Community’s Administrative Council met for the first time this year last Tuesday, February 21st, and I want to share with you highlights from that meeting. First, we received the resignation of Treasurer Lydia Butler, in which she wrote, in part,  “I have been honored to serve as the church’s Treasurer for the last five years. During that time, we weathered the storm of the pandemic and in 2022 had the most successful stewardship campaign in a decade.  We’ve also begun a partnership with Park Hill Christian Church that holds promise for both congregations, financially, but more importantly spiritually.” We continue to be grateful for Lydia and the contributions she has made to Community over the past years. Please express your appreciation to Lydia next time you see her in Church.

Jan Marcason, Church member and President of our sister organization Wright on Main, provided an update.  With the council’s blessing, WOM has submitted a Letter of Intent to the National Fund for Sacred Places.  The letter is the first step to receiving an invitation to apply for a grant. If invited, WOM would apply for $175,000 which would require a matching amount from us, for a total of $350,000.  This would begin phase 1 of the immediate improvement recommendations from the Historic Structures Report.  Applicants will be notified in early June if they are invited to complete a full application due in mid-July.  We are working to share more details from the completed HSR with the entire congregation in the near future.  

Finally, we received the 2022 year-end financial report from our Business Administrator, Levon Weaver.  We finished the year with a budget surplus of over $11,000 even though our investment income was down significantly (like the rest of the world).  However, this was balanced with our offerings being ahead of budget $5,000, rental income up $3,000, and miscellaneous income up $33,000 due to our partnership with Park Hill Christian. Finally, our 2023 budget pledges total over $317,000, making this our most successful campaign monetarily since 2013.  We still have many financial challenges ahead, but we continue to be grateful for the generosity of our congregation.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Rev. Shanna or me if you have any questions. 

George Flanagan, Moderator.