Senior Pastor Annual Report (August 2027)

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.

As you read the reports and plans from our capable and faithful staff and core ministry leaders in the Annual Report for our fiscal year 2025-2026, please join with me in thanking God for all of His tremendous blessings! Please excuse us for any redundancies in our enthusiasm for the ministry of our Lord. In addition, please keep in mind that the final version, along with completed metrics and final financial information, will be provided when the books for the financial year close a few months later. 

What a year! We dedicated our Columbarium Peace Garden, in which much ministry will be done! The Preschool made lots of progress in its expansion, including the addition of programs in music, crafts, STEM, and culture as well as in outreach activities to the community. In addition, when I arrived at Good Shepherd a bit over 11 years ago, we were heavily in debt to the tune of $5.5 million in mortgage principal; update: we will be under $1 million in principal within a couple of months! I can go on and on, but for the sake of paper reduction and stunting redundancy, I will stop here. 

Beyond our thanksgiving for His blessings upon our past financial year, we ask our Lord of Mission to bless our efforts and provide us wisdom and encouragement during this important, coming year! We’re embarking on adding several “Festive Sundays” to our year to celebrate God’s goodness and to bring stirring worship to the forefront. In addition to Xmas Eve, Easter, etc., you’ll see a choir at multiple services on some Sundays along with brass, on special occasions, accompanied by a robust activity during fellowship time. For instance, on July 26, on New Members’ Sunday (special occasion), we received a few dozen members accompanied by the Men’s Choir, brass, and waffles, ice cream, and brew! We received 60 new souls (members) during this past year! Wow! Finally, now that we’re making great progress on decreasing our mortgage debt, it’s time to get our HVAC system, which will soon be 20 years old, refurbished and in order: Phase 2 of our HVAC overhaul continues. 

As I mark my 12^th year as a pastor of this congregation, I give thanks to God for you and the tremendous attainments of the past year. As I head toward part 1 of a sabbatical, I want to share that it has been an honor and privilege to serve alongside you and I am humbled to continue on in mission with you! 

During this sabbatical, I will R.E.S.T. 

R for: Rest and Relaxation…the relax part will be hard for me…not good at it. 

E for: engage my elderly family, neighbors, and friends…some of whom are in their last legs in life and I can spend some time with them. 

S for: sermon prep. I don’t want to get back and be catching up on sermon prep while catching up on the other stuff. 

T for: trends: I’ll be considering and studying trends in the ministry. What is working…what is not…post-covid…for long-term sustainability of GS. 

 There you have it: R.E.S.T. May we all rest in Christ our Lord! 

 In Christ, I am, 

 The Rev. Jotham S. Johann, J.D. 

 Senior Pastor