in the enews—monday

I’ve mentioned I receive a ton of church newsletters, both online and through the mail, to help me find good stories for Buzz and the weekly Christian Standard enews. (Are you subscribing to the inexpensive print magazine, the free e-zine, or both? Why not? Click here.)

And I’ve mentioned that most of these newsletters share a lot of similar news; the room number for the 101 class and the date of the community service day may vary, but it’s a lot of the same. However, some interesting stuff has come my way lately, so this week we’ll do something different—each day I’ll feature an excerpt or link to a church with some news worth sharing.

We start with Eastside Christian Church in California. Gene Appel moved from Willow Creek to become senior pastor at Eastside last year, and this week his “Gene to the Core” enews announced the hire of Jill Gille as Eastside’s new “Executive Director of Weekend Experiences.” Jill also hails from Willow, having spent ten years there as the Executive Production Manager.

“She will be overseeing and coordinating the efforts of the majority of our on-campus weekend ministries including children’s ministries, student ministries, guest services, worship arts, production, and communications,” Appel writes. “Her vision is to create a conducive environment for all people and all ages to experience the transforming power of God wherever they are at on their spiritual journey in an environment of excellence in worship, teaching, personal interaction, website and printed pieces.”

Wow—that is a MAJOR role, and probably a major change for Gille after working with, as Appel notes, a staff of 30 and several hundred volunteers at Willow. Actually, it’s probably an even bigger change for the current Eastside staff. Here’s to grace abounding among all.

Paul Williams’ column this week, also about Appel and his time at Willow Creek, is also quite interesting. You can read it here……although you’d already know that if you subscribed.