Let me begin by taking this opportunity to thank all of the friends and members of the church for their cards, visits, food, prayers and well wishes during my recent hospitalization and recuperation at home. It really came as quite a surprise to me when I made that visit to the doctor on December 4 and he informed me that I wasn't going to go anywhere except to the hospital across the street.

Your support and care during this time has been a real comfort for me. It is one of the things I love about Broadalbin, and it reminds me again of how fortunate I have been in our more than 25 years together.

As I reflect on our years of ministry together and especially this past year I realize how blessed I have been. The dinner and celebration of our 25 years together and the 30th anniversary of my ordination in June is a cherished memory.

Workcamp continues to be an important part of our mission. At the end of June we traveled to Hurricane, West Virginia to touch and be touched by the residents of that area.

In October we began a contemporary-informal worship service on Sunday evenings at 6:00 pm. The services were suspended due to my illness but as soon as the doctor allows we will begin them again. We have two worship teams doing the planning and the response of those attending has been positive. We will continue to fine tune the service and work at developing a real time of dialogue. I am pleased with the service as it is developing and look forward to developing a new way of worship.

In November, Mark McConnell and I attended a conference on natural church development-a guide to eight essential qualities of healthy churches. Christian Schwarz is head of the Institute of Church Development located in Germany. He has data from over 3,000 churches in 32 countries on 6 continents and has discovered that there are 8 quality characteristics that have a direct impact on the health of a congregation.

The 8 quality characteristics are:
1. Empowering leadership
2. Gift-oriented ministry
3. Passionate spirituality
4. Functioning structures
5. Inspiring worship
6. Holistic small groups
7. Need-oriented evangelism
8. Loving relationships

Mark and I will be working in 2001 with the Model Church Committee to look at this program as it helps us to become the congregation God created us to be.

During the year we were saddened by the deaths of LeRoy Stahl, Eleanor Parker, Lewis Pearo and Margaret Bogusz.

Again I want to thank you all for your support and prayers during the past year and ask for your continued prayers as we seek to strengthen our ministry.