On Tuesday I sent a letter to many members of Trinity inviting people to participate in the Forward in Faith offering. In the letter I explained a little about our financial situation at Trinity and why we are holding this offering now.  In summary what I said was that we started cutting significant corners when the economic downturn hit. For example, we cut our custodians back to 3/4-time and we stopped doing deferred maintenance on the facility.  Last year the vestry decided to restore the appropriate funding for these items. They felt it was irresponsible to continue to neglect our facility and to underpay our custodians.  The budget we are now using reflects the full cost of the ministries we offer. In the next few years, we are hoping the congregation will be able to increase its level of giving to allow for these ministries to continue. If not, we will need to change our staffing and programs. The Forward in Faith offering is intended to provide a buffer while we make this transition to a balanced budget.  Our ingathering will be this Sunday. I hope you are able to be generous.