, making sure people understand their pastors’ housing needs. We’ve found that congregations don’t realize just how low a pastor’s pay is and how challenging it is to find affordable housing.
“We’re encouraging people to help by renting their extra bedroom, their ADU (accessory dwelling unit), or if they have a second home, renting that to someone in ministry at a below market price.”
Aslan created Marketplace to match pastoral staff with available housing as Bergeron explains, “If someone has an ADU, a granny unit, a room, or a full home available where a pastor can live at below market rent -- still a fair amount of money -- they can list it on our marketplace.”
The organization is working to solve the housing crisis by managing property. “We property manage homes for Christians who are willing to rent at below market. This doesn’t just solve for the pastors, but it creates a nice way for families to feel good about what they’re doing with a home that’s not their primary residence.”
Recently Aslan was approved as a down payment assistance program with Cross Country Mortgage and Lawyers Title. “We put money alongside the down payment so the pastor can have a small enough mortgage to service,” says Bergeron. “Next, we hope to create a funding pool of equity share dollars where Christian institutions, people with retirement accounts, and high net worth individuals can invest in the California real estate market and bless pastors.”
Bergeron has learned a lot during the past four years and is using that knowledge and experience to consult with several churches both in the Bay area and elsewhere including Washington state and New York. “We can help churches find better housing solutions more quickly because we’re facilitating and scaffolding the strategy.”
Aslan has already helped more than thirty pastors, but Bergeron believes they’re at an inflection point.
“This new down payment assistance program is incredibly exciting. Now anytime some church, pastor, or church investor wants to do an equity share, they don’t have to go it alone. But to scale and make housing solutions affordable for churches, we need philanthropic support and investors.”
Contact Nicole Bergeron, nicole@aslan.org, to learn more about how your church or ministry can partner with Aslan.
Conversations that Matter - The Church and the City
What is the connection between the church and the city? Do you have a vision for the city where your church is located? join An encouraging and practical conversation on why and how to build relationships with your city leaders.
Panelists:
Adam Peacock, Founder, Feathervine,
Brian Leong, English Pastor at Lord’s Grace Christian Church and Founder, Move Mountain View
Paul Bains, Cofounder, Project We Hope, East Palo Alto
Finny Abraham, Local Compassion Pastor at Westgate Church and Executive Director, Coalition Against Poverty - Silicon Valley
5 Ways the Church can Respond to the Mental Health Crisis
Close to 50 million American adults experience some form of mental illness. Two out of five adults in the U.S. report symptoms of anxiety or depression. And there is a worrying uptick in the number of people who have thoughts of suicide. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an annual increase in the number of incidents caused by psychological distress. The grief, trauma, and physical isolation of the past few years has seriously impacted our collective mental health leading the country into what U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy identifies as a crisis.
Recently the FCC approved 988 as the 3-digit phone number individuals experiencing a mental health crisis can call for help. While previously those in need might call 911, the goal of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is to provide immediate crisis intervention and support from trained professional counselors.
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, individuals experiencing a mental health crisis frequently turn to a pastor or faith leader before seeking help from a mental health professional. “I’ve been doing ministry for 30 years and I’ve never had to deal with mental health issues like we are now,” says Jesse Cottonham, Director of Life Groups at New Beginnings Community Church, which meets in Redwood City and San Jose.
The NBCC staff began the conversation on how to address its community’s mental health during the pandemic. “Our church suffered so much loss from COVID,” Jesse recalls. “Many in our community are transplants to the Bay Area. Their families are elsewhere, so many people felt isolated. We started addressing mental health based on that, but then things started happening so fast – one event after another. People were coming to the pastoral staff for help, but we’re not therapists. We realized we needed to get some good information from professionals.”
1. Bring in the professionals
“We started a partnership with a family therapist who’s helped us so much,” says Jesse. “She’s worked with us to put together some resources and workshops we use to train our Life Group leaders and our staff on how to recognize signs of mental health concerns in people. She’s shown us how we can address this, how to make sure they’re connected, how to get resources for them, and how to care for ourselves.”
NBCC partners with Dr. Christine Coleman. Shortly after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Dr. Coleman led a bilingual mental health workshop designed to help parents talk to their children about the incident. “Dr. Coleman and I are putting together another workshop to take place this fall that will be even more intentional and focused. The topic will be how to recognize the signs of mental health concerns,” Jesse adds.
2. Ask the congregation what they want.
Members of the NBCC community have been very open in sharing their personal struggles not only with the church staff, but with their Life Group leaders. “We’re asking the congregation what it is they need, what kinds of resources they want us to offer,” says Jesse. “We need to stay in our lane of being spiritual encouragers, not professional therapists. That’s a fine line because we all want to help people and fix everything.”
Jesse has enlisted the help of additional professional therapists to lead new Life Groups. NBCC now offers Divorce Care, Grief Share, and Caring for Nurture, a group for caregivers. The church receives resources, material, and coaching through these national organizations. Jesse explains, “We’re trying to offer different options. If they don’t work for members of our church, we’re asking them why not and then figuring out what might actually fit their needs.”
3. Get creative
Jesse is tapping into the expertise of the partner professional therapists to find creative ways to respond to the community; “we don’t need to reinvent the wheel to address the needs of our congregation, but we’re looking for ideas besides just another support group.”
Several resources are available online, but Jesse is also working with the partner therapists to develop more personalized trainings that will address the specific needs of the NBCC community.
4. Build community
At the beginning of the pandemic, life group pastors from several local area churches formed a group and met together virtually once a month as Jesse explains, “It was such new territory for us. We talked about the issues that were coming up within our Life Groups and shared ideas.”
5. Provide training
Jesse recommends training both small group leaders and church staff to recognize the signs of a mental health crisis. “The more training, the better,” he suggests. “If you can find a professional within your congregation, that’s great.”
NBCC offers Stephen Ministry training for its members. Stephen Ministers provide one-to-one spiritual care for people experiencing difficult life circumstances.
Jesse advises church leaders to develop a mental health response slowly. “The need is great, but don’t rush into it. To do it really well, make sure you have professionals to guide you. This is not a one and done. You’ll have to constantly address mental health. To make sure you’re addressing it the right way, slow down, pray, and wait on God’s timing.”
If you’d like to learn more about upcoming Mental Health Trainings, please email, info@tbc.city
Spotlight: Johnny Huddle: Finding purpose in repurpose
When the First Church of the Nazarene on Gading Road in Hayward stopped meeting in 2020, the denomination’s Northern California District considered liquidating the property. They enlisted realtor Dominic Dutra to handle the sale. Dutra, author of Closing Costs, a new book about repurposing church property, negotiated a complicated swap with a Korean church in downtown Oakland that gave the Korean congregation a different property with a large parking lot and the Church of the Nazarene a presence in Oakland they had not enjoyed since 1969. The Gading Road property remained in the hands of the NorCal District.
Just a short time earlier Johnny and Amanda Huddle were called to move from Los Angeles to Oakland to plant the urban church on 42nd Street in Oakland. They were joined by three other couples who made the trek north. The NorCal District told them they could do whatever they wanted with the building on Gading Road. “The English-speaking congregation had closed, but there were three other groups still meeting in the church – a Samoan language congregation, a Hindi language congregation, and a Spanish language congregation,” Johnny recalls. “These three congregations were strong. They were beautiful expressions of the Body.”
Johnny wanted to see these three churches continue. They use the sanctuary for services, but he had another vision for the rest of the property as he explains, “From an organizational standpoint I wanted to do things a little differently from normal Church of the Nazarene polity. I pitched starting a nonprofit as an expression of developing a real investment in the community.”
In His Image
He named the ministry EIKON, which means in His image; “The idea of EIKON is that we just want to become more like Jesus.”
The ministry’s first initiative was Infinite Christmas, a missional movement unified around a single imperative as Johnny explains, “Infinite Christmas is God becoming flesh and moving into the neighborhoods through active generosity. It’s mobilizing our people and getting us out into the community.
Infinite Christmas, which derives its name from its kick-off date of December 23, 2020, unites church members and the larger community by distributing household items to those in need. Donated goods which are all brand new and include furniture, appliances, and non-perishable food are stored at Gading Road. Johnny says, “I thought Infinite Christmas would be the last thing we’d do. It was the first. I know it was God because He wanted us to build this network of relationships and partnerships that give us the opportunity to participate in a small way in the work other nonprofits and churches are doing as they serve vulnerable people at the point of need.”
Last year Infinite Christmas touched 18,000 unique individuals through forty points of distribution, known as PODS, churches and nonprofits that are EIKON partners.
Building community
Johnny has yet another vision for the Gading Road property – a tiny homes community. “We are partnering with the City of Hayward and with Cal State East Bay to provide tiny homes that will serve unsheltered or shelter-unstable college students. One in 8 Cal State East Bay students are shelter-unstable. The tiny homes will stabilize them and get them set up so they can then transition into more permanent housing.”
Construction is scheduled to begin in November.
“It’s a weird thing to plant a church. We listened when the Holy Spirit spoke to us saying we needed to be armed with ignorance. We’re listening to the community – learning what people are facing. There’s a hunger here in the East Bay to love our neighbor, a hunger here to be empowering, and to serve one another. We feel right at home here.”
Conversations that Matter - Faith and Work
For many of those attending our churches, work is either the primary place to find a sense of identity and self-worth, or the place to tolerate until something better comes along. How does integrating faith with work lead to a better understanding of the role of the believer in the workplace?
Panelists Dr. David Gill, author of Workplace Discipleship 101, Denise Lee Yohn, Director of Faith & Work Journey, , and Andrew Hoffman, lead pastor at Solano Community Church discuss practical ways that your church can engage your marketplace leaders.
Barna's David Kinnaman - The Resilient Pastor
David Kinnaman discusses some of his learnings from Barna's book, “The Resilient Pastor”, This book is a result of Barna’s two year research project to discover how pastors are doing and to help them move into the future with clarity, resilience and hope.
At the core of a transformed Bay are Healthy Christ Centered Churches and at the Core of Healthy Christ Centered Churches are Healthy Pastors. In this 1 hour webinar, you’ll tap into Barna's research and acquire tools to live and Pastor in a healthy way.
Spotlight: Palo Alto Vineyard: Fulfilling a mission of compassion
Palo Alto Vineyard Church has a long history of supporting its local and global community organically. Their list of ministry and outreach partners numbered more than twenty-one, yet according to Director of Compassion, Julie Young, there was no focus as a church on how to serve; “people were spread out and there was really no sense of unity as a church in what we were doing.”
To address this, lead pastor, Susan Van Riesen asked the church’s Missions Board to find a focus. They met and prayed together until God revealed His plan. “We spent a whole year asking God where He wanted us to put our time and attention,” Julie recalls.
This process of discernment ultimately revealed four guiding mandates for the church’s missional effort:
Volunteerism
Prayer
Education
Relationship
These would be impossible with all 21 named partners, so the Board decided to commit to three that were local: Hope Horizon East Palo Alto, Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy (CIC) of Santa Clara County, and Reach Potential Movement.
A mission of compassion
It was at this time that the Missions Board also decided to change its name. “During the pandemic our church took a deep dive into all things related to justice and a lot of us realized the word, missions, no longer really fit what we were doing,” Julie explains. “When we consider that word today, it is often associated with the archaic term, imperialism.”
“Missions” became “Compassion and Justice “with this vision:
To engage with our Community Partners on multiple levels, including prayer ministry, volunteer work, and education about the justice issues that impact the people the organization serves.
We desire depth in both personal and organizational relationships, with the intention that individuals will be activated to live out every element of the church mission statement: To Empower People From All Backgrounds to have Intimacy With God and Influence For His Kingdom.
It was important that the church understand the intersection between justice and compassion in serving the three local organizations “We educate the church about the justice topics each organization addresses, and we intentionally build relationships with the people we serve. It’s been phenomenal to see people get connected.”
Ministry impact
Palo Alto Vineyard recently surveyed its members to assess the impact of the new ministry. Sixty-one percent of those responding said they have grown in understanding justice-related issues in the community. Forty-two percent said they are more actively serving now than two years ago and 32% said they’ve developed relationships with the people they’re serving. “They’re not just serving for two hours and then walking away. They now know people’s names and that’s awesome,” says Julie.
Julie also sees some cross-over as Hope Horizon and Reach Potential participants come to church. “Half of the kids who came to VBS last year were Reach Potential connections.”
Ever expanding work
In the two years since the creation of the Compassion and Justice ministry, the work continues to expand. “We are changing our structure. We’re probably going to have a 3-tier approach with three community partners, 8 to 10 ministry partners, and some other outreaches,” Julie says.
Recently Buena Vista Partners, an organization that supports the 300 residents of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park on El Camino in Palo Alto was added to the list. As one of a limited number of low-income housing options in the city, Buena Vista is often overlooked, but in April 2020, a representative of Reach Potential Movement connected a Buena Vista Mobile Home Park community leader with Palo Alto Vineyard Church initiating a commitment by the church to include the mobile home park in Operation Contagious Generosity. This all-church effort funneled groceries to the under-resourced during the pandemic. Church members who dropped off the food began to get to know the residents which not only built trust, but developed lasting relationships. At the same time an individual contacted Julie with the offer to donate a large sum of money to assist the residents; “That’s when we decided to start the nonprofit, Buena Vista Partners.”
Buena Vista Partners is an independent nonprofit, not a ministry of Palo Alto Vineyard; but the church has just recently voted to include it as a ministry partner.
Compassion 101
As Director of Compassion and Justice, Julie is learning a lot she can pass on to the rest of the church; “the most beautiful thing I’m learning from Compassion ministries is how God works through the one-on-one. As much as we want to pour in money, resources, and prayer, if you’re not actually making friends you’re missing out on the best part.”
Conversations that Matter - A Way Forward for the Post Pandemic Church
What is the future of the church in the post-pandemic world? We’re welcoming people back into our sanctuaries, but continuing to preach online. Our congregations may now include members from around the world. Ed Stetzer joins us to discuss how to shape the post-pandemic church.