Pastoral Letter and Annual Report

 Dear Siblings in Christ,

 Grace to you and Peace from God our loving Father, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our Comforter and Counselor the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 It’s been quite a year as we have been transitioning to what appears to be post-pandemic life. Attached to this letter is our FY2023 Annual Report. Please allow me to share that: 

• Our in-person worship attendance has reached approximately 80-85% of pre-pandemic attendance. On a few Sundays, we reached 100%.
• In a somewhat “hidden” blessing from the past few years, we have gained a sizeable following online, including for virtual worship and podcast worship. God has afforded us the giftedness and technology to reach so many more people with the Gospel across our many electronic platforms: YouTube, FBLive, Vimeo, Facebook, and Instagram as well as the various podcast outlets.
• We have completed the audio and visual systems overhaul and been blessed by them. A new system in the narthex (entryway) will follow, probably completed early in the next fiscal year (FY 2024). In addition, the completion of the “zoom room” (203) has added to our hybrid meetings/Bible study capabilities.
• We have added more members this year and an additional group will be gathering for a Connections Class early in the next year. First-time guests and returning guests visit us every Sunday. Additions of an engagement team, led by our Director of Engagement, Heidi Cooper, as well as the nametags and online pictorial directory have helped to raise the ease of meeting and greeting and increase our “friendliness factor.”
• We’ve increased our events during this past year, including the return of Chili Bingo, and more are planned during the coming year.
• Most of our pre-pandemic LifeGroups (LG) have been gathering, again. At a recent gathering of LG leaders, starts of additional LG were being planned for this coming year.
• We are celebrating yet another year of being financially strong, encompassing a streak of many years of being in the black while continuing to drive down the debt on our property, making room for sizeable mission and outreach projects in the Above & and Beyond (A&B) giving program.
• Our next significant overhaul during this coming year and in the years to come will be of the roof and HVAC system, which has already begun, with the installation of new boilers during the current summer. These boilers were paid for with Above & Beyond proceeds through our property contingency fund. Our facility is now seeing some wear and tear; maintenance of this house of the Lord is now a top priority.
• Many great plans are in store for our Discipleship area, including the extension of our preschool from a half-day to a full-day program, as we await the final go-ahead from the county. Much of this challenging work of preparation was done during the prior year. We’ve also recently brought on a new Child Ministry Coordinator, Michelle Tenhaeff, to increase the vibrancy of our child Sunday School program.
• We brought on a number of our other new staff, including Anne Lee (Organist/Director of Choirs), Chloe Vanderhoof (social media), and Abbey Panetti (website manager and Sunday services image designer).
• With our new leader of Congregational Care and Nurture, June McGurn, we have started to reinvigorate much of this core ministry area’s programs as well as initiate some new ones, such as blood drives and a dementia care initiative. During this past year, we completed a historic time of mourning as many of our members, and other loved ones of our members and community, passed on into the glory of God our loving Father.
• All of our mission and community service programs items, were paid for and implemented during this past year.
• A committee has continued to conduct legwork on the Columbarium Project, and during this coming year, we anticipate drawings and plans of the same being offered to the congregation for its consideration to proceed forward with the project or not.

 Not to “steal” the thunder of other staff and ministry leaders’ reports and plans, I will stop here. Please excuse us for any redundancies in our enthusiasm for the ministry of our Lord.

I will end with a few items below: 

• Staff’s new proposed Core Values:

• A peek into what I see as more long-term possibilities in our joint ministry: 

We are planning (feasibility studies, discussions, etc.) in the next FY and beyond for these possible initiatives within 2 to 5 years: 

• Parish Nurse (Congregational Care and Nurture)
• Family Ministry (Discipleship/Parish Life)
• Additional extension of preschool operations to 6:00 p.m. (Discipleship)
• After-School program for kids older than preschool age (Discipleship/Parish Life)
• Addition of third indoor service – Praise service every Sunday (Worship)
• Overhaul/maintenance of the roof and HVAC systems (Administration/Property)

 Serving with you, I am

 Jotham Johann, Senior Pastor