February President's Report

A little about one thing…BUDGET and the 10 year plan

First of all “Thank you” for passing a good budget!!  We feel that this is a challenging budget and it also provides resources to help the ministry of OUR church.  We try and look at what we can do to make OUR church a better church, make OUR member better and OUR world a better place to be for all that share in the gift of Jesus Christ.

Now the 10 year plan…Soon after Pastor Sansgaard left and Pastor Mach was here we assembled a Call Committee.  This group was charged with finding a new Pastor.  One of our jobs was to review the financial requirements of a new Pastor; Salary, Housing Allowance, Health Benefits, etc.  We had not kept pace with Synod Compensation guidelines and we had been underpaying Pastor Sansgaard for many years.  The shock came when we compared our old budget numbers with what it would take to call a new Pastor.  Pastor Sansgaard’s salary wasn’t enough to Call someone fresh out of Seminary and we had targeted someone with experience.  Our dilemma was simple, “How are we going to pay for this?”  Scott Austin was contacted, the financial guru for our synod.  He kindly met with some members of the church and they came up with following plan.  It was called the “Ten Year Plan”. 

The “Ten Year Plan” is very simple.  We borrow from our Trust Fund for the first five years to off set our budget and we repay the Trust Fund for the last five years from budget surplus.  The details are as follows;

Year #1 we borrow $25,000.00
Year #2 we borrow $20,000.00
Year #3 we borrow $15,000.00
Year #4 we borrow $10,000.00
Year #5 we borrow $5,000.00
Year #6 we repay $5,000.00
Year #7 we repay $10,000.00
Year #8 we repay $15,000.00
Year #9 we repay $20,000.00
Year #10 we repay $25,000.00

If you do the math we should have borrowed $60,000.00 by this time, and you look at the financial report in your Annual Meeting report, you will see we have borrowed $43,000.00.  That puts us ahead of our projections by $17,000.00.  That should put a smile on everyone’s face.  We have the same concern as everyone else how do we plan to pay this back?  The only way is to increase giving and income!  We can cut the budget, however we do not wish to cut the spiritual growth of the church.  Expenses continue to grow.  We know money is tight everywhere, and we need to be more proactive and less reactive. 

In the past many discussions have accrued at the Annual Meeting around why are we spending more than we take in?  Is the council spending wisely?  Why is Pastor’s salary so high?  These are all questions that we have heard many many times.  Feel free to share those discussions with your council members.  I believe that we will continue to have the open forum in the Friendship Hall; it is discussions like this that help your Council develop better  plans for the future.  We got a lot of feedback both positive and negative during the discussions.  This is OUR budget and if you would like to be part of Budget process give a council member a call and make it known to us that you wish to help develop the budget.  Some members have come to the council meetings  with suggestions and solutions.  Those types of assistance are greatly appreciated and they contribute to making OUR church better.  Thank you!!

Other areas that could use assistance if you would like to help address the budget issue and help solve the shortfall are:  Help with a Stewardship Program to stimulate giving?  Invite someone to worship this Sunday?  Ask yourself am I giving enough?  Am I being a good steward of this church?  Am I spreading God’s word?  What can I do today to make EKLC better for tomorrow?

And lastly, your elected council and your hired staff work very hard throughout the year.  They try very hard to listen to what God is calling them to do, and they try very hard to listen to what you are saying as well.  If you have questions or concerns bring them to these individuals.  Don’t save them for the end of the year or the Annual Meeting.  Many of the issues we can address right away. 

           
We have a great gift in OUR church and that gift is the people that attend OUR church. 

 Go in peace and serve the Lord.

 YFIC

 Jeff Agnew