Thursday, August 8, 2019

Dear Trinity Baptist Church Family, Finances. Money. Income and expenses are a necessary part of every family and organization. Few families or organizations can long ignore their finances. At Trinity Baptist, almost every month financial documents are received by either the Finance Committee, the Men’s Meeting, or the Congregation as a whole. Since no meeting is scheduled to receive this month’s reports (July), I am going to use this email to report to you.

On the back table on Sunday, there will be a combined copy of 3 documents that we print monthly. The first is called Statement of Financial Position For All Funds. It is a balance sheet that is supposed to give us an overall view of the church’s position. The main thing we look at here is our liabilities. We currently have 2 loans with National Exchange Bank. Our total debt on these loans is shown to be over $91,000. This number is down $1,400 from one month ago. $600 is from our bi-weekly payments on the long-term parsonage loan. $400 is budgeted money from our general fund. And $400 is from gifts the Congregation has made to our Parking/Roof Fund. We paid $400 in interest in July. It is going to be fun watching this number drop throughout this budget year.

The second document is called Balance by Fund for Checkbook. This page reflects the current status of our checking account and the total of our cash on hand. As of this report it is at $12,903. This number is up $10,000 from what we showed in our annual report one month ago. The income of over $28,000 in tuition this month is the primary reason for this increase. Our general fund – which reflects this year’s spending compared to this year’s budget – is negative by $8,567. This is because of several one- time summer projects we have done this month: power washing of green algae on NE side of church and prep of parsonage for painting – $725, replace sidewalk on east side between entrance and front walk – $3,676, seal and stripe parking lot – $2,800. As our budget year progresses these items will fall under budget.

The third document is 3 pages long and it details our income and expenditures for the month. The budgeted income accounts are always a good place to look. Our general fund giving, Mission giving, and Patriot Booster giving were all under budget for July. I rejoice in the faithfulness of God’s people, even as I encourage you to remember our Missions and Patriot Booster accounts when you give.

One large overage under Administrative Expenses is our Office Copier Expense. Monthly we pay for our leases on the machines. Once a year we pay for our click charge for all the copies we have run for the year. The other account that is over is Repairs and Remodeling and I have already explained why that is so high.

Overall, I am pleased with the financial position our church is in. We are greatly stretched. It is amazing that a church our size to have a Christian School, two pastors, and a mission budget of over $400 a week. Sometimes I look at the numbers of large churches with budgets in the tens of millions. In comparison, per person attending, we almost always give more.

I continue to believe Trinity Baptist Church is the best place for your giving. If you are part of this church, you own our giving and our expenditures. I encourage you to be faithful with the monies God has given you.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to speak with me or any member of the Finance Committee. They are listed in the annual reports that may be found in the back rack.

Embracing Truth, Pastor