Board Update
BOARD UPDATE [transcript of video update]
Hey everyone, hope your summer was excellent. It is time for us to dive into another season of ministry here at Lighthouse Church. Bringing Jesus to others so that they can come fully alive.
In case you didn’t catch it, we baptized 12 of our next gen this summer and we’ve got a few adults in the pipeline to get baptized as well. Plus we’ve met lots of new people over the summer and one of them came forward to receive Jesus into their life! How exciting is that.
So already you heard me talk about how we’ve brought Sergio on to help us increase our effectiveness in connecting as a staff and our caring as a church family. Today we are going to bring you updates on our new building project, our current financial picture and our key targets for this year as discerned by the board and staff at our planning meeting last weekend.
Why don’t I start with an update on our building project.
If you remember, we have a need to replace the aging structures out back and build something new and inspiring to move our ministry forward for decades to come.
The membership empowered the board to move forward on a design to bring to the city and we did that with great success. The architect has designed a great facility and the city moved with swiftness and great support in giving our design their approval.
The membership then empowered us to go ahead with the project so long as we raised the funds needed before we broke ground.
We’ve taken a ridiculously long time to find support for the fundraising but just this past month the board approved engaging Waller & Associates out of Langley BC to guide us into this process. Their first phase is doing an in depth feasibility study that will not only get us the much needed feedback from you and the community that we need but it will also give us the path forward into collecting the funds needed. We anticipate their report arriving before Christmas.
Our point person with Waller & Associates is Glenn Embree. He went to bible school with me at Summit, pastored numerous churches in Canada and the US, and comes highly recommended by our District Office. Safe to say, he gets our context. We have had 2 meetings and already see the way they are get us moving in the right direction. Some of you are going to be invited to meet with Glenn to help us in this feasibility study.
The costs that we have expended to this point have all come from the monies set aside through specific donations for this purpose and do not impinge on the general operations fund.
Erwin’s report
I am glad to report that at the half-way point in the year our tithes to the general fund have been right about where we anticipated. Unfortunately this budget is not currently helping us to climb very quickly out of the government loans we took out during the pandemic. We received an interest free, partially forgivable $60,000 loan from the government as a COVID cashflow relief and they will grant us $20,000 of that if we pay them back before the end of next year.
The actual amount of cash available to us in the general fund is in the red because of the loans we have to pay back. Our spending restraints will help us move in the right direction but perhaps slower than we would like to see.
We are taking a hard look at what adjustments can be made again for the 2023 budget. We have had some serious maintenance issues to address this year already and we hesitate to reduce the budget in that area. The only budget item that will produce significant improvement in cashflow would be reducing the salary of the staff. Something we are hesitant to do as the staff are critical to the healthy functioning of our church. However, it is something that Pastor Danny is looking at with our staff with great care and sensitivity.
In the 2022 budget that we presented to you we included plans to raise an extra $20,000 to help us move out of the red. We would like to put that challenge out to you now. Would you help us recover from the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic? Would you consider a sacrificial gift – over and above your usual tithes – to help us move back to the black.
If you have any questions about this, please know that me and the entire board are happy to answer any of your questions.
DANNY:
The last item for this report was to inform you of the key targets we have for this new season of ministry. Recently, the board met with the staff and interacted with them on their goals and targets for the coming year. We are excited about what lies ahead for our Daycare and our youth ministry. Our kids ministry and our Sunday services. And the discipleship training that Nick is bringing forward this year is truly fantastic. I can’t wait till we all get to work through the new course – the Rhythms of Life. But then we discussed what should be the big three. And this is what we are excited to share:
#3 – Is to see the fundraising team raise the needed 75% so that we can re-engage the architect and get the project moving into the next phase. The fundraising could take a long time to come in but we are believing for God to do something supernatural in the midst of our efforts.
#2 – Our lease with the current facility in Steveston ends in February and the cost of operating it has been challenging. We believe for a strong Steveston campus and the HUB serving for the flourishing of that community within a financially sustainable plan.
And ….
#1– we have set a target for us together to see 25 people baptized in water. 25 people who can testify to how one of you – our members – brought Jesus to them and how they have come fully alive. We spent a fair bit of time discussing this goal. In the end, we believe the mission drives everything forward and we need to set some challenging targets in front of us.
In Summary:
- We have Sergio now on board helping us improve our connecting and caring.
- We have movement on our community centre project.
- We have finances that are being kept carefully in check but operating still within a fiscally tight budget.
- We have a project to raise $20,000 to help us recover from the pandemic and get us moving in the future
- Finally, we have some great goals for what we want to see this coming year, including seeing 25 people baptized in water with one of you standing there as their towel bearer because you brought Jesus to them so that they could come fully alive .
Let me conclude with the invitation for you to get generously involved in our mission as a church. Bring Jesus to others in a bold, Spirit-empowered manner. Give with generosity. Worship with passion, and serve with enthusiasm – as unto the Lord himself. It’s time to move beyond surviving and start thriving! As Paul so beautifully said, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.