At The Helm...

Since we're talking about Leadership here, we thought we should mention our "fearless leaders." Staff: Michael McAvoy is the Senior Pastor of Open Arms Community Church. Mike oversees all the ministry at Open Arms, and is the one responsible for the vision and direction of the church. To find out more, check out his blog. Contact him at mike@openarmsbradford.org Josh Hatcher is the Outreach Pastor at Open Arms. He oversees the Outreach Quadrant of ministry, and serves as an assistant to Pastor Mike. Click here to read his blog. Contact him at joshhatcher@openarmsbradford.org Becky Campbell is the Business and Finance Manager. She's in charge of making sure the business of Open Arms runs smoothly. She also is the one to contact about scheduling an appointment with Pastor Mike, and scheduling the use of the church facilities. Contact her at the church office at 814-368-8846 or by email at beckycampbell@openarmsbradford.org. AJ McAvoy: is the Buildings and Grounds Coordinator. His responsibilities include oversight of custodial, construction, grounds keeping, and facilities management. Contact him at the church office at 814-368-8846 or by email at ajmcavoy@openarmsbradford.org Shelly McAvoy: is the Children's and Nursery Ministry Coordinator. She oversees an extensive team of people that work with the Open Arms Kids age birth to 12. Contact her at the church office at 814-368-8846 or by email at shellymcavoy@openarmsbradford.org Rob Curtin is the Discipleship Quadrant Leader. He oversees ministries that lead to the building up of the body of Christ. Contact him at openarms@openarmsbradford.org Shawn Murphy: is the Prayer Quadrant Leader. He coordinates prayer ministries at Open Arms, including "Last Friday" which is a monthly prayer vigil held on the Last Friday of each month. Shawn also oversees "Powerhouse Prayer", an intercessory prayer group that means in the prayer room off the auditorium during the weekly worship services. Contact Shawn at the church office at 814-368-8846, or by email at openarms@openarmsbradford.org

Leadership, not Membership...

Open Arms Community Church believes that every believer is called to be a leader. That doesn't mean everyone is called to Pastor a church, but it does mean each of us are called to some kind of ministry. At Open Arms, we want to identify people's gifts, and free them to minister to people in their sphere of contact. So when we join, we don't commit to being a "member", but a "leader". And it's not just semantics. People make real commitments to serve, and reach out to the community around them.

Becoming a Fully Devoted Follower of Christ...

...why join? One of the most frequently asked questions in church today is, "Why Join?" We clearly live in an age of non-joiners. Non-joiners are not only neutral about joining, but have an inherent distrust of "the system" which prevents them from joining. Those who remember the eighties (and every decade since) were given many reasons not to trust "organized religion." It's our responsibility as church leaders to reshape people's thinking, by offering a positive and productive model of commitment and involvement for the local church. This can be done by a creative and well-designed membership seminar. The question still remains: "Why Join?" The answer is wholeness through commitment. The Christian church is desperately lacking in commitment in her people, commitment both to Christ and His Church. This is reflected in lack of tithes, church hopping, and lack of ministry involvement. The lack of commitment, obedience, and involvement results in a lack of wholeness and fulfillment; in their place is brokenness and emptiness. It's true, when someone becomes a Christian, they become an "automatic member" of the Kingdom of God. Joining the church has nothing to do with salvation, or eternal life. We would like to help you not just become a Christian, but enable you to experience the transformational abundant life that belongs to a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. The church is God's people who are spiritually gifted for ministry; the team of people striving to become full devoted followers of Jesus. All teams require commitment,. Leadership is part of that commitment, an essential step to being part of the team. This is certainly not works-righteousness. We are saved by faith alone, but this is "team ball." That is the central commitment we are making. The ne member is signing up to "play ball" on our ministry team. Jesus is the owner of the team, the lead pastor is the head coach; the Executive Hub members are the assistant coaches, and every other person is called to be a team member, team player, and team leader. To find out more about taking the leadership comittment, email Pastor Mike. You can also download the "Preparing for Leadership Class" notes from our Document Library.