Revision 2018

 Dear CCC Family,

The beginning of 2018 is met with great anticipation as we seek God’s best for CCC.  If you are new to CCC, we hold our annual business meeting on the first Sunday of February which includes a, state of the church update, budget presentation and vote, and any other matters of church business that need to be addressed.  This year the “other matters” include an approval of Josh Nelson as candidate for elder and an update from the Revision team. 

Many meetings have occurred in the last two weeks including revision, leadership retreat, congregational meeting, and elders special meeting.  These have had at least one common factor, the revision process. Within this common theme has emerged a threefold recommendation from the Revision team to the elders.  The elders would like these to be communicated and opened for discussion at the business meeting leading to a vote at a possible later date.  Below you will find information to get the discussion started, and it will prepare the way for decisions to be made in appropriate time.

Revision Background
It was in June of last year that the Revision team was assembled from a cross section of congregants and opened to the congregation for volunteers to participate in order to pray, research, and brainstorm possibilities for future facility expansion.  Due to continued and projected numeric growth the current facility will soon not be able to house the congregation on a Sunday morning.  A complete consideration of all options was needed to determine a faithful recommendation to the elders and congregation on how to proceed.  One of the driving components of this process was the elder’s decision a few years back that we want to intentionally remove barriers from growth that may naturally occur in the life of CCC.  Over the course of the last eight months we have considered current facility options, purchase of land adjacent to the current property, leveling and rebuilding, parking concerns, outside meeting options (such as school and storefront), new land, and staffing needs as possible options.

The first agenda item for the Revision team was to outline a prayer plan for us and the congregation, so as God leads us through, we are all looking to Him first for guidance.  We want this to be His best for CCC not simply our best ideas.  After almost four months of praying and meeting, we held a congregational meeting sharing findings to that point.  It was our understanding from that meeting and conversations resulting from that meeting that the congregation is on board with the process and excited to seek God for the plan of action.

Recommendations from Revision Team
The Revision team has met three times since the congregational meeting in September coming to a threefold recommendation (based on findings) to the elders.  After a review of these recommendations the elders decided to place them in front of the congregation for consideration and possibly vote on one item in the near future.  The recommendations are as follows:

The Revision team recommends adding a new staff position to the budget in 2018 covering 50% of that staff position for the year estimated at $50,000 for salary, programming increase, and missions tithe.  Why only 50% of that position? It will take a few months to formulate the full picture of the package, job description, and hiring process to locate the best candidate.
It is recommended that the current facility needs be addressed in a prioritized and systematic way so that we fully utilize the current facility as long as feasible to continue growth.  This may include adding some larger items such as parking lot and outdoor lighting to a capital campaign due to the size of the expense.
It is recommended that we work to “secure” land by determining what type of contract and price would be acceptable in order to raise funds in a capital campaign for new land to be the future campus of Conifer Community Church.

We will be looking for a strong dialogue on Sunday in order to call us to more focused prayer, answer questions and gauge support for these pursuits.

Budget Proposed for 2018
The budget proposal for 2018 is an important piece as we consider these recommendations from the Revision Team. The 2017 budget was approved at $313,000.  As a calendar year comes toward its end, the trustees estimate final giving and possible increases in order to propose the following year’s budget to the elders for approval by December and to be presented to the congregation at the annual meeting.  This is important for you to understand because the trustees propose a budget based on projected income in current year and anticipated growth in the following year.  2017 proved to be an anomaly to prior years possibly due to emphasis on giving in August/September and anticipated Revision progress. 

The budget to be presented for 2018 will be a total of $333,000 (A more complete rationale will be provided at the business meeting).  Usually this number is an increase from the prior year’s actual income, but in 2017 our actual income exceeded $335,000.  With this unanticipated increase, the recommendation of money for staff addition appears more feasible than when the budget was drawn up and approved.  Having an addition of this magnitude is important to have strong congregational support both by vote and by giving.

We look forward to the meeting on Sunday and the feedback it provides for this process.  Please pray over these items, and if you are unable to join us on Sunday you may send your comments to conifercc@gmail.com.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Lance