Financial Update - January 25, 2023

Family,

There is a great lesson to learn in the difference between cows and buffalo. A church member sent me a great podcast on leadership that introduced me to the concept of “Charge the Storm.” When cows see a storm coming, they run away from the storm, which nearly always means that they end up in the storm longer. Yet when Buffalo see a storm looming on the horizon, they charge the storm — walking headlong into it. They’ve discovered that if you run into the storm, you spend less time in the storm. As we head into a new year, I want to thank you for being a buffalo — Thank you for charging the storm with us! One of the ways you’ve charged the storm with us is through your financial generosity. As we closed out this past year, I want to give you a brief update on where our church is financially.

Here are a few highlights from Monty Rivers, our CFO:

• Contributions for the month of December finished strong, and we ended up at 99% of contributions compared to December of ’21 – which is very positive news.

• Household giving came in at a 5 - year high this past December.

• As we have continued to effectively manage our expenses, this has in turn, increased our reserves to $1.4M as we head into the new year.

• Despite December’s performance, our contributions are still trending at about a 10% decline YTD (August thru December).

This is all incredible news that we should praise God for! In fact, please stop reading now and thank the Lord and celebrate with us! Thank you for your continued faithful generosity — many of you increasing what you’ve done in the past. We are marching forward together, and our staff and elders are so grateful for your obedience.

Some may see that 10% decline in total contributions as a sign of decline in our church. But it is actually a gift. We believe that 10% represents a tangible measure of transition over the last two years. Every pastoral transition comes with attrition and addition. A pastoral transition, during Covid, and national volatility only adds to that. To put 10% into perspective, our total attendance today is down 50% from pre-covid numbers, but our giving is only down 10%. 

As our church stabilizes financially, we believe we’ve found our new normal. This affords us an opportunity, for the first time in two years, to plan for the future with accurate numbers rather than projections and to adjust to our new ministry cost structure.

As we enter a new year and begin planning for next year, it affords us an opportunity to restructure around a new purpose, create new vision, and restructure our church based on a new contribution level. In the weeks and months ahead, we want to continue to faithfully steward the people and resources that God has given us while also making sure we are in a position to respond to the commands of Jesus with “yes” when he tells us what to do.

Fellowship, thank you! Thank you for being the type of people who give your all to God. Thank you for being the type of people who stick together through difficulty. Thank you for being buffalo. Thank you for being the type of people who don’t run from a storm but charge it.

Your Brother,

Pastor Jason Cook