2012 Annual Report from the Evangelism Committee

Transcription

1 2012 Annual Report from the Evangelism Committee It has been a wonderful year for the Evangelism Committee (E-Team). We continue to follow God s commission that we become fishers of people. It is rewarding to hear the testimony of new disciples and visitors who comment on the wonderful, warm and friendly spirit of Christ Our Shepherd Church. We continue to seek the support of the congregation as we look forward to another successful year in Highlights of the year included: E-team Effective March 2013, I will step down as committee chairperson. Scott and I will be moving to McMinnville, TN in late Spring. I ve enjoyed my time working with the E-Team and know they will continue to reach out to others and share the Love of Christ. Discovery Class The Discovery Class has evolved into Let s Connect, the class provides spiritual growth, an opportunity to meet other people in the COS community, discover one s spiritual gifts, and understand the ministry of the Lutheran Church. The acronym CONNECT, allows for (7) weeks of study and fellowship. Welcome Gift Bags We ve revamped the Welcome Center to make it accessible to all, visitors and members. COS Red Bags are available at the Welcome Center for first time visitors. The gift bag contains information on Lutherans and Christ Our Shepherd Church as well as a prayer card with a daily prayer and Luther s morning and evening prayers. Please remember you don t have to be a member of the E-Team to provide a Red Bag for a visitor... after all we are all Evangelists. Greeters We continue to have volunteers smile and warmly greet everyone entering the church. Our motto is become a SAGE, (Smile And Greet Everyone}. If you have not been a greeter contact Don Schaum or the Church office to be added to the list. Moms Circle Moms Circle is an open group of moms which meets once a month for fellowship, study and support. Our circle is using the book, "99 Ways to Raise Spiritually Healthy Children" by Kathleen Long Bostrom for our current study. We have 21 moms total on our roster and typically, at each meeting we have around 12 in attendance. This Fall, we had 3 new moms join us and we also added a few evening events which we call "Mommy's Time Out." Blessing of the Animals Pastor Fritz and Pastor Miriam conducted the annual blessing of the animals on Sunday, October 4, and it was a huge success. After prayers and lots of songs, the animals graciously received their blessing. Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, gerbils and even butterflies, which were released after their blessing, were well behaved. Neither Pastor was bitten or scratched. A special thanks to Athena Fredrick of Wags to Whickers" for providing the animal tags. Respectfully Submitted: Tracie McCord C-1

2 2012 Annual Report from the Finance Committee After several challenging years, the Finance Committee enjoyed a relatively productive year. Church finances were on the rebound and many of the changes in church reporting formats have made operations more streamlined. Giving has improved and the ability for Christ Our Shepherd to fund mission efforts is enhanced. The Finance Team at the church has really worked together well in providing the reporting we need to keep Christ Our Shepherd on a steady financial course. We also have the good fortune of having Bob Blackburn join us as Finance Secretary. This is a welcome addition. After some six years of service Bill Whitehouse stepped down from the committee for a deserved rest. His input has always been timely and insightful. As always, the church staff has been outstanding in staying within budget. The church s stewardship efforts are bearing fruit and increased giving through electronic means, such as Simply Giving, has been a positive development. This eliminates many human errors in maintaining our individual congregational giving accounts. The Finance Committee has wrapped up responses to the Fiscal Year 2011 Audit recommendations and feels that the church is in compliance with sound ELCA finance and accounting guidelines. The Treasurer, along with the committee, has implemented reviews as required and new policies have been implemented. These include additional controls on capital expenditures, credit cards, insurance additions, and record retention. It is my opinion that the church is in much better financial position than we have seen in recent history. Balancing our budget is not inconceivable in the near future and our church mortgage will be paid off in five years. This will be a significant accomplishment, especially when considering where we have come from. Respectfully submitted, Chip Beard Finance Committee Chair C-2

3 2012 Annual Report from the Property Committee 2012 has been an easy year for the Property Committee. Among the things accomplished are: Major exterior cleanup of intern house including leaf and branch removal, roof cleanup, and pressure washing deck. Participated in fall work on church property with our emphasis on installing new walk way lights at both front and rear of building. o New Shelving in custodian closet. o Mowed interior house lawn. o Worked on A/C problem in church. A special thanks to Wayne Martens who serves with me as co-chairman. Wayne has many skills and is always willing to take on more projects. Rod Barkow Property Committee Chairman C-3

4 2012 Annual Report from the Social Services Ministry Report The Social Services Ministry had a blessed year with its Outreach Ministry Programs for Detailed below, you will find a monthly overview of the many programs that have touched so many lives. A sincere and genuine thank you to Christ Our Shepherd members for making a difference. January - Cradle of Love Project - Christ Our Shepherd collected $ in needed baby products and cash donations for Baby Peaches. Ten to twelve baby bags were packed with many parenting materials and baby care items for needy mothers. These bags are distributed at Grady, Southern Regional, Newnan Piedmont, Piedmont-Fayette, Atlanta Medical and Cobb Pregnancy Center February - Souper Bowl of Caring - Christ Our Shepherd joined forces with thousands of others to battle hunger. Every dollar dropped in the soup pot helped people in need feel the power of God s love. $ was collected and given to Redeemer Soup Kitchen. We also worked with the Children s Ministry Wish List to support VBS, Sunday School and the nursery. Donations of product and new tables totaled $ March - Easter Baskets for DFCS and Welcome House of Coweta County Because of the kindness and generosity of COS, 104 baskets were filled with candy, toys, coloring books, crayons, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.; close to $3,640 worth of goods. April - Real Life Center Spring Bloomers furnished a need for new underwear. Clients of the Real Life Center were recipients. An estimated $ was given in product. May/October - Fayette Samaritans Our church assists this volunteer organization with meeting the needs of its food pantry. Over 180 food items were donated and $1, was collected. June DFCS/Summer Sack Lunch - Christ Our Shepherd members donated drinks and chips to offset the cost of this ministry. Each Monday throughout the summer, volunteers showed up to make, pack and deliver meals to families children were fed, 2124 sandwiches were made and 16 different drivers with helpers drove 6 routes for ten weeks. July/August - Book bags/school Supplies - Working with DFCS, the church was able to help many children prepare for the first day of school. Supplies totaling $2, were given. September There was no Ministry of the Month project; however committee members worked preparing for Baked With Love, our Compassion in Action/Servant Week end bake sale that allows us to help fund the Summer Sack Lunch Program. Donations totaled $ November - Operation Christmas Child/Shoebox Ministry One hundred four shoeboxes were donated by COS members. These gifts of Christmas spread joy and peace to children around the world. December - Star Tree and Angel Tree -These marvelous projects are undertaken with a sincere, genuine caring for human hurt and need. The Angel Undie Tree collected underwear and diapers for adults/children. These were distributed through Fayette Samaritans. The Star Tree helped fourteen families within our church. COS members donated $3045 worth of gift cards as well as gifts. The pastors use some of the gift cards throughout the year as situations arise. C-4

5 Other Projects: The Social Services Ministry packed and delivered twenty Thanksgiving meals for Summer Sack Lunch participants. Angel Fund - Colleen Ferris welcomed cash donations from Christ Our Shepherd members that assisted with pre-school tuition for several students. Bread Run The Bread Run team ( Judy Owen, Heidi Byerly, Jim and Judy Bassinger Ron Bowman and Dave Ellis) are seriously committed and dedicated in providing a nutritious meal to the homeless and hungry. Bread and pastries are picked up and delivered four days a week from the Wilshire Publix in PTC to Redeemer Soup Kitchen, Real Life Center and the Atlanta Union Mission. Approximately, $100,000 of product was delivered in Campbell s Soup Labels - Christ Our Shepherd Pre School is the recipient of the soup labels. These help to purchase computers, sports/fitness equipment and musical instruments. Redeemer Soup Kitchen - COS volunteers (4-5) help serve lunch twice a month to the homeless at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atlanta. This is a part of the Lutheran Community Food Ministry. Ronald McDonald House - Tab tops are collected to benefit The Ronald McDonald House. Faithfully submitted, Jayne Troy, Chairman C-5

6 2012 Annual Report from the Stewardship Ministry Hands & Hotels A Stewardship Campaign 2012 group was formed earlier this fall in an effort to determine what our campaign this year should look like. The members of that group are: Megan Kunig, Chip Zimmerman, Manny Guerrero, Pastor Wiese and myself. We spent our first couple weeks in study and prayer, trying to determine what Christ Our Shepherd needed to do to move forward in expanding our ministry both within and outside of our walls. We studied the book Ask, Thank, Tell" in determining the scriptural and practical meanings of Stewardship. We discussed our Stewardship responsibilities for our present resources, our building, property, staff and our already established ministries. While recognizing the continued financial difficulties that exist within our community and within our congregation, we agreed on a way to challenge our fellow members and the message we would use to do so. Drawing a comparison to the parable of the Good Samaritan, who provided assistance to the weary, beaten traveler after others passed him by. As disciples, we are each in a position to offer assistance (a hand) to those in need. As a congregation, we pool together our resources of time, treasures and talents in order to provide for the community in a way we could not do alone. In this way, the Church (the hotel) houses the people and resources that make this possible. And so we began planning our annual campaign around Hands and Hotels, and asking the congregation to consider sacrifice in their giving. We chose to create a single video, titled "Did You Know?" which spoke of some the great ministries that take place within COS. We replayed "The Offering" video which was shown during last year's Stewardship campaign. Pastor Fritz interviewed the Good Samaritan (portrayed by Keenan Anderson). For visuals, the team constructed a "Hotel" with the windows highlighting many ministries supported by COS and also set up a "scoreboard" to show regular updates on progress towards meeting the stewardship goals. Leading up to Response Sundays, Pastors preached on the principles, sacrifice, and blessings of giving. Finally, a sermon titled "The 6 Keys to Biblical Giving" was delivered by Emily Bunker, Manny Guerrero and Eric McDowell in hopes of educating about the biblical principles behind generous giving. As of mid-january, here are the results: Overall Total Pledges 167 total pledges (includes those active in Simply Giving / Online Giving that did not turn in blue pledge card) 41% participation (167/407) goal was 51% $688, total pledge commitments Results compared to Spring, 2011 Stewardship Campaign 167 total pledges vs. 167 (no change) 41% participation vs. 38% (slight increase, due to reduction in # of letters sent out) $688,161 vs. $683,185 (slight increase) C-6

7 Simply Giving / Online Giving Results 113 total Simply Giving / Online Giving goal was 134 Results compared to Spring, 2011 Stewardship Campaign 113 participating vs. 79 (30% increase) Time and Talent Sheets 116 responses (goal was 100) *new goal for 2012* Response from High School Youth 2 responses (goal was 25) *new goal for 2012* The group feels that the Holy Spirit was at work during the campaign, and we are encouraged with the results. At the same time, there is room for improvement in reaching out to those who currently do not respond and / or give to the church. The group also feels that more can be done in teaching our youth the importance of sacrificial giving. We thank God and the Church Council for the opportunity to serve in this way. Respectfully submitted, Eric McDowell for the 2012 Stewardship Committee C-7