2015 Annual Meeting Recap

On Sunday, June 7, 2015, the congregation gathered together with enthusiasm to learn about the current state of the church and its continued success in the future. Approximately 180 people packed rooms 20-22 following a lunch in the Great Hall. Thank you to everyone who attended!

Leaders presented updates on our vision, mission, and initiatives, three new council members were unanimously elected, and motions were passed on our 2015-16 budget, expenditure limit, and endowment charter.

A summary of the meeting in detail is below. Official minutes will be made available on our website, following the June Council meeting. Please direct any questions to Council@sotv.org.

Opening Prayer - Pastor Duane Paetznick 

 

Welcome - President Jenny Buckley 

• A word of gratitude to everyone in attendance for valuing this church and its governance 
• Thank you to our leaders on Council, Leadership Teams, and Staff for another year of service 
• Approval of minutes from 2014 meeting

 

Brief Summary of Our Vision - Pastor Chris Smith 

 

Introducing Our Mission and Initiatives - President Jenny Buckley 

• Presented to the congregation in early March 2015
• Approved by Council at its March 19, 2015 meeting

 

How We Live Out Our Vision 

 

Our Volunteers 

Volunteers make our ministry happen. Our staff structure must support their work.

Our Staff 

• Our eventual goal is to have five pastors on staff: Senior Pastor, and pastors in Worship, Learn, Connect, and Care.
• Update on Pastoral Call Process - Presentation by Chair Ellen De Vries
• We are in the process of aligning program staff with Worship, Learn, Connect, and Care initiatives. 
• All staff are being encouraged to focus their time and energy on programming that helps us live out Vision, Mission, and Initiatives 

Our Lay Leaders

• Leadership Teams 
• Highlights from first year
• Emphasis on Welcome Team, and Year of Welcome (2015-16) 

• Council 
• Steve Mueller, Angie Zielinski, and Ann Boekhoff have concluded their time on council, and were thanked for their years of service. 
• William (Bill) Bosch, Chad Dahlke, and Michael Kelly were presented as new candidates for council and were unanimously elected. 

Our Finances 

• Capital Campaign Update and strategy moving forward - Presentation by Scott Erickson, Campaign co-chair
• General and Building/Capital Budget - Presentation by Treasurer Troy Nelson
• Delegation of Expenditure Authority to Properties Team - Presentation by Ken Syverson
• Endowment Charter - Presentation by Chair David Kuhnau

Congregation votes on the budget, expenditure limit, and Endowment Charter all passed.

Treasurer Troy Nelson noted that although the 2015-16 budget is a deficit budget, the resolve of the Finance Committee is that next year’s budget (2016-17) will be balanced.


A motion was made to adjourn, and was seconded. 

SOTV Financials

Getting Ready for the Annual Meeting: Part 5 of 5

Balance

Paul Keller
Council Vice President

From a financial standpoint, SOTV isn’t that different from our own households. The Church relies on Giving to cover administrative expenses with the vision that the remaining dollars can be used to fund benevolence. Similarly, we have jobs that provide income to support our families and we have regular expenses like mortgage, car payments, gas, utilities, and just like SOTV gives back… we give to others in need. And at the end of the day, it’s all about balance – does the amount of income exceed the amount we spend? If it doesn’t, then we may be faced with tough choices. Can we afford the new phone or the new car? Should we cut the cord on cable or should we cancel the family vacation?

We don’t always think about it, but SOTV has tremendous financial obligations necessary to support a large, dynamic congregation. In fact, did you know that SOTV is one of the TOP 10 ECLA churches nationwide? This is why it is so critical for council to have a solid understanding of the giving we are blessed to receive to ensure we are being good financial stewards. Did you know that it costs about $2.5 million dollars in costs to support the worship and programs provided? These costs include our pastors, the support staff (finance, HR, facilities, communications), our adult and children’s education programs, administrative costs for mailings and so many others.

The past several years have been challenging for most congregations nationwide and SOTV has not been immune. As times have changed and family schedules have filled, the frequency of attendance… and therefore Giving… has fallen proportionately.

Unfortunately, the weekly bulletin doesn’t always tell the entire story of our financial picture. Although we are doing very well to our current budget (an approved deficit budget), we are still behind the prior year. Thankfully, our giving has been ahead of plan and so we have been fortunate to see only a small reduction in our general fund balance [see full year chart below]. We are preparing again for our annual congregational meeting this Sunday, June 7 at 12:30 p.m., where we will propose the new fiscal year budget. Please know that you are all invited, welcome and encouraged to attend this important event.

	Last Year	Budget	Actual+Forecast
Starting Balance	$953,788	$647,290	$647,290
Giving	$2,479,206	$2,340,899	$2,444,267
Fund Balance Transfer	$43,840	$30,000	$30,000
Expenses	($2,829,544)	($2,563,438)	($2,514,839)
Fund Balance Change	($306,498)	($192,539)	($40,572)
Ending Balance	$647,290	$454,751	$606,718

SOTV is a place that is always there for us. It is there for our major life celebrations like baptisms, communions, confirmations and weddings. It is there for the special holiday events like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. It is there for the times when we need care and support for health issues, relationship issues and helping provide funeral services. No matter what, SOTV is there.

I will fully admit that our family doesn’t attend Church every week. We have crazy, busy lives with four active kids and we find ourselves sprinting from one thing to the next. But one thing we have done as a personal choice is to enroll in Simply Giving as a way to ensure that our Giving continues even when we are not there. SOTV has always been there for us… this is how we can be there for SOTV.
Blessings!

Paul Keller
Council Vice President

Visit and Be Counted!

About 300 households have responded generously to our 2015 Capital Campaign appeal with a pledge, and we are very grateful. Many more households have responded by increasing their giving to the building fund. That’s what Pastor Duane and I have heard on recent visits with members.  The faithful generosity of our members continues to inspire us. We know we can count on you…but are you being counted?

Here’s the issue: If you increase your giving before meeting with a Capital Campaign visitor, your giving will not be counted toward the Capital Campaign total. 

This makes it a challenge for our Church Council to plan our ministry over the next five years. Council needs an accurate understanding of campaign commitments in order to:

1. Plan the pay-down of SOTV’s debt 
2. Determine what funds are available for building improvements 
3. Allocate benevolence dollars for outreach 

Simply put, we need you to schedule a campaign visit today. Please reach out to me, one of the other pastors, or someone in our list of visitors that you know personally.

You can also call the church office or go to our website. When a campaign visitor calls or emails you, please respond. Visits are fun, rewarding, informative, and there is no pressure to pledge. Even if you’ve recently increased your giving, please still schedule a visit. You will be better informed and understand the plan for SOTV’s future.

As always, thank you for your partnership in this mission we share!

 -Pastor Chris Smith

2014-15 Budget

Many of you read last week that reduced giving is challenging the future of our ministries. Shepherd of the Valley (SOTV) is a nonprofit organization funded by charitable donations, and a decrease in giving means immediate and future cuts to SOTV’s budget, staff, and programs.

WHAT SOTV WILL DO 

Early in 2014, the Finance Committee began to raise concerns about a trend in reduced giving. To address these concerns, the Finance and Human Resources Committees have identified three steps to reduce costs for the 2014-15 budget which begins August 1, 2014.

Step 1: Reduce Program Spending 
In February, staff was directed to reduce their program budgets now and in the coming fiscal year by 15%. This is in addition to a concentrated effort that began in 2005 to reduce costs and create a more lean organization.  

Step 2: Reduce Personnel Costs
Budget reductions in staffing for 2014-15 will include:

1. Reductions to employee support and advancement. 
2. Reductions to employee benefits. 
3. A freeze in salaries. 
4. A reduction in workforce. 

The budget reductions as a result of these changes will only account for about half of the total reduced giving, if trends continue.
 
Step 3: Further Staff Reductions
The Finance and Human Resources Committees have proposed the following.

1. The 2014-2015 budget be presented to include a deficit that reflects the drop in giving that remains after the reductions to expenses proposed. 
2. Before fully implementing additional reductions to personnel costs, which will significantly affect programming and ministry, the congregation should be educated and an appeal made to seek increased giving from members to eliminate the budget deficit. 
3. Continued review and evaluation through October 31, 2014 by Finance, Human Resources, and Council will evaluate income and determine the need for further staff reductions. Once these reductions have been confirmed, they will be communicated to the congregation. 

It is the hope of the Council and supporting leadership committees that the response of the congregation will be an increase in giving to make the elimination of staff positions unnecessary.


WHAT YOU CAN DO 

Please support the church financially. 

1. Increase your current giving 
2. Make a one-time gift 
3. Consider both increasing your giving and a one-time gift 
4. Sign up for Simply Giving (electronic scheduled giving) 

Every gift counts as we seek to be a transforming community of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As always, thank you for your generous support! For information on how to give, please visit the Welcome Center or www.sotv.org/stewardship.

Please pray for our leaders. 
Each year, staff and volunteers work very hard and carefully to complete the budgeting process. Please keep them in your prayers as they finalize their work in May and June.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about the reduction in our giving, and the steps we are taking, please e-mail council@sotv.org.