When David Huang and I were asked by the Bishop’s Committee to coordinate and assist the five Next Step Teams, I felt honored and a little intimidated. The team chiefs had all been involved with the strategic planning committee last year and had already shown their expertise. Their roles now are the following:

Program (finding not-for-profit partners) – Ellen Burton
Building (planning & construction) – Mary Kerstein
Plan B (if funding/grants are limited) – Brian Dixon
Funding (grant coordination) – Gray Lesesne & Anne Davis
Legal/Finance (verifying & coordinating) – Erin Tanner

Each of these team chiefs have talented members of our congregation serving as team members. As I watched the first coordination meeting, it was heartening and humbling. Mary brought her engineering skills to building issues while Ellen used her project management abilities in organizing program efforts. Erin’s legal and financial backgrounds helped everyone understand how their efforts would all touch the legal and financial areas. Brian, with his background and current educational contacts, provided several great suggestions of available resources. Gray and Anne are both ultimately skilled in dealing with not-for-profits and charitable strategies. And finally, David’s organizational and marketing skills are already providing terrific contributions.

It was such a pleasure to sit and watch ideas, questions, and answers bounce among these talented people. The bottom line here is that I have no doubt Good Samaritan will have a church home beyond our current lease with Harris Academy. We’ll keep you updated as we make progress!

-Kevin Samples, Senior Warden