From time to time, the Elder's will get letters addressing concerns or questions about procedures and direction of our church. We are certain that many others have thought about these questions too. As a result, we felt that the elders answers were relevant enough to share on this blog. The questions have been embedded in the reply in red.
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Greetings in the Lord,
The Elder’s and staff are very aware of your service and faithfulness to Calvary for many years and certainly understand why your hearts grieve over the status of our Church. We too have prayed, fasted, and waited in Faith for wisdom, vision, and words of knowledge for the direction of the Church (Jas 1:5-8). Sometimes the move of the Lord is apparent, glorious, perfectly timed, and a testimony to His mercy and grace like the $3,000,000 donation that has carried us through these economic times. But we should not lose heart when nothing seems to be happening or outcomes are not understandable or even worse, that there are periods of tribulation. We must remember that spiritual battles and victories are unseen and His ways are higher than ours (Is 55:9). This why the word repeatedly reminds us to “wait on the Lord”, which means be patient, stand in faith, trusting in God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises. Fear, grief and self pity occur when we concentrate on fulfilling our definitions of success, preferences and expectation of rewards rather than trusting in God’s word, striving to do good, and understand His direction that we may reap in due season (Gal 6:9).
We appreciate your transparency in copying your email to the Copes, but by doing so, revealed a common misconception. Pastor George is also an Elder, voting on every decision the Elders make, and hence every email to the Elders also goes to him. Perhaps you can help the congregation with this misunderstanding if the subject ever comes up.
You ask good and serious questions. Frankly, they are the same questions we have long considered, are considering, and will continue to consider as Calvary’s circumstances and environment change. The following sections address your questions one by one:
1. According to the Elder Blog, Reserves are having to be placed into our Operating Budget to make up Income, what are the plans by the Elders to reduce expenses between now and the end of the year and into 2012 to keep from having to pull out additional Reserves? We are assuming that the use of Reserves is not part of the plan as this is not good business practice.
Before we answer your question, perhaps it would be useful to share some historical budgetary information and simple business concepts with you. Although the Church has many similarities with a Corporation, we are not a Corporation. Corporations have no need for God but instead rely on the wisdom of man, follow perfect balance sheets, good business practices, and strategies that increase profits to please the stock holders (“your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God”, I Cor 2:5). The Church is a body of believers who have been given Kingdom responsibilities to win and disciple the lost, be obedient to His teachings, increase Heavens population all the while exhibiting faith that is pleasing to Him (Heb 11:6). When we do these things, we trust in His promise to supply all our needs (Phil 4:19). If we were a Corporation, we would have reduced funding to Mercy Outreach with 11% of our revenues; but we believe in the promise of an open heaven that pours out blessings when we sow into the Kingdom. We believe that it was this kind of faith that brought the $3,000,000 donation to Calvary that we are now using as reserve. Perhaps the “good business practice” of diverting unnecessary payments to Missions to cover shortfalls in the general budget would have prevented that blessing. We do know that mature Christian’s leave space for God to move, showing that we both need and trust in Him. Showing trust is the essence of the tithe, is it not? Prayer and fasting keeps that trust from resulting in extreme expectations. Consequentially, good business practices are considered in every budget but are secondarily to Kingdom stewardship. Having said all of the above, neither the Elders nor the Finance Committee have ever left a line item in a yearly budget designated “God’s Intervening Revenue” nor at any time have we been in debt. However, we have used God’s provision (donated reserves) with prayer and fasting for special ministry and capital needs, lest we would be caught burying the “talents” God’s given us. Perhaps the following questions might be helpful to reconcile that it is not always best to follow good business practice such as avoiding negative cash flow. Would we tell Joseph of Egypt not to use his reserves that God provided for seven years of famine or a retiree that they should not draw down their savings to live on because it produces a negative cash/resource flow? Calvary is in a season of famine and we believe God provided a store house for such a time as this. We also recognize however, as in the story of Joseph, that there is a limit to God’s provision to bridge unhealthy times. In the last ten years, the budget has been reduced nine times out the ten. Therefore we conclude that the Church has a growth, not a budget process problem. Now let us go on with one part of your question.
The actual words of the blog you referenced are that the Executive Administrator “has transferred $200,000 from several reserve accounts to the operating account”. Breaking down the $200K transfer; forty percent was a draw on the Legacy Fund to purchase control room equipment and while sixty percent was used for a cash flow shortage. Cash flow shortage is not an unusual occurrence in businesses where revenue is not consistent throughout the year but salaries/utility expenses are uniformly dispensed (as in the case of Calvary). As long as we can remember, a cash flow shortage has occurred in the summer months because giving for those months is low compared to any other period (the highest giving occurs in the last quarter). Fortunately this year, we had an operating budget that built up available cash to delay the expected shortage until October. However, recent tithing and attendance trends indicate no recovery from the summer slowdown, which not only places the current operating budget in jeopardy for the rest of the year but also imposes huge pressure on planning for the 2012 budget.
To counter this recent trend we’ve taken several steps to both increase revenue and reduce expenses:
- Developed a plan going forward to restore health to our Church that should result in growth.
- Conducted a salary review of all personal.
- Submitted our contractual dispute with Dino to an AOG binding arbitration board for final resolution in order to recover last year’s lost funds.
- Informed the congregation from the Sunday pulpit of our current condition and the impact it might have on the 2012 budget and requesting that they set Monday through the month of November as a day of fasting and prayer for the Church.
- Put all budgeted expenditures for the rest of the year on a case by case evaluation.
- Actively seeking to sponsor more in-house events/concerts/rental space such as Casting Crowns and Christian Circle School.
2. Calvary owns property that has houses on it. How many do we own? What are their conditions? Are we maximizing those assets to bring in revenue, such as renters in the houses?
Calvary owns three properties detached from the main campus. Two are strategic properties for Calvary growth and have condemned houses on them while the third has a storage shed. On campus we have five houses, two for the Transitions Ministry (unlivable), one for Youth Ministry and one for Facilities, and the last is for our Counseling Center. We have considered the sale/rental of these properties many times over the years. Non-ministry rental is problematic for tax liability reasons and any property sale to meet a budget short fall is a onetime band aid to try to fix a long term problem. Our efforts are therefore focused on long term solutions but certainly will continue to consider sale/rental offers and best use of the properties. For instance, we recently accepted a security deposit on a signed lease agreement with White Picket Fence Ministry for the use of the Counseling Center building. We have already moved our ministry counseling equipment to the Facility House.
3. First Steps has had to cut hours and possibly staff. What is the marketing plan for bringing in new customers?
Last month the staff took many actions to turn around the slowdown in daycare student numbers. These included:
- Sunday pulpit and bulletin announcements
- Personal promotion to Florida Hospital
- Public promotions using pamphlets left in doctor’s offices, businesses, and Website announcements
I’m happy to report that because of these efforts and other innovative promotions, there has been a recent pickup of 10 new students in the last three weeks bringing us to a total of 69. The trend is very promising.
4. Has a time study been conducted of the Pastors and Staff to find out if there are inefficiencies in processes, time management, & responsibilities?
Part of the process of cutting Pastors from 12 to 5 and Staff by 50% in the last three years certainly included the qualities you mention but of course much more. We currently are spreading Pastor and Staff responsibilities thinly across several ministries. This does not mean we’ve eliminated all waste but we will certainly tighten our evaluation processes for the 2012 budget.
5. Are the Elders regularly attending the Pastors (George, Jon, Rick, David) staff, volunteer, and ministry meetings to learn and evaluate their ministry plans, communication, and interactions to ensure sound theology is being taught, Christian role modeling is occurring, and that acceptable environments are being promoted for discipleship in accordance with God’s Word?
The Elders have representation at every Pastor’s staff meeting (since Pastor Cope is an Elder) and had two representatives up till Wally Meyer’s resignation as an Elder. Elders themselves have significant responsibilities and presence in Cre8tive, Children’s, Altar Counseling, Usher, and Youth Ministries. These activities are in addition to Elder responsibility and most Elders also have an outside job and participate in community ministry. If Elder presence is not possible because of these responsibilities, fellowship with church leadership provides additional feedback on exhibited Christian role modeling and the theology being taught in almost every Church activity.
What may be not well known is that the Elders are routinely involved, even as we write, with the mentoring and discipline of both Pastor and members of the body. This lack of transparency is purposeful in that we believe in the Biblical model described in Gal 6:1 where we are called “to restore in a spirit of gentleness” (not public humiliation).
Each year, ministry plans are first developed by each Pastor once they are given general guidelines for the current year’s focus. They then submit them to the Senior Pastor and Executive Administrator for plan negotiation/approval for consistency with Church vision and budget.
6. What type of succession planning is in place for the Elder Board and how many men are you currently mentoring in that plan?
Your question is timely in that we need to step up in this area even though we are close to adding another Elder. Elder succession begins with understanding Calvary’s Articles of Incorporation Article IX, Sections A, B, and D. These Sections describe Eldership number requirement, term of office, and qualifications, respectively and we encourage you to read them. Calvary Eldership is based upon a Biblical model with qualifications not limited to Tim 3:1-7 and Tit 1:5-9. Elder candidates must be approved unanimously by the current board and will come from men that are currently in ministry leadership. Last year we had programs and scheduled meetings with most of the men in leadership positions (over 12) to keep them informed, give the Elders a chance to know their ministry, give them a chance to meet the Elders, and even mentor some on a personnel basis if they could attend. However for various reasons including participant availability, we did not continue the program. Lately, it seems we have been in crisis mode working on general discipleship of the Church body, attending more budget meetings in the absence of Pastor George, and mentoring/disciplinary correction. We certainly will be discussing revitalizing this program going forward to grow the Eldership.
As always we are open to meeting you in person if there are further details required. Just call the office to schedule a time.
Blessings,
The Elders
