Christian Church in Florida (Disciples of Christ) Stewardship Report October 18, 2014 Report to the Regional Assembly of the Stewardship Commission 1
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. - Martin Luther King Jr. Psalm 23 - New International Version (NIV) A psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I have to confess that I look at things from a perspective of a steward. That is a different point of view. You see a steward confesses that he is nothing without his provider, without his master, without his lord. And without HIM I am nothing. That is David s point of view in this great psalm. We have a tendency to use it to bring comfort at funerals to those that have experienced the loss of a loved one. But to me David s psalm is so much more. I would like to talk to you for a moment about what we have been up to for the past 2 years. When we started working together two years ago we started by going out to the 2
congregations, the board did not just meet to read reports, it met to be educated, to share our experiences, joys and concerns in ministry and to celebrate together. In our first meeting which was held at Iglesia Cristiana Renovación in Riverview Florida, we were greeted to the hospitality of a small hispanic church that for the first time hosted a Board Meeting. And why is this important, because the Board, is about you, the Churches that compose the Florida Disciples Regional Church. It s not just Orlando, It s not only the Retreat, it is us together sharing in ministry, doing together what we can not do alone. At that meeting and after prayerful consideration I presented to the Board a new way of organizing what we called the finance committee you see the word finance as defined in our dictionaries reads: But that s a world s definition, not a biblical definition. The bible uses a different word it calls us Stewards and what we do is Stewardship. A search in the Marion Webster s dictionary defines it as: 3
Now this one is getting closer to home. For what we do is administer and manage something that has been entrusted to us. For this a group of slots was created in order to support the administration, the care, the stewardship of the resources of the Church. These leaders would be organized in a special way and with a charter to create the policies, that are not only sound and logical but biblically based in order to navigate the uncertain financial waters we navigate in the world today. 4
The Commission is structured around what the church needs to be done, what needs to be managed. These are: Planned Giving and Gift Management - This part of the Stewardship Commission will work with the major gifts we receive at the Regional Level, their administration and best course of investment. Real Estate - will work very specifically with Loans and Leases and the criteria for them. It is natural when things go wrong to not grant any backing to anyone but that is not the biblical approach. However, this group of the commission will work on the policies and criteria that will give success to a congregation and to the Church we love. Finance & Administration - will work with the Budgets, special needs and resource requests and expenditures Personnel HR & Nominations- which were sparingly used has now been moved within the body of the Stewardship Commission and will have a more active role. They will work with our most valued resource, People both Staff and Volunteers. The Commissions primary role over the next few years is the creation of policy. Policy The Stewardship Commission is chartered with the creation of policies regarding: Budget Policy - this policy will provide the specifics as to Budget Revisions, authorizations and actions to be taken in approval of these changes. Spending Limits - Credit Card Limits, including who can override/authorize increases to these limits, Moderator Team, Executive Committee, Regional Board. Gift Policy - The definition of what gifts the Church can or can not accept needs to be detailed. Gifts could expose the Church to liability. Exposure should be limited and defined. The Stewardship Commission is also chartered to recommend the investment/consumption ratio of any gifts received. For example if a 100,000 gift is received how much should be invested? What portion should go to operations? These should not be questions they should be part of a comprehensive policy Investment - The way the Church invests funds, whether short term, restricted, unrestricted, needs to be defined. This policy needs to be maintained and updated regularly to ensure the funds move to the best possible vehicle depending of financial conditions. 5
Real Estate - Churches will need buildings, this sounds obvious but our reaction to recent experiences should not be stopping progress but making sure that we address the issues at hand and know how to handle them in the future. Policy needs to include the requirements that need to be in place to guarantee a loan by the Church. Redemption Policy One of the first policies that the commission put to the Executive Committee and the Board was the policy regarding the redemption of the Reverter Clause in the property title of churches that had chosen to disassociate from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The policy states that any church that wishes to disassociate from the Disciples and wishes to keep its building, that has a reverter clause can do so after redeeming said clause for 20% of the appraised property value. These funds would be used for the establishment of new missions in the area where the former congregation used to be located. The policy was enhanced by the commission and adjusted by the executive committee from the original proposal. What has our money been used for? That is an excellent question. From September 17, 2013 to 8/12/2014 the staff of the regional office has had the following totals reported: 9/27/2013 2/20/2014 8/20/2014 Total Meeting with Groups 54 42 57 153 Meetings with Individuals 182 232 414 Visits to Congregations 21 20 11 52 Regional Church Events 7 8 10 25 Ecumenical Events, & Collaborations 6 8 5 19 Totals 88 260 315 663 That is a busy staff. 6
To support this workload we needed to have of course Staff, and that staff needs to have a place to work. The existing workplace of the former Ecumenical Center was found to be inadequate and in order to create the proper environment a new lease with higher costs in an area of town still relatively hard to get to was deemed not an ideal solution. A new place was needed and that new office space was found with the help of the Stewardship Commission. The new location in 1800 Pembrook Dr., Suite 100, Orlando Fl 32810. The new offices in a modern building with ample parking, nearby hotels to house guests when needed, provides a more than adequate venue in which to meet, work and worship. The Retreat at Silver Springs The Retreat at Silver Springs has also been busy. I asked for a report of the number of lives touched at the Retreat during the last 12 months starting on October 2013, that we have documented, the number 1,859 lives touched. This is not just a Retreat this is ministry work at its best, touching lives making a difference in a fragmented world. So what do we need? In order to continue to support the mission the total expenses projected for 2015 would give us the following picture: SALARIES BENEFITS TRAVEL FACILITIES TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPUTER & EQUIP EXPENSES OFFICE EXPENSES PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COMMITTEE EXPENSES PROPERTY 7
2015 Budget SALARIES 180,846.82 BENEFITS 69,147.15 TRAVEL 22,000.00 FACILITIES 74,488.00 TELECOMMUNICATIONS 3,900.00 COMPUTER & EQUIP EXPENSES 10,150.00 OFFICE EXPENSES 21,330.00 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 21,960.00 COMMITTEE EXPENSES 22,450.00 PROPERTY 2,800.00 Total Expenses 429,071.97 And where are we going to get that from? ALLOCATION INCOME INVESTMENT INCOME OTHER INCOME Transfer from Reserves The fact is that we are still transferring from reserves to be able to balance the budget. We know that all of us are hard pressed by the financial times, we live in fear of sliding back into recession and the income is not where we would like it to be. But we have a wonderful opportunity to help offset this trend. The 2015 Christmas Offering is an excellent opportunity for all of us to reduce the amount that 8
needs to be transferred from reserves. If all of the Churches of the Florida Disciples Regional Church commit themselves to supporting that offering, that special day offering and what a special day indeed, where we celebrate the birth of our Savior and give thanks for him through this ministry would greatly reduce the amount we need to transfer from reserves. One 100% of that offering comes back to the Region, every penny would go to be used for the ministry that supports you. 2015 Budget ALLOCATION INCOME 128,700.00 INVESTMENT INCOME 141,000.00 OTHER INCOME 1,500.00 Transfer from Reserves 157,871.97 TOTAL INCOME 429,071.97 Closing remarks Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. - Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared that whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. What better way to demonstrate to the world that we do not live isolated, that we are a ministry of together for a fragmented world that needs Christ so much than supporting the Florida Disciples Regional Church. David in his psalm declared that Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me., one of our most renowned Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Paul declared to us that We are one in Christ, let us demonstrate that we are indeed united in him by supporting the mission of this church to be the witness of his love, Bless His Church, let there be blessing in his house of prayer. - Bendiga su Iglesia, Que haya alimento en su casa de oración. 9