About 6 weeks ago, we held a Calvary Town Hall meeting. As indicated in the previous post where this was promoted, the meeting consisted of fellowship, prayer and discussion. The objective was to touch base as a church body and see how our church is doing.
The meeting began by hearing reports from the pastoral staff. Pastor Susan spoke about children's ministry and the exciting things which took place in the summer including VBS, Camp Tejas, and a developing special-needs ministry. Pastor Marcus talked about the spiritual growth in the life of students, the record number taken to Camp Zephyr, the innovative "Valley Project" where students learned about and did missions with much excitement, and the strength of the college ministry. Pastor Rolando talked about plans for the EQUIP ministry in the fall and about developments in the Spanish Language Ministry. Pastor Chad shared about the refugee relief efforts in the summer, the upcoming India and Chiapas trips, and the difficult decisions made by the Missions Committee in regard to budget cuts, including reduced or removed funding for some missionaries.
I shared about developments in the worship ministry. In spite of the fact that we have not been able to fill the vacancy of Pastor for Music & Worship, our Sunday worship services have been vibrant. The 9:30 service had several guest worship leaders throughout the summer. Chuck Olson continues to lead the choir and do a phenomenal job at it. Jared Solis and Benjamin Aguirre continue to lead the 11 AM and the 12:30 PM services respectively. Our deacons continue to visit the elderly, serve in various areas of the church and provide spiritual support to the pastor and other leaders.
In regard to Sunday worship attendance, the following charts* were shared with the group:
The chart* above shows the attendance to the two English services combined. It is evident that while 2013 showed a decrease, compared to 2012, 2014 is demonstrating a clear upward trend including a higher summer attendance than the two previous years.
This chart* shows our worship attendance for the three Sunday services combined. Interestingly the summer attendance for 2013 & 2014 shows much less of a dip than 2012 (and than previous years). Also 2014 is showing an upward trend and it seems like this fall we might be hovering at around 1000.
In terms of giving to the budget, the following chart* was shared.
It was noted that 2011, 2012 & 2013 had one exceptional giving month each (July, May & December respectively). Removing those exceptional months, budget giving has hovered at roughly an average of $150,000 per month, which would render a rough annual average of $1.8 million. The current year (2014) has not been much different than previous years with the exception that there has been no extraordinary giving month as there was in 2011, 2012 & 2013.
Our 2014 budget consists of $2,141,159. However, giving has been at approximately 81% of the budget and, if the current rate continues through the end of the year, our budget receipts are projected to be somewhere at around $1,742,425. I shared with the group that we were taking measures in the fall to reduce spending as much as possible in an effort to end the year in the black. I also shared with the congregation that our budget development for 2015 needs to work responsibly from this data.
After these reports and information were shared with the congregation, we discussed things to celebrate, concerns, priorities and possibilities by tables and then at large. The following comments were made in the group at large:
Things to Celebrate about Calvary Life & Ministry:
- the diversity of our congregation
- the level of missions engagement
- the commitment of volunteers
- Calvary's good reputation in the community
- Adult Bible Fellowships
- the staff
- the evidence of God's love through Calvary people
- the church's efforts with the Central American refugee humanitarian aid
- the number and quality of opportunities to be equipped
- grateful for what people have given financially
- the children and youth ministry
- new people coming and joining the congregation
- having to reduce missionary support and engagement because of finances
- the need for more volunteers, especially in children ministry
- the need to do staff cuts
- the need for organized prayer
- the need to mobilize equipped members for ministry
- the need to grow in financial giving
- lack of visitors
- lack of doing life together in some ABFs
- not meeting budget
- the need for worship ministry staff
- leadership for worship ministry
- Children ministry
- neighborhood outreach
- taking care of the current staff
- building and grounds contracts
- communication to the entire church
- shift from paid staff to volunteers
- mobilizing the 80% of the congregation that is not serving
- revise the profile & job description that had been recommended for the Pastor of Music and Worship to meet our current financial reality
- ask people for commitment
- prayer
- fasting
- discipleship
The items in bold were the recurring themes throughout the evening:
- Prayer
- Volunteer mobilization
- Children ministry
- Budget
- the need to adapt the worship leadership plan
As lead pastor, and as a staff team, we have been working to address each of these areas. I will be communicating in future blog posts some of the decisions that have been made in regard to these. For example, you can see the following posts:
decisions-made-about-pastor-for-music and worship
dan-cather-is-new-classic-service worship leader
staff-reductions-at-calvary
In the meantime, I invite you to join me in prayer for our church. May God continue to guide, empower and use our church for His glory.
*the charts have been updated since the Town Hall Meeting
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