Bobservation – Looking Back and Looking Ahead

A LOOK BACK

Last year during Vision Sunday we presented the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year. It was an important budget in the history of our church. Not because it increased the overall budget by 21% compared to the prior year’s budget, but because it was designed to move us forward. Within that budget we were able to add much needed staff to carry us into this season of momentum – like Heather Fretz as our Director of Groups and Connections and to move Jed into his new role as Executive Pastor of Ministry and add Joseph “Mojo” Lee as our High School Pastor.

In addition to adding staff, we were able to make enormous strides in our plans to take care of our aging building and equipment. For example, we just completed year one of our three year plan to replace our aging sound system and have over $100,000 towards our hallway renovation project!

For me, it was particularly exciting to see God working in and through so many of you to accomplish all of this. At the beginning of the fiscal year we set “stewardship goals” to measure the progress in key areas of stewardship like:

• Consistency – In the 2013-14 fiscal year 17% of those who gave to Sunridge gave on a monthly basis. It is our desire to increase the consistency through biblical teaching and intentional communication.
• Generosity – In the 2012-13 fiscal year the average giving per person per Sunday was $33.54. Research shows that a healthy church average is between $37 and $45. This is a great metric to see the growing heart of generosity at Sunridge.
• First Time Giving – Our church has increased in attendance by 28% since 2014! I have a particular fondness for this metric because I get to send a handwritten note to each person who gives to Sunridge for the first time.

CONSISTENCY GOAL: 25%
ACTUAL: 25% (Oct. 2017 – August 2018)

GENEROSITY GOAL: $40.00
ACTUAL: $40.43 ($42.64 including Renovate!)

FIRST TIME GIVER GOAL: 130
ACTUAL: 80

A LOOK AHEAD

Through God’s faithful provision, we are taking another positive step forward with this year’s budget of $1,744,493. That is an increase of 10.7% compared to last year’s budget. I know that’s just a number, and a large one at that, so I thought it might be helpful to share some key elements included in this year’s budget:

• An increase to our Outreach budget of 57.5% over the 2017-18 budget! That brings our Outreach budget to 5.61% of our total budget!
• An increase to Adult Ministries of 246.8% over the 2017-18 budget! This demonstrates our commitment to deepen faith and bring hope at Sunridge.
• An increase to Family Ministries of 60.6% over 2017-18. We will continue to make significant investments in our student’s and children’s ministries because we want them to know and experience God’s love.
• Begin year two of our sinking fund to replace our aging sound system.
• Begin a sinking fund for our HVAC units. If this summer taught us anything, it’s that we need to have the resources ready in case we need to replace a unit and they are all getting older.
• Improvements to some of our aging technology infrastructure like our WiFi and other core IT systems.

These are just a few highlights of what we believe God has called us to accomplish through this year’s budget. I say “us” because we are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a member of it. We know that it is through your generous, faithful, consistent, and often sacrificial giving that God is working in and through this church to accomplish our mission of helping people find and follow Jesus. Thank you Sunridge!