Merge Minute
Check out our "Merge Minute" series where Pastor Eric and Pastor Josh share devotionals and chat about what's going on with this merge thing. Check back here regularly. We will continue to post more videos and communication.
Merge Evaluation & Transition Team
Hello, Living Hope Church!
We wanted to give a brief update on the status of the proposed merge with Upstate Fellowship. During our leadership meeting on Aug 18th, our leadership team approved the creation of a new merge evaluation and transition team. This team will be comprised of a subset of members from the search team. At the recommendation of church merge resources and a merge consultant, this will be a joint team of 3 people from each church in addition to the two senior pastors.
From LHCC, the members are:
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Pastor Eric Walton,
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Dave Ivey,
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Jeff Knox, and
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Andy York.
From UF, the members are:
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Pastor Josh Billings,
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Rod Augur,
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Scott Hoffman, and
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Nate Mailly.
This team has been commissioned by the LHCC leadership team and UF Elder board to continue exploring the merge between Upstate Fellowship and Living Hope Christian Church. As part of this effort, the team may reach out to you to hear your thoughts, ideas, or concerns. One of the primary goals of this team is to ensure that everyone from both churches feels that they are informed and prepared for when the vote to merge is called.
Please continue to pray about this merge and pray for wisdom for this new team as they work to listen and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit through this process.
Merger Announcement
I announced last December, on my 70th birthday, that I am stepping down from being Senior Pastor and looking for someone to fill that role. This new role would allow me to put more time into evangelism and discipleship, which God is calling me to and I am deeply passionate about. We formed a search team to begin the process of looking for candidates and have been meeting weekly since January 15th, 2024. The search team has worked so hard praying, fasting, meeting and listening. I am so proud of the team and all it has done and is still doing.
As they worked, the Spirit showed up and moved in huge ways. Through visions, words of knowledge and dreams, the Spirit has confirmed this is the right direction. I am confident that not only has the Spirit led us to this place but will lead us to an incredibly bright future. It is a powerful thing to witness the Holy Spirit move so clearly in our church and leadership and I am so proud of everyone that has been involved.
So, today I am so excited to announce that we didn't just find a candidate, we found a whole congregation! As we prayed and fasted, we strongly sensed the Spirit calling us to consider a potential merger with another church in our area. A church that shares our excitement for the Gospel and our strong call to discipleship. This church is Upstate Fellowship of Clifton Park.
With this merger, we believe the Spirit is leading us to call the current Senior Pastor of Upstate Fellowship, Josh Billings, to continue as the Senior Pastor of the combined church.
Our mission statement is to Share, Strengthen, Send. This mission has not only brought us to this point, it is showing us that we can be more effective together.
We don’t have all the details as to what this involves but we do know the Spirit has led us to this place and we are eager to see how He guides next.
We know that we are being led to form something new together, something larger, something that will have a greater impact than what we could have on our own.
The vision for us merging is larger than just the combination of two congregations. It is a shared vision that “All people would taste and see that the Lord is good.” This vision includes the priority of congregational unity and of impacting the local community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The motivation behind this merger is that together we are better at making and sending disciple makers into the world.
Neither church needs this merger to survive or even thrive. However, we are motivated to consider merging based on the Holy Spirit guiding us to the vision of seeing a greater impact in the local community and beyond.
Here are some quick facts to consider.
Quick Facts
Living Hope will host a Q&A on August 4, directly after the service with Pastor Josh and Pastor Eric.
Upstate Fellowship will host a Q&A on August 5, from 7-8:30pm at the Billings’ house with Pastor Josh and Pastor Eric.
Josh Billings will be preaching August 4 at Living Hope. Eric Walton will be preaching August 18 at Upstate Fellowship. Both churches are welcome at both locations on these dates.
A timeline will be announced as soon as we can work through some of the larger details.
A copy of the announcement and an FAQ sheet will be handed out at the end of the service and will be posted on our website for anyone who is interested.