Author Ralph Neighbor distinguishes between two approaches to church life: the cell church design, and the program-based design. Neighbors says of program-based churches,

But of cell-based churches he observes,

The cell-based church sees the emphasis as decentralization, and grass-roots ministry. The program-based church sees the system of programs as the key – a smooth-running ministry with groups ready to meet every need through an array of specialized ministries.

Xenos has grown out of a vision for cell-based church design. >From the beginning, Xenos has focused on lay-led neighborhood groups meeting in homes as the key to building Christian community and reaching the lost with God’s love. As groups disciple their own members and produce new leaders, a process of multiplication may lead to explosive growth. Xenos excels in training lay leaders and in supporting home group ministry with central teachings. Our youth ministry, although backed by a program, is also cell-based.

At times, we have seen limitations to an exclusive dependence on the cell-based model. The arrival of hundreds of children in the community has required us to form extensive programs such as Xenos Christian Schools and OASIS. Biblical convictions in the area of missions, both local and around the world, have led us to build programs like our World Missions department and Urban Concern. Today, Xenos depends to a large degree on scores of programs that are substantially unrelated to the cell ministry paradigm. As the church has grown larger, we have seen a clear trend where programs become increasingly important in our overall ministry.

The growth of programs in our church is potentially helpful and, we believe it should be compatible with our earlier vision of cell-based ministry. However, this compatibility is not automatic or easy. Neighbor has a sober warning:

Fortunately, Xenos has an advantage over such gloomy scenarios, because we actually began as a cell-based church. But might not the growth in programs lead to contradictions or at least tensions in our church as well?

We believe Neighbor is speaking in the extreme when he claims these two approaches cannot be blended. We think they must be blended if we are to carry out a balanced ministry as a large church with a diverse membership. The two approaches may be viewed more as a continuum than as neat antitheses. On the other hand, we may agree that the two paradigms are not ultimately compatible. A church has to settle on the question of their ruling paradigm lest they suffer a form of ministry schizophrenia. Only then can elements of the other approach be adopted without diminishing the effectiveness of a church’s chosen ethos.

At Xenos, we have always known what our ruling paradigm is. We are a cell-based church today, as we always have been. Even at our adult central teachings, 80% of those attending are currently involved in a home group. Most of those also attend a smaller cell group for discipleship and koinonia. At student meetings, involvement in home groups approaches 100% or even higher! But mere involvement in home group is not proof of a cell-based ethos. At Xenos, we go further, believing that the heart of true church life is living involvement in Christian community, and universal commitment to ministry within real relationships. We could see all our programs disappear tomorrow and the church would not only survive, but continue to flourish as our 100 home groups and 240 cell groups continued to build each other up in love.

Even though the heart of our church is cell-ministry, our programs are not unimportant. For years we waited in vain for the cell-based model to spontaneously reach into the poorer areas of our city. Only when we banded together to form an intentional program to reach the poor (Urban Concern) did we finally see meaningful ministry to the poor flourish. Similarly, how many foreign missionaries would we have today if we had not formed a missions department, funded their staff, and begun recruiting, training, sending, and supporting mission teams?

Our Christian education for children programs are typical of ministry that is overlooked or at least poorly accomplished by pure cell-based groups. Likewise, we could, and have, carried out central teachings without any music or facility. But who would argue that these outreach meetings are not enhanced by our support programs? Cell-based churches often have no study centers, or formal equipping ministries, and the result is a lower level of training and decreased quality of leadership.

Sometimes exclusively cell-based churches end up focusing only on building themselves up. Although the individuals in the groups may be self-sacrificial as they serve each other, the church as a whole is self-centered. All the blessing of God flows into the church, but nothing flows out. Yet God clearly calls us not just to build up our own church. We are also to spread his love to other peoples and we are to care for the poor. (Matt. 28:18-20; James 1:27-2:1-7,15,16) To accomplish these aspects of our mission, we need programs that enable us to band together as a larger force capable of fielding the kind of hitting power such daunting tasks require. This is why the Spirit called on the early church to go beyond the proliferation of their home groups and set aside Paul and Barnabas to go out and reach other peoples. (Acts. 13:1-5) This was a program launched and funded by the local church in Antioch.

In a word, programs enable a cell-based church like ours to be purposeful about a particular direction in ministy, and thereby attained results well in excess of those cell-groups alone will ever accomplish. But Neighbor’s warning is valid. We cannot allow the growth of programs to crowd out our first mission either in funding or by monopolizing people’s attention, effort, or time.

What then, is the right relationship between programs and cell ministry? And how do we preserve the proper relationship?

In a word, a healthy cell-based church develops programs as it grows, but limits itself to programs that enhance and facilitate the heart of the church: the foundational cell-based ministry and its God-given mission. Periodically, we have to assess whether our programs are over-growing their intended function, or straying from their support role. Programs have a tendency to take on a life of their own. Likewise, staff has a tendency to perpetuate and expand itself, eventually creating an unnecessary bureaucracy that stifles cell-based ministry more than facilitating it.

This year, the elders, management team, and finally the Fiscal Support Team tackled these questions again, assessing a wide range of program options. This report contains a summary of our primary decisions for 1999, along with the decisions made by the fiscal support team. We believe the new programs and expansion on existing programs will make the home-based ministry in the church easier and more effective. But the whole church will need ongoing vigilance to avoid sliding down the same hill so many churches before us have slid with devastating results.

Missions Division

What a wonderful year this was for Xenos and Missions! It’s safe to say that we, as a church, labored with God to advance his desire to mobilize an effective cross-cultural witness in the world. Here are just a few of the highlights.

With the help of several of you, we crafted and implemented a Missions Mobilizers program. This program was built to help increase awareness of missions activities and to provide meaningful opportunities in which more people can get involved.

Several noted missions leaders contributed to the awareness-raising effort. Speakers who visited Xenos included Josef Tson, Ray Howard, George Verwer, and Graham & Liz Cousens. In addition, more than 50 Xenos members went to the regional ACMC conference held in Akron, Ohio. Dennis McCallum was the keynote speaker at that conference and Holly McCallum presented a workshop on home support team ministries. Over 30 people took the all-new missions class offered by Holly this fall. And most of the Missions staff studied courses from Columbia International University and attended other important missions conferences.

Several new missionary couples were accredited and began to raise support. Fritz & Marianne prepared to join the team in Eastern Europe. The team of Robb & Holly, Tim & Jennifer, and Sean & Amy prepared to go to Taiwan. And Mark & Steph (accredited in 1997) made final preparations to join the team in Brazil.

Other initiatives included sending over $23,000 to Southeast Asia to assist the team’s relief and development efforts, beginning to research and plan a relief and development ministry in the Caribbean, and researching a mission in Cambodia.

On the home front, the Dayton home group, First Frontier, made arrangements to become an independent church, the home group in Zanesville grew, and the International Students Ministry made plans to become even more effective.

Urban Concern reached many for Christ, opened an inner-city school, helped improve the academic performance of many children, saw two South Linden youth off to college, nearly completed two houses for the Low-Income housing program, helped two families into home ownership, all while making important and challenging organizational changes.

In 1999 the Missions Division will continue to pursue the goal of "upsetting the world" for Christ. Toward that end, here are some of the goals we'll need to accomplish. For starters, 5 couples will need to be sent to the field (three to Taiwan, one to Eastern Europe, and possibly one to Lebanon). We will need to complete research on the Caribbean and Cambodian missions. Part of that research process will include multiple trips to those sites in order to gain first hand knowledge of needs and ministry options. By the end of the year, we will need to ready teams to send to those fields. And we will need to advance relief and development strategies for existing fields.

In all, we’ll need to mobilize nine more couples for service in foreign fields. We need to ready two couples to join the team in Southeast Asia and two to join the team in Eastern Europe. To enhance this mobilization effort, Holly McCallum will be promoted to director. She’ll oversee the newly formed Mobilization Department and develop and implement a more formal candidate preparation program. In addition, 50% of Xenos home group members will need to be enlisted as Missions Mobilizers.

Short-term mission trips heighten awareness about the need for Christ in other corners of the world, and they enrich our understanding and vision for what God is doing to reach the lost outside of Central Ohio. The Mobilization Department will shoulder the responsibility to build a short-term strategy and organize various trips.

To be effective at upsetting the world for Christ, we will need to keep up our home-based support structure. So several key missions staff and leaders will need to engage in some additional study this year. They’ll attend some conferences, take some classes, and be provided with adequate technical support.

Local cross-cultural evangelism will need to become more effective. With the generous funding supplied by the Fiscal Support Team and other Xenos givers, we should be able to provide quite a bit of help. With that help, we hope to see the International Students Bible Study attendance increase to 30 people/week. In fact, we’ll need to see Word in the Hood (Urban Concern’s adult outreach ministry), the South Linden Bible Study, and the Zanesville home group all grow. And with that help, we’ll need to advance the increasingly important ministry of Youth for Christ on the West Side of Columbus.

Finally, Urban Concern will need to press ahead with ministry to the needy of South Linden. To help them, we plan to expand the Harambee Christian School by one class (adding first grade), renovate more low-income homes, prepare more South Linden families for home ownership, and send youth on short-term missions trips. And we’ll help them get better organized so they can become more effective at their mission--breaking the cycle of poverty and raising up Christian leaders in South Linden.

Wow! God did incredible things through you this year. We restructured this division at the beginning of 1998 to respond to the growth we began to see in late 1997. Part of that includes our new name, but we have the same mission. God has continued to grow this church through your work both in size and in quality. Your decisions at last year’s Fiscal Support Team retreat powerfully impacted the church, including helping people come to a relationship with Jesus Christ – the ultimate purpose of the church. Let’s take a look at the year.

• One of the key 1998 goals was to hire a Central Teaching Program Director. John Rue was hired early in the year, and he has accomplished all of the goals set forward and exceeded many, particularly in the quality of the ministry. John was instrumental in pulling together the tremendous efforts of our Central Teaching task team members (over 300), children’s program workers, Mark Grover’s sound and light team, our staff which cares for and enhances our facility, talented musicians, and gifted teachers. The result? God is bringing an average of over 200 more people per month into our church in 1998. Please check out Phil Franck’s report on the Pastoral Division and you will find even more exciting news about how these people are experiencing fellowship in home groups.
• The Fiscal Support Team voted in money last year to produce professional videos to augment Central Teachings. Horizons Video provided their creative expertise to produce five videos, working in cooperation with Chris Lang and Ryan Lowery of our Media & Graphics department. This team taped personal testimonies that poignantly demonstrated God’s desire and power to change the lives of his followers. We will produce more of these videos in 1999!

• The Fiscal Support Team also voted in an exciting addition to the efforts of our division for 1998-- "Evangelism Initiatives" are efforts to help enhance Christians’ efforts to communicate the message of Christ to their friends and families. For example, we provided professionally designed and printed invitations to key Central Teaching series, and we promoted the "Sharing Your Faith" classes, sports-viewing parties (don’t forget the Super Bowl on Jan. 31^st!), deck grand opening parties, and invitations to new families in our area. Our Central Teaching mini-series were among the most highly attended of the year, our "Sharing Your Faith" classes were better attended than they had been for several years, and we know of many people making new friends at our various parties. Patty Flores has been instrumental in putting many of these initiatives into motion. Jackie House has also served long hours to make these events a success. Virtually every initiative had a host of volunteers insuring a warm but professional result.

These three initiatives, coupled with over a thousand workers who are excited about God and take prayer seriously, has resulted in some exhilarating growth. This includes 89 people mentioning on their Welcome Cards that they had made a decision to ask Christ into their lives! Check out this growth at our Central Teachings.

Home groups in our division have grown beyond our goals. We had hoped to see the 5 groups grow to about 145 members by late summer. Instead they grew to about 160 people in 7 groups. These numbers and the numbers of new people in the Pastoral division’s home groups indicate true growth and potential for great spiritual health for our church as a whole.

• Our "community-oriented" ministries also enjoyed a year of growth. Conversation & Cuisine celebrated its seventh year of providing home groups with a dinner and discussion format that enables neighbors and work mates to get to know each other on a deeper level. The PlayGroup Network provides neighborhood play groups for mostly pre-school aged children to play together. Simultaneously, stay-at-home parents have an opportunity to make friends in their neighborhood and share ideas on becoming better parents. You voted in an administrative manager at last year’s Fiscal Support Team retreat, and Christine Walker has brought additional creativity and energy to an already committed team of leaders. Pam Fallara enters her second year as the Senior Leader with a special burden to provide additional resources to families to deepen marriages and enjoy family life to its fullest. GameTime is a sports ministry led by Steve Sommers which was recently moved from the Pastoral Division. Our church is often described by guests as "very active," and GameTime is one of several reasons for that description. Steve organizes softball, basketball, and volleyball leagues spaced throughout the year. Xenos home group members enjoy introducing friends and family to our church, and this ministry provides a friendly, yet competitive sports environment in which guests can "get to know us" a little better. God used these three community-oriented ministries to bring many singles and families into contact with our church. More importantly, they served as a "springboard" that God has used to bring people into a relationship with him.
• The Xenos Summer Institute was a big success this year. Attendance grew by more than 200 people over last year (approximately 900 total), and the schedule became more compact and convenient. Once again, we had great guest speakers in J. P. Moreland and Bob Briner. Our logistics team, staff newcomer Laura Yoerger and veteran Heidi Ann Klingler, with key volunteers including Carolyn Voelker and Carla Schoenleb (and many others) provided an extraordinary experience for our many guests. In addition to the Summer Institute, the department provided support for an excellent series of lectures by Josef Tson in November. Activity wasn't limited to Columbus though. Dennis McCallum, Gary DeLashmutt, Jim Leffel and Donal O’Mathuna all had opportunities to speak to Christians at outside conferences.
• Have you heard great teaching series that you wish you could share with a friend or family member who was not there? Have you wished you could "re-live" these teachings? This year, External Relations ventured into a brand new area--Central Teachings on CD-ROM. We developed 5 mini-series CD's such as Building Closer Friendships and Common Objections to Christianity. So far, over 200 CD's have been sold. The department also explored new ways of promoting Xenos materials through the purchase of an outside mailing list, and the use of mass e-mail. You can also now get our burgeoning web site on CD! You can search the site just like you were online – only much faster. We developed new tape series and promoted several hundred of our past Central Teaching tapes to the larger Christian community for the first time.

• The web site got a face-lift in 1998 with a new, professionally designed "front end." We also added streaming audio and video Bible teachings. Web site traffic continues its dramatic growth, with over 15,000 people visiting the site each month. Our web site has become a highly successful method of sharing our strengths with other churches and Christians throughout the world. We thank God for the fruit he is bearing through this new avenue. As you’ll see below, the Fiscal Support Team responded to this success and focused more attention on the web by authorizing a full-time Media Productions Manager.

• External Relations continued to provide a promotional plan, materials, and the leg work behind the recruiting for the Real Life program. This program recruits college students who are Christians, but not members of Xenos, to attend Ohio State University or Columbus State. Simultaneously, we train them in the key Christian ministries of evangelism and discipleship through their involvement in the Campus Bible Study. Jay Reilly, Kamie Dixon, Jeff Gabriel, and others have worked industriously to get the word out about this program in 1998. To date, over 150 High School students have requested Real Life materials. Our first student, the daughter of missionary parents, enrolled in the program this past fall. This has been a promising development, with a steady stream of inquiries from other missionaries since the fall. We were hoping for more students by this time, yet have learned much about the Christian community at large as we have promoted this program. Jay and his team visited many schools and programs this Fall, representing what God offers through Real Life. They will begin to ask interested students to visit us this winter and spring. Please continue to pray that God brings us into contact with students who want a solid education and hands-on ministry training.

The growth in 1998 has whetted the appetite for Christian work for many people. Our church is not primarily about a few staff doing ministry. God has convinced us that the New Testament picture is how his work is done is by all Christians playing our roles as he has gifted us. Each of our seven divisions is committed to this biblical picture of ministry.

In the midst of all this activity and growth on so many different fronts, we have to ask "How can we best take advantage of this?" As you know, God’s Word tells us that communicating the gospel is central to the purpose of the church. Every division in this church communicates a message, in text and graphically, to those investigating Christianity, not just Community Relations. All seven divisions have materials, events, announcements, brochures, videos, web pages, etc. which communicate their mission and vision.

It is time to put our arms around this growing body of material in such a way that honors the individual burdens and efforts of those who lead the various ministries, yet also provides a consistent message in content and look. To do this, we have formed the new department of Communications with John Rue as its director. It is actually a department that coalesces existing departments and incorporates a mission that will serve the entire church.

The three elements of the Communications department are:

• Central Teaching Programming - This element ties together the many logistical and technical aspects of our adult Central Teachings--the preparations during the week before, the logistics of the meeting itself, and the follow-up during the weeks following each meeting. The Fiscal Support Team approved the second quarter hiring of a Central Teaching program manager to assist John Rue and continue to enhance our guests’ experience.

• Media Productions - This is the primary element of Communications through which you will see the various projects of the divisions come together (described in more detail under the sub-heading 1999 Primary Goals). An excellent example of this is our Pastoral Division’s project of producing a professional Home Group video. They have commissioned the Communications department, specifically the Media Productions element to bring this to fruition.
  
  The Fiscal Support Team has approved the hire of a Media Productions manager. This person will serve as our web-master while helping to pull together communications projects for all of the divisions of the church (brochures, videos, web materials, flyers, audio cassettes, etc.). The web-master will ensure that our web-site will communicate a consistent message about our church, and will make this message available in print, video, and other art forms. She or he will also be instrumental in helping to enhance our presence in the Columbus area.
  
  The web-site promises to take a quantum leap forward in 1999 thanks to the addition of this Media Production manager. Pages will take on a more consistent, polished look and will be updated more frequently. We will add more quality content, and there will be more interactive services available as well.
  
  We will also improve our "Xenos Identity Packet." This is presently an attractive folder with brief descriptions of our church’s mission and vision, and overviews of our ministry. Yet, we know that a picture really is worth a thousand words, particularly when we are trying to describe God’s impact in peoples’ lives through these ministries. It is disappointing when a guest attends Central Teaching and leaves with the impression that this meeting defines Xenos. To help with a concise, accurate, yet warm picture of Xenos, the Fiscal Support Team approved the development of a multimedia "identity packet" that will incorporate professionally produced audio and video shots. We will be able to use this material in video and audio cassettes, as well as on our web site.

• Master Scheduling - Xenos is too large and diverse to not have a central point for scheduling events, projects and facility usage. Michelle Houston will work with John Rue to be the point person for this key ministry. This element of Communications will ensure that the "right hand knows what the left is doing," that we are communicating that information, and will help us to bring all of the resources of Xenos to bear on the event. A good example of this might be Student Ministry’s Parent Orientations this spring. The Community Relations division is looking forward to helping these parents get a good feel for what type of church we are and what God is doing through us.
  
  In 1998, we did two baptisms at Riverby Park instead of one. We baptized 115 people, 92 at the August event. This baptism was too long and quite an administrative strain. We need a solution that will allow smaller numbers of people to be baptized (15-20), allow longer testimonies, keep the large crowd festive atmosphere, yet accommodate continued growth of the church. The Fiscal Support Team voted in a way to implement this solution. We will build an attractive landscape pond on site that will serve as a baptism pool as well. It will be totally hygienic, safe for adults and children, and available to all of our home groups for baptisms. The new deck and large barbecue grill will combine to provide a superior baptism event. This will significantly decrease our expenses for baptisms, but more importantly it will provide the warm atmosphere these events deserve.
  
  We hope to see more new faces at the 1999 Xenos Summer Institute since the Fiscal Support Team voted in a tuition reduction that will make the July 14-17 conference very affordable for Xenos Home Group members. Os Guinness and Mark Dever will be the guest speakers for this year's institute. Additional conferences are on the docket for 1999. We will be hosting a total of 4 conferences, including George Barna, the Christian Medical and Dental Society, a large Missions conference and the Xenos Summer Institute. Many more people will be exposed to the ministry of Xenos through these events, and the church as a whole will be better equipped as a result of these opportunities.

All in all, it looks like God has planned another exciting year for our church. The Community Relations division is looking forward to contributing to his work and making the real Christian workers’ (that’s you) job a little easier. Stay in prayer.

Student Ministries Division

From September 1997 to September 1998, God gave 9% overall growth in our OASIS, junior high, senior high and college ministries. We now have over 1,200 children and students attending each week and for that we're thankful to God. We anticipate additional growth this year, and we hope to manage it efficiently and spiritually.

The OASIS program accomplished a major goal, that of managing the program growth in our new facility. Because attendance levels are at record highs, we are using many more classrooms and overseeing a broader volunteer base. To accommodate this expansion, we reorganized our administrative staff. It was a worthwhile process. The reorganization gave us improved efficiency to handle the growth. Hats of to Kathy Steinman, our courageous director. Also, hats off to the Fiscal Support Team for approving an administrative hire, Nancie Baker. She greatly enhanced our efficiency this year. Again, teacher recruitment was a top priority—but with God’s help we met the goal. Adding pagers to each classroom was a nice technological addition. No longer do we get distracted from Gary or Dennis' teachings by the obnoxious parent monitor board.

We saw growth at Xenos Christian Schools as well. With the addition of grades 3 through 5 at Xenos Christian Schools and the start up of Harambee Christian School, enrollment increased by 81 students, for a combined total of 490 in all three schools--Calumet, Xenos, and Harambee. Congratulations to Dave Glover, superintendent, who stayed on course and on budget. With the expansion, we added Carole Bucklew as principal to Xenos Christian School, and Alex Steinman as principal for Harambee Christian School. Both are welcome and needed additions to our great staff. The administration and teachers are also seeing excellent results from our new math and language arts curriculum.

Our Melee program, led by Travis Henderson, is a monthly outreach to fourth and fifth grade boys. It has been a tremendous success. Each month we are seeing the majority of our Xenos students bringing their unchurched friends. In addition, many of these unchurched incoming sixth-graders are being transitioned into our junior high Blow Out.

At the junior high level, we’re seeing record numbers in our JAM (Sunday morning program) and cell group meetings. JAM experienced a growth of 20 students. However, our large meeting, the Blow Out, didn't grow at all. We hope to fix that problem by making several programming improvements and by improving our personal follow up with the newer students. We are, however, grateful to God for the cell group growth. This past year, 3 new cell groups were planted, and as a whole our cells grew by 34 unchurched students. 22 of these students reported that they have received Christ!

Due to the hard work of our Tom Dixon and staff, volunteers, new space, and the grace of God, we are seeing over 160 high schoolers pile into our new facility each week. And guess what--we are running out of space again! Thanks to the support of the Fiscal Support Team members, we hope to build a youth facility within the next 12 to 15 months to alleviate the crowded conditions and enable the group to reach more students. This past year, the group grew by 33 students, most of them were unchurched! 25 of them said they received Christ this year and most of them joined a cell group. The challenge this year will be to grow in the midst of crowded conditions.

Our college outreach experienced solid growth. Home churches grew by 21 students while the Campus Central Teaching grew by 36 students. This past year, our director, Dennis McCallum, rallied the troops in planting 3 home churches. Two were student plants and one was an adult plant. These plants are crucial, as they not only spur on growth but also fuel additional leadership. It is also important to mention that not all college home churches thrived; some experienced hardship. One thing is for sure, the OSU campus is a mission field and a hard one at that. Fruit doesn’t come without struggle and perseverance.

We want to continue filling up our new facilities! This year we hope to add hundreds to our student programs while taking measures to build effectively and deeply.

At OASIS, we want to successfully manage the program growth by determining the future growth of this ministry. A comprehensive look at Xenos' families and how many children are coming into our program will be necessary along with a detailed look at a classroom needs analysis. This year, we anticipate overcrowding of several morning OASIS classrooms. For overflow, we plan on using the Study Center Auditorium for the older grades and possibly the Xenos Administrative office conference rooms. To handle the major demands of volunteer recruitment, we hope to develop a year round recruiting ministry team.

At Xenos Christian School, we plan to evaluate the effectiveness of Harambee Christian School and determine plans for adding first grade. As with OASIS, we plan on defining more closely our long term expansion plans and accommodations for the growing enrollment.

We are hoping to see the junior high programs grow by 40 students. In order to secure this growth, we need improvements in follow-up and meeting programming. The hiring of Travis Henderson will help. The leadership also hopes to build solidly by planting between six cell groups and adding a net total of 19 new workers. In addition, the OASIS to junior high transition should improve with a newly organized "Parent Orientation Party."

The main goal for the high school work will be to grow in the midst of crowded conditions. Yes, the newly approved youth facility will hold 700 students and workers--but this provision is a year or more off. Until that time, we need a temporary solution. One idea is to hold two semi-separate meetings during the same time and in the same building. Here, one half of the group would be held upstairs in the Study Center auditorium for their teaching while the other half would remain downstairs in the Youth Room. At the end of the night, both groups would join up together. Please pray for us as we try different ideas. As in the junior high, the high school leadership hopes to plant several cell groups--perhaps even 9. Many cells are overcrowded and unmanageable. We figure an additional 21 trained workers will enable us to accomplish the plant goals. What a challenge! Finally, several of our motivated students have started after-school outreach Bible studies on their high school campuses. The results have been exciting. Some are coming to Christ already and many have started attending our Sunday night large meeting. Praise God! We hope these student led groups will thrive the rest of the year and next fall.

This year we hope to see a growth of 50 students within our college ranks. To accomplish this, we will set a priority on planting new ministry houses (Christian rooming houses). We are hoping for six such plants. If that happens, then another major goal of planting three more home churches could be accomplished. In addition, the leadership would like to assess the quality of the ministry by using the quality assessment tools developed by Christian Schwartz. By determining where our weaknesses are, we can more effectively lead and grow this ministry.

At this time last year, the church was just beginning a year of wonderful growth. We were all adapting to accommodate the initial wave of growth the church was enjoying after opening the doors to the new facility. One of the challenges for the pastoral division--and a blessed challenge--was figuring out "how are we going to take this huge influx of new people at Central Teachings, and aid these folks to get involved in the main arena for growth in this church, namely home groups?" We were well aware that Xenos must maintain a high level of involvement in home groups (80% of people at Central Teachings) in order to not go the oft-traveled way of becoming languid, disengaged church that has great teachers. Great teaching is of course a huge part of the church’s health, but a bigger reason for the spiritual vibrancy of Xenos is the relationships, maturity, and ministry that happen as a result of most people being involved in home groups. We must never forget that.

Thanks to funding approval from the Fiscal Support Team last year, we were able to add much needed Home Group Connection part-time staffer Rick Armentrout to help so many of these eager new people get into home groups. In 1997, Home Group Connection received an average of 12 requests for home groups per month; in 1998 it averaged 12 requests per week! John Cleary, Rick and the Home Group Connection volunteers did a super job by referring almost 400 inquirers from Central Teachings to home groups since this time last year.

So it’s no surprise that, not counting home groups in the evangelism division and student divisions, Pastoral Division home groups attendance has risen by around 150 over this time last year.

Central Teaching growth also accentuates the need to multiply home groups. Home Group Director Danny Walker explains how this works:

A lot of sophisticated planning goes into helping groups plant off new groups, so Xenos Elder Jeff Gordon joined the home group staff part time to help oversee groups. We’re totally blessed to have a man of his caliber. We planted a total of 12 new home groups in 1997 and 1998.

The Pastoral Division also administrates the Servant Team. The Servant Team is Xenos’ deaconate, presently over 500 members, most of whom are home group leaders. To be a Servant Team member of this, one must get the necessary biblical training, exhibit outstanding character quality as outlined in 1 Timothy 3, and have a lifestyle of Christian love and ministry. The elders provide leadership and guidance for this group with yearly retreats and monthly meetings which contain some of the very finest material on how to do Christian ministry that you’ll find anywhere. The Servant Team grew by 53 people this year, lost 5. Because of the increasing momentum and verve for personal discipleship in Xenos now, we expect to add more members to the Servant Team this coming year.

So much of the Pastoral Division work has to do with home groups, but we are also grateful for the excellent pastoral counseling services provided by Katey Downs and her staff, Kevin Furno and Bruce Shively. Most counseling is really best done in the home group context with friends, but people do encounter struggles for which they need additional help. The counseling staff counseled around 200 people this year. Various marital and personal shipwrecks were averted this year because the counseling staff brought biblical principles to bear on difficult situations.

The parent-child breakfast Bible studies didn’t happen this year. The volunteer organizer pursued other ministry. We may do a few of these in 1999 if there is sufficient interest.

The Wednesday night corporate worship time got a decent start. Jeff and Magumi Bendit are leading this music ministry, and the year has seen an average of 60 people per meeting. It is now located in the main auditorium mezzanine, from 7:00-7:30 p.m. (before classes). Many people have expressed appreciation about the singing and were pleasantly surprised at how edifying the time was.

We expect another big year of growth in 1999. The two big growth issues are:

• Home groups need to grow by incorporating people from Central Teachings as well as through group-generated outreach. Many home groups have room to grow. Others, with some adjustments, could make the room to take in new people. Even though we hope to increase our Home Group Connection presence at the Central Teachings to further help people get into home groups, we need all of you to reach out and warmly meet new people sitting around them at Central Teachings.

• With the opening of the new building, we need more new home groups. We hope to plant at least 10 more new groups in 1999. It will be crucial to develop Christian workers who are willing to trust God to help lead new groups. With the current resurgence of a cell-based ministry emphasis over program-based ministry, we expect that many maturing Christians will rise to the challenge of helping to lead a home group.

To support these goals, here are just a few important measures we’re taking, approved by the Fiscal Support Team:

• We are taking applications for hiring a part-time Home Group Consultant to help with a greater number of groups and the complexity of indigenous church planting.
• We are allotting more funds for individual leaders to receive training, input and resources from us.
• We will take more home group leaders to national conferences on home group issues.
• We will provide two excellent Home Group Harvest Bashes per year (in April and in October).
• Here’s a really sweet new idea for helping newcomers find their way to home groups: a home group video. This 5-minute video will provide a great taste of what home groups are all about. We hope to give it away to inquirers.

We expect another strong flow of new Servant Team members this year to build on an already strong core in the church. We will also continue to hold events in which people from all around the fellowship can mix and meet other people, namely, the cinema review nights, and the coffee house nights at the Study Center.

So it’s been a great year for growth for the main ministries of the pastoral division, and all indications are that the Lord will bear more fruit through it in the coming year. Please pray for this!

1998 was an outstanding year for Xenos equipping ministries. This is a very encouraging basis on which to build in 1999.

Enrollment in adult education courses has never been greater. Hundreds of people are taking classes for the first time. This is one crucial indication that with significant growth in the church, we can maintain the level of depth that has always characterized Xenos. Nearly 200 people took Christian Principles class, which means that our Servant Team should continue to grow. Ministries will also experience growth, as equipped Christians enter our work-force.

This year we trained Jenny Hale and Mike Sullivan to teach Christian Principles. This will allow us to cut class size in half, which will improve the depth of feedback and attention available to students. We were also able to bring Jen Carle on board as a full-time staff person to help augment Mike's time in administering class registration and course follow-up.

In 1998, eight key leaders, including three elders, participated in a rigorous 12-hour per week seminar that includes four seminary-level courses in Old and New Testament study. This group helped refine the curriculum that will be used in coming years. The seminar provides high level training without requiring leaders to leave their ministries for seminary or other Bible colleges.

Crossroads Project contributors remain active, even though we no longer offer our "Death of Truth" conferences. We have had the opportunity to send some of our contributors to several national conferences and major universities. We also continue to publish in magazines, journals and books. The Xenos Summer Institute continues to attract inspiring speakers and generates encouraging enthusiasm for our ministry around the country.

We were able to make numerous valuable additions to our Study Center materials this year. We now have about twenty seminary courses on audio tape for individual and small group study. Several excellent CD-ROM series have been added to our collection, along with scores of new reference books and popular literature. Peggy Bartunek headed up a team of staff and volunteers that helped renovate the Study Center space to make it more conducive to study, and expanded the space available for materials. Our new library management system was also finally converted, after several delays.

We're confident that 1999 will be another year of growth, as our adults commit to becoming even better students of the Word. To support this growth, we will identify two additional candidates for teaching Christian Principles. Our goal is to get class size down to 30 students by January, 2000. Let's pray for these new teachers.

We will again offer the leadership seminar in 1999, targeting leaders and teachers of the future. For the Xenos Summer Institute, we are pleased that Os Guinness, a noted Christian author and speaker, will join us this July.

In the Study Center, 1999 will see our entire collection go on-line. Patrons will be able to order tapes or reserve materials via e-mail and the web. All you'll need to do is place an order, and come pick it up.

In 1999, the equipping ministries of Xenos will continue to cultivate opportunities for our fellowship to learn about and be prepared to live a lifestyle of God-focused Christian ministry. We will strive to provide the tools necessary to make ministry effective and rewarding.

Last year, our division's primary annual goal was simply to facilitate ministry within the church. We gauged our success in this endeavor by the feedback we received from staff and our members. Based on this criteria, 1998 was a great success. We were able to pause from 3 years of facility development projects, and get down to the work of providing what is needed for a more productive work and ministry environment.

Our study center, office and youth building have provided us with an excellent headquarters for ministry since November 1996. In August 1997, our Main Campus opened its doors. So, 1998 marked our first full year in all of our new facilities.

In our Facilities Department, Dave Bucklew and John Circle led the charge to make and keep our buildings and grounds ready to meet the many needs of the church. We had to balance many different requests to use of facilities against the core needs for our church. Out of this tension, policies evolved and were documented. Thanks to the many facility users who helped us learn what it takes to get control and flexibility into the same model of facility usage.

Our greatest challenge in developing a workable approach to facility use and maintenance was the existence of multiple priorities in the meeting spaces and classrooms. We serve Xenos Christian School, OASIS, adult education and ministries from within the same facilities. We have developed a strong organization for maintaining and cleaning our buildings, and for addressing on-going projects for our facilities.

Without volunteer work, we would not have accomplished all we did in 1998. Volunteers have served as unsung heroes augmenting our facilities staff. They have worked weekly to clean our office space every Tuesday night. Landscape team members have implemented many grounds enhancements. Many other volunteer servants have spent their time improving the ability of our facilities to meet ministry needs.

A short list (not exhaustive, by any means) of the major projects we implemented to increase and enhance the use of our buildings and grounds includes:

• We built the new deck at Main Campus, overseeing volunteer and staff resources to provide a 2,100 square foot outdoor ministry space which includes a shelter house.
• We completed a one-mile nature trail that traverses the circumference our beautiful property, including extensive drainage systems and two wooden bridges crossing our creeks along the way.
• We installed a wooden foot bridge from the south end of the Main Campus building to the south lot, which allows for better access to parking in that area.
• We erected a foot-bridge across a main part of Noble Run stream, behind the Office & Study Center building. The bridge supports quick access to the Main Campus for pedestrians.
• We installed seating around the school playground and by the main entrance.
• Early in the year, we affixed the Xenos signs on the Main Campus building. W just completed our new ground-based sign that identifies Xenos as a Christian church.
• We installed a quality sand volleyball pit for use behind the office youth space.
• We made landscaping improvements, including extensive tree and shrub plantings at Main Campus and the Office.
• We completed lighting for key trail and bridge areas to ensure a safe environment for pedestrians.
• We replaced contracted cleaning services for our Main Campus facilities, improving our flexibility and responsiveness to facility uses at a lower overall cost.
• We acquired extensive, cost-effective equipment to allow for efficient maintenance and improvement of our grounds, parking areas and facilities.

In our Information Systems Department, we were very fortunate to have Andy Leedy come on board as our technical support manager. Working side-by-side with Andy Ault, this great duo of "techies" provided the most stable year we have had in our systems area. Andy Ault made great strides in the development of our data base system. In addition, we implemented an excellent communications infrastructure allowing for web-based and wide-area network capacity. The full fruit of this giant step forward in technology will be felt for years to come.

Our Technical Services department (Sound & Light), headed by Mark Grover, also oversaw a year of stabilizing and improving our provision of support for the Main Campus auditorium, lobby and related areas. Each month we implemented another custom finish for our outreach and meeting space. We end the year with a list of requests almost as full as when we started 1998, but with less urgency on critical issues. Mark has put together a great group of volunteers who serve diligently behind the scenes to support the many events and meetings we have besides our Central Teachings.

"Efficiency" and "effectiveness" were the watchwords of our Office Support staff. Cathy Kaiser provided the organizational glue that allowed our office staff to work productively without undue hindrances. We are confident that also feel confident that visitors and callers receive the direction they need. Michelle Houston and our receptionists have also played key roles in establishing a hospitable (‘xenos’) environment.

1998 marks the last year that Media & Graphics, and Chris Lang, will work within the Operations Division. Chris will be taking his talents to the Community Relations Division. This past year, this department continued to provide important communication media within the church. We completed the Xenos "Identity Package," which presents all key aspects of our fellowship in one folder, which can be customized for different uses. We were able to deliver several high-quality brochures for our divisions, as well as some attention getting-flyers for events. We also oversaw the production of five high-impact videos used at our Central Teachings. Two translations of the book Christianity: The Faith that Makes Sense moved ahead, with publishing underway as the year ended.

Our Finance and Accounting Department continued to provide excellent service in the face of growing needs within the church. Our controller, Alan Burkholder, heads a staff which provides support to Urban Concern, Xenos Christian Schools and Xenos Christian Fellowship--our three corporate entities. With expansion of work in each of these business entities in 1998, we expanded support in financial matters with the same staffing levels we have maintained for the last 5 years.

We are excited to see what God will accomplish through our church in 1999. Operations and Administration work behind the scenes to facilitate the other divisions, and we experience great joy in helping them meet their aggressive goals for the year. As our division achieves excellence in its service to our staff and members, God’s glory shines is a greater measure.

The coming year will see the implementation of our plans for a new Youth Facility. The preliminary design project was completed for presentation at the fall Fiscal Support Team Retreat; now we will get started. We need to finalize our contractor choice, get through Columbus zoning and regulations, and then begin construction. We are praying that this mission-critical project will be started by June and completed before year-end.

We will continue to evolve in our ministry through our Facilities Department. We are a unique church in the level of support we must provide to many alternative users of our buildings and grounds. The structure we had in place at the start of 1998 was very different at year-end, and we anticipate that 1999 holds the same level of change. Dave Bucklew and John Circle hold the reins of this area, and we couldn’t ask for more capable or God-centered people to lead.

1999 will see some needed enhancements done to our Main Campus support systems. Mark Grover will work closely with John Rue and the Central Teaching function to provide better sound and lighting systems. We will also focus on enhancing our lobby space, which provides a great deal of information to our visitors and members alike.

Our office staff and information systems personnel will focus on the development of better tools and procedures for providing support to staff and volunteers. We will implement a new network architecture in 1999, leveraging off of a newly implemented communication structure ("T-1" lines for those who care). We enter 1999 in solid shape when it comes to the dreaded "Y2K" problem. Office systems, equipment and technology is compliant with the year 2000. Now we’ll see how well the power company and other vendors do in providing service to us at year-end!

Our Finance and Accounting department director and church controller, Alan Burkholder, will oversee a major conversion of our accounting systems in 1999. This new system will be on a better technology platform, and provide an enhanced basis for management reporting and support of all of our corporate locations. Cate Gilbert, one of our incredible staff servants, will work with Scot Northrup as he enters into a full-time position in this important support department. We will also be looking to the Personal Finance Ministry Team, headed by Tim McDaniel, to continue its excellent provision of financial consultation to church members.

In comparison with other churches and non-profit religious organizations, we have a unique board of trustees. There isn’t another organization blessed with a group of godly men who are willing to commit such a high level of energy and time to support their ministry’s work. We will continue to provide administrative to the elders by providing oversight of our weekly meetings and follow-up communications within the organization. We are excited about John Rue’s addition to our Management Team and his oversight of our communications functions, which will capacity in this area. We will continue to look for ways in which we can provide the elders with the best structures and tools to lead Xenos as we accomplish God’s goals into the coming year.

1998-99 Summary Financial Information [to be amended with actual results in 1^st quarter 1999]

1998 was another year of growth in our church's stewardship of God's resources. We exceeded budgeted collections by over $235,000. In addition, division coordinators met their goals while spending under their budgets by almost $50,000. The December Fiscal Support Team retreat targeted an overall 1999 budget of just over $3.4 million. The following is a summary of financial information for 1998 and 1999.

1998 Expenditures and Budget Based on current (1/7/99) management projections

1999 Operating Budget Based on current funding / pledge projections