Continuing to Grow in
2016
“We are carrying on a
great work, and we cannot come down.”
Nehemiah 6:3
Dear CCC Family,
I believe God has some tremendous things in store for 2016
at Conifer Community Church. In
preparation for our annual meeting on February 7, 2016, I wanted to cast a
vision for what is ahead, give you some detail on our proposed budget, talk
about how we will address space concerns, and allow you to ask questions in
preparation for the big day, which will launch us together into the heart of
2016.
I.
Vision
Creating a Community of Kindness in 2016 is our overarching thrust
both in awareness and action. As
agents of the gospel, all that CCC puts its heart and hands to should be in
some way an expression of God’s loving-kindness both internally as a church and
externally toward our community.
One way we have sought to express kindness to our community is opening
our doors for groups to utilize the facility. We currently have support groups, educational groups,
networking groups, boy’s and girl’s scout groups, social groups, etc. using our
building as an act of CCC’s kindness.
We are also serving a growing congregation through worship on Sunday,
children’s ministry, student ministry, men’s discipleship, women’s
discipleship, and compass groups.
Our average weekly Sunday attendance has grown from 141 in 2014 to 166
in 2015. My hope is that we will
grow closer if not exceed 200 on a weekly basis in 2016. Those numbers represent lives of
adults, teens, and children who are here to connect with God and others. While this growth is exciting, it has
created some issues with space and staffing. These are areas we will address in 2016 to meet needs and utilize
our tithes and offerings so that we may continue the pattern of growth and
influence in the Conifer area proclaiming the gospel in word and deed.
II.
Budget
The congregation sent a clear message in 2015 that the
trustees and elders should seek to expand our ministry reach through the annual
budget. We met during the summer
and voted to increase our budget for staffing. With Stuart’s departure in August, the elders prayed over
the next steps in staffing for CCC evaluating what has worked and what
adjustments need to be made as we grow.
The desire to bring in a full time Associate Pastor was expressed and is
needed in the near future as growth continues. This would impact the annual budget in a very substantial
way, and in the mean time, we have created two “interim” positions to keep
ministries on track as we grow toward another full time staff member. One interim position is the Director of
Student Ministries, which has been filled as Beth Griffin came on staff in
December. Adding the second
interim position, Director of Children’s Ministry, is the single largest
increase to the 2016 proposed budget.
We have a candidate ready to begin this role when the appropriate time
is upon us. So we will be asking CCC to vote on a budget of $280,800. This is an increase over the actual
income of 2015 being $264,796.
If the congregational giving increases as our attendance increases, this
should not only be doable, but we should be able to come back mid year with
more increases proposed to continue fostering growth. Please take some time to pray over your giving commitment
for 2016, and allow God to stretch you in order that He may accomplish more
through CCC.
III.
Space
Concerns
Two big things from 2015 to celebrate and ride momentum into
2016: CCC IS DEBT FREE and we added both overflow seating and an additional
worship service. These great
changes allow us to set our sites on completing the next phase of our building
project, which would include worship space for 300 and a commercial
kitchen. We are currently working
through the rezoning process to allow us more people inside our facility for
church and other events. The three
areas outside the space itself that will be addressed in this will be water,
septic, and parking. When
completed, we should be able to have up to 500 people on campus for church or
an event. We would also be able to
serve our community with one of the largest commercial banqueting spaces
available in the Conifer area.
What an opportunity for more lives to be impacted for the gospel with
this facility fully completed and operational! As we get closer to the completion of the rezoning to allow
more people in the building, we will launch a new capital campaign to
accomplish these goals. It is our
commitment to “pay as we go” so that there will not be another debt incurred at
Conifer Community Church. Having
no debt allows us to more freely serve our community with God’s
loving-kindness.
IV.
Feedback
Hopefully this message is both exciting and motivating to
launch into 2016 with many exciting things on the horizon. It probably also generated some
questions that need to be addressed before we are jumping into this
together. Since there will be
limited time for the business meeting(placed between our two Sunday worship
services), we would like to have the opportunity to address as many of these
questions ahead of the meeting as possible. If you follow the link here to the question form, we will do
our best to adequately answer questions and concerns in a timely manner before
the annual meeting.
Thank you for your participation in CCC and God’s Kingdom
work here! I can’t wait to see
what God has in store for us in 2016!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Lance
