LAMPLIGHTER Winter 2018
What We Learned and What’s Next by Pastor Joel Leyrer This past September we held three Long Range Planning informational meetings at which potential campus and ministry enhancements were shared and discussed. Their purpose was to present a “case study” communicating the ministry rationale and spiritual direction driving these plans, gather feedback from our people, and generally determine if we have consensus among us to go forward.
We are grateful for such positive and unified results. We have the will to go forward. At the same time, there were some reoccurring issues that our people believe need to be more fully and clearly addressed before we enter into a new building campaign. The two issues noted most were parking and the retirement of our remaining school facility debt.
To help determine the level of support we might expect should the Lord allow us to advance, we engaged the services of a consulting agency. Our consultant conducted approximately 25 personal interviews and coordinated an online survey for the input of all our members. In all, 175 responses were received with over 250 written comments. Such participation gave us a good representation of our people’s thoughts on this matter.
What’s next? After prayerfully taking everything into consideration, the conclusion of the Feasibility Leadership Team (Executive Board, Property Coordinator and Stewardship Board and Long-Range Planning committee chairmen) was to take the measured approach of delaying a capital campaign until the year 2020, and in preparation for such a campaign devote 2019 to the following:
So, what did we learn? We learned there is a high level of support for the ministry here at St. John’s, as well as support for going forward with any campus enhancements that enable us to more effectively carry out our Gospel ministry. There was appreciation for the carefulness, thoughtfulness and insight put into the plans by the Long-Range Planning committee. And, based on those who responded and the size of our congregation, our consultant concluded we could reasonably expect financial support over a three-year period in the range of 3.5 to 4 million dollars.
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Resolve our parking issues with a definitive plan before any new construction Pay off our existing debt completely (with reserves and recent adjustments, now less than 400K) Refine and right-size the first building phase in line with projected financial support Replace our present mission-vision statement with new goals for a new decade
As you can see, we have much in store for us at St. John’s over the next few years. These are important times. We will need the prayers and involvement of all our members as together we look “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).