Dave Kaynor

Administrative Pastor

It’s the fall which means it is budget season! Our leadership teams follow a timeline beginning in July all the way through to the November Member Meeting to put together our best estimate of giving and expenses for the new year. The first step is for the Elder Board to identify priorities and then they coordinate with the finance team to estimate anticipated giving. Proverbs 16:9 certainly applies here. It says, “the heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” The anticipated giving number allows the Missions, Strategic, and Finance teams to work through the first draft of their budgets, which is where we find ourselves now.

The purpose of this newsletter is to make you aware of some of the changes that the teams are recommending for 2023. We anticipate receiving $2,150,000 in 2023 which is about a half percent greater than this year. The rest of the recommended changes listed below are anticipated expenses.

• The utilities have been increased, both gas and electricity by $9,000 and $15,000 respectively.
• We changed our phone and internet provider and the savings will be about $2,700.
• The maintenance line has been increased by 50%.
• The bus sinking fund line has been decreased to $10,000 for the year while the parking lot sinking fund has been increased by $8,000.
• We are considering a counseling sinking fund to be used for future counseling needs that are part of the recently announced 10-year plan.
• We moved the funds for the youth ministries trip for Lead the Cause from missions to the youth ministry budget.
• Chad rearranged multiple line items and renamed some too, but the bottom line is the same.
• We separated the church planting budget into two parts, Shakil Khondoker and general church planting.
• The mission team is recommending two new missionary families, plus moving one family from the new line item to their own.
• Word Partners has been added in missions and we relocated the Sudan Church Planting line.
• The building budget reimbursement has been decreased from $20,000 to $10,000. That’s the money we owe ourselves back to the Memorial Reserve fund.
• All staff members have received an increase.

Obviously, not every detail of the budget is included. What is included are the key items that you should be aware of. Next week we plan to firm up many, if not all, of these numbers which means that if you have questions or concerns, we need you to contact me or any member of the Finance Team soon. 

Once the final draft of the budget has been approved, we will print budget booklets so you can see all the details, read the staff updates, and engage in the life of the church from a financial perspective. Plan to join us for the 3rd Quarter and Budget Members’ Meeting on November 20th.