Dear Maryland Emmaus Community
The Board of Directors held its first meeting of the year on January 10th. We are in for a very busy year in 2013. First we elected Deborah Elliott as our Assistant Community Lay Director. For those of you who aren’t aware of the process, she will become the Community Lay Director for 2014. I look forward to Deb’s support through the issues we will deal with in 2013. The Board is full of hard working, Spirit filled people. Their names and duties are listed on our web site.
We have 8 weekends planned with great leadership in place. Four at Wo-Me-To and four at Mar-Lu Ridge. Your Board will work very hard to see the WLD’s and the teams have all the support necessary to provide the atmosphere for the Pilgrim to clearly receive the Blessing God has planned for them.
The Board has studied the issue of eligibility of future WLD’s. The issue at hand is in the existing policy was the candidate must have served on five weekends (three Maryland Emmaus Weekends and two could be Chrysalis or Kairos). It is very difficult to verify the weekends served on those weekends outside Emmaus. The weekends outside Emmaus also differ in scope. After deliberation a motion was made and passed that the Five Weekends served would remain the same with the exception that all five would be Maryland Emmaus Weekends. This will go into effect for the selection of WLD’s starting in 2014.
Your Board is undertaking a review of Maryland Emmaus’s relationship with the National Upper Room Emmaus Community. We have been advised that we will have to comply with the National Model in a very short order. A team is being formed to address this situation. Please attend your gathering and watch our newsletter for updates. Our goal is to keep you informed and that you receive accurate information.
I would like to thank Tony and Janell Trcka for their years of dedication to lead the 4th Day Workshop at Reisterstown United Methodist Church. Randy and Dana Werts have graciously volunteered to take over this duty. The location is undetermined at this time. This will be clarified by the time we have our first weekend.
There are several other issues on the plate to deal with, ranging from whether we will continue at Mar-Lu Ridge to converting our documents to digital records, with much in between.
Please keep us in your prayers as we always seek Gods will.
In His Service
Carter Wilson
MD Emmaus Community Lay Director
Galatians 5:22-23