John's Epistle

Here's to Our Future

It's a tradition to make a toast at the beginning of a New Year-whether it's with champagne or sparkling cider-so I want to offer this wish to you: Here's to Our Future. Here's to a New Year of possibility, in which God's power and love will be displayed in Garland through the work of BUMC. Here's to 2011 being an amazing year for our church.

In my last newsletter column, I gave thanks for what God has done in our church, both over the past year and over the past few weeks. Your tremendous response to our appeals for year-end giving was much greater than I had hoped, but I guess I should begin to expect that from you. We didn't quite reach all our financial goals, but in such a difficult financial time as this, the fact that we continue to step forward rather than backward is truly outstanding.

Because of your generosity, we came within $4000-only about 1.5%-of completely underwriting all our financial commitments. Just so you know, our final tally on Apportionments was an 84.73% payout, up from only 55% at the end of December. We should all be pleased with this news, rather than disheartened by missing our goal, because this news means that we are very close to reaching a place BUMC has not seen in a very long time-full financial health.

Still we have a challenge before us and our leadership folks are planning to meet it this year. On Sunday, our Administrative Council gave final, unanimous approval of a plan to address a simple fact: We are spending more money that we are receiving and we must address this issue in 2011. The plan is outlined in the box on the next page. We believe it to be carefully considered and an achievable set of goals, but it is focused primarily on paying our Apportionments at 100% for this year.

What this means is that, in order to reach all our goals for 2011, we will need everyone who can to participate in the plan while continuing to support the operations budget of the church and supporting the "On the Verge" Capital Campaign. This is a great challenge to all of us and I want you to understand how seriously I take it, not just as your pastor, but as a member of our church family.

I have, therefore, decided to put my money where my mouth is in response to the challenge. I am grateful that the SPRC of our church voted back in September to raise my salary by 3% for

2011. It was a sign that they believe in my leadership as your pastor and, frankly, I was looking forward to using that money to help me reach some of my own financial goals. But at that point, we weren't able to forecast where we would end the year.

I believe in this church and in what God is doing here, and I believe in the work that we do in North Texas and around the world through our Apportionments. And my faith is a greater concern to me, as I am grateful to God for continuing the work of transformation in my life and believe that, in God's time, my family and I will be more than adequately taken care of.

I have notified the SPRC and the Finance Committee that step one of our plan will be that I will return the entire amount of my salary increase for this year, adding just enough to it so that I will be personally responsible for paying a 10% share our BUMC's Apportionments for 2011. I share this news with you at the urging of the church leadership and I believe it is the right thing to do. Just as I challenged each of you at the end of December to join me in giving a little extra to help pay the Apportionments for 2010, I offer this as another point of challenge. Will you please join with me in responding in thankfulness to what God is doing at BUMC?

The expectation is NOT that you will participate in the plan in every way, just that you will prayerfully consider how the Spirit might be leading you to respond. The foundation of our financial health-both personally and as a community-is regular giving. So start there. Make a specific commitment to Apportionments only after you have made a decision to give regularly as a spiritual discipline.

Recently, I attended a seminar led by our Conference Director of New Church Starts and Congregational Transformation, Dr. Jim Ozier. The purpose of the workshop was to help us understand what it means to be a "High Impact Church." Are lives being changed? Is the Community being improved? Is the church mobilized for mission? Is your preacher energized? Is the world being transformed because we are living proof of Christ's presence?

My answer to these questions is "YES!" And I could not be more pleased to be part of what is happening here. I believe with all my heart that 2011 is going to be an AMAZING year at BUMC. I am confident that we will reach our goals. And I give thanks to God for all these things.

So ... Here's to our future.

Grace and peace,

Pastor John