| Stewardship
Stewardship – "And God is able to
provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that
you may always have enough of everything and may provide
in abundance for every good work." 2
Corinthians 9:8

"Give from the Heart" is the theme of our Stewardship
Campaign for 2008. Matt Wright, our former High
School Youth Ministry Coordinator, prepared the beautiful
heart graphic for the campaign. The sermons from
October 14 through November 11, 2007, audio versions
of which are available from our Sermons page,
followed the theme of H_E_A_R_T.
We have wonderful programs and ministries here at
First Presbyterian Church, and we want to keep them
and expand them. None of these would be possible
without the time and talents of our members, but we
have to also have the funds to support them.
Our youth programs - from
our infants and toddlers enjoying the church nurseries,
our preschoolers learning about God and Jesus during
Sunday School and their special time during sermons
on Sundays, and our weekday
preschool - to the high
school students in WF and Confirmation Classes and
all their activities - are terrific! In between
we have a huge LOGOS program, Genesis and the BLAST
activities for our middle schoolers, and all the special
events such
as retreats, Vacation Bible School, Easter Egg Hunt
and craft parties, and many more. A
new program, Coffee
House College Fellowship, was begun
in 2007, to keep our college students connected with
their friends and church family.
We support numerous missions, both locally and in
other countries. Christian Education is provided
at First Presbyterian for all ages - from children
through adults - through our Sunday
School and Adult
Education Pathways classes. We have a wonderful
music ministry program
and worship
services in the diverse styles preferred by different
members - including Heritage, Tapestry, and Celebration
style worship services. The dedication and talents
of members make these possible, but there are costs
for music, equipment, including new audio and video
equipment and supplies, as well as instruments, educational
supplies, etc.
We have a beautiful church home here at First Presbyterian,
but there are costs for utilities, interior and exterior
maintenance, repairs, grounds, supplies, etc.; and
these costs keep increasing. Our Live the
Vision additional donations have been used for
all of our loan interest and principal payments since
the beginning of 2006, but these additional donations
end in 2008. Because
of the deficit we have no budget for and emergency
fund for boilers, roofs, or for remodeling or updating
office space and meeting areas. Our Sanctuary
boiler is over 50 years old.
There are also costs, of course, for administration
including our per capita obligation to the Presbytery
and insurance, as well as for staffing, supplies, member
life (which includes communications, the church website,
Caritas Team Ministry, Deacons, Pastoral Care, Stephen
Ministry, ChristCare, communications, the church website,
hospitality, and the church libraries).
Our 2007 Annual Report is
available online. The State of the Church presentation
by Dr. Paul J. Kirbas during our annual congregational
meeting on January 27, 2008, can be downloaded as an audio
file in mp3 format or as a video
file in mov format. The video format includes
the slides from the powerpoint presentation and is
about 75 MB in size, while the audio format is only
about 5 MB in size (a much faster download). Right
click either link to save the target on your own computer.

PLEDGE CARDS: If you did not already return
a pledge card for 2008, it's certainly not too late
to do so! You
can do it right now. Just print your pledge
card from the website and prayerfully complete
it. We also need a completed electronic
funds transfer (EFT) form if you are adding or
continuing your EFT procedure. These can then
be mailed to or dropped off at the church office. Thank
you to everyone who has already completed a pledge
card!
Can you dig a little deeper and help us meet our
expenses? Read the message from Dr. Paul Kirbas
below. Your pledge
card increase form can be
printed right from the website and returned to the
church office. Why not do it right now!
Please contact Denny Lawson
at dennylawson@hotmail.com if
you have any questions.

From our February 2008 Newsletter .
. . .
Dear Congregation,
I want to thank everyone who attended the Annual
Congregational Meeting on Sunday, January 27, 2008.
During that meeting, those in attendance heard an important
message about 2008 and the crossroad that it presents
for us here at the First Presbyterian Church. I
would like to take this opportunity to restate the
challenge facing us and the invitation of the session
to each and every one of us.
Last fall, my son Jeff had a motorbike accident.
He tore his Achilles Tendon and had to wear a cast
for a few months. During that time he was able to
walk by using crutches. After some time and physical
therapy the Doctor told Jeff that it was time to start
putting down the crutches. At first, it wasn’t
easy. He had some pain and discomfort to deal with,
and he wasn’t very confident in his walk. But
he couldn’t
stay on the crutches forever. The time came for him
to put them away and stand on his own two feet.
For several years now, our ministry has been leaning
on a financial crutch. In order to keep the church
moving forward during a time of transition, the church
supplemented its operating budget with funds from our
capital campaign Live the Vision. Even
with the supplement our budget has been very lean. There
is no perceivable way to reduce the budget of our church
without seriously diminishing our ministries and our
mission.
Now that we are entering the final year of
our Live the Vision campaign, it is time for
us to put the crutch down. It is time for our
operating budget to stand on its own two feet, fully
funded by our operating pledges and gifts. But
this doesn’t happen easily.
There is some discomfort that accompanies this process.
Yet, together we can do it. We can put the crutches
down and walk forward with confidence.
The session of our church has wrestled with this
challenge and has concluded that if we all do our
part, we can easily meet it. If everyone who
has made a pledge for 2008 would be willing to increase
that pledge by $400.00 (about $33.00 per month), or
by 15%, our 2008 budget would be fully funded and we
as a church would be standing strong. If some
can do even more, we would be even stronger. Indeed,
the answer to our challenge is totally within our grasp.
I want to invite you to prayerfully consider the
invitation of our session. If you were not at
our Annual Meeting, and therefore did not receive the
new pledge cards that have been designed for this purpose,
please contact our church office and we will be happy
to send you the materials, or you
can print them from this website. Please
know that the leaders of the church have taken the
first steps. Because
of that, we have already seen a significant and positive
difference. Together, let’s put the crutch
down, and walk on healthy financial feet again!
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In God’s Love,
Paul J. Kirbas |
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