Most of us don’t use the word “exciting” in the same sentence as the word “meeting” very often, but our next church conference meeting on Wednesday, January 29, at 6 p.m., will have a full agenda of exciting things! As we begin a new year, our congregation will be moving forward with several initiatives that we’ve been discussing for quite some time. In this space over the next few weeks, we’ll catch you up on what’s going on and what’s coming up so that you can be in the know and prepared for this important meeting.
You may remember from our October church conference or from our stewardship mailing that the Budget Committee, at the request of the Personnel Committee, recommended an increase in our 2025 operating budget in hopes of hiring an additional full-time minister later this year. Our Budget and Finance Committee Chair, Joe Johnson, presented the budget increase with the caveat that a hire would depend on our congregation’s ability and willingness to give at a level that could sustain this addition long-term, and that we would continue to assess our financial status in the months ahead.
In November, our Personnel Committee met to discuss what this position would look like if we are able to pursue an additional minister, and they determined that a priority for this new position would include coordination of our youth ministry. The associate minister would also assist the pastor with worship leadership and planning, pastoral care, and shared leadership of other ministries and missions of the church that are in alignment with their gifts and interests. Some of these areas could include coordination of children’s ministry, missions, faith formation, congregational life events, administration or other initiatives. The Personnel Committee determined that a more robust job description and candidate profile should be developed by a search committee dedicated to this work, and they recommended to Church Council that we begin the process for the formation of a search committee as outlined in our church organizational manual.
After some discussion around our church’s financial readiness to add a position at this time, our Church Council approved the recommendation to form a search committee, knowing that the process of electing the committee and their preliminary work to develop the position will take many months. In that time, we will continue to monitor our giving trends to determine the feasibility of a hire. The search committee will continue in conversation with the Finance Committee, Church Council and Church in Conference for approval before launching a search publicly and before making any decisions with financial implications to ensure that our church’s giving levels allow for the addition of a full-time staff member.
Thus, with Church Council’s blessing, the Nominating Committee will select members to serve on a search committee for an associate minister as outlined in our church organizational manual. Their recommendation will be presented to Church Council for approval on January 19 before being publicized and presented for a vote by the Church in Conference on January 29. I am hopeful about the possibility of bringing on an additional full-time minister while remaining cautious about and attentive to our financial realities. As you also will learn at church conference in our year-end financial report, our giving trends have been very positive over the last year, and your generosity with end-of-year giving exceeded my wildest imagination. I feel strongly that we can meet the challenge of this increased budget in order to fill gaps in our ministerial staff and allow us to grow in our ministry presence. We can do it; it’s up to all of us to make it happen.
I hope you’ll make plans to attend our church conference on January 29. Each voice and vote matters as we make the choices that shape our life together. It’s one of the best – even exciting! – parts of being Baptist.