NewSong Board of
Elders
Minutes of February
11, 2006 Meeting
The NewSong Board of Elders met Saturday, February 11, 2006 from 9:00 am
to 10:00 a.m. at the Church office. All Elders were present: Dave Allen, Steve Jackson, Brent
Orr, Brian Brown and Curt Sloyer.
The meeting included the following discussions:
Pastor’s Report
After a shaky start in January with one of our lowest
attended Sundays ever, January was a very strong month at NewSong,
attendance-wise, financially, and in terms of activity in the body. We had Dave
and Jenni McGee, missionaries from El Salvador
(Enlace) come on Jan. 15th to make a great presentation about the
needs there. The church generously gave a love offering of $2,038 for the
McGees at the end of the service. Jason Lee and our youth led us in worship on
the 29th and they did an excellent job. Our prayer nights at the Allens'
picked back up with slightly stronger attendance in January. Our Mid-Week Bible
Study has been going great with approx. 25 per week attending. Vicki Eitel is
starting a new motherhood class and has 22 signed up to attend. Great
excitement exists about the El
Salvador mission with over 20 interested in
that. Most importantly, the focus seems to be getting clearer about what we are
to be doing as a church (embodying God’s love). I sense excitement building as
we move on into 2006.
Average attendance for the January ended up at 160, up from our average of 145 we ended 2005 with. We had a low Sunday of 107 on 1/1 and a high Sunday of 182 on 1/15.
Current membership statistics
(as of Dec. 31) are 54 member families, 94 full (adult) members, 78
preparatory members and 43
constituent members for a total of 215 people. No one joined in the month of December and six families
were removed from the rolls in January: Lott, Downton, Crumb, Connors, Archer,
and Mohr.
Financially speaking, our revenues for the month
of January were $21,669 and expenses were $22,500 for a “loss” of $831. The
year-to-date figures, of course, match these since Jan was the first month. Our
Fidelity account balance at the end of Jan. was $13,632.
Summary:
Joys (praise points):
- See above about all the excitement happening. We are
off to a great start in the New Year and I’m very excited about what God
is doing. The heightened emphasis on attendance seems to be working (I
know it’s actually God doing it, but it can’t hurt to continue doing what
we’re doing).
Opportunities for Growth (prayer points):
- Financially
we did well only going $800 in the hole in Jan but we really need to be
receiving an offering of $5,000 a week. That would keep us close to a
break even point. I’m pondering a stewardship series to emphasize that. It
seems the more we emphasize things, the more they change.
- We need to find a Children’s Director. We don’t want Destiny’s work to come to
naught. If it takes too long we may lose our steam in this area.
- We need to be even more proactive on our future plans
for buying/relocating. Maybe
we’re not supposed to move? The more I pray and hear “nothing” the more it
seems that might be a possibility. If offerings remain high this may be an
option.
- As for out “tithe
plan” I am for splitting our benevolence each month to: 50% - The
Place, 25% - El Salvador
mission, and 25% - Ghana.