Membership & Elections

Things You Need to Know, my friends!! :) 

Now LifeBridge has received full approval on its constitution, many items will be moving forward and it's important everyone knows the processes which surround them. The main two items that will be taking place is the approval and installation of members (in this case, charter members) by Pastor Jon (as per our new constitution), and the nomination and election of new officers for the Board of Directors (as per our constitution) led by the Nomination Committee and the present Board of Elders. 

The approval and installation of members will take place in the following way:

- Those seeking recognition as members of LifeBridge will simply email Pastor Jon at jon@lifebridgesealy.com to begin the process.

- Once Pastor Jon receives the individuals or families' request, they will be notified within 24 hours whether they are immediately approved (these are mostly those who have transferred from another LCMS congregation or those who have taken the Partnership class already), or whether they have been provisionally approved pending a one on one meeting with Pastor to go over the requirements and expectations of member of LifeBridge.

The requirements and duties for being a member of LifeBridge is as follows, which is taken from our constitution:

- lead a Christian life as taught in Galatians 5:19-26;

- attend worship services faithfully and regularly;

- partake of the Lord’s Supper frequently as commanded by Christ in Matthew 26:26-29;

- contribute, as God has blessed them, of their time, talents and treasure toward the maintenance of this Congregation and the extension of the Church at large (I Corinthians 16:2); and

- submit to brotherly admonition, according to Matthew 18, when having erred or offended;

- not be members of any organization conflicting with the Word of God (Matthew 10:32).

Before asking for membership at LifeBridge, please take time to pray over and discern whether these duties can be faithfully taken on as they pertain to your life and understanding of what God is calling you to.

Once approved by Pastor Jon via email, the immediate Sunday following that approval (or a Sunday that is on or before November 1st) the individual or family will be requested to be at worship to be installed before the congregation as official members of LifeBridge.

Starting today and beginning this Sunday, Pastor Jon will be taking requests for membership and installing members at LifeBridge. Installing new members will occur every Sunday through November 1st, when we will have the elections for the new Board of Directors. To be eligible to vote or run for an office, one must be recognized and installed as member of LifeBridge by November 1st.


Now, the process of nominations for the Board of Directors and the subsequent elections for those board positions will happen as follows:

- Starting today, all positions (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and all 4 Elders positions) are open for nominations. This open nomination period will last for one week only, and will end on Wednesday October 14th.

- In order to be placed on the nomination list for any of these board positions, the Nomination Committee (Consisting of Sue Kristynik, Alan Boehm, and another member to be identified later) or any Elder (Vernon Ekarius, Robert Fait, Alfred Tomasek, David Fait, Vic Grisbee, or Alan Boehm) must be informed or the individual must sign up on the posted form at LifeBridge on or before the deadline of October 14th.

- After October 14th, a person can still be nominated for a position but it must be done from the floor of the Congregational Meeting on November 1st.

- On Sunday October 18th, the slate of nominations will be announced to the congregation, as well as an official announcement of a congregational meeting on November 1st.  This slate will be reposted on October 25th.  All these communications will be done during the Sunday service times as well as via an email to the entire congregation.

- On November 1st, the elections for the Board of Directors positions will take place by a secret, written ballot.

Thank you so much for taking time to read through this email. I hope to hear from many of you about membership, and I pray for and encourage all those discerning whether to be a part of our new Board of Directors. 

                         In Christ's Grace,

                                   Pastor Jonathan