Dear Church Family, This week's e-note covers the following topics: Check Your Mailbox Our Present Reality Our Future Reality A Service Opportunity Check Your Mailbox: You should receive a packet in the mail this week with two forms. The first form is your volunteer service commitment for 2012. The second form is your financial pledge for 2012. Both are vital for the future of our church. Please fill out the forms and bring them to church during the first three weekends of November. If you are not going to be here, please mail them to the office in the envelope provided. 2012 will be a crucial year of renewal for BUMC, so please remember to "Follow Dr. Green's Final Prescription" and "be generous" with your time, your money, and your enthusiasm about the future of our church. (If you missed Sunday's sermon on this theme and would like to hear it, you can access it on our Web site by clicking here. Our Present Reality: Last weekend I shared some of our "present reality" at BUMC. I'd like to repeat that information in this week's enote. As most of you know, the past four years have been difficult for BUMC. Our church watched a strong and beloved pastor get sick and die. And the three years that followed were extremely hard. Assessing
blame for those years is counterproductive at this point. But this rough patch has taken a toll. For example, since 2008, worship attendance at BUMC has declined 17%. That is a huge loss. Finances have also struggled. A few years ago, our church received 105% of its budget. Last year, our church received 92% of its budget. That is a 13% drop in our income to budget ratio, which is a huge hit. And even though we've made significant cuts to our budget over the past two years, we are still behind budget for this year. In fact, unless something dramatic happens, it's likely we will end the year with a deficit, perhaps a big one. This financial crunch has been caused by tough times in our church, along with tough times in the economy. So our present reality is that we have lost a significant percentage of our worshipping congregation, and our finances are strained. The past few years have also taken other tolls on the church that cannot be measured in numbers, but are equally painful. Our Future Reality: Although the past few years have been difficult, they do not define BUMC. Our future reality is going to be far brighter than what we've experienced during recent years. I have no doubt about that. Why? First, we belong to a God of hope, renewal, life and resurrection. Second, you are a resilient congregation! In spite of the hard realities of recent years, this church is still alive and vibrant and healthy in many ways. Wonderful things are constantly happening in the life of our church. Even in the turmoil of recent years, BUMC has excelled in many areas. And, proactive plans for the future are currently being created by our leaders for 2012 and beyond. You will be hearing more about those plans in the months to come. So in spite of the past few difficult years, our future is bright and promising. We got a taste of that preferred future last weekend as large numbers of our congregation swarmed to the altar to pray for a more vibrant tomorrow at BUMC. I can't wait to see what God is going to do at BUMC in the years ahead! A Service Opportunity: Although the Nashville flood of 2010 seems long ago, a lot of work is still needed to help those who were negatively impacted. Our Conference is looking for volunteers to help in this effort. For more information about how you can participate, contact
Juanita Hobbs, our Director of Missions and Outreach at jhobbs@bumc.net. I hope to see you this weekend for our All Saints Day celebration, one of the most sacred days of the Christian year. Finally, it was good to receive the following thirteen new members: Alisha Frazier, Emma Reid, Roy and Marshall Stricklin, Laura Edwards, Jeff and Hannah Metzger, Jeremy and Melissa Hand, and Mike, Heather, Jack and Alex Collins. Welcome to our church family. In Christ's Love and Service, Martin