Mike Mannix, Board President
On May 19th there was a congregational meeting. Amber Brown and Michael Mannix were voted into second terms on the Board of Directors. Steph Elliot was voted to serve on the Ministry and Operations Team. A budget for the 2024-25 church year was approved by the congregation. It is a noteworthy budget because the expected church income is more than $40,000 dollars short of the expected church expenses. Money from the employee retention tax credit and some other reserves will allow the church to operate very close to normal in the upcoming church year despite the shortfall. Some program cuts were made to reduce the deficit as much as possible. No cuts were made to staff hours or church operations.
Avoiding a deficit in the 2025-26 church year (next year) is a main focus of the board this year. Our next church budget must be balanced. In pursuit of that goal, we plan to create a target budget for 2025-26 very early in this church year. The target budget will allow the pledge drive to set goals. You can expect the pledge drive to start earlier in the church year than it usually does. A stewardship committee will be formed soon that will function through the entire year to support the pledge drive, the service auction, and other sorts of donations.
Of course the successful vote for our new settled Minister, Rev. John Cullinan, is the latest big news. Rev. John officially becomes our minister on August 1st, but don’t expect too much visibility from Rev. John until September as he and his wife Jess will need to settle into Reading following their move from Los Alamos, New Mexico. Behind the scenes, Rev. John is already engaging with the board and staff on some issues that pertain to this Fall.
Come September when we begin the church year in earnest, I expect excitement and good energy – solar energy to be specific! The Solar Panel Project is just about 100% complete and we are using solar energy for electricity in our building. Excess energy is going back into the grid and will benefit the church financially. The dedication of the solar panels that was mentioned at the May Congregational Meeting has been set for Sunday, October 6th!