About this time last year, we realized that 2009 was going to be a difficult year. We reduced our original budget and have scaled back in many areas. We’ve strived to be both wise and prudent. We’ve tried to cut back while continuing to adequately fund the base operations. At the same time...
Dear VBC Family,
Fall is in full gear. Not only has the weather turned and school begun, but our fall ministries are in full swing. Two months ago we looked at the demand for increased ministry and the seeming lack of people to make it happen. We asked God for His help and direction. One Sunday morning we even took time during the service and asked all of you to pray, and we know that many of you have continued to join us in this prayer. It’s been exceedingly encouraging to see God not only answer those prayers, but to answer them in abundance. We’ve not hobbled into fall, but quite the opposite. God has raised up leaders among us, excitement has grown and ministries have been launched with greater fervor than we’ve probably ever seen. At the same time, there are still challenges for which we need to continue to seek God’s wisdom and direction, one of which is our finances.
Cutting Costs and Pushing Forward
About this time last year, we realized that 2009 was going to be a difficult year. We reduced our original budget and have scaled back in many areas. We’ve strived to be both wise and prudent. We’ve tried to cut back while continuing to adequately fund the base operations. At the same time, we’ve wanted 2009 to be a year of growth, recognizing that this is a great time for people to meet Jesus. So 2009 has been a year of pruning and of asking God where He wants us to focus our energy and attention. We haven’t circled the wagons, nor have we given up. To the contrary, we’ve pushed forward, knowing that there are people who need to meet Jesus.
Current Offering Shortage: $50,000 +
Projecting expenses through December, it looks as though we’ll end the year having spent about 4% less than our already-reduced budget had called for – resulting in $34,000 of savings. At the same time, while contributions for the ministry of this church have increased substantially in 2009 over last year, we’re still about 12% below what is needed to meet that reduced budget, resulting in a projected end-of-October deficit of $50,000. Even if we hit our budgeted giving need of $16,600 per week in November and December, that will leave us with a shortage of $50,000 to make up.
Economic Challenges Will Continue
We believe that 2010 will be another difficult year economically. Yes, there are encouraging signs as the financial markets continue to rally, and consumer debt continues to fall $10 billion every month. At the same time, job and wage growth are the true signs of a healthy economy – and job losses remain elevated. In our own church family, we’ve seen our list of people searching for work rise, and the length of time they’re going without work is increasing. That’s a real challenge.
2010 Plans: Conservative Expansion of Our Budget
Year-to-date, our contributions have increased 17% in 2009 and God continues to bring new families to our church at a significant rate. We are striving, however, to minimize our budget increases to 10% (half of the 2009 growth) because we expect that 2010 will be another challenging year financially. Thus, our tentative plan is to maintain the reduced budget levels that we’ve been able to achieve in 2009, and to plan for increases in only a few strategic ministry areas – primarily: 1) adding a part-time staff member to focus on our growing children’s ministry; and 2) increasing our Acts 1:8 [local and global missions] budget by 10%. We can’t begin to do these things, however, unless we end 2009 in the black and see that our weekly contributions are consistently hitting around $18,000. Please pray for God’s provision in this area or His redirection if scaling back is necessary.
November and December Goal
At a minimum, we need to end 2009 in the black. To do that, in November and December we need to:
1) Eliminate our projected $50,000 shortage.
2) Meet our budgeted weekly giving of $16,600 ($149,400 for the nine Sundays in Nov & Dec)
Ideally, we’d like to end 2009 with a bit of surplus that we can set aside for 2010. We know that over the next few years we’ll need to invest between $150,000 and $250,000 in maintenance and in updates to the 1992 section of our building, and we need to be setting aside some money in anticipation of those expenses. Thus we’d like to:
3) Raise $40,000 to place in a maintenance/emergency fund.
HOW?
Can we together meet our ongoing weekly budget AND raise an additional $90,000 to cover our shortage and our emergency fund needs – all in the midst of a difficult economy? Humanly speaking, NO. But God has already shown us over the past four years that He faithfully provides when we have thought it was impossible! Is it crazy to think that He’ll do so again?
In November and December we would like to ask that you join us in prayer concerning this financial need, and that you would also ask God to make it possible for you to give above and beyond your regular tithes and offerings towards the ministry God is carrying out through our church. On Sunday, November 22, we’ll take a special “above-and-beyond” offering. If half of our families gave a $1,000 “above-and-beyond” offering, we’d cover our financial needs. God may lead you to give much more than $1,000 – or He may lead you to give only a fraction of that, or possibly nothing at all at this time. Our hope is that if you give, it’ll not be simply out of a sense of duty or obligation, but rather because it represents the outflowing of your heart in response to what God has called you to sacrifice for His Kingdom. At the end of the day, it is all for His glory!
Thank you!
Your elder team,
Al Gonnerman, Mario Arindaeng, Tim Badal, Scott Capp, Keith Duff, Jon Pilkington
