Trusting God as Provider
Dear LTCC Family,
I have the blessed opportunity to serve in various capacities here at LTCC. Being involved in Men’s Ministry, the Church Council *1, and the Transition Team *2, I get to see and interact with a wide range of perspectives and facets of what’s going on; not only from a “church business” perspective but also a visioning and formation perspective during this IPM Intentional Process.
In the Transition Team, we get to study church and neighborhood analytics and demographics and ask fun questions like, “What does LTCC look like in 10 or 20 years”, or “What’s broken and needs to be addressed now”. With insights from you all, we get to make recommendations to the Elders and Deacons (Church Council) as to what needs to be done. You will get an update on the Transition Team from Gordy Goodsell this Sunday.
As a Church Council Chairperson, I get to be in discussions and working sessions on how to best solve for recommendations from the Transition Team. Just this week we worked together to contemplate our proposed mission statements for LTCC and also how to develop a more intentional culture of discipleship within our church body (one of our aspirational values outlined in our Journey Wall exercise). There is more to come on our mission statement work this Sunday. My point is there are many exciting things going on in our midst and it’s a joy to see God working in it all.
All that said, we also see headwinds that we are praying about. This time of year is when the Church Council works on preparing our budget to present for approval in our annual members meeting in late January. The budget is a work in progress but in the initial draft we are seeing a $70K-$100K shortfall if we follow our normal practice of using the prior years’ giving to define our target operating expenses. Why such a discrepancy? Giving is approximately 18% less than planned for in 2023. More simply stated, tithes and offerings are down this year. Add to that, we are compelled to push forward and grow during this time of transition to a new Sr. Pastor based on our Journey Wall exercise, all the feedback you provided through the Ministry Insight Survey, our mission statement work, etc. We also want to increase compensation for our small team of staff members to pay them fairly; we want to consider new staff positions to focus on intentional discipleship; we want to continue to support our missionaries and our benevolence ministry that serves our local communities and the world abroad so well. In other words, expenses are growing and we feel God is leading our church in ways that, on paper, we cannot seem to afford.
So, what’s the point, Perry? There are three things I’d like you to take away from this weekly update:
God is good and He is at work at LTCC! He calls us to glorify Him by sharing the gospel and growing His kingdom.
If giving continues its current trendline it will be difficult to support our small team of staff, our Missions Ministry, and other operational areas, let alone grow in areas our family has indicated growth is desired.
We trust God provides and we want to clearly communicate needs so that we all have an opportunity to respond as God prompts us for the remainder of this year and leading into next.
It’s difficult and a little awkward to talk about giving in the Church, yet God clearly commands us to give as an act of worship and steward His blessings well (it’s all His to begin with!). Will you join us in praying about giving and how to manage the church’s finances in a way that glorifies God? We look forward with anticipation as God answers our prayers.
For the Elders and Deacons,
*1 The Church Council is made up of all Elders and Deacons, including interim Sr. Pastor Bob Slack.
*2 The Transition Team is led by Bob Slack and team members are Perry Maxfield, Trista Sutherland, Robin Goodwin, Joanne Tedrow, Gary Warne, Brent Allen, and Gordy Goodsell.
Did you know you can view your annual giving history at anytime?
Log into ChurchCenter
Click Me
Click My giving
________________________________________________________________________
What's Happening @ LTCC? Try the method that works best for you!
See? View our Announcements webpage.
Touch? Grab a monthly paper bulletin from an usher.
Hear? Listen to the announcements at the beginning of Sunday service.
Who is this week's Missionary Spotlight? Micah & Andrea Heath
Unable to join us in person? Watch our Livestream