Hi Everyone,

I wanted to give you a quick run-down of the latest news with the merger.  For those who may be reading and learning of this for the first time, the Discovery Bible Church of High Point and the Pinecroft Baptist church have been pursuing the possibility of a merger of our two churches.  Both congregations have voted to proceed with the next steps toward merger and have formed a Joint Transition team of about 18 members.

1.  During this time of merger, we are going to be calling the two churches “Discovery at Pinecroft” (or D@P for short).  We need a better way of saying “Discovery Bible Church and Pinecroft Baptist Church”.  This does NOT necessarily represent an official church name moving forward.  Think of it more like a codename.
2.   We had a great kickoff event on Sunday night with the Joint Transition Team.  We met through  video conference and almost every team member for both churches were able to attend.  We are creating 4 (and maybe add one more) sub-teams to help us with the planning.  All decisions from the teams will be sent to D@P leadership for approval before being sent to the congregations.
3.   Our first team to meet will be the Organization Team.  We are hoping to get that team going Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  That team will be helping us with building the overall plan for the merger and will be most instrumental at the beginning of the merger process and as an advisory team after the merger.
4.   After we get the Organization Team going (I will be leading that team with Mike’s help), we will move onto starting the Documents Team.  (Mike will be leading that team with my help).  These two teams have a lot of work to do the soonest.  Then we will move onto launching the Building & Assets, and Finance Teams.  Again, our ambitious-but-doable goal, is to get a skeletal outline to D@P leadership by the end of April for review/approval so that both churches can vote by early May.
5.   We are hoping for at least 2 Townhall meetings (in-person would be best, but we may have to do a video conference).  Both churches will be invited to both Townhalls.  The first one will be primarily for Pinecroft to get to know Pastor Mike a little better.  The second will be for Discovery to get to know Pinecroft a little better through Larry Doyle and to ask him any questions you may have
6.   Our most important and most critical resource for this merger is PRAYER!

Because of the coronavirus, we want to keep everyone safe from both churches engaged and active in prayer.  So here’s how we are going to tackle it.

• Mike Wynn will be sending out a daily prayer text message to the cell numbers he has on file with a single, specific item that we can all pray for each day during this time of the merger.
• Mike will also send specific prayer concerns to me by week’s end.  I will add any concerns we have at Pinecroft, and then send out an email to everyone at D@P on Saturday nights so we can pray for each other on Sundays.
• We are going to be creating “Prayer Pals”.  In this group, we will match Discovery People (families) with Pinecroft people (families).  Mike is taking the lead in this and will assign each of the Discovery people to take the lead in calling their assigned Pinecroft family weekly to pray for them.  We really hope there will be full participation with Prayer Pals.  Please send me an email if you would like to be partnered up with Discovery people for Prayer Pals.
•  Obviously the leaders of D@P will be helping to shepherd the combined church after the merger, but this is a great way for us to get to know each other and love on each other and honor each other before the merger and set the stage post-merger in our new corporate culture.  And of course, there is nothing stopping you from continuing the Prayer Pals after the merger.  “..making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3)

7.  Finally, I will be posting a brief message on the website and Facebook for the next 3 weeks just like this past Sunday.  After Easter, we are tentatively thinking Mike and I will livestream from Pinecroft on Sunday mornings and possible look to begin a combined worship service for D@P.

Disclaimer: Ad nauseam: Everything is subject to change by the minute based on coronavirus, schedules, and approval from the leadership of the church

Pastor Larry

Due to recent events and school closures, Pinecroft will also cancel services and all activities for the next 2 weeks.  We want to ensure that everyone remains safe and well during this outbreak.  If you have a prayer request during this time, please contact LaRue and she will send it out on our prayer chain!  Continue to pray for our church and it’s members during this time and remember, we are all only a phone call away.