I wanted to take a few moments to give you an update on the financial status of the church.
Back at the beginning of September, I posted an article about the struggles our church is facing financially and what we are doing about it. You can read that article here:
Facing Goliath
I also created an easy way for you to stay up to date with our current financial status in a chart form, and you can see that here:
But I also wanted to explain just a few things that have happened since that last post.
Some Extra Special Gifts
First, I want to praise God for a family that no longer attends LCC. They moved out of town some time back, but have continued to follow us, and when they got the email about our financial situation, they decided to make an immediate financial contribution as well as a commitment to help us out for the next 6 months too!
Then, other families took a second look at their finances to see that they needed to get “caught up” on their giving to the church, so we had some other major gifts come in.
All in all, through the first week of October, we had an additional $6000 come in through those special gifts alone!
That’s not enough to get us all the way caught up from our downturn this summer, so we are continuing our “austerity” measures for the time being, but I wanted to send this post out mostly to praise God for those additional gifts!
Financial Savings
I also wanted to let you know that our expenditures have been minimal over the past month. Our utilities costs are down (since we aren’t using the building much), our insurance costs are stable, and our lender has agreed to take interest-only payments on our properties for the time being.
Additionally, we stopped all payroll last month. That hit Pastor Reggie especially hard, and he is pursuing some other job opportunities, so please be praying for him, but my family has been doing okay, and our other staff members have been willing to continue serving the church without pay too.
Expectations for the Future
Over the next few months, I expect our giving to stabilize at about $12,000/mo. While that is still way below our budget need of $20,000/mo, if those numbers bear out, we will soon be able to move back to full mortgage payments on our properties, and by the end of the year, we might even be able to offer some rudimentary staff compensation! Plus, we are continuing to set aside our church tithe to be used outside our church organization, and I’m excited about some of the generous things we will be able to do this November. I’ll let you know more about that when the decisions are finalized.
Staying Optimistic
I have always believed that if God leads and we follow, he will always provide us exactly what we need to do what he is calling us to do. If the finances aren’t quite there, he wants us to change how we are operating. If the finances are there, he wants us to expand what we are doing wisely. Either way, our job is not to worry but to follow and be faithful.
My prayer is that God gives me the guidance so that I know how to lead this church.
My prayer is that God gives you and I the guidance so that we all know how to follow and be faithful.
And then, whatever he provides is what he knows we need and what he chooses for us to have. If we prove to be faithful with little, he will also trust us with more.
Thank you for being faithfully on this journey with me.