March 2012 Congregational Letter

Providing a Safe Environment for our Children

I’m guessing you have been as disturbed as I have over these past few months as we’ve seen horrifying stories of child abuse play out on both local and national levels.  As a church that has given so much time and energy to the development and practice of healing ministries (especially healing prayer) we know all too well the damaging and destructive nature of sin committed against these children.

As a proactive response St. Andrew’s hosted a parents meeting this fall to educate and equip our families.  We also took the opportunity to review our practices and training.  For well over a decade St Andrew’s has required background checks and training in child/youth protection for all of our staff and for our volunteers who work with children.  But, I’m aware that new and better training and practices are always being developed.

Working with a variety of people and agencies we initiated a thorough review of our practices and training.  The good news is that the evaluation showed we did pretty well – affirmed by the fact we’ve never, thanks be to God, had an incident occur at the Day School or in our Children’s/Youth Ministry.  The better news is that there were opportunities to improve both training and practice.

So, over the past few months we have initiated several improvements.  Specifically, with regard to training we have:

• Invited Darkness to Light in to train/retrain 35 staff and volunteers who work with our children and youth.
• We have reviewed our employee handbook and clarified reporting procedures for our staff.

Additionally, we evaluated our practices and our facilities and discovered opportunities to improve those areas as well. Specifically, we have:

• Installed automatic locks on the inside doors leading into the Deep End from the downstairs lobby.
• Installed a lock on the stairwell door at the far end of the Deep End hallway (near the doors leading out to the playground).
• Arranged for a new, streamlined security check-in system for children participating in the Deep End.
• Arranged for video security cameras to be installed on both the Deep End and Youth Ministry hallways.
• Arranged for the uniformed police officer who directs traffic before and after the service to patrol more of the building, especially noting the Deep End and youth hallways and entrances.
• Relocated a Deep End staff person to a check-in location at the inside entrance to the Deep End.  The staff person will remain stationed at the entry doors for the entire service.

As a part of our revamped security the doors to the Deep End hallway (at both ends) will be locked and will remain locked on Sunday mornings beginning March 31.

Katie Arndt, our Children’s Ministry Leader, will be communicating specific information regarding new procedures to our parents and other primary childcare providers, repeatedly, over the next few weeks.

Our children are a treasure entrusted to us by our Lord.  Your ongoing assistance in ensuring St. Andrew’s to be a safe place for our children to grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord is appreciated.

Blessed by our Men’s and Women’s Leadership

Over the past month the men and women have had the opportunity to gather for their respective retreats.  +Terrell Glenn, our former rector, returned to lead the men as they focused on the theme, “Be Present.”  The weekend included teaching, ministry and an opportunity for 80+ men to have a mini hike experience at Brookgreen Gardens.

The women gathered again at Hilton Head for their retreat entitled, “Knowing You.”  They were led by our own Dwight Huthwaite.  They, too, had opportunities for teaching, workshops and ministry.

What has impressed me most, though, is the overall level of excellence our men’s and women’s ministries have attained.  That is directly attributable to Cassie Dodds and Kurtz Smith.  It’s hard to believe that before they stepped into their roles as staff ministry leaders neither were employed by a church.  Cassie was a stay-at-home mom and Kurtz was a business owner.  Both, though, said “yes” to the adventure of connecting men and women to the presence and power of Jesus Christ.  The consequence is that we not only have thriving ministries but also, literally, hundreds of men and women have been trained and released into ministry and leadership.

I hope you’ll join me in expressing your gratitude to both Cassie and Kurtz for their fine and faithful leadership.  Many of us have not had church experiences outside of St. Andrew’s.  Let me tell you, we are blessed – at many levels.

Easter

As you know, Easter at St. Andrew’s is a special event; from the beauty of the old church to the excitement of our service at Boone Hall.  Well, Easter is right around the corner.

One “tradition” that has developed at St. Andrew’s over the years is the practice of inviting the spiritually disconnected people in our lives to join us in the celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

Soon you will be seeing signs going up around town, as well as postcards being mailed to households.  These are opportunities for you to draw attention to the One Day that changed the world and initiate a conversation that could, literally, alter the eternal destination of someone’s life.

Easter, particularly at Boone Hall, is also an opportunity to serve our community.  Depending on the weather, we could have as many as 4500 people from around the Charleston area attending this service.  Think about that, 4500 people coming to our doorstep.

We need a few hundred volunteers.

We need folks to set up, park, greet, usher, pray, and decorate.

Will you help make the day ready for them?

In the family,

Steve