I am not sure where the year has gone, but it is already time to wrap up the 2022 budget planning season at the GCI Home Office. As we look at 2022, we also look forward an additional three years to see how to sustain the path where Jesus is leading. We know that unless he builds the house, our work is not effective.
We also look back to see what is and isn’t working from this year and make prudent adjustments looking forward. Wow, what a year it has been! We expected to have been looking at Covid in the rear-view mirror, but here we are still planning around its impact.
Looking Back
As I look back on the impact Covid has had on GCI financial operations, it is evident that our Lord has been faithfully providing for GCI in unanticipated ways. It is easier to see his faithfulness looking back sometimes and connecting the dots where his hand is evident.
During the Covid pandemic, my prayer has been with those who have been affected by loss of loved ones and jobs. My heart goes out to those affected, and my prayer has also been that GCI could maintain operations in the face of Covid-caused financial challenges.
Despite concerns about how Covid would impact donations and the ability of GCI to carry out its mission of sharing the gospel, he has provided. Let me reflect briefly on how our heavenly Father has been faithful to GCI in the financial area.
God has been faithful in unexpected ways. Members who maintained jobs and congregations have donated more to help offset losses. Previously donated trusts have helped provide stability. The federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was expanded to include churches, and GCI was able to receive funds from that program to help continue operations and employment at the pre-pandemic level. Investments have provided positive returns and helped bolster the church’s balance sheet. Reduced travel and the expanded use of Zoom have reduced expenses and taught us how to use technology more effectively. Looking back, we can see that God has provided for the church, as he always does. Through this provision, we expect to end the year on or above budgeted income projections and under budget in the expense category.
Looking forward
Through God’s provision during Covid, we have also been able to start construction on a new facility! The church and Ministry Training Center near Oklahoma City is nearly complete (see attached photos). This exciting $3. 95 million joint construction effort between the Home Office, Central Region, and the local church in Oklahoma City (Surrey Hills) is nearly complete, and it will be a blessing to the local church and GCI well into the future. Members have been serving the neighborhood for years in preparation and have developed deep relationships with those they serve. Local leaders have focused their efforts on sharing the gospel through the love, hope and faith avenues, even while face-to-face meetings have not been possible. I look forward to the completion of this facility near the end of the year and seeing its impact for Christ in the years ahead.
The Board also recently approved the purchase of a church facility in Eugene, Oregon, where GCI started in the early 1900s. Much has changed since that time, but this purchase will provide a secure foundation for an already thriving congregation to better reach their neighborhood and community. We hope to finish the acquisition and start some improvements before year end.
The Home Office Operating Budget for 2022 projects income and expenses near 2021 levels at approximately $4.6 million. This does not include income and expenses processed at the Home Office for local congregations of approximately $3 million.
Through the challenges we face corporately and individually, I pray we always see that our Lord is faithful and is walking with us. He is not surprised by our struggles and will lead us faithfully in his plan for us.
I encourage you to pause and read the Psalm 23 passage below from the New International Version and thank him for his daily faithfulness. What a blessing to participate with him in sharing the good news of the gospel. In him, we lack nothing, and he is faithful.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Thank you, friends, for your continued support and faithfulness in support of GCI as we strive to follow our shepherd and share the good news of the gospel.
Mathew H. Morgan, CFO
When you started through our Carnival, you walked in and were met by a huge rock mound, with a stone that was to be rolled away as they entered the tomb. The next room was dark with a bright light in the corner with a tomb with the words written “he is risen” and the cloth laid upon the tomb empty. This room had a fog machine to give it the full effect. They then went through the black plastic to an open room with bright colors and a display of taking a walk with Jesus. This is where the parents signed them in, with phone numbers and signed our waivers, received a crown of their choice, received their “God is especially fond of you” bags and our church information. Then Pastor David set them in our crowning chair and crowned them a child of God with: “Know that you were formed a child of God, placed in his heart and placed in this world for a purpose.” At this point they could play laser tag or walk through our Red Sea, welcomed by Moses. We had a photo booth, with take-home pictures with the name Carnivalfest 2021 Community by Grace. We had many games, a face painting booth, handprints (laminated with a magnet), Donut Bobbing, Cake Walk, Balloon Stomp, Cave walk to the Fiery Furnace and a Maze that brought you through to the Big Room. Each one of our booths had a miracle attached to it. The maze was dark and long. It took a good five minutes to get through it, and halfway through they changed it up. Everyone had a great time.
One of the highlights was seeing all the teens and adults coming together to work on booths. The hardest part for me was letting go and being ok with kids and teens taking creative license—things didn’t have to be perfect; God is not looking for perfect people. I had to be ok with whatever they produced for me! I knew it was in God’s hands and from the beginning I had to remember that. Too many times kids do things and get a “that’s fine,” or “that will work,” instead of a “Yes, great work! God would love it! Thanks so much for being here to help.” We have to meet them where they are instead of expecting them to do things exactly as we would. As a congregation, we live that, no judgment, none of us are perfect. God loves us and meets us where we are, and Jesus is present in our lives whether we accept it or not.
GC Tallapoosa has a good plan for engaging their downtown neighborhood. The Johnson’s are well known in the community – it helps that they live in the one square mile around the church building. The Johnson’s invested in a downtown building space (they call it The Union) where the church meets. They prayerfully hope it will become a center of community activity; they are starting to see traction in that regard. Let’s pray for their efforts to join God’s mission of love and grace to their community.
New Life in Christ, the GCI congregation in Queens, New York City, joined with hundreds of volunteers in our Richmond Hill neighborhood in delivering thousands of backpacks to families in need. The River Fund, a neighborhood non-profit focused on combatting poverty and its effects on families, organized the event, and New Life was a sponsor. Our team, led by Florence Emerole, one of our Love Avenue Champions, joined in preparing backpacks for distribution to families in need as identified by the River Fund. As a result of our relationship with the organization, we were allowed to add a message of the hope of Jesus along with our congregational brochure to hundreds of backpacks, adding a real presence of Christ to the event while meeting physical needs. We prayed over many backpacks that our messages would reach the hearts intended by the Holy Spirit.
The mission of The River Fund is “to feed and empower those we serve to move beyond the lines of poverty.” Their slogan is “Taking Poverty Personally.” This matches a stated objective of our congregation’s outreach to make a difference in the community in Christ, especially in light of the pandemic, and we have partnered with this organization on a number of projects in the last few years.
Joffre is now out of the rehabilitation facility and receiving nurse and therapist support at home. He’s trying to build back muscle strength and continue the healing process. Your prayers and cards have been much appreciated, and we ask for continued prayer for motivation, pain control, and strength for all of us.
On Saturday afternoon hundreds of Surrey neighbors lined up with about 13,000 water balloons and had a total blast. If you’re wondering how we determine who wins a water balloon battle, we don’t. It actually makes for amazing debates and bragging rights for everyone all year long.
Camp Surrey provided ice chests full of water bottles and juice boxes as well as hand sanitizer and insect repellant. We decided to keep the fun going after dark and hosted a movie on the park lawn. A couple of months ago, we cast a poll on our neighborhood Facebook page and let them pick the movie (with the stipulation that it had to be G or PG). Zootopia won by a landslide! It was an incredible evening of neighbors loving neighbors.
We had between 400 and 500 people participate in this event. We had well over 150 children. We made a special announcement before the movie. Pastor Joe introduced himself and invited everyone to join us at the Surrey Hills Elementary School Gym the next morning for a special worship experience and blessing of the children. I’m thrilled to say we had SEVEN brand new faces Sunday morning. Praise God!
I often think of the old saying from the movie “Field of Dreams” when it comes to relaunching our church into this neighborhood. I used to always quote the line, “If you build it, they will come.” Weekends like this are a loving and gentle reminder from my Papa that I need to change that mantra in my head. The truth is that “God will build it, and we will love.”