SHEPHERDS’ PRESENTATION
June 8, 2008
We don’t have to look very far today to see the myriad of
economic problems facing our community and nation. From
rising gas and food prices, to falling home values, to
state and city budget deficits, the effects of a struggling
economy are felt by everyone at some level. On the
national, state and local levels, the current financial
issues are wide-ranging and severe to many Americans.
Unfortunately, the Central church of Christ is not immune
to these troubling economic problems. For the past several
years, the church and our largest outreach and ministry,
Sierra Christian School, have also been negatively impacted
by the current financial situations described earlier. This
morning, we want to inform you of our current financial
condition and of our plans and hopes for getting
financially stronger as soon as possible.
First, let’s talk about our financial problems. We are
currently in a deficit spending situation. In other words,
we are spending more than we are bringing in. This has been
brought about by several issues which we will attempt to
briefly describe to you now.
Number one, the Central Church of Christ has not met budget
in terms of the proposed annual expenditures and
contributions for several years. Over time, that has caused
us to spend whatever savings and operating and facility
reserves we had managed to accumulate to meet annual
budgets going back several years when John Wright was still
here. Sadly, our attendance has declined for several years
and contribution has also declined proportionately while
many expenses have gone higher. Consequently, we entered
our most recent budget with no reserve and some carry-over
debts.
Number two, several years ago, Sierra Christian School had
a very difficult year. Decreased enrollment forced them to
use their pre-registration funds for the upcoming school
year to financially close out their current year. The
school then continued to do so, out of necessity each
subsequent year until the end of the 2006-2007 year. To
become ACSI accredited, they had to stop that policy. The
only way to do so was to not reimburse the church rent,
utilities, and other agreed upon costs. Consequently, the
church has had to absorb these costs into its own budget
and carry that debt in our own 2007 and 2008 budgets.
Number three, Sierra Christian is not immune to the current
financial problems we described earlier. So, after several
good enrollment years this current 2007-2008 school year
has had a significant drop in attendance to about 80% of
projected enrollment. Due to lack of tuition income, the
school has again been unable to reimburse the church for
any utilities or janitorial expenses, requiring the church
to absorb these costs for a second time.
Number four, a Sierra Christian School staff decision was
made to create a “Director of Development” or fund-raiser
position in their 2007-2008 budget. Unfortunately, this
employee was unable to raise intended new financial
resources and the contract was terminated before its
completion to save further financial losses. However,
losses were incurred that further hindered the school from
meeting its budget obligations to the church, thus
perpetuating the indebtedness the church was already
bearing.
Number five, for several years, after spending all our
reserves, we have been paying many of our bills by the
“robbing Peter to pay Paul” theory. As financial resources
have dwindled, we have been forced to use our credit cards
to pay regular operating expenses. This has led to the
cards occasionally being “maxed” out as well as making high
interest payments which we all know can be quite costly.
Obviously we would rather not have this spending practice
for our day-in, day-out expenditures.
Number six, the church’s own current income is down in
three categories. First, we had a 2007 weekly budget of
$5,300.00 while weekly contribution averaged $4,800.00. Our
current 2008 budget is $5,800.00 while our average weekly
contribution is $5,100.00. Second, much of the pledged
extra-budgetary giving for our Youth Minister fund has
stopped once we hired a Youth Minister. Third,
approximately 75% of our office remodel pledges have
stopped while the loan payments will continue for 3.5 more
years.
With this lengthy list of historical and current financial
problems, Central is running “in the red” every month. We
are currently approximately $18,000.00 in debt as of May
13th. Randy, Alan, Jess and our office staff have done a
good job managing current spending and minimizing our
potential indebtedness.
Now, let’s turn our thoughts and attention to solutions for
a long-standing but now very critical set of financial
problems.
Number one, in our current administrative structure of
being shepherd-led and pastor-driven, most of our finances
are budgeted and spent through the church office by staff.
That structure was instituted to free the shepherds from
day-to-day administrative duties. In light of our financial
situation, we plan to again be more hands-on in the
budgeting process and in spending policies. We simply want
to share more responsibility and accountability in these
difficult financial times.
Number two, our current servant-leader in charge of
finances is, unfortunately, moving. We will miss the
Blanton family. As we appoint a new servant-leader, we
probably will also appoint a new committee and ask them to
be more hands-on in oversight of our budgeting and
expenditures for the same reasons as the shepherds will be.
As we continue to deal with limited resources and try to be
frugal and wise in our spending, we feel additional input
will be helpful.
Number three, we intend to see that the use of credit cards
to pay bills stops as soon as possible. We intend for
church credit cards to again be used for their original
purposes only.
You have probably realized that none of the first three
solutions mentioned will help us get out of debt.
Hopefully, they at least will prevent us from going further
into debt. Now, let’s consider some practical and hard
answers at becoming more financially stable again.
Number four, Sierra Christian School can and should remain
a “front-line” ministry of the Central Church of Christ
while not incurring additional debt for the church. We
intend for Sierra Christian to again be reimbursing the
church for utilities, janitorial salary and supplies in
their 2008-2009 school year. In addition, they will pay
Alan’s full salary as he is currently spending the majority
of his time as their principal. This will provide
additional and currently unbudgeted income into the
church’s 2008 budget. Sierra Christian will be asked to
reimburse the church for past expenses as they are able to
afford to repay them. They will remain a front-line
ministry by using the church facility rent-free and falling
under our liability as a ministry of the church.
Number five, we will revisit the issues of committed
pledges for our Youth Minister and Office Remodel funds. We
will ask those who made these pledges to re-commit to
fulfilling them as soon as possible. We actually expected
contribution to the Youth Minister fund to increase with
Jess and Deb’s arrival. We had anticipated those directly
affected would be desirous of giving more so the youth
program budget could increase once we had a youth minister
to oversee the program.
Number six, our current rate of giving needs to increase,
despite these difficult financial times. Admittedly we have
some very generous givers. Some of you, particularly
retirees on fixed or limited incomes, give much more than
the scriptural yardstick of “tithing”. We also have
shut-ins who tithe on a regular basis even though unable to
attend services. Your giving is a blessing to the church
and to you. We thank all of you who actually tithe or more.
Unfortunately, the majority of Central members do not
tithe. While we, your shepherds, admittedly to not know all
of you on a deep personal level, we know you collectively.
As we spent hours formulating our 2008 Strategic Plan and
Budget presentation, we actually “guesstimated” the
approximate incomes of Central’s wage-earners. We then
reduced that approximation by about 10% to be
extra-conservative. We then added up the totals of those we
knew tithed and then those who probably didn’t. If everyone
at Central tithed by our conservative estimates, we
probably would be over-budget in our giving by nearly
$100,000 annually. If everyone not tithing gave only
approximately 6%, we would possibly be $50,000 over budget.
And, we would have no current debt while looking for ways
to expand our outreach and ministry programs.
In recent months, we have heard a very interesting variety
of reasons or excuses why different ones of you are
currently uninvolved in our ministries and not giving as
you know you should or at all. To this predicament, we your
shepherds, ask two questions. First, there is much to be
involved with: within Central, within our community, within
our Church of Christ fellowship, and globally. Why aren’t
all of you involved in some of our ministries already? If
none of these outreaches utilize your talents, come with
new ideas and we’ll develop them. Every Central member
should be involved in ministry and service as God has
blessed us (I Cor. 12:4-7). Second, our giving is not to
further the agenda of the shepherds or Randy or Alan or
Jess. It’s to further the agenda of God here in Stockton.
We are just trying as your leaders to facilitate Central’s
talents and resources financially. Our giving is to serve
and honor God. Consequently anyone’s lack of giving isn’t
making a statement to us, but to God. As we read Malachi
3:8-10, not tithing is actually robbing God, not Central.
Understanding our current economic environment in 2008, we
simply asked you to bring your giving up to 6% at this
moment. How and when you can really tithe is up to you.
But, realistically, what is there to not desire to support
financially in the ministries we listed above? Regardless
of the style of songs we sing or the way we administer our
daily operations, can you not support digging a well in
Cambodia or sending a child to Bible camp? There is much to
support in our strategic plan so why does anyone keep
robbing God? If we decide we shouldn’t, then we would not
need this presentation ever again.
In conclusion, we have some serious financial issues. We
will tighten our belts, make better decisions and watch
spending more closely in the future. We will be as
accountable as you desire. We, the shepherds, will be more
proactive in oversight as long as necessary. But, we must
ask you to conscientiously and prayerfully do your part
both in involvement and in honoring God financially.
Together we can solve these current problems and move on to
serve God better. As Jesus said in Matt. 22, the two
greatest commands are honoring God and serving others.
Let’s do that individually and collectively every day.