2020 Annual Report
Exploring Faith. Changing Lives.
Exploring Faith. Changing Lives. Sardis Presbyterian Church is an inclusive congregation called to equip disciples of Jesus Christ to impact the world by: Praising God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer; Learning about God’s will for our lives; Loving one another unconditionally; Serving neighbors near and far; Sharing the gifts with which we have been blessed; and Witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ to provide hope for the world.
From Rev. Dr. Joe B. Martin Senior Pastor
Dear Sardis Family and Friends, This is our second year presenting our Annual Report in this manner. The plan was that this “yearbook” look would not only be more readable and interesting, but help us compare this year to last year in our efforts to work at the purpose God has for Sardis. Alas, 2019 and 2020 were pretty different years and some of the comparisons were not applicable. For example, our in-person worship attendance is difficult to gauge against online attendance. However, as all of the information about what did get done this year came in from Ministries, it became clear that we accomplished an impressive amount of what we set out to do. You will notice boxes in each section for the things we did not get to do. I expected those to take up more space. You have done a great job! The intent of this report is not to be comprehensive, but to give us a feel for what the year was like, so there are plenty of great things that are not included. Because of the format around our six Core Discipleship Actions, there are a few things that don’t have a home page because they relate to our whole mission. One of those was the Personnel Ministry’s establishment of a Senior Pastor Advisory Committee to guide and evaluate my work. Their big project this year was designing a process for annual goal setting that included Ministries and church staff. I anticipate that process and its results to be a strong feature in the 2021 report. The Core Discipleship Action Challenge that started so strong in 2020 was pretty much scrapped by March. You don’t need me to tell you about the contextual backdrop of the year, but during the pandemic I have wished I knew how Sardis got through the Spanish flu epidemic 100 years ago. So the rest of my letter is to whomever may be my successor a century from now. Dear Future Sardis Pastor, 2020 was a really hard year. I will let you find accounts of the global coronavirus pandemic from other sources and keep my reflections to the community of Christians at Sardis Presbyterian. At the beginning of the pandemic, we had to find and agree upon new ways for Session to meet virtually and some new ways to make decisions faster than is typical of Presbyterians.
Elders decided early on to follow government health guidelines rather than use a religious exemption. After a while, we started making some moderate exemptions for worship services, limiting the number of people we would have inside together or outside on the lawn and making sure we wore face masks and kept six feet from people with whom we did not live. For the most part, our worship services were pre-recorded on Thursdays and posted on the internet on Sundays. Moving my preaching day was very disorienting for me! Members of the congregation did an amazing job adapting to new ways of doing old things and developing new things to do. They were impressive in learning new technology in order to stay connected. Just like the population around us, there were differences of opinion as to how careful we needed to be regarding what we should do and what we should not do in-person together inside or outside. There was a lot of disappointment. Many dear traditions were canceled and even our effort to worship outside on Christmas Eve was mostly rained out. While we lost a few members to COVID-19, as I write I am not aware of a single transmission of the virus from one person to another on our campus in 2020. May God so bless us in 2021. If you are reading this hoping for advice from someone who had your job a century ago, it is this. Stay focused on the purpose Christ has for Sardis and for you. Have a good staff around you like the ones with whom I work. No matter how fast things are changing and no matter how much pressure there is to make things happen, spend a lot of time listening. In retrospect, I wish I had done more of that at the beginning. People were going to disagree on things no matter what, but I could have done a better job of assuring them that they had been heard. May God bless you in whatever year you are reading this; and in the midst of whatever caused you to look back to 2020, may God hear your prayers. Peace, Health, Hope in Christ,
PRAISING
5 Most Attended Worship Services (Pre-COVID) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Attendance Averages
Average attendance at 9:00 a.m. worship was
125
Average attendance at 11:00 a.m. worship was
154
5 Most Viewed Online Worship Services
Total average worship attendance was
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
280
Easter (405) May 3 (332) May 17 (325) May 10 (320) September 12 (310)
Our Global Worship Community
5 Least Viewed Online Worship Services
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us into streaming our worship services online, but that also allowed us to grow our audience, enabling people from all over the globe to join us in worship.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Haiti Guinea Kenya Sweden
Communion Services 10 Holy 8 of which were virtual
Jane’s Retirement (534) Scout Sunday (489) Basketball Sunday (435) March 1 (430) Women’s Retreat Weekend (429)
Thirteen services to celebrate the holy sacrament were planned, three more than 2019.
Funeral 21 Services
December 6 (152) December 20 (159) October 25 (189) October 11 (196) 4th of July Weekend (196)
*Number of views is calculated using comments, likes, and virtual connect cards
Planned, But Was Not Able to Happen 1. Trip to Carnegie Hall for Sanctuary Choir 2. Concert featuring the works to be performed at Carnegie Hall 3. Christmas Concert 4. Worshiping together in person
Children
GUEST PREACHERS
Started weekly Virtual Chapel for pre-school children
Rev. Dr. Alice Ridgill Associate General Presbyter
21 children in Virtual SMASH including one from Kansas!
Youth
Sara Martin Union Presbyterian Seminary Charlotte Seminary Student Sunday
41 Youth helped lead
Special Outdoor Youth Advent Worship Service
Youth Sunday Worship
15
CHILDREN & YOUTH
MORE THAN
212
Attended the virtual Montreat Worship & Music Conference where Kaitlyn Davros helped lead worship and handbell classes.
members helped lead worship through music, scripture reading, prayers, and offertory.
Virtual Choir Pieces
Sardis member, Jonathan Lee and staff member, Sarah Dianne Jones helped lead worship on Seminary Student Sunday
85
VIRTUAL
worship services
14
OUTDOOR
worship services
28
Worship Staff Changes
INDOOR worship services
John Nipe became a full-time administrative staff member
Kaitlyn Davros was made Interim Director of Traditional Music
Associate Pastor Nominating Committee formed for Contemporary Worship and Small Group Ministry
LEARNING Friendship Connection
Mid-Week Study Offerings
“Coming to the Table”: 5-week Lenten study led by Joe B. Martin and Katie Harrington “Ezekiel: Crisis and Hope”: 7-week study led by Joe B. Martin
Helen Kimbrough, Charlotte Augustine Literacy Project
Jim Martin, Sardis member and kite enthusiast
Kathy Izard, author of The Hundred Story Home
Pat Millen, Founder and President of E2D
Adult Sunday School
Sermon Talk-Back Sessions
Summer Topic Varieties
Feasting on the Word
Bible Study for Women
Psalms Bible Study led by Katie Harrington
“Apocalypse Endgame: Good News in the Book of Revelation”: 7-week study led by Joe B. Martin
Reading for Reformed Reflection
Salty Fish Fellowship
“Acts: The Church Figuring Out How to be the Church”: Led by Joe B. Martin
Race & Faith Related Studies & Discussions
“Letters from Paul “: A 3-week study led by Joe B. Martin
Writing Your Personal Statement of Purpose with Doug Powell
Raising White Kids by Jennifer Harvey: with Sarah Dianne Jones
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo: with Katie Harrington
Sardis Talks: Faith & Race discussions led by Sardis members and staff
Equipped to Share: Stewardship Education with Kim Weber
Worship Music Study with Steven Pappas
58
Children in virtual VBS
Elementary children met via Zoom each Wednesday for Story Exploration, a new program started during the pandemic.
35
Families had a tangible way to celebrate the Advent season with Advent at Home Kits.
The Youth Ministry hosted a virtual parent seminar with Jonathan Hetterly, a licensed counselor specializing in teenage issues, to discuss the effects of the pandemic on teens.
15
Children (on average) and 4 adult shepherds enjoy virtual Sunday School each week.
The Confirmation class found ways to safely meet through 2020 via Zoom and outdoor class meetings.
21-Day Racial Equality Challenge Middle and High School Youth Sunday School moved to a virtual setting on Zoom during the pandemic. We are thankful for the time of Bible study and fellowship.
The Youth Ministry sponsored two different 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge groups: one during the summer and one in the fall. These groups spent 21 days exploring writings, poetry, music, videos, podcasts, and other media to further our understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity.
LOVING
Celebration of Life During the pandemic a variety of options were available for families to celebrate the life of someone they loved and lost and to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ :
52
Limited attendance in the Sanctuary or Chapel
Family in the Sanctuary and livestreamed or recorded for others
Full funeral service outside at the Columbarium
Graveside and Columbarium committal services
Entirely on Zoom
9
Sardis women and friends attended the 2020 Women’s Retreat. It was a meaningful weekend with keynote speaker, Jan Edmiston.
Pastoral Care
23 34 Hospital Visits
Mustard Seed Groups were able to meet safely for study and fellowship. We also had 3 Circles and 1 book club that met safely.
417 23 Calls
2
Virtual game nights featuring Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud were played with our Sardis friends and family via Zoom.
Home Visits
Prayer Requests
27 172
Text Conversations
Emails
Children & Youth
Sarah Dianne Jones makes 4-5 visits a month with families to check in and spend time in fellowship .
26
In the Spring of 2020, 26 adult members exchanged letters with our 2nd and 3rd graders. Some have remained in touch!
Virtual Service of Hope & Remembrance
2
Outdoor Family Movie Nights Drive-thru Back to School Blessing Drive-thru 2nd and 3rd grade Bible Blessing High School Extended Gathering Youth Sunday Night Fellowship
2 Candy Canes on the Lawn gatherings
Congregational Phone Calls
Officers and other volunteers made calls to every Sardis household to check in with members’ health and needs.
Staff Appreciation Lunch
“
The basketball program is always a huge success and a lot of fun for parents, youth, volunteers, and coaches. Everyone is there to enjoy the sport of basketball, but it also provided individuals an opportunity to exhibit sportsmanship and respect for one another. We might come from different backgrounds, but we are all a part of the body of Christ. Steve Coleman Chair, Sports and Recreation Ministry
The Personnel Ministry recognized the staff in 2020:
Staff highlights in The Communicator
Dr. Jane Fobel’s retirement recognition
Recognized staff birthdays and work anniversaries
Not Able to Happen:
Easter Eggstravaganza Community Picnic Pumpkinpalooza Christmas Dinner
”
SERVING
Planting Seeds of Hope
Partnership with Rama Road Elementary School
In January, the ladies of Circle 8 made soup for Sardis' Soup for the Soul ministry.
30,000
dry meals packed for Rise Against Hunger by
150
multi-generational volunteers, were sent to
Nicaragua
550
food backpacks from Second Harvest Food Bank were delivered to Rama Road Elementary School students by Sardis volunteers.
80
pizzas were served by Sardis volunteers to Rama families (approximately 300 people) at Science and Math Night in January.
22
Sardis Homework Helpers volunteered with Rama Road students each week January - March.
200
masks were made by Sardis volunteers and donated to Rama Road families.
56
Rama Road families received Angel Tree gifts delivered by Sardis and Rama volunteers.
Sardis volunteers sorted through items donated for the spring Essential Baskets drive benefitting 29 families through Families Forward Charlotte.
Vacation Bible School
Compassion Camp
Preschool and elementary children were inspired to serve their neighbors with kind acts like watering their plants or leaving notes and snacks for delivery service men and women.
Youth At-Home Mission Adventure
During the summer, Adrian Martin developed the At-Home Mission Adventure to take the place of in-person youth mission trips. 13 middle and high school youth participated in different opportunities to give back to their community including:
Holding their own neighborhood food collections for Loaves and Fishes
Writing notes to members of our congregation
Making door hangers for Ronald McDonald house
Learning to knit scarves for others
Planned, But Was Not Able to Happen
Panama City Mission Trip
High School Mission Trip to Costa Rica
Middle School Charlotte Mission Adventure
Room In the Inn in December
High school youth, Kate Clarkson, organized two drives delivering 209 jars of peanut butter, 173 jars of jelly, and 341 pounds of canned food to Loaves & Fishes.
Sardis Youth and the Gilbert Mustard Seed Group joined forces to assemble 50 desks for children at Title I CharlotteMecklenburg Schools whose parents chose the remote learning option for the school year.
SHARING
Families Forward Charlotte
7 Rama Road families were involved with the FFC program
Sardis has 2 units participating as Family Liaisons
Upon request from the Missions Ministry, the Gift Trust approved $12,000 in funding from the Reed Family Local Charities Fund to go to Families Forward Charlotte. This helped support FFC through:
$1914 in financial
contributions and home supplies were collected to fill enough Essential Baskets for
29 families.
“
We are very grateful! Thank you so much for everything. There's so much love and appreciation we feel for you all! Thank you so so much! ~From a Rama Road family~
”
Liaison Training Educational Workshops Meals Transportation Individual family needs Certification Bus passes Housing/hotel costs Other overhead costs also benefitted from this funding
Planting Seeds of Hope: Partnership with Rama Road Elementary
$230 for additional food for the backpack program 80 dozen eggs from Simpson Farms for Rama Families 150 books sent home to students 500 postage stamps to Rama teachers for letters to their students 26 buckets of cleaning supplies for classrooms 94 gift cards to Rama staff in appreciation of their dedication
Angel Tree
109 Angels 56 Families 11 Gift Cards 71 Sardis members and groups participated
981 bag lunches provided to Roof Above (formerly
Urban Ministry) through 2 drives.
83
units of blood collected at three blood drives for American Red Cross
5,176 lbs
of canned food was donated to
Loaves & Fishes
through 4 food drives, including the ones organized by Sardis youth, Kate Clarkson and
2,249 lbs from the Reverse Advent Calendar
Special Offerings
$18,279.24
Ten Cents A Meal Collection
$7,140
One Great Hour of Sharing
$3,092.85
Souper Bowl of Caring
$3,585.00 Christmas Joy
$2,163.00 Christmas Eve
(split between Crisis Assistance Ministry and Matthews Help Center)
Alternative Gift Market $314.29
$369.29
Care Ring
Haiti School Fund
$1,309.28
$369.29
Families Forward
Haiti Hunger Fund
$429.28
$3,469.28
Haiti Medical Fund
$7,360
Loaves & Fishes
$1,099.29 Rama Road
Your Support of Bayonnais, Haiti Your support of the people of Bayonnais is a double blessing - one for them and one for you. By supporting the ICB School and the Bethesda Clinic, you provide hope and share God’s love. Through student sponsorship, you tell a child that you care about them and their education. It has been a difficult year in Bayonnais. Political unrest, unsafe travel conditions on the roads from the airport, and COVID-19 have made it impossible for anyone from the US to visit. The value of the gourde (the Haitian unit of money) has been fluctuating erratically, causing additional financial hardships for the people. The cost of food has skyrocketed and become financially out of reach for some. Thanks to support from Sardis and other US churches, rice and bread from a local bakery were bought in bulk and distributed through the school and church. These are words from Actionnel to summarize the year in Bayonnais. “Corona has not destroyed lives in our community even though so many caught it. The Church keeps doing its job, encouraging people to become stronger in their faith. School did an excellent job through national exams with 149 out of 149 passing the 9th grade exam and 64 of 72 in the 13th grade. Nearly 2,400 students are in our school system. Due to lack of funds and the number of mouths and bellies to feed, food has been served three days a week - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The clinic staff has never showed a sign of discouragement. They are a very strong and wonderful staff.” Our financial support of Bayonnais makes a difference and changing lives!
$21,598 From the Fobel Haiti Scholarship and $30,075
additional funds for other work in Haiti
Not Able to Happen:
Youth Silent Auction Clothing Drive Treble Trot Youth Bake Sale Poinsettia Sale
WITNESSING
3
10
Infant Baptisms
Session established an Anti-Racism Task Force to guide the congregation though discussions on the topic. The
32
Task Force consists of 10 members of the congregation. In the fall, the task force provided a 4-week workshop called “Sardis Talks: Race and Faith.”
New Members Including 11 from a Confirmation Class of 13 confirmed students
The Gilbert Mustard Seed Group
organized a sidewalk Stand Against Racism event sponsored by the YWCA.
14% INCREASE
IN WEEKLY EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS
50%
AVERAGE
EMAIL OPEN RATE
OVER 82,000 EMAIL OPENS
COMPARED TO THE INDUSTRY STANDARD of 27.73%
346
New Followers
356
111
New Subscribers
Members of our new Facebook Group
NEW
website
“
2020 forced so many of us out of our comfort zones and erased the time it sometimes takes to adjust to changes. Thank you all for your patience as we adapted to being the church outside of the church walls. Thank you for adjusting, learning, and growing with us. I am so proud of all the members who quickly adapted to receiving all communications through email and social media. Seeing such an incredible growth in our online community gave me so much hope! Nikki Bolton Director of Communications
Sardis Weekday School
2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR AT A GLANCE
90
Number of Students
16
Number of Teachers
Enrollment In January 2020 the Weekday School was off to a strong enrollment with steady numbers. Fall 2020, we had 60 students slated to begin but only 50 showed up, as families had a change of heart due to the pandemic. Many of the families have multiple children with the program, so it felt as if we lost more families, than students. Thankfully within the first month back, we were able to recoup those 10 students and had 61 enrolled by October. Currently, we have returned to pre-pandemic level for enrollment of all the age groups (in addition to adding our new Young 2s class). Many families are checking in to see how we are doing, talking with friends who have students currently enrolled with us and are registering. Other factors that have helped grow our enrollment is our new school banner, our updated website and social media postings. TK 6.6%
TK 11.1%
Four’s 16.7%
90
Toddler 16.7%
Enrolled Spring 2020 Three’s 33.3%
Two’s 22.2%
Four’s 36.1%
61
Enrolled Fall 2020 Three’s 26.2%
Two’s 31.1%
5
Class Options
Virtual Learning
PPP Loan for Staff
COVID-19 Modifications
Delayed the start to 2020-2021 school year to October 1
Fewer students per class
No Toddler class
Shortened school day by 30 minutes for extra cleaning
No visitors, special guests, or extra ‘footprints,’ in the school
Virtual chapel weekly
All students arrive and dismiss through our carline and go straight to their ‘classroom bubble.’
No class mixing or interacting
Staff and student temperature checks daily
Daily health questionnaire for us to record
Staff Due to the pandemic, the school closed for in-person learning in March. While our families stayed connected to the teachers through virtual learning, families did not pay tuition from April to June 2020. We were able to keep the staff paid during this time through the PPP loan. Some staff did not return in the fall of 2020 due to health concerns. We hired 5 new teachers.
Looking Ahead We are looking forward to a strong January 2021 with our Toddler class returning and a new Young 2s Tuesday/ Thursday class. The Young 2s class, helps us forecast our future Transitional Kindergarten (TK) students, as they turned 2 September - December 2020. We also have many families interested in registering in January for our other ages– specifically our 3s; these families wanted to wait out the holidays before starting the school year. Currently, returning from Christmas break, our enrollment increased with new families and families that were holding off for the first half of the school year to monitor COVID metrics. We are currently at Pre-Pandemic level for student enrollment (in addition to adding our new Young 2s class).
FINANCIAL REPORT
Income
2020 YEAR-END RESULTS
Pledges & Offerings Expenses All Missions & Presbytery
Budget
Actual
$2,026,250 Budget
$1,971,406 Actual
Variance
$218,831
($581)
Faith Formation
$35,250
$16,298
$18,952
Worship & Music
$17,750
$11,194
$6,556
Life & Care
$8,000
$5,073
$2,927
Fellowship
$13,000
$2,054
$10,946
$2,500
$8
$2,492
$40,700
$40,677
$23
Administration & Finance
$144,800
$125,473
$19,327
Property
$257,000
$257,000
$0
Personnel
$1,289,000
$1,216,962
$72,038
Total
$2,026,250
$1,893,572
$132,678
Membership Debt Reduction
$1,892,050 2021 APPROVED BUDGET
($54,844)
$218,250
DEBT UPDATE BEGINNING OF 2020: $492,573
Variance
Ministry Area All Missions & Presbytery
7% Budget $194,250
Faith Formation
$33,450
Worship & Music
$16,850
Life & Care
$7,600
Fellowship
$12,000
Membership Debt Reduction
$1,750 $40,700
Administration & Finance
$137,750
Property
$257,000
Personnel
$1,190,700
Total
$1,892,050
END OF 2020: $388,415
DECREASE FROM 2020 to 2021
STATISTICAL REPORT
SARDIS STAFF
Elizabeth Angerson Director of Sardis Weekday School
Nikki Bolton Director of Communications
Jennifer Childers Director of Administration
Sue Chowning Parish Aide
Kaitlyn Davros Interim Director of Traditional Music
Sarah Dianne Jones Director of Children’s Ministry
Danelle Kime Administration & Membership Assistant
Sam Johnson Rev. Katie Harrington Dennis Easter Facilities Team Member Associate Pastor Facilities Team Member
Adrian Martin Director of Youth Ministry
Dr. Rev. Joe B. Martin Senior Pastor
Alfredo Mendoza Facilities Team Member
Robin Medlock Executive Assistant to the Senior Pastor
Steven Pappas Contemporary Worship Leader
Mark Slimer Director of Facilities
Jenny Walker Nursery Coordinator
John Nipe Technical Arts Coordinator