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Text...Admin Pastor’s Mailbag - Where I make up the
questions and attempt to answer them.

What happened with the elections?

I don’t know how you voted but just about
everything I voted for went the opposite way. I
wish I lived in Fraser because I would have
voted for Robyn Norbeck for school board…she
crushed it! Anyway, how do we respond to such
election results? I have been reading through
Jeremiah recently. In chapter 27, Jeremiah is
talking to a bunch of other kings and they want
to overthrow
Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was the
king of Babylon and at that time God had it set
up that he, a foreigner, was in charge. In fact,
God says in verse 5 that he put
Nebuchadnezzar in power…it was not an
accident! What does that mean for today? I
don’t know exactly, but I do know that God is in
charge of things and uses them for his
purposes. Our job is to be faithful, be kind, and
to trust Him.

Speaking of Nebuchadnezzar, who was his
grandson?

That’s a little Bible trivia for you. Read verse
7. Plus, what famous Bible story was his
grandson part of that ended the Babylonian
reign? [Answer below but figure it out first!]

What should we know about the 3Q reports and
what’s up with that Matt Maracle motion?

First, when we originally published them, page
5 was inaccurate. If you picked up an early
copy, you can tell page 5 is wrong because it
lists January through June at the top instead of
September. We have replacement pages for
those that want to swap. Second, the reports
reflect what has been spent through
September. Our goal is to keep spending at
75% or so but it is not always possible. For
example, paper and printing costs have gone
up considerably during the year, so those lines
are at 157% and 147%, respectively.
Regarding Matt, there is a motion listed on
page 17 of the 3Q reports that asks that Matt
be allowed to serve a 4th year because of the
large turnover on the Missions Team. However,
the church constitution says that volunteers
may serve on teams for a maximum of three
years in a row. Keeping Matt will provide
needed stability because of a high turnover rate
this year.

The 2023 budget booklet is out. What are the
changes?

We have multiple changes in our missionary
arsenal. In fact, 25% were a $0 last year or a
$0 next year. See page 14 for details. Another
area of change in missions is the moving of the
youth mission trips to the student ministry
budget. The move allows the youth ministry to
control their own funds and in turn the mission
budget was increased by that amount, $9500
(see page 12). Another big change is the
doubling of the women’s ministry budget. The
women’s ministry team would like to impact the
women in our area next year through direct
mailings. Read about that on page 9. Both the
3Q reports and the budget booklet are available
at Guest Services.

How will the Members’ Meeting and the dinner
work?
They both happen on November 20th. We will
start the evening with dinner in the gym at
5:30. We will have four serving lines to get you
through quickly. Then after we eat, the meeting
will begin, but there is no set time for the start
of the meeting. We will have chairs available in
the back for those who want to participate in
the meeting only. Please sign in when you
arrive. Click here to bring a dish to pass.

Christmas is on a Sunday this year. Will we be
doing anything different?

Yes, we will. First, no Christmas Eve service
the night before. Some of what we typically do
on Christmas Eve will be incorporated into the
Sunday morning service. Second, there will be
no ABFs that day. Instead, we will gather at our
usual service time of 10:20. Third, regarding
kids, alternate child care will be available that
day by way of the four cry rooms in the worship
center plus the service will be viewable in the
gym so parents with active kids can still come
but have some space.

TRIVIA: So who was Nebuchadnezzar’s
grandson?

That would be Belshazzar who was known
among other things, for being the king when
Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall (see
Daniel 5).

Pressing On!
Dave Kaynor
Sunday’s text: I Samuel 30:1-6