ited terms, the missions pastor and staff are a constant. They do a great job, year after year, of running this exceptional program of equipping our missionaries before sending them out. It is exciting to note that we currently have seven couples and five individuals, a total of 19 people, in various stages of the program. I believe another factor of our missionaries’ perseverance through this past year is the care provided by College Church. Again, kudos to Curt Miller and the missions staff for making missionary care a top priority. The Board of Missions has a care and furlough committee that spends significant time in making sure our missionaries feel loved and cared for. College Church members faithfully pray for and financially support our missionaries. We constantly get feedback from our missionaries on how well they feel supported, loved and cared for. Also, praise be to God for the faithfulness of the congregants who continued to give financially to College Church through this year of hardship. We were able to fully fund our support commitments to all missionaries and partner organizations, which include the following: ▸ 121 missionary units (208 adults serving in 41 different countries) ▸ 13 partner seminaries located in 13 different countries ▸ 7 other partner organizations It was a huge blessing that our special offerings geared towards missions, the Missionary Christmas offering in October and the Thanksgiving Eve offering in November, were as high or higher than in recent years. What a blessing to our missionaries! Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity of support to College Church missions. Who would have thought that I would conclude this report by saying that I think it was a great year in the ministry of missions at College Church. Yes, there were hardships and suffer30
ing, but we witnessed suffering that produced perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope— hope of the glory of God!
Jeremy Taylor Capital Campaign Committee Chair If you thought the early days of a pandemic when our church was struggling even to meet together as a congregation seemed like a funny time to begin a capital campaign, you weren’t alone. The Capital Campaign Committee wrestled with when to begin the campaign, how long it should run, how much to ask for and how to apply funds raised. Our capital needs did not go away or even diminish during the pandemic, but they were kind of put on hold for a while. So, in the end, with guidance from the Council of Elders, we opted to move forward with a much smaller campaign than originally planned. On November 15, 2020, the committee announced the “Strengthening Foundations” campaign to the congregation with a total goal of raising $2.35 million. By then, a “quiet phase” of the campaign had already been underway for several weeks, as committee members spoke with pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses and other committee members and church leaders and invited them to participate, and we had raised over $700,000 already. The campaign document the committee created with the help of committee member and consultant Dan Nielson laid out three primary initiatives we hoped to accomplish with this campaign: 1) pay for the purchase of two houses adjacent to church property on Seminary Avenue; 2) construct a new parking lot to provide additional accessible parking for seniors and people with disabilities; and 3) pay down a portion of the church’s existing debt. During the final seven weeks of the calendar year, the campaign was
