Sullivan UMC—J. Michael Smith
Today is National Plan Your Vacation Day
And even if it weren’t, many of us have been dreaming of where we would rather be in these freezing, snow-deep days. Even Anchorage, Alaska feels warmer than Sullivan at the moment. (Our wind-chill factor is 7 degrees, Anchorage’s is 8.)
Alaska is beautiful in the summer, however—since today is plan your vacation, not go on vacation.
If you’re like me, and didn’t get enough sleep last night, and you just want to hibernate—not put one more thing on your calendar—perhaps you could dig up some photos of a vacation you’ve already taken—and be grateful.
News around the church
- Prayers are going out today for Ellen Feeler, who is in the hospital for a few days.
- Prayers also for Katlyn Drummond who totaled her car yesterday afternoon. She is uninjured, but now faces a whole list of stressful challenges.
- It took me an extra half-hour to get here this morning with the roads. The most difficulty came trying to get out of Urbana. Everything is an ice rink there.
- As I arrived at the church, I felt the warmth of two prayer/fellowship groups meeting for their Tuesday morning gatherings.
- I met with Bob Lane this afternoon. “Finance Committee Chair” is one of the hats he wears. We talked about re-doing budget categories, ways to make more money available for people in the church doing ministries, auditing the memorial fund and the designated funds accounts, investing our savings in a CD that would yield more than the $38 it made last year, and redesignating our $40,000 savings account as a capital funds account for building repairs and increasing the amount. No decisions on any of that, just kicking around the feasibility of those ideas. Please let either Bob or me know if you have any thoughts you’d like to share on any of those topics.
- The key financial goals I hope to establish while I am here are 1) provide more funding for ministries our congregation wants to do, 2) set up all the checks and balances that the Book of Discipline requires for handling church funds, 3) handle all finances in one software program so we are not porting our figures from one program to another, 4) audit all designated funds that have been sitting for several years that no longer have a cause to support, 5) review the various depositories where church funds are kept (we current have 5 separate depositories), 6) establish a designated capital fund of $100,000 for use on the buildings the church owns—with an inflation factor built in, 7) set up a policy for central purchasing, 8) set up a “bridging table” where people who feels God’s call to lead a ministry have place to go and talk openly about any financial needs the project may have, and 9) promote a stewardship program that will put us on a secure footing for all the work God is calling our church to do. I will continue to work with the finance committee and the church council on these matters.
I’ll be here tomorrow from 9 to 9. If you would like to see me after 6 p.m., please let me know before 5 p.m. that you want on the agenda.
Repertoire 