The State of Giving at Calvary

Last night the president of the United States gave the State of the Union address.  In this post, I want to simply give the state of giving at Calvary.

I have asked the administrative team in our staff to give me some figures that would give us a picture of what percentage of the congregation is supporting the church budget through their tithes and offerings.

The reason for such an analysis is to discover the financial potential of our church and so that we can pray accordingly.  We know God's potential is bigger than our human potential but it helps to know where the gap might be.

In order to get a good idea of this, we need a two-dimensional picture.  On the one side, we need to look at contributions from members and on the other at contributions from those who actually attend.  These two areas have a big overlap.  In other words, there are many members who are regular attendees and vice-versa.  However, there are also members who do not attend and attendees who are not members.  So all these segments need to be considered in looking at this contributions picture.

In 2010, the average annual contribution was $1,971.  Using this average as a benchmark, we discovered the following for 2010:

• 26% of Calvary members gave more than the average contribution;
• 24% of Calvary members gave less than the average contribution;
• 50% of Calvary members gave nothing

Since, it could be said that many of those who are members are not regular attendees and therefore may not contribute, it is also important to combine membership and attendees.  In 2010,

• 22% of all contributors gave more than the average contribution;
• 33% of all contributors gave less than the average contribution;
• 45% all attendees gave nothing

*It must be noted that this reflects only budget contributions and not designated offerings, also it does not reflect 12:45 service offerings since they were given through a designated fund in 2010.

While it may be said that these percentages fair better than most churches, we also know that there is still potential for growth in giving at Calvary.

We don't believe in trying to get people to give with guilt-driven approaches.  However, we can do the following:

• pray for God to touch people's heart so that they will discover the joy of giving
• teach from the pulpit and through ABF's about financial stewardship
• continue to provide "Financial Peace" education where we teach people how to get out of debt
• seek God's provision first and trust Him

We expect great things from God in 2011 and we commit to seeking his face.  We trust that he will provide and we pray He will do so through his people.

Pastor Joe Gerault's Medical Update

This week, I have asked Joe to share a medical update with you.  Below you will find what he has written:

If you are actively involved at Calvary other than just participating on Sunday mornings, you will have noticed I often use a cane during the week.  I don’t use it on Sundays, mainly because it would attract too much attention to me, and that’s certainly not the focus of what we are to be about on Sundays.  However, my health situation has reached a point where I am going to need to be using it more, so before you were surprised by that, I wanted to take an opportunity to explain.

I am so appreciative of the many inquires about my health and your expressions of your prayers for me and your concern for me.  It’s just a demonstration of the kind of loving and caring church family you are.

Many who were at Calvary at the time remember the dramatic health crisis I went through in 2005.  You can read my medical testimony of that experience here: My Medical Testimony

However, a few months before all that came to light, I was experiencing the early symptoms of a condition that has been diagnosed as Ataxia.  Ataxia is primarily characterized by progressive balance problems (disequilibrium), progressive impairment of the ability to coordinate voluntary movements (cerebellar ataxia), and difficulty speaking or slurred speech (dysarthria).  You’ve probably observed all three characteristics in me.

 

There are a number of problems with Ataxia beyond these three, but these are the most prominent and visible.  You can research it for yourself, but for a simple explanation with a little more detail than I’ve given in this note, I have linked some information here: Ataxia

  

I am blessed that the progression of this chronic condition has been slow.  I’ll probably die of old age before any complication of Ataxia gets really bad.  Most days have their challenges, and some days are very difficult, but I just get up every day and serve the Lord with the best of the abilities He has given me for that day.

Certainly as the illness has progressively gotten worse, my challenges have increased and have become more outwardly visible.  On Sundays in particular, I’m reaching the point where the walking and twisting and turning and visiting with people is pretty difficult.  I get very fatigued, which makes the problems worse.  I find a cane helps me keep my balance more as I move about, and that is why I will soon need to start using it on those days, as well.

I just wanted to take an opportunity to let you know more details about it so when you see me with a cane, you’ll know why.  I appreciate your care and concern for my health struggles, and I appreciate your prayers on my behalf.

Joe Gerault

Towards a Strategic Mission Focus

Our pastoral staff and missions committee have continued to pray seeking God's direction in defining a strategic mission focus and discussing possibilities.  Although there is no official document developed yet, I would like to share my impressions on how this is beginning to shape up. The purpose is to keep you informed, seek your prayer support and welcome your input.  This is still very much a work in progress.

The factors that have informed our discussions include missional philosophy, the "I am Calvary" survey results, demographic data of the congregation and Hidalgo County, input from Dr. Milfred Minatrea, Calvary's current involvement and commitments, and pastoral leadership.

Levels of involvement:
One of the elements that needs to be considered in discussing the strategic mission focus of a congregation are the levels of involvement.  These consist of personal, group and congregational levels.

1. The personal level is where the individual Calvary member may be lead to engage missionally.  His or her skill set, personal sense of call and natural connections may lead him or her to connect in particular ways.  Potentially, these could be about a 1000 opportunities (literally).  Calvary's role at the personal level is to help inform, inspire, train, affirm, bless and, even commission the individual.
2. The group level includes Bible Fellowships individually or as a network.  For example, an ABF may have a mission project they support, or there may be three ABF's who together participate in a missional endeavor.  Furthermore, an entire age division of Bible Fellowships may take on a specific mission opportunity.  For example, the student ministry (all of their Bible Fellowships) may organize a mission trip.  Calvary's role at the group level is similar to the personal level: inform, inspire, connect, affirm, bless, and, often, resource the group's involvement.
3. The congregational level is where the congregation identifies a handful of strategic opportunities where it will invest congregational human and financial resources both locally and globally.  Considering that there are two levels at which Calvary people may already be involved, and the amount of resources available, these opportunities have to be limited in number and scope.

Of course, it is understood that these three levels may overlap at some points for individuals.

Geographical Areas of Involvement:

Taking Acts 1:8 as a cue, Calvary's missions involvement can be divided into three geographical concentric circles: local, regional and global.

1. The local area is McAllen proper and the cities which are adjacent to it, namely, Mission, Pharr, and Edinburg, and the "colonias" in the immediate area.  In this area we seek to do on-going community ministry and church planting.  We have determined that the needs in our community are great and that we have a special opportunity and responsibility to increase our witness in the local area.  So we are moving ahead in investing more resources and energy in the local area.
2. The regional area is essentially the rest of the Rio Grande Valley and the northern parts of Mexico.  Since this is a very vast area in size, population and diversity, we will need to focus on particular points within this area.  For example, we may identify two or three strategic places where we want to start new congregations or we may identify particular ministries in places like Matamoros and Saltillo with whom we would like to partner.
3. The global area is anything beyond the regional area and should provide a couple of alternative places where Calvary can engage.  It includes the support of those who have been sent long-term, the support of strategic partnerships and the short-term involvement of volunteers.

Criteria for Strategic Involvement:

By necessity, in order to be strategic, objective criteria needs to be determined and used in deciding which people groups and places we will engage in mission and which partnerships we will develop.  This process takes for granted the role of prayer and spiritual direction.  In other words, we do not list prayer and spiritual direction as a criteria because it should involve the whole process from head to toe.  At this point, we have identified four primary criteria to help us in the development of strategic focus: proximity, unreached people groups, the poor and oppressed, and strategic partnerships.

1. Proximity is the concept of the responsibility we have toward those who are closer.  Although we do not excuse ourselves from our responsibility to "the ends of the earth," we recognize that we have a special opportunity to reach those that are near us.  It is natural in terms of resources and access to use this as a criteria.  For example, if we are wanting to evangelize an unreached people group, and we find that there is one in East Africa and another in Central Mexico, we might give additional weight to the one in Central Mexico as one of the criteria in making the decision.
2. Unreached people groups is the idea that we need to direct more resources and energy toward reaching those people groups who are unreached or least reached.  These are people groups or "ethnes" that do not have a group of believers strong enough to evangelize their own people group within their own language and culture.  There is a wide range of estimates about what is the population of the world that fits this "unreached" description.  On the low end some say it is 1/4 of the world's population.  That's as many as 1.5 billion people.  Currently, most churches engage countries and people groups that already have the gospel in their language and culture.  While the need for evangelism and church planting is great even among "reached" peoples and groups, we cannot afford to neglect the "unreached."  Ideally, we would identify one or two groups where we want to focus our attention for a couple of years.
3. The poor and the oppressed is the recognition that, while our primary objective is to make disciples of all nations, we also have a call to minister to the poor and the oppressed in Jesus' name (Luke 4:18-19).  There is much poverty and oppression around the world and it is impossible for Calvary to address it all.  However, it will be one of the criteria for making decisions of where we might connect.
4. Strategic partnerships is the acknowledgment that, in order to be efficient and effective, we cannot do this alone.  We need to identify churches and organizations who are already doing a good job of the things we would like to be involved in and we need to develop partnerships with these.  This may be a church which is doing community ministry in their area, or a missionary who is engaging unreached people groups or an international benevolence organization.

These criteria still leaves a broad range of opportunities so it will be necessary to continue to refine it and develop it but it will help us in making decisions about current commitments and new opportunities that arise.

Short-Term Service Opportunities

One of the ways in which Calvary is able to engage in missional activity and also make better disciples is through short-term service opportunities.  Given the three levels of involvement mentioned above, Calvary will contemplate two types of mission trip possibilities: endorsed trips and sponsored trips.

1. Endorsed trips are those that an entity other than Calvary may be organizing and leading but in which some Calvary individuals may choose to participate and which Calvary leaders feel enough confidence to endorse.  These trips may be announced, supported in prayer and commissioned but, generally will not receive budget funds or Calvary staff leadership.
2. Sponsored trips are those that Calvary is organizing and leading, occasionally in partnership with another entity.  These trips will be announced, supported in prayer, funded by the church budget and led by Calvary staff or volunteers.

Calvary Strategic Partnerships and Short-Term Opportunities

Using these criteria, Calvary will seek to develop strategic partnerships and to provide short-term service opportunities in the next 24 months (2011-2012) with the following:

1. México: Saltillo/Chiapas.  One of the opportunities that meets all the four criteria discussed above is Calvary Baptist Church in Saltillo, Mexico.  Their health clinic, medical/evangelistic brigades and their involvement with indigenous groups in the state of Chiapas offer a unique opportunity to us.
2. The Amazon.  Along the Amazon river where the countries of Colombia, Peru and Brazil meet, there are several indigenous groups who are beginning to be reached.  The opportunity to do leadership development and evangelism in partnership with David and Denise Love is a great one.
3. Africa.  Although there are many Calvary points of contact in Africa, we are looking to focus on a place where we can minister to the poor and the oppressed or engage an unreached people group, (or both).  We are seeking to partner with entities that are trustworthy and are financially sustainable without being a burden to Calvary.
4. Southeast Asia.  This opportunity is for those that would like to be involved in the mobilization of Christians into closed countries and partnering with them.

These initiatives will be developed and implemented by the pastoral staff with the input and approval of the missions committee.

Calvary Missions Budget

Using the factors and the criteria mentioned above, the missions committee has approved a missions budget for 2011.  This represents the allocation of 16% of general church budget receipts, which are projected to be $317,569.  Of this, 2.5% has been allocated to Texas Baptist Cooperative missions ($49,870), 1.5% to Southern Baptist missionary support ($29,922) and 12% to direct support of Calvary missions initatives and partnerships ($239,374).

The "Calvary Direct" portion is subdivided into four categories: mobilization, missionaries, church plants and ministries:

1. Mobilization:  Calvary will continue to financially support three global indigenous mission initiatives and also fund global partnership projects in three primary areas: Mexico, South America and Africa.  These global partnership projects are still to be determined and developed.  (See the "Calvary Strategic Partnerships and Short-Term Opportunities" section above).  The projects will be developed and implemented by the pastoral staff with the input and approval of the missions committee.  We will also increase staffing for community missions.
2. Missionaries:  All the 10 current missionaries who are being partially supported will continue to be funded (some at the same level others at a different level according to strategy focus).  Three new missionaries will be partially funded at entry level because of their connection with our strategy.
3. Church plants:  We are currently supporting two regional church plants: Sullivan City and Journey Church.  We will continue to fund Journey church at the same level this year while we will only fund the Sullivan City church for the first six months of 2011.
4. Ministries:  We will continue to support Angel Food, the BSM and Bread of Life.  We will increase the amount for benevolent help and we will add funding for medical missions.

As we continue to grow and develop into a missional church, we hope this process will contribute toward our strategic mission focus.  We ask for your prayers, your support, your input and your participation.

Until all the nations worship Him!

Priorities and Finances

This month I am preaching a sermon series called "FIRST."  It is about realigning priorities according to the Scriptures.  The foundational verse for the entire series is Matthew 6:33.  Jesus told his disciples that if they invested themselves in his kingdom FIRST, the Heavenly Father would provide for all their other needs.  This is a good reminder for each of us as we evaluate our priorities this New Year.  We should be consumed with God's kingdom not with anxiety about our personal needs.

It is also a good reminder for our church.  If as a church, we steep ourselves in God's kingdom and righteousness instead of being consumed with anxiety about our financial situation, we can trust God to provide what we need.  Good stewardship includes both, making adjustments when times are lean, and relying on God to provide what we need.

One of the sermons in this series is called "First Fruits" (January 16).  We will talk about the principle of honoring God with our wealth FIRST.  As part of this sermon, I will share with the congregation how Calvary practices this principle and how the financial resources of the church are used for ministry.

I am leading our staff in the publication of an Annual Ministry Review booklet where we will report what God did during 2010 and what is budgeted for 2011.  It is my hope that this booklet will help inform members about the kinds of things that God is doing through our church and how they are a part of it through their praying, giving and participating.  I pray that the booklet will be a blessing to our congregation and will help us lift our eyes up to our Heavenly Father.  May he be honored and glorified for what He has done and for what He is going to do.

I ask for your prayers in this regard.

We are off to a great year!