For ease of use, the document has been divided into sections, and each project involved in this initiative has it’s own “chapter”. The numbering scheme is consistent thoughout the rest of the document, e.g. Item #1 Carpet Flattening is referred to in later parts of the document and uses #1 as it’s descriptor.
Some Background
This section is for those of you who don’t know me well – and perhaps know me “only” as the organist. The Church, and the Methodist /United Methodist Church in particular, have been part of my family’s life for generations. Our family values church membership – in terms of active support and active participation. We don’t ascribe to the “Hatch, Match, and Dispatch” form of church membership. Some of my earliest memories involve service work at church in a variety of activities. We aren’t a people of “pew warmers” but believe that our Faith calls us to Regular Worship, Regular Attendance, Consistent Volunteerism, and Active Service. My skills and knowledge of Facilities Maintenance and Management , and experience managing commercial, “for-profit” facilities – and the MOVING EXPENSE plea and response were all contributing factors to this intervention and development of the concept for this Initiative.
FOURTH - “The WARNING LABEL”
Sometimes, the obvious is just too obvious for us to see. A clever saying is that “we can’t see the Elephant in the Living Room”. With this view, it has taken some time – perhaps even a maturation process – for me to realize that Bake Sales, Counting Money, shoveling snow, working church dinners, Committee service, Painting, and other such “tasks” and projects are means to the end and not ends unto themselves as we work to further God’s Kingdom. To confuse the means and the ends can cause us to become idolatrous. This is easy to do as we busy ourselves “with the work of the church” -- sometimes “not being able to see the forest for the trees”.
All the “Stuff” the church has that needs maintenance, care, etc., are tools for ministry – a tool like a wrench, a Hymnal, or a computer. Tools do require care, maintenance, and upkeep – this is known in our circle as good stewardship of our resources. As long as we keep the proper perspective – which in this case would be called Balance -- and not put all of our “eggs” in the “Facility” basket, nor the “Missions” basket, the “Music” basket, or any other basket lest the basket become the end to the means – or the “idol” – it is my belief we will have a fruitful, and God-Blessed Ministry.
The Facility issues I am coming to you with may seem at odds with this position – but, I also believe that all of the tasks mentioned – and many more that haven’t been mentioned – are necessary as we work together to “do church” or “be the church” in this time and in this place. I recall the Scriptural references and directives regarding One Sprit – Many Gifts – and -- One Body, diverse, with many parts working together for the greater good, and think they are appropriate to remember as we consider what we are doing together.
FIFTH – WHY CAN’T THESE THINGS BE DONE WITH BUDGET FUNDS?? OR A “FUND RAISER”??
The Committee on Finance has communicated with the congregation on our status in this regard. An “adopt a bill” program has just been launched that seeks funds for about $500 in expenses. Funds for carpet maintenance, A/C repairs and machine repair/acquisition just are not available from budget funds at this time.
As to other ways to raise money, I think we are being “FUND RAISER-ed” to death. A clever
“twist” on this – courtesy of our “resident wordsmith” is Fund Razors – Death By 1000 Cuts”. There are several askings going on right now – including “Adopt A Bill”. Also, sometimes I think our Narthex looks like the courtyard at the Temple captioned in Scripture! The amount of work it takes to fund raise -- including “ramp up” time to sell items, tickets, etc., just does not give a good return for the amount of effort expended. Our labor costs are free, but if analyzed in a COST : BENEFIT comparison, the results would be disappointing – “not worth it” comes to mind.
Church dinner ticket prices approach what you would pay for dinner out at a “legitimate” restaurant. Said another way – why should a handful of people work their tails off on various “fund raisers” to make a pitiful $500 – when if everybody just threw $20 in the hat we could raise money without the hassle, mess, disruption and exhaustion of a function such as a dinner.
Also -- it is difficult to budget for Maintenance on a facility such as ours. Parts of our facility are over 50 years old – and their systems and components are showing signs of this age. The newer parts of the building also need care and maintenance – which again takes resources -- including money. Our Facility gets regular use – a very good thing, given that it is a TOOL – [remember] – the means to the end. Regular use means things get used suffer “wear and tear” and require maintenance – or replacement.
Church Building Maintenance was budgeted at $7,000, and Parsonage Maintenance at $1,500.00 for Calendar Year 2010. (Yes, we need to provide for care and maintenance of the PARSONAGE as well !!) Our budget figures differs significantly from the models used by Professional Facility Managers when operating budgets are developed for commercial buildings. An industry-accepted benchmark for operating budgets is $4.50 per square foot. Our building is about 22000 square feet. Doing the math – brings us to a $99,000 Operating Budget (see comments following) This cost covers the cost of operating a building – heating, air conditioning, maintenance/repairs, Insurance, Security Personnel (onsite if required), Electronic Security (access card/proximity cards for building access), camera monitoring, afterhours monitoring of the facility – pretty much everything required to have the building open and “ready for business”. This figure does not include Capital Projects for Improvements or Replacement of Systems. These costs are usually budgeted separately. Our needs at this time do not require Security – either Personnel or Electronic – so the $4.50 PSF figure is a bit inflated – but you can easily see that $7000 is a paltry sum for the maintenance and care of facilities the size of ours.
The required Inspections/Service on things like the Fire Protection System, Elevator, Annual Fire Extinguisher Recharging, Emergency Lighting System, and other necessities like parking lot lighting, and annualized/depreciated figures for things not done yearly but needing to be planned to be done on a periodic basis like parking lot maintenance, seal coating, and re-striping the lines cost more than ¼ of the Budgeted figure. This leaves the balance to cover all maintenance and repair items, supplies, and the like. The goal of this PLEA represents about another ¼ of the budgeted figure – thus the need for funding outside “normal” channels.
SIXTH – The “Tricky” Part
Time for a friendly reminder YOU are receiving this memo, again, from me personally, not in any official capacity, because I believe we have a need – and working together – pooling our resources – we can address these needs.
Can about 250 households raise $5000 - $7500 (or more) annually on an ongoing basis??
The answer my friends, is up to you – and my sense on this is “YES WE CAN EXCEED THE GOAL”. “Doing The Math” (which is always risky because it is never our intention to offend anyone who may not have the resources to contribute) – takes $5000, divides by 250, and results in a $20.00 per household contribution. This is an average, and some of us may be able to contribute more and others less. Overall, this seems to me to be a very attainable goal to me – and perhaps, there are those among us who would be able to underwrite one (or more) of these items.
If you decide to contribute to this PLEA, it must be without diluting your giving to the church General Fund and Debt Reduction/Mortgage/Building Funds. This is not to be an “EITHER/OR” issue but a “BOTH/AND” suggestion.
In the event your generosity to this PLEA results in more money than is needed for these projects and equipment, we will need to figure out what to do with the surplus. WHAT A FANTASTIC “PROBLEM” THIS WOULD BE TO HAVE!!! My suggestion is – and the preliminary FINANCIAL MODEL indicates a designation of funds surplus to the needs of the initiative to our congregation’s Apportionment Arrearage.
Another need and intention for funds is to start an ONSITE PETTY CASH fund for use for future incidental building needs – and be used by a group modeled after the Garden Tidy Up Group.
I need to mention that from the initial concept of this initiative – being to focus solely on raising funds for fixing the ChurcH School Air Condition – the initiative has “morphed” – grown, so to speak, to transcend a Plea for Funds to the concept of forming a small group to concentrate on unmet needs, as well as to deal with our Spiritual Well-Being, Growth and Development – and intentional outreach initiatives – all in our Wesleyan Tradition of Small Groups. There is a recent commentary on the Wesleyan Concept of Small Groups, included in the BLOG (refer to TAB with same name) on how the original (3) types of groups were formed, what they did, and how the original concepts and organization/purpose/function of the groups was pretty much modified to the point that today small groups in the (United Methodist) church are pretty much special interest, social or fellowship oriented. The fundamental/basics the WESLEYAN SMALL GROUP was formed with and operated under have been lost. This is an attempt to recapture – in a 21st Century Context – original, fundamentals and basics of these groups.
Thank you for considering this initiative. I am looking forward to your responses. If you are able to participate and/or contribute, please do so by September 18th, and contact me to “declare your intentions”. We still need to work out the “mechanics and logistics” of how these contributions will be tracked and accounted for.
If we come to the point that it is felt we need a Third Sunday Forum type format for face-to-face discussion – or a Listening Session -- we will validate this initiative with the church and schedule such a session.
If you have questions – comments – suggestions – feedback – leave them in the response area below.
You can also contact me privately if you don’t want to share your comments with “the world” -- via e-mail (t_anderson56@yahoo.com), cell phone (262 752 8738), or, in person at church on Sunday. I am usually there all morning (7-ish to 1130-ish in the Summer) -- and can chat briefly before or after services – and longer after the last service -- except, don't "step on" my Mc-D's breakfast run after first service – join me for a McMuffin!!
In His Service
Soli Deo Gloria
Todd Anderson
August-2010
Leaving Peru
13 years ago
