SaddleBrooke residents Pat Webb (left) and Judy Stanard are members of the Resurrection Church Council. Gary Zellinger is a member of the Nominating Committee.
David Stanard
Let’s go back to a year ago when Resurrection Church was new to our community. Just six months old at the time, it had a problem that all churches would like to have. Exploding attendance had resulted in its outgrowing its meeting place, the Vermilion Room at the HOA 1 Clubhouse. Not wanting to leave the Vermilion Room and not wanting prospective attendees to be discouraged by a bursting at the seams facility, the decision was made to expand to two Sunday services.
Scheduled to occur only during SaddleBrooke’s peak season, the two services started the first Sunday in October and were slated to stop at the end of March. However, in March it became apparent that the arrangement was working so well that the two services were extended at least a month to the last Sunday in April and more than likely even into the month of May. Stay tuned—.
Nominating Committee member Gary Zellinger and Church Council Representative Pat Webb are frequently involved on Sunday. Gary regularly serves as an usher and Pat often acts as a greeter or participates in serving Communion. Both Gary and Pat have been able to observe first-hand just how smooth the transition has been. Gary stated that “Moving to two services speaks well for the vision of our pastors and demonstrates that our church has the flexibility to change as conditions change.”
Another Church Council member, Judy Stanard, has been charting attendance from early October and comparing it with the year before. Judy echoed Gary’s sentiments and further observed that “Two services have allowed us to increase our attendance by a factor of some 10 to 15 percent while providing space for additional growth in the future.” In addition, Judy went on to note that Resurrection Church has just called a new Pastor of Outreach who is charged with helping the SaddleBrooke congregation to grow.
Resurrection Church at SaddleBrooke holds its traditional all-denominational Sunday worship services at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. in the Vermilion Room at the HOA 1 Clubhouse. As things slow for the summer in SaddleBrooke, Resurrection will return to one service at 10:00 a.m.