Giving Patterns 2012--2013

           During the last couple of months several of our leaders and staff members asked questions about the patterns of giving at Calvary.  It is evident that we are experiencing numerical growth in membership and total Sunday morning attendance (especially in our Spanish Language Ministry).  The questions that have been raised include: Is giving increasing, decreasing or staying the same?  Do we have more contributors than before or not?  Are new members giving/tithing?  Have some members stopped giving or decreased their giving?  Is the per-capita (average given per person/family) giving the same or less? Etc., etc.

          These questions are relevant for several reasons.  The answers can point us to areas of growth and areas where growth is needed.  This has implications for our teaching.  They can also tell us something about the health of our church in regard to giving.  Recent research indicated that the number of contributors in North American churches is decreasing and that the percentage those contributors are giving is also decreasing.  Twenty years ago it was said that in general 20% of the people in a church gave 80% of the money.  Today it is said that generally 10% of the people give 90% of the money.  There are many reasons given for those shifts.  One of the big ones is that the "builder" generation (those born before WWII), who have always been committed and generous givers, is decreasing.  Younger generations give less because of their standard of living, level of indebtedness and lack of agreement (or knowledge) about biblical teaching on giving.

           This post is not meant to analyze giving patterns in the North American church.  Neither is the intent to present a biblical teaching on giving (We recently studied "The Treasure Principle").  The objective here is to share how Calvary is doing in this regard.  However, this study and report assumes certain biblical principles including:

1. That the tithe (10%) of our income is a proportional principle for giving to God's work demonstrating that He is the owner of the 100% (Leviticus 27:30).
2. That this principle of the tithe as proportionate giving pre-dates and post-dates the Mosaic law (Genesis 14:20; 28:22; Matthew 23:23; 1 Corinthians 16:2).
3. The tithe as a biblical principle is not to be practiced as a legalistic obligation imposed by others but as a starting principle to respond to God's grace.  Grace always goes beyond the law.  Grace always goes beyond the minimum.  (Matthew 10:8).  It is a voluntary response to God's grace and to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 9:7) but the tenth is the Scriptural guide for proportionate giving.
4. The tithe is meant for the place of worship and service of God's people.  When the prophet Malachi exhorted Israel to seek spiritual renewal, he told them on God's behalf, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house" (Malachi 3:10).  Surely there were poor to help everywhere and there might have been other benevolent causes to support outside of having provision in the Temple.  But the spiritual renewal of Israel called for the investment of their heart in the place they worshipped God and where God's Word was taught them.  To put it in New Testament terms, Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  In other words, spiritual commitment to the place where a believer worships, serves, and experiences discipleship is accompanied by financial commitment and vise-versa.  In turn, the church has a responsibility to support missions and to help the poor, etc., etc.  As individuals, we are free to contribute to causes outside our local church but we have a spiritual commitment to pray and support our congregation as a matter of priority.

          As Lead Pastor I have purposed myself not to have access to the contribution records.  In other words I don't know who gives what at Calvary.  I have never known and I want to keep it that way.  In order to have an idea of giving patters at Calvary I asked the support staff that has access to contribution records (there are only two staff members who do) to prepare a report.  This report was shared with the stewardship committee at their last monthly meeting.  The three-page report is available to Calvary leaders who request it.  This report is not a thorough long-range report but it gives a good idea of the present situation.  I share some of the findings with you below:

1. A significant number of families make some financial contribution to Calvary.  Of the 1,760 families in our database (members, attendees and prospects), 822 families contribute financially (47%).  When only the member families (700) are considered, 68% (474) contribute.
2. English Language Ministry (ELM) and Spanish Language Ministry (SLM) compliment each other in giving.  The percentage of member families who contribute from the ELM is lower (54%) than the percentage of member families who contribute from the SLM (100%).  However, the per capita family giving in the ELM is about three times as much as the per capita family giving in the SLM.
3. There were more individuals (654) contributing in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 (611).  In the first six months of 2012 an extraordinary gift was made by one individual.  Removing this extraordinary gift, more money was given in the first six months of 2013 ($949,157) than in the first six months of 2012 ($888,669).  This represents a 7% growth in number of contributors and in dollar amount from last year to this year.
4. We have gained more new contributors than lost former contributors but the dollar amount given by the new contributors is less than former contributors.  There were 197 individuals who gave in 2012 and have not given in 2013.  That represents a total of $116,488.  However, there were 232 individuals who have given in 2013 and did not give in 2012 representing a total of $85,123.
5. We have more current contributors who have increased their giving than those who have decreased their giving.  There were 182 individuals who gave less in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total decrease of $100,511.  On the other side, there were 210 individuals who gave more in the first six months of 2013 than in the first six months of 2012 for a total increase of $191,365.
6. About 32% of member families might be considered tithers or significant-proportinate contributors providing 92% of the total budget dollars received.  (Compare this with the 10%-of-people-give-90%-of-the-money pattern mentioned above).

          It should be noted that our database includes families and members who are inactive.  Also some of the changes in giving relate to people who have moved away or changed church membership.  The analysis of reasons why these things are so is outside the scope of this report.

          A couple of observations are in order in regard to this information.  The first one is that the state of giving in our church is healthy.  There is room for growth but there is wide participation and many of the numbers are above the "norm" of churches in the nation.  We have grown in the amount of contributors and thus in the amount of money given.  However, the per-capita giving has decreased some.  This is somewhat in keeping with general trends in the nation. It means it will take more people to do some things.  It means we may have to find ways to do more with less.  The future, nevertheless, remains bright.  We have growing to do but we have a congregation that is committed.

          This July was one of the best "Julys" in the last several years.  At the beginning of the summer our staff had projected that July would incur $12,000 in expenses over income.  This is due to the nature of summer events and to the giving trends in summer months.  However, we had a July in the black!  We received more money than was spent!  The financial reports are not complete yet but we are confident that we did much better than we had projected.  Our YTD deficit has been decreased and there is still hope to get in the black for YTD in the next couple of months.  We praise God for that!

        We thank you in your role as a leader of Calvary for your prayers and your support of the Lord's work in our midst.  To God be the glory!

Miller Room for Student Ministry Use

           The Miller Room (or G101), which has been used as a kind of multi-purpose room, will soon be converted into a Student Ministry space.

          As you know since the hailstorm, our students have been without a building of their own.  They are currently in the Family Life Center using classrooms upstairs on Sunday morning and the gym floor on Wednesday nights.

          There are no immediate plans to construct a student building.  (A master plan that was developed about eight years ago included the future construction of a Student Ministry Building but this master plan needs to be revisited).  Even if we were to vote on doing that at the next Church in Conference (which we are not), it would take about two years before we could have a building.  That means that we need to do our best to make sure our students have a place they can call their own, a place that welcomes them, a place that announces from the very entrance that students are important at Calvary, a place that feels like a student building for the next three or four years.  The next step in doing so is to convert the Miller Room (downstairs in the Family Life Center) into a student hang out area.  

          We are not planning on doing any structural changes or major remodeling.  We simply need to paint the room, put some comfy chairs in there, add some ping-pong and/or pool tables, etc.. etc. Pastor Marcus will be working to lead this project and to make sure that it is both student-friendly and low-budget.  This, of course, implies that this room will not be the most adequate for adult usage (except for college students).  We do hope that this room will be shared by college ministry.  We have plenty of rooms that adults can use in the Slayton building, multi-purpose room, Family Life Center and parlor.  We will do our due diligence to facilitate the best rooms availability for adult ministry.  But it is important that Student Ministry has its appropriate, welcoming space.

           Our hope is to start work on this within the next two weeks in order to have it ready by the beginning of the semester.  We appreciate your support, the leadership of Marcus Rodriguez, and the support of many volunteers in the Student Ministry.  We look forward to numerical, spiritual and missional growth in our student ministry.

P.S.:  We need to consider a good time this fall to have a group, team or committee revisit the "master plan" that the church adopted several years ago (immediately before the construction of the Children's building).

Thank you for these three years

          The tree in the photo above is an orange tree that Calvary gave us shortly after we moved to McAllen (about three years ago).  The tree is growing slowly and staying very green in spite of the drought.  Every morning when I drink my coffee I look at the tree with gratitude.  The tree is a reminder to me of God's faithfulness and providence.  It's a reminder to me of the love that the people of Calvary have shown to me and my family since we arrived.  It is a reminder of God's ability to keep things alive and growing.  During these three years that I have had the privilege of serving as lead pastor of Calvary I have grown much.  I also have seen God doing His work in this wonderful congregation.

          I simply want to pause and thank you for the opportunity you have given me to serve Calvary.  I thank each of you for your love and prayerful support.  I thank you for encouraging words.  I also thank you for frank and open communication when there is disagreement.  I thank you for your patience and for your trust.  I am extremely blessed and grateful for these three years and I trust God that he will continue to grow this relationship in the same way he is growing the little orange tree.

          Calvary is a rich church in many ways:

           Calvary is rich in diversity.  Our church possesses ethnic diversity as has been noted before.  We also have a broad range of ages: babies, children, students, college students, young adults, median adults, senior adults.  (We're not a niche church but a cross-generational community).   We also have diversity of faith backgrounds.  Our people come from Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Free, Assemblies of God, Bible, Plymouth Brethren and other backgrounds.  We have a diversity of socio-economic levels, including working class, retirees, students, middle class, professionals, and well-to-do individuals.  The professions of our people vary from educators to business owners, from law-enforcement to real estate, from finance and banking to labor, from sales to public service, from contractors to office personnel, from engineers to medical professionals, from lawyers to house-cleaning personnel, from farmers to stay-at-home wives/moms, etc., etc.  We have folks from different countries and also from various states of the U.S.  We have various styles of worship expressed each Sunday.  We also have diversity in theological positions from ultra-conservative to moderate.  What a richness is ours as all of us meet at the foot of the cross!  What a fitting name for our church: Calvary!  That's what brings us together: the work of Christ on Calvary.  Only He can do that!  Anyone can get a homogeneous group together.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring this kind of diversity into one body (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

          Calvary is also rich in tradition.  It is not the kind of tradition that stifles spiritual vitality.  It is not the kind of tradition that hinders positive change and progress.  It is the healthy kind of tradition that gives identity and continuity to the work of God.  Calvary has a long tradition of supporting church starts in the Valley.  Our church also has a long tradition of supporting missionary work, whether it is through the Cooperative Program, through seasonal mission offerings, or through direct missions involvement.  Calvary has a long-time tradition of commitment to sound biblical teaching and preaching.  Our congregation has a strong tradition of unapologetically cooperating within the Baptist denomination while being open to working cross-denominationally with para-church organizations, educational institutions and other groupings. Calvary has a tradition of being more committed to reaching people and to obeying Christ than to simply doing what all other Baptist churches do.  Calvary has kept "Baptist" in its name but has always been open to all the people that want to worship here or join the congregation.  Calvary has a strong tradition of operating with high accountability, including financial reporting to the entire congregation, committee decision-making, church in conference more than once a year, etc. (This is a disappearing thing in many of the churches this size and bigger).  Calvary has a tradition of being progressive from its inception.  Our church has had a tradition of relating significantly to the community.  Calvary has had a tradition of caring for the lost: from old-fashioned revivals to the FAITH evangelism program to EE to the supporting of missions and to the praying for the unreached people groups of the world.  In its 56 years of history, Calvary has seen many changes.  Yet certain core-values have remained the same.  The methods and strategies may change but the spirit and the mission of this church have not.

           I am grateful to be part of this congregation.  I am thankful for the rich history and heritage of this church.  I thank God for the changes He has allowed over the last several years.  I am blessed to have been the lead pastor for these last three years.  I am optimistic about the future of this great church.  God will continue to show His faithfulness as we move forward in His name, by His Spirit and for His glory.

P.S.:  I'm extremely grateful to the church, the deacons, the personnel committee and the staff for your support during my doctoral dissertation writing.  I have recently submitted introductory and bibliographical material.  I have been asked to do additional revisions on multiple chapters.  I still need to submit my conclusions chapter, which is briefer than the previous one.  But I have made significant progress and I am very close to having it all in.  I'm still hopeful about getting it all submitted by the end of August.  I'm looking forward to being back in the pulpit this month (with the exception of one vacation Sunday).  I so appreciate the staff pastors who have blessed us with their preaching.  I am indebted to God and to all of you for the great kindness shown to me.

Preaching the Annual Sermon to Texas Baptists

          (I am inserting this comment on 8-7-13.  Since I entered this post on 7-12-13, the Texas Baptists webpage has uploaded the sermon videos.  You can watch the video of my message by clicking on this link: Annual Sermon Video.  If you would like to see videos of the other speakers at this meeting you can go to this webpage: Videos of speakers at the Texas Baptists Gathering.  If you are interested in reading articles that report on the overall sense of The Gathering, here are a couple:

Texas Baptists Family Gathering by ABP news

Baptist Standard Editorial: "Pentecost in San Antonio"

Family Gathering by the Baptist Standard). 

         This year I have the honor of preaching the convention sermon for the annual meeting of Texas Baptists.  I have been asked to speak on the topic of ethnic diversity on Sunday night (July 14).  I share this with you because I need your prayer support and because I want you to know that I consider it a great privilege to do this as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, McAllen.

          This year's meeting is a historic one because it is the first time the BGCT, the Hispanic Baptist Convention, the African-American Fellowship, the Vietnamese Fellowship, the Chinese Fellowship and the Western-Heritage ministry fellowship will have a joint meeting.  On Sunday night the theme will be diversity.  On Monday night it will be unity and on Tuesday night it will be missions.  We will conclude this assembly with the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

          As I did research for the assigned topic, I found out some information that I thought you might like to know.  It has to do with the demographics of Texas and the diversity of our Texas Baptist Churches.

           Currently in our state there is no racial or ethnic majority.  In the chart below you can see that the population of Texas is 45% Anglo, 38% Hispanic, 12% Black, 4% Asian and 1% Native American/Pacific Islander.

According to Texas' demographer by the year 2040, 53% of the Texas population will be Hispanic, 32% will be Anglo, and 10% will be Black.  Here's a chart that shows the projected growth from 1980 to 2040:

There are many implications of this information in regard to evangelism, missions, education, and the way we do church.  If we care about the future of our churches and the future of our state, we need to be aware of these realities.

          Thankfully Texas Baptists have not only been thinking about this for some time but have been proactive in the planting of churches that will reach this diverse state for Christ.  According to the annual report that churches submit to the BGCT, of the 5,434 congregations affiliated with the convention: 

• ·      54% (2,953) are Anglo
• ·      19% (1,039) Hispanic
• ·      15% (822) African-American
• ·      04% (238) Other
• ·      04% (195) Asian
• ·      03% (187) Western-Heritage

In the "other" category, 172 congregations consider themselves multi-ethnic or multi-cultural.  Additionally there are 36 ethnicity and language groups included in the "Asian" and "Other" categories.  They include Arabic, Brazilian, Bhutanese, Cambodian, Chinese, Cameroon, Chin, Congolese, Deaf, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Filipino, Haitian, Hmong, Native American, Iranian, Japanese, Karen, Kachin, Kenyan, Korean, Liberian, Laotian, Messianic, Nigerian, Romanian, Russian, Sudanese, Thai and Vietnamese.  Did I mention these are all congregations in Texas?  The ends of the world have come to our state and Texas Baptists are reaching them for Christ.  We have a long way to go but we are on the right path.

          You may already know that the Rio GrandeValley is 90% Hispanic with the rest of the population being Anglo, Black, Asian and other.

          According to our records at Calvary, currently our congregation is very diverse.  Of the approximately 1,300 members on our church roll 49.5% are Anglo, 45.2% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 1% is Black.  That's in terms of ethnicity and membership.  In terms of worship attendance and language preference, of the 940 people who attend worship on any given Sunday, 54% attend one of our English worship services and 46% attend our Spanish service.  We are truly a diverse and multi-cultural church.  We praise God for that.  We are not in the business of targeting or preferring one ethnic or language group over another.  We are about being inclusive of all people with the love of Christ because that is what reflects best the New Testament church.  Ultimately, we as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "should not judge people by the color of their skin."  Instead we should see the person for whom Christ died and desires to redeem.

          As a multi-cultural church in the Valley, we are learning how to be effective in the midst of changing demographics.  Just because you agree that we should love and accept all people does not mean that we know how best to do that.  We still have much to learn.  However, there are some ways in which we can be of help and encouragement to other churches in Texas.

           This topic may open up a lot of conversations for you and me.  I hope we get to have them.  However, for now, I ask that you pray for me this weekend, pray for Calvary's effectiveness in reaching the McAllen area and for Texas Baptists as we reach a diverse state.

          The plenary sessions of the annual meeting will be streamed live over the internet.  Click on the following link to see the schedule and the the live feed link, in case you are interested in watching any of the sessions:

Texas Baptists Annual Meeting

           (By the way, I report to you that I am making significant progress in my dissertation writing.  I'm still on target to finish this summer!  This month will constitute the last major preaching rotation at Calvary as I hope to submit the final chapter of my dissertation sometime in August).

Mid-Summer Highlights (Record Summer)

          It's hard to believe that the summer is half-gone already!  Soon we will be securing school supplies, registering for school and dropping off our children at their college dorm!

           Thankfully it has been a good summer at Calvary so far.  We have had record participation in most of our events and there is excitement in the air about what God is doing in our church.

           We have had a great response at our Wednesday night events.  The purpose of these events has been to foster fellowship across our three worship services.  Our pic-nic with inflatable wet rides, our

movie night and our prayer & worship nights have had great numerical turn outs and representation across our entire congregation.  They have been blessed times in building up the body at Calvary.  We appreciate the pastoral and associate staff that have planned and led these events, and Pastor Rolando for his leadership of this team.  We still have a bowling night, a swimming night, a multi-cultural supper and a back-to-school party coming up.  So don't miss out!

          We also had a very fun VBS with a participation of approximately 245 people every day.  This year we counted on one of the largest and well-organized student staff team.  There was great worship, Bible study, fun, learning and giving to missions.  We are grateful for Pastor Susan, Cheri Huerta and Bitsy Reynolds for their great leadership.

          Another highlight of our summer was Camp Zephyr.  We had a record year in Calvary participants.  A group of around 80 students and adults attended and returned with very encouraging and inspiring testimonies.  We are blessed to have Pastor Marcus and many other adults who invested in the lives of our students during this camp week.  Thank you also to Calvary for the prayer and financial support given.

          The July 4th block party this year also had record participation.  We registered 2,013 (1,234 guests and 779 Calvary members) individuals, in addition to about 200 volunteers.  Many people did not register so we are estimated that at least 3,000 people were on our campus for this outreach event.  What a great opportunity to serve our community as we celebrate the 4th of July!  We hope the witness we have given will continue to bear fruit.  We thank Betty Flores, Elizabeth Zamora, the 4th of July team and the 200 volunteers for an excellent job.

          This week two van loads of students and adults have been participating in our Houston Project.  This event, in partnership with FBC, Houston, is a hands-on missions education experience.  Houston is home to over 300 ethnic groups and 216 languages.  Going to Houston can be a global experience!  Our students have been learning about God's heart for the world, about poverty, human trafficking, and unreached people groups.  They also have been working in a community garden, serving children, painting houses, prayer walking target areas in Houston, and sharing wonderful experiences of how God is speaking to them.  We raising servant global disciples at Calvary!

We praise God for Pastor Marcus and for the adults who are leading and mentoring these servant global Calvary students!

          On Monday one of the largest groups of children ever from Calvary will be traveling to Camp Tejas.  Pastor Susan and her team of fearless volunteers will be taking a group of 89 people to this childrens' camp experience!  Please keep them in your prayers.  We know this week will make an eternal difference in the heart of many of our children.

          Then at the end of this month, July 28-30, our preteens (5th & 6th graders) will be participating in a local missions project.  These Calvary preteens will have the opportunity of working with Buckner's Community Transformation Center (one of our local missions partners) in Peñitas as they serve children of that community.  Children serving other children in the name of Jesus!  (We are blessed that our children's pastor is also a Buckner International board member.  These relational bridges help us be more effective in Kingdom work).

          Our Sunday mornings this summer have been blessed with good attendance, great worship services, the commissioning of families and individuals, baptisms, and several who have joined by transfer from another church.  We are grateful for those who have led our worship services such as Chad Mason, Diann Whisnand, Melinda Rodriguez, Chuck Olson, Jared Solis and Benjamin Aguirre.  I am thankful for those who have shared the pulpit ministry with me including Pastors Rolando, Marcus, Chad, and one of our friends in East Asia (sorry that I cannot be more specific).  This month (July) should constitute the last major preaching rotation cycle.  (I plan to submit the last of my dissertation chapters sometime in August!).  Thanks for the incredible support!

          We have individuals and families from Calvary who this summer are serving in Germany, Spain, Boston, Panama, Dallas, Ethiopia, the Middle East (cannot be more specific), Chiapas, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, etc., etc.  We also launched our 2013 missionary catalog and we are grateful for Pastor's Chad leadership in publishing this helpful tool.

          For a couple of months before the summer our giving was under our expenditures.  As we entered the summer, we have continued to carry out the events I mentioned above but we have found ways to reduce spending in other areas.  In the mean time, our summer giving has been better than other summers.  We had a record-giving month in June and although it was a five-Sunday month, even by the fourth week of June we had received more than in June of the past couple of years.  This allowed us to have a month in the black!  If the first Sunday of July is any indication, the current month will also be a good month in giving.  We are thanking God for his provision and continuing to trust Him for the days ahead.

          All in all, we are having a record summer in terms of event participation, children's ministry, student ministry, missions engagement, volunteerism and financial giving!  Praise God!

          This summer, James McGinnis, our Business Administrator, celebrated his 10th anniversary on staff at Calvary.  I am thankful for all of the administrative functions that James carries out making our ministry possible.  One of the most recent and largest tasks was bringing closure to the hail storm insurance claim.  We are done with that!  Thanks James for all you have done.

          As we wrap up the summer and prepare for the fall semester, we are anticipating exciting things, especially in the area of Bible Fellowships, EQUIP, WIT and missions mobilization.

          I don't know about you, but I sure am glad to be a part of Calvary at this time!  I will continue to pray, to give, and to be a part of what God is doing at Calvary.  I hope you will too.  Praise God for his blessings and for his goodness!