(Click here for the names of those who are serving in Leadership)

The shared leadership of our church met Saturday, January 22, 2022, with 58 in attendance.  During the first half of the meeting, we remained in the large group as Pastor Dan presented an overview of past accomplishments, discussed our present situation; then focused our attention toward the future as outlined in the paragraphs below.  After a question/answer period, our group adjourned into breakout groups of teams and committees to organize for this new year and pursue the goals previously mentioned.

As this New Year stretches ahead of us, it is helpful to look back and reminisce about some of the big decisions we have made in the past so we can set our ministry compass toward a vibrant future and exciting conversations leading to great opportunities of service to our community and our world with the love of Christ.

Our journey to regain hope began with reading Mike Queen’s and Jayne Davis’ book, Hopeful Imagination—the story of how a legacy church in Wilmington, North Carolina adapted to these changing times and not only survived, but began to thrive and to step out boldly to meet the needs of the people around them! A visit ensued in 2017, and we returned home renewed and excited about our future.

Years of deferred maintenance had rendered our building in need of extensive repairs. During the past 10 years, we have spent $1,815,386 on facility renewal, with the CDC contributing $656,172; Adult Day $135,000 and estate gifts making up $161,598—leaving the church responsible for $862,566!  Your generosity has been amazing!  Just during December, you contributed $33,772 for Christmas Missions, $131,887 for the building mortgage, $11,008 for the Passion Conference and $35,000 toward the Sanctuary Building Fund!  THANK YOU!  Our current loan balance on the Family Focus Center is under $500,000!!!

We continue to find a balance of grief and growth—grieving the death of the folks we’ve loved and served with for decades as well as letting go of ministries that meant a lot to us in the past.  We have been surprised by new ministries, and we have re-birthed other ministries, such as our Converge youth group, to become more community oriented.

Our CDC has a stable enrollment of 220 with a waiting list for babies and toddlers and a staff of 53.  They have remained open during the entire pandemic and are an inspiration to each of us!  The renovation for  Generations Central Adult Day Center is  nearing completion.  This ministry has breathed new life into the first floor of our 1954 educational building, and we have received $448,000 in funding from local foundations.  We presently have twelve people in the initial enrollment process, which is where we wanted to begin; with a gradual census increase over a 6-month/1-year period.

Big assignments on the horizon for 2022 include Bylaws revision, Renovation of the Sanctuary building (see Leadership Council report for more info), staff searches for an organist and youth/young adult leader, grief and mental health, global church engagement, establishing a 250th Anniversary Committee, and online engagement [virtual church/digital discipleship].

Other opportunities ahead include branching out with the youth/converge groups, ministry to the families who have children in our Child Development Center and other young adults as well as partnering with counselors in a ministry to folks who are grieving and those with mental health concerns and/or addictions.  We are planning intergenerational interactions between children from the Child Development Center and Generations Central participants—another exciting path—as well as caregiving and care partner ministries!  That being said, there are yet new paths for us to explore as well!  Just to mention a few:  small groups among mature adults, social connections, music ministry, global missions/engagement and Sunday morning worship.

We want to be a learning community which means engaging beyond our routine and taking advantage of training opportunities this year.   Our leadership will meet quarterly for updates, and each committee is responsible to lead a learning session this year.  Anyone is welcome to attend our quarterly leadership updates.

Leadership Council

The Leadership Council met January 22, 2022 for our organizational meeting.  Sally Napier (from the Financial Committee) and Bob McCall (from the Personnel Committee) also joined Council for 2022.  The group elected Keri Nicholson as the chair, Geary Parkinson as vice-chair, and Sandy Sewell as secretary.

Leadership Council feels it is important to continue progress toward better stewardship of the sanctuary building.  Currently this building (including the fellowship hall) is used sparingly because of multiple challenges (HVAC, technology, acoustics, seating, etc.).  This conversation challenges us to ask some thoughtful questions (but there may be others):

• Why is a renovation needed?
• What ministries would be able to use the space?
• How would this benefit our church?
• How would this benefit our building partners?
• How would this impact our community?
• Is this the right time?

LC believes this space could be a vital part of CBC’s current and future ministry plan.  One goal is to have a dynamic space for worship on Sundays.  This would enable us to create a vibrant youth/young adult space on the first floor.  We also believe there would be an opportunity to create income with the space and continue to allow the church to be responsive to the needs of the community.

We believe it is important to explore options now because interest rates and construction costs will only continue to rise if deferred.    In addition to the ministry plan for the sanctuary building, we are working on a business/financial plan to go alongside this area.  We have created a Sanctuary Fund that has received $35,000 in donations, and we budgeted for an additional $50,000 from the 2022 Operating Budget.  It is our hope all of  this could be complete in time for the church’s 250th anniversary in 2024.  At the moment, we are working on an artist’s rendering of the spaces to share with the congregation soon.

The current estimate for the renovation is $1,400,000, which includes over $500,000 in HVAC deferred maintenance that will need to happen regardless.  CBC’s current mortgage will be refinanced in July 2022.  Leadership Council has tasked Robert Kinzer and the Finance Committee with communicating with the bank to obtain rate and loan options.  The current loan is $498,000 with an $8,736 monthly payment.   It is hopeful that an increase in the loan amount to 2 million (to cover renovation plus current mortgage balance), at the current low interest rates, would make the church’s mortgage payment roughly the same amount as it is now.

 Audit Committee

               The Audit Committee met on January 22, 2022 and elected Lynn Gore as Chair.  Our next meeting is scheduled for February 12.  At that time, we will begin a review of:

• Chart of Accounts
• 2021 Actual vs. LY vs. Budget
• 2022 Budget
• Balance Sheet for 2021

 Bylaw Revision Committee

 The committee elected Betty Katt as Chair and began a broad discussion of their work.

Church Ministries Committee

 Ann Lucas and Liz Triplett are co-chairs.  The committee has several projects coming up:  Sharing Closet, February 12; Snacks and cards for Teachers in February and March, and a new “Soup’s On” event in March.

Deacons

The deacons met on January 22, 2022 and elected Bob Yeaman as Deacon Chairman and Larry Lucas as Vice-Chairman.  We decided to meet on the 3^rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m.   Pastor Hans distributed visitation contacts to deacons and encouraged us to make initial visits during the next month.  In addition, we decided it would be wise to mentor younger people to assume these areas of service in the future.

Finance Committee

 The following officers were elected during the Finance Committee meeting on January 22, 2022:

• Thelma Moss, Chair
• Terri McClure, Vice Chair
• Sally Napier, Leadership Council Representative

The Finance Committee plans to meet quarterly (Feb 9, May 11, Aug 10 and Nov 9) at 7 p. m.  The

agenda for the February 9 meeting includes the following:

• Review of 2022 Budget and Balance sheet
• Conversation about refinancing the current loan (timing, increase, etc.)
• Financing of Sanctuary renovations

Personnel Committee

               The Personnel Committee met January 22, 2022 for our organizational meeting.  Brandi Warfield was elected as Chair, and Bob McCall was selected as the representative to the Leadership Council.  Our discussion centered around the following primary points:

• Performance assessments are a priority item. We plan to conduct these reviews in late summer (July-August) so that we are prepared for budget discussions.
• The committee decided we will meet quarterly.
• Leading a future learning session—we did not decide how that would look, but the Chair recommended reading The Art of Asking Questions to prepare us for interviews as well as deeper discussions with others. More to come!