2012–2013

8 • central staff
central staff • 9
John Aiello Linda Hrivnak LIFE Group Brad Mullet The Orchard’s Central Staff
Brad Wetherell
Liz Walker
The central staff team
moved into the secondfloor
of the north building
of the Barrington Campus
in March. After weeks of
renovating the previously
unused space, donated
furniture and boxes of
supplies were unloaded
into the new offices and
work space. Central staff
are now able to work in
close proximity with other
members of the team that
serve all three campuses of
The Orchard.
Under the leadership of
Pastor Scott Lothery, the
central team has been
working to make ministry
and operations scalable
and reproducible in a way
that positions The Orchard
for growth. With campus
staff responsible for
ministry specifically tied
to each respective campus
in Arlington Heights,
Barrington, and Itasca, the
central staff is focused on
ministry “in the Chicago area
and around the world.”
Ministry Across Campuses
LIFE Groups
More than 100 LIFE Groups –
men’s, women’s, couples, mixed,
multi-cultural, multi-generational,
or age-specific – meet regularly
to dig deeply into God’s Word.
They share burdens, joys,
challenges, and the delights
of service. LIFE Groups might
be considered the glue of The
Orchard as people seek to
connect to others, the church,
and the Word of God.
Bear Fruit
At The Orchard, we diligently dig
deep roots into God’s Word and
receive blessing through sharing
life together in LIFE Groups. We
are also challenged to bear fruit,
abundantly living out our faith
in Jesus Christ. The Orchard
has many fruit bearers who are
finding hope and purpose by
serving in ministries at the church
and in the community. Without
many faithful servants, ministry
would not be possible: children
would not be taught, guests
would not be greeted, and
sermons would not be translated.
Celebrate Recovery
The Orchard is increasingly seen
as a “safe place” to be a sinner,
because under the instruction of
God’s Word and in the presence
of loving and faithful brothers
and sisters in Christ, we can bring
our sins to the Cross. We not only
receive healing and grace, but
also freedom from the power of
those sins. Under the leadership
of Pastor Tom Hutchison,
Celebrate Recovery is running
well at both the Barrington and
Arlington Heights Campuses.
Attendance at the Arlington
Heights Campus averages about
35 per week and the Barrington
Campus averages about 25 each
week. In addition, there are four
to five active Step Study groups
meeting at any one time. The
ministry runs smoothly as a result
of all those serving as greeters,
musicians, small group leaders,
food servers and prayer warriors.
Communications
In the past year, the website
experienced a 25% increase
in monthly visitors. One of the
reasons for increased web traffic
is that The Orchard began using
social media - both Facebook
and Twitter (@TheOrchardEFC)
– which support other existing
communications vehicles. Pastor
Colin (@PastorColinS) is tweeting
as well!
Intern Program
The Orchard has been blessed
with a fantastic team of interns
who preach, lead students and
young adults, serve alongside
our campus pastors, and lead
worship. In addition to the
role they serve in, the interns
participated in a preaching and
mentoring group with Pastor
Colin and Hutz Hertzberg,
Director of The Orchard Network.
Community Threads
Community Threads, a non-profit
thrift store in Buffalo Grove,
celebrated its first year of ministry
in October. The store opened
to meet the needs of local
families and to generate funds
for the ministries of The Orchard,
Breakthrough Urban Ministries
in Chicago, and St. Peter
Lutheran School in proportion
with the number of volunteer
hours provided and donations
given. The Orchard received
three grants totaling $100,000
from Community Threads which
are used to support ministry,
including the intern program.
Staff Changes
We’ve been blessed with several
new staff, including two central
staff, John Aiello, Executive
Director of Growth and Outreach;
and Brad Mullet, Director of
Missions; and two campus staff,
Liz Walker, Director of Children’s
Ministries – Arlington Heights;
and Brad Wetherell, Pastor of
Student Ministries – Arlington
Heights.
After serving as Director of
Children’s Ministries at The
Orchard for 15 years, Linda
Hrivnak “retired” in June.
For Linda, retirement has not
meant that she’s stepped out of
ministry. In fact, she’s currently
serving as the interim Director of
Children’s Ministries at the Itasca
Campus. Kevin Meek, former
Barrington Campus Pastor, has
remained on staff at The Orchard
while providing leadership as the
Interim Senior Pastor at Covenant
Baptist Church in Marengo for
the past year. In April, he was
hired as the Senior Pastor of
Trinity Evangelical Free Church
in South Bend, Indiana. We’re
grateful for Kevin’s role in the
development and launch of the
Barrington Campus.