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This Narrative Budget currently contains ideas and numbers from 2006 in anticipation of 2007. It will be updated with new 2008 budget amounts following our Administrative Council on Monday October 15, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. At typical modem speeds, the pictures below take about three minutes to load. They're worth the wait! And you can start reading while the pictures are loading.
The Ministry of the People of Christ at Lakeway UMC A Place to Begin The church is a unique institution in that it exists for the benefit of those persons outside it. Our ministry is not to ourselves but to the community of people around us. If our mission ever becomes preserving the church, then we will have turned inward and begun to die. We hope that this narrative budget makes more sense to most people than a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is certainly still available if you want to come join the work of the Stewardship/Finance Team. This presentation, categorized by our areas of ministry attempts to ask for what will be needed without making it necessary for other funds to be raised outside of the budget. Some who use this ministry document may be tempted to “pick and choose” the areas that are the most appealing, like a buffet lunch where you serve yourself. As much fun as that might be, please trust that your pastor and the elected leaders of our congregation have invested significant time and energy, prayer and reflection into this plan for ministry, and that we prescribe it as a full and balanced meal. It is a meal that will nourish our mission and ministry for the coming year and beyond!
Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. At Lakeway we are guided by this addition: “Worship, Learn, and Love, With a Servant Heart”. Lakeway has been built and nourished upon a tradition of serving others with our passion as well as with our pocketbooks. We have always brought offerings of time, talents, and service, as well as money gifts. All of these are vital and life giving! Throughout the year we have special offerings for shorter-term mission projects. In the past twelve months, we have collected for school supplies, hurricane relief, health kits for UMCOR, Angel Tree, Visions of Sugarplums, the Air Chapel Ministry, our annual Coat Drive, and serving families at Christmas with meals and presents. Our goal is $8,500 to help fund these mission causes. This is comparable to what was raised outside the budget in the past year. Our Communion offerings on first Sundays are part of what is collected for these special purposes. Our youth have eagerly raised funds for hunger relief through World Vision. Though none of these funds have traditionally been budgeted through the regular operations budget, they always attract generous support. Our overall investment in mission work will continue many of these items and others like them as goals. Our Resale Barn funds are kept entirely separate from the church funds and Lakeway UMC does not receive any financial income from this ministry. After Resale Barn staff and operational expenses, all profits go to our neighbors in need. The folks of our community and area have been extremely generous in donating good sellable items to this ministry. And in offering volunteer hours to help process these items and run the store. Employees. Income and giving for past twelve months. Our connectional giving through our North Texas Conference
Apportionments has included support for the missions, agencies, and
administration of the conference and the larger Our Mission Budget includes $1500 for Youth Travel Expenses since we do not have a church van. This amount (and more from fundraising) went into rental vehicles for the two United Methodist Youth in Mission trips in summer of 2006. In addition, we ask for $300 for A.S.K. Alliance for Saving Kids, a community based program to save youth from drugs, and $600 for the Air Chapel Ministry.
Welcoming Ministries Significant work can be done in this area without spending
much money. But this area funnels new life and energy into our church family by
inviting and welcoming visitors and new members. Therefore it needs strong
support in every way. Our Evangelism committee works on this with our Doorstep
Visitation program of first-time visitors, our Spring Picnic, our Name Tags, our
Greeter Program, our hospitality coffee mugs, packed with Our modest ad in the Pottsboro Press costs about $900 per year and we spend another $350 on local ads such as those in school printed programs. We need about $400 to bring in bands for Fatted Calf and Mardi Gras to enhance the energy and celebration of our worship and gathering on those traditional days. And another $200 will be needed to support the annual spring “Bring a Friend” Picnic and Ice Cream Contest. Evangelism cards, postage, and name tags are supported through the Office Administration area though these expenses are significant. But in the coming year, we need a general church brochure for distributing to newcomers in our community through the Chamber of Commerce’s new Visitor Center. We need around $350 to do this well. Our website could use some professional attention although this is very expensive and will not be included at this time. The Evangelism Committee had a budget of $1100 in 2006 and because our budget is not completely funded, have only spent about $60. In some years we have had an annual New Member Dinner and spent around $600 on this although this is not currently budgeted.
Nurturing Ministries
Ministry with Children and Youth Midyear in 2004, Lakeway UMC made a strong and long-term new commitment to growing our ministry with youth and children. Salary support for our full-time Minister with Youth and Children is about $23,500 with another $7500 in health insurance and $2000 in reimbursable expenses. We budget $300 for background checks on all volunteers with
youth and children and on any persons who handle money even though they are
bonded by annual conference insurance. Also $300 Although $1000 is currently budgeted for Youth Activities, only a small amount has been spent. This is largely because the youth have raised funds in several other ways. $3545 was raised and spent for Youth Mission Trips. Some of it was fundraising through events like the Pumpkin Patch and Valentine Dinner and some was raised through designated contributions. The Vacation Bible School budget of 600 was spent and much more because of various donations of food or craft or other goods. Puppet Ministry has enriched our work with children and with youth. Our puppet ministry was the beneficiary of some of the components of our older sound equipment when improvements were made in the sanctuary system. This area has not been budgeted but needs the support of about $500 for supplies and for additions to the sets, lights, and for new faces in the chorus of puppets.
Worship Ministry
Designated funds were given in 2006 for Sound system
upgrades and improvements to our projection system which have not been finished
yet. Besides these funds, some $1350 has been spent on items such as candles,
sanctuary decorations, supplies for the sacraments. In addition to the worship leadership of our Pastor and our Minister with Youth and Children, we have ministry staff who serve specifically in the area of worship. The salary of our part-time Music Director and Pianist total around $12,000. Pastoral Support Rev. Sam Caldwell is the third pastor of Lakeway UMC and has been our pastor, serving faithfully since March of 1998. Our pastor works full-time and more with a varied job description which includes the following priorities: 1) preaching and worship, 2) communications (telling our story), 3) community (ministerial alliance, school participation), 4) administration and meetings, 5) evangelism, 6) pastoral care and spiritual counseling (including hospitals, weddings and funerals), 7) conference connections, 8) matching ministers and ministry (nominations of leaders), and 9) teaching. Pastors must be fed spiritually and care for themelves in order to care for others. To ensure his own spiritual vitality and responsible self-care, our pastor participates in ongoing Clergy peer groups and retreats as well as personal retreats for study, prayer, and planning. Currently your pastor serves as President of the Pottsboro Ministerial Alliance (seven churches), chairs the Sherman McKinney District Committee on Ministry, serves on the North Texas Annual Conference Worship Team, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Prothro Center and served in October 2006 as Assistant Spiritual Director for Texoma Emmaus Walk #56. The salary and the items paid on behalf of the pastor (utilities and family’s health insurance) total about $51,000. No increase was given at the end of 2005. The church also pays for required pastoral benefits of pension ($5700) and health insurance ($7512) and pays for reimbursable travel and expenses (up to $4000). In the itinerant tradition of Methodism, the use of a parsonage is provided as a home for the pastor and family.
Office Administration One of the larger items in office expenses has been our copier lease contract and service policy. Now we have a printer lease which costs far less and less per copy. The budget for this is about $1500. Other office supplies run about $3300, dues and subscriptions about $350, and postage around $1600. The church secretary salary at around $16,000 is a part of the cost of keeping our administrative office in order. Significant computer improvements were accomplished at the beginning of 2005 with a special donation just for that purpose. But we need to keep up with changes and new needs so we ask for a budget of $600. Social Security payments for employees in the areas of childcare, secretary, and music total about $4,000. Clergy continuing education ($450) and annual conference expenses for two lay and two clergy members ($800) total about 1250.
Parsonage Debt Lakeway UMC is building a significant amount of equity value in the beautiful parsonage at 27 Lakecrest Drive in Tanglewood. The note has been recently refinanced to take advantage of lower interest rates. In order to payoff principal faster, we have budgeted more than just the minimum payments. In 2006, we budgeted $6972 in principal and $6468 in interest. These monthly payments are kept current. In addition, a $500 amount has been budgeted for maintenance expenses. None has yet been spent in 2006. As of August 2006, it would take $100,600 to pay off this note. The Stewardship/Finance Committee and Administrative Council are considering planning a Capital Funds Drive for this debt and for some other capital items. The parsonage is the only financial debt for which the church is solely responsible. A monthly saving of around $1200 would result if we could eliminate this debt. The church also carries debt on the new Resale Barn building but the operations and staff of the Resale Barn are making these loan payments and more. At the end of 2005, a large additional amount of principal from Resale Barn Funds was paid to reduce the debt significantly. The Barn is on course to pay off this loan years earlier than required.
Insurance, Utilities, and Building Care $15,200 is needed for church building utilities including electrical, phones, water, internet access, landscaping, and cell phones for both our ministers. Efforts have been made to lower these expenses. For example, Internet Texoma now provides our high-speed wireless internet service complimentary for the privilege of placing a repeater antenna on our roof to serve nearby neighborhoods. In addition, we participate in an electric co-op with other UMC’s to lower our electric costs. We spend about $1200 a year for kitchen items and janitorial supplies. And in 2006 we had a budget of $1200 (not yet spent!) for improving landscaping equipment (like mowers) and building maintenance amount of $2,000. Both of these items are needed for 2007. We have a twice-a-week cleaning service (Monday morning and Friday morning) with a local janitorial service (Final Details). This service costs $9100 per year. Our Trustees Team and other members do repairs, maintenance, and landscaping as volunteers. In the absence of a staff custodian, volunteers set up and break down tables chairs and other equipment for various events.
Accumulating a Capital Fund for Repairs/Upgrades Because some things just can’t be planned (unexpected expenses like roof repair or air conditioning) we need a capital fund for major repairs or upgrades. We need to set a high goal of what amount to hold in such a fund. For 2007 we want to ask for $10,000. Then we need to add an amount each year and let it accumulate (if it will!) as a emergency fund. With air conditioners and other equipment now 12-15 years old, this capital fund is long overdue. Over time, this fund will keep us from having to plead to the congregation for additional funds when there is an acute need.
Lakeway United Methodist Church 1501 Hwy 120 North Pottsboro, Texas 75076 Church Office 903-786-2138 Rev. Sam Caldwell, Pastor
Thank You! Thank you for investing the time to read through this letter! Please use these ideas to help discern what you will decide to give to continue enabling all these ministries that are all part of our covenant. Please decide soon and if you can start now, please do! As we all reflect upon how God has already blessed us and go through the process of discerning how much to return, let us all lift each other in our prayers. |