2015 Annual Report

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ANNUAL REPORT 2015


“Because of God’s amazing grace and your prayers, generous giving and willingness to serve, 2015 was one of V ​ alley Family Church’s​ best years to date. W ​ e were able to reach m​ore kids, students, families and individuals ​with the gospel of Jesus throughout Southwest Michigan and beyond than ever before.” Dear VFC Family and Friends, ​What a year! Because of God’s amazing grace and your prayers, generous giving and willingness to serve, 2015 was one of ​ Valley Family Church’s ​best years to date. ​We were able to reach m​ ore kids, students, families and individuals ​with the gospel of Jesus throughout Southwest Michigan and beyond than ever before.

Through FridayGroceries and our Thrift Store outreach efforts, ​we ​literally gave away thousands of meals to tens of thousands of people! ​

Through our weekend s​ ervices, ​ we heard consistent testimonies of how the Lord impacted people through worship and the Word. Whether it was through our Kalamazoo campus services, The Cathedral live feed or through our Online Campus, p ​ eople came to know the Lord and grew in their faith.

This is going to be a big year at VFC as we celebrate​25 years of ministry as a church. We are so expectant for what’s ahead. Thank you for your ​ part in helping us to follow and cooperate with Jesus as He builds​His church​in Southwest Michigan and beyond​​!

Through our ​k​ids and ​s​tudents ​m​inistries, we saw thousands of young people​ starting at birth through the college years grow in their relationship with God.

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​2015 was a fruitful year indeed, but as we head into 2016 we are anticipating greater things!

With love and gratitude,​

Jeff and Beth Jones Senior Pastors


VALLEY FAMILY CHURCH 3


C O N T E N T S It’s All About the Weekend Weekend Statistics Monthly Series Testimonies Events Kids / Students / Families Valley Basics / Valley U / Get It Groups Outreach / FridayGroceries / Love Week Media Statistics Financials

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06 07 08 10 12 14 18 20 27 28


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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE WEEKEND

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KALAMAZOO CAMPUS The energy in our weekend services has grown throughout the past year. Through weekend services, the Word and worship were taught and caught. Through the VCrew and GIGs (Get It Groups) people are connecting with new friends and growing in their relationship with the Lord through encouraging friendships. The whole family is being ministered to from birth through adult, and the passion from all ages is evident throughout the church.

CATHEDRAL CAMPUS The Cathedral service continues to be a great environment for VFC’ers who prefer a smaller atmosphere to develop relationships and enjoy a more acoustic style of worship mixed with both modern and traditional worship songs. In 2015, we’ve continued to be encouraged by seeing people get saved, establish relationships, serve alongside each other and experience personal growth in their walk with the Lord. CHURCH ONLINE Every Sunday, we live stream our weekend services to people around the world. In 2015, we had viewers from 94 countries, including Germany, Brazil, China and Canada, plus 50 U.S. states represented. Through our online venue, 110 individuals gave their lives to the Lord! Our average weekend attendance grew by 59% compared to 2014 averages. In the digital and mobile age, we are excited to continue to reach people around the world through our online venue. 6


LIFE CHANGING WEEKEND WORSHIP SERVICES

2,386

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831 187 500

across all locations

VCrew Member Volunteers making ministry happen

New Volunteers joined the VCrew

59

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Water Baptisms

First Time Visitors Each Weekend

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Salvations of Kids & Students

Average Weekend Attendance

STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR:

1,689 2,453 1,478

Adult Salvations across all locations

First Time Visitors across all locations

Prayer Requests received & prayed for

4,138 4,888 1,462

Easter Attendance at four services

Retro Christmas Attendance at four services

Christmas Eve Attendance at one service

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M O N T H L Y

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WHAT’S YOUR STORY?

with Pastor Beth

Your life tells a story. From beginning to end, God has a fabulous plot, mystery, drama and action adventure to tell through your life and every character, journey, battle and victory has helped shape you into who you are today. In this series, Pastor Beth helped us discover the story God is writing in each of our lives.

“God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.” Psalm 18:21

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THE DANIEL PLAN

with Pastor Jeff

2015 was our year for health: spirit, soul and body! Based off of the popular “Daniel Plan” series by Rick Warren, we took a journey to promote better health in every area of our lives while relying on God’s power. Through various church events and weekend encouragement from Pastor Jeff, we found health in the categories of faith, focus, food, fitness and friends.

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UNSEEN

with Pastor Beth

What does heaven care about? What is God watching? How visible is the invisible? In a world where “busy” is our motto, and the 9-5 feels more like 24/7, we learned through this series how to shift our mind from the chaos of this world to the things that really matter. Pastor Beth painted a picture of the invisible realm and the Kingdom of God that we are a part of.

EMPOWERED

with Pastor Beth

In our Empowered series, we received a booster shot of faith, power, authority, confidence and enablement in every area of our lives. Pastor Beth and other guest speakers ministered a message of empowerment and encouragement to help us reach our full potential in every area of life.

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S E R I E S


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VISION MONTH

with Pastor Jeff

Vision: why is it so important? What is God’s vision for your life? What is God’s vision for our church? In this series, Pastor Jeff helped us discover the value of vision in our own life and the life of our church.

“I believe that we’re starting a fruitful season that’s going to last for generations as a church body.”

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FULL OF IT

with Pastor Jeff

Jesus promised His followers that He would bring them a new way of living; a life, “in abundance, to the full, till it overflows” (John 10:10). Would you like that to describe your life? To experience this kind of new life we need to be full of three things and learn to avoid another like the plague. Pastor Jeff showed us in practical ways what it means to be faithful, thankful and prayerful and avoid being prideful.

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GAME OF THRONES

with Pastor Beth

“What happens after I die?” Eternity is a very long time, and one day we will find ourselves standing before God at His Throne to give an account of our lives. The Bible tells us that God will open “the books” and we will be judged on the things written in them. In this series, Pastor Beth helped us discover how to be prepared and full of joy and peace on that day.

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A RETRO CHRISTMAS

with the Retro Cast

The Christmas story was illuminated in a new way this year as we celebrated the birth of Jesus. To close out the month we performed Retro Christmas Comedy Singalong’s sixth year on stage with a brand new script, all new songs and cast. We saw almost 5000 people come to VFC for this production and hundreds of people connect with God in a way they never had before. It was a Christmas to remember.

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T E S T I M O N I E S 24 years for the church and 23 years of our family being a part of it. We are so blessed to have been able to raise our children here. Thank you for your investment into our family. Thank you for the message today. I feel empowered and encouraged to live more in Christ everyday. For the first time, I was “fed” with revelation and knowledge about God, Jesus and salvation. The what, how and why, all the things my curious mind wanted to know. It was our first visit, and we were so impressed that the gal who greeted us connected with us in a meaningful way and remembered us when we left church that day! I have learned so much about how to love people just by watching your volunteers. I try to imagine what Heaven is like when we sing the way we did today in church. Thank you to the worship team for leading us so we can experience God! I’ve been a Christian my whole life but it wasn’t until VFC that “I Got It.” Thank you! VFC has changed my life and my family! Mentally and spiritually, I was refreshed and replenished. There really is nothing like being able to serve other people. A friend invited me to a church service at Valley Family Church. I felt peace, joy and acceptance during our visit. It felt like “home”. Thank God for VFC and your vision. I was between churches years ago and found you guys at Romence. Best thing that’s ever happened to me spiritually.

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E V E N T S

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VOscars Valley Family Church is hugely made up of the almost 900 VCrew member volunteers who serve faithfully every weekend. Without the support of this army of enthusiastic men and women, VFC would not have its reputation for excellence and joy. In an effort to celebrate these amazing people, we hosted various events specifically for them. Our first annual VOscars event was a huge success, where we rolled out the red carpet and awarded our VCrew for their love, service and generosity. Empowered Conference In 2015 the Empowered Conference hosted special guest speakers Dr. Wendy Treat and Lisa Bevere. Over 900 women attended the event and were empowered, encouraged and strengthened to become the women God has called them to be.

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K I D S , S T U D E N T S F A M I L I E S

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KIDAMAZOO STUDIOS / BIRTH-4TH GRADE Each weekend our ministry for birth through 4th grade is making an impact in the lives of kids, teaching them about who God is and the relationship they can have with him. From the smallest of babies to the most mature of students, we are teaching and training them to become world changers for the Kingdom of God. Preschool Birth-Kindergarten Stats Average Attendance Per Weekend: 182 Average First Time Visitors Per Weekend: 9 Volunteers: 146 Elementary 1st-4th Grade Stats Average Attendance: 201 Average First Time Visitors Per Weekend: 9 Volunteers: 97 The Living King | Elementary Easter Production The Kidamazoo Studios team wrote and directed the Easter production, “The Living King.” Through a cast of characters from Simba to Mufasa, the story of Easter and the resurrection was told. 371 elementary aged children attended the live production during Easter Weekend, and in May the production was performed for the entire congregation. Splash Splash is a week-long event similar to vacation bible school, where kids come to have fun, get wet and learn about Jesus. This year 314 children attended, including 76 who had never attended VFC prior to Splash. Through this fun event, 87 kids gave their lives to the Lord. Kidamazoo Studios Curriculum In 2014, VFC launched “Kidamazoo Studios Curriculum” as a resource for churches around the world to use in their ministry environments. September of 2015 Kidamazoo Studios partnered with David C. Cook Publishers and became available for digital download purchases through David C. Cook’s platform, disciplr.com – a huge platform for kids ministers to discover this curriculum.

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FLEX CLUB / 5TH-7TH GRADE In 2015, we launched a brand new ministry for 5th-7th graders called “Flex Club.” The weekend ministry is a “party with a purpose” with age-specific teaching and fun for these students to help them grow relationally and spiritually! Each weekend students experience live worship, interactive games and meaningful messages that speak to them where they are at. Relational connection is huge for this age group, so through extra-curricular events, students were able to connect with each other and their leaders. Events like, Splash (89 attended), Focus Conf (65 attended), and Lock-In (133 attended), were huge hits! Flex Club 5th-7th Grade Stats Average Attendance Per Weekend: 105 First Time Visitors to Flex Club in 2015: 128 Reported Salvations in Flex Club in 2015: 233

FAMILY CAMP / ENTIRE VFC FAMILY August 19-22 we offered the first ever VFC Family Camp at Timber Wolf Lake Camp in Lake City, MI. This 4 day family getaway provided age-specific services for preschool, elementary, middle school, high school students and adults! It was an amazing week growing relationally and spiritually as a church family. 329 were in attendance at our first ever Family Camp! VOX Youth held their own “camp” within Family Camp with 78 high schoolers in attendance.

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K I D S , S T U D E N T S F A M I L I E S

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VOX YOUTH / 8TH-12TH GRADE In 2015, VOX Youth expanded the age demographic of their ministry to include 8th-12th graders. The addition of the 8th grade class has helped boost connections among students and leaders at this pivotal season of their growth in life! Every weekend VOX Youth gathers for live worship, fun games and powerful messages that are helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus. Focus Spring & Fall Conference In February 133 Flex Club & VOX Youth students gathered for the Spring Conference and then in November 96 VOX Youth students gathered for the Fall Conference for the sole purpose of focusing on Jesus. Leadership Nights VOX is training up student leaders through these special leadership nights designed to pour into them. 20 students attended their first ever leadership night. Next Level This week-long event is focused on discipleship, spirit, soul and body. 80 High School students committed a week of their summer to Next Level and were impacted in a huge way. Take the Night This new outreach focused service launched in June. Every month, VOX plans and prepares for one big blow out night for students to invite their friends. At the very first service, 187 students attended and 47 salvations were celebrated. VOX Youth 8th-12th Grade Stats Average Attendance Per Weekend: 113 First Time Visitors to VOX in 2015: 322 Reported Salvations in VOX in 2015: 269

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EPIC COMMISSION DISCIPLESHIP PROGRAM / 18-24 YEAR-OLDS EPIC Commission is a two-year discipleship program for 18-24 year-olds to experience Bible training and continue their full-time college education or career endeavors at the same time. EC is a mix of Bible Classes, Internship, Discipleship, and Community that positions students to live the life God created for them. Students are involved hands-on in the life of the church and grow spiritually through classes in Valley University as well as weekday classes and relational connections. Each year the EC students spend a week on an evangelistic mission trip. In 2015 they traveled to Mexico City and Panama City Beach, FL. Participating with RHEMA Mexico they saw 682 salvations and many healings. 15 EC students traveled to Florida to minister to college spring breakers and saw: 40 Salvations • 5000 Van Rides • 4,562 Pancakes Served • 16 7 Basics Books Given Away. 2014-2015 EC class: 27 students Graduating 2nd years: 9 students Graduating 1st years: 18 students 2015-2016 EC class: 34 students 1st year class: 16 students 2nd year class: 18 students

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“As I look at the first three months of EC and think about the changes God has made in my life, I'm realizing how great of a change He can make in such little things. My prayer life, personal time with God, and overall attitude has changed drastically from day one. - Megan Simkins

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VA L L E Y BAS I C S & VA L L E Y U THE BASICS CLASSES Since the foundation of Valley Family Church, the “Getting a Grip on the Basics” books have helped to train, develop and make disciples in our church and around the world. Every year, we are excited to see the life change that happens in people new in Christ, or long-time believers, as their roots go deeper into the Lord and they discover the plan God has for their life. Valley Basics Class Graduates Get a Grip 101: Basics: 129 Get a Grip 201: Serving: 72 Get a Grip 401: Health & Healing: 27 Getting a Grip on the Basics for Kids 3rd-5th Grade: 36

VALLEY UNIVERSITY Valley University is training men and women for life and for leadership in the marketplace and ministry. Regardless of career path or season of life, Valley U is equipping people in the Word, prayer and spirit of faith. The 2014-2015 class graduated 32 second year students. And the 2015-2016 intake saw 122 student sign up for Valley U.

LIFE CLASSES Life classes offer focused spiritual growth and development on topical subjects throughout the school year like finances, marriage, grief and recovery and more. Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” Class graduated 52 students. Divorce Care graduated 10 students. Premarital graduated 28 students.

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GIGS

get it groups

Get It Groups (GIGs) are the small group ministry of VFC. Since the launch in 2013, we’ve seen hundreds of VFCers find “their people” and connect relationally and spiritually. In 2015, we had:

49 656 14 71 GIGS OFFERED

TOTAL ATTENDEES

GIG COACHES

GIG LEADERS

“My GIG helped me think more deeply about my faith within the context of a faith community. I love knowing more people at VFC, and it makes Sundays more fun to see fellow GIG members.” “My relationship with my spouse has grown so much over the last 2 years in our GIG.”

“I’m so thankful for my GIG who was praying for me in the time I needed it the most!”

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O U T R E A C H FRIDAY GROCERIES Every Friday we open our doors from 10am-12noon and give away free supplemental groceries to families in need across southwest Michigan. Through this food pantry outreach of VFC we’ve been able to give away 331,974 meals in the 50 Fridays open in 2015. The estimated food value is $1.186 million, an incredible impact! FridayGroceries 2015 Collective Impact Weely Food Pantry: Every Friday 10am-Noon • Gave Away 331,974 Meals Love Week: July 27 - August 1 • Gave Away Food to Over 5,000 People in 6 Communities Christmas Dinner: December 18 • Gave Away 900 Christmas Dinners to 3,404 People FridayGroceries Christmas Dinner As a special Christmas outreach through FridayGroceries the church family rallies together to adopt a bag and give it away for Christmas. This year over 900 bags were adopted and filled with the ingredients for a full Christmas dinner. We were able to help provide Christmas dinners to over 3,400 people across southwest Michigan! Bags Adopted: 900 Total Number of People Fed: 3,404 Total pounds of Food Distributed: 15,288 VALLEY THRIFT STORE In 2014 we opened the Valley Thrift Store as an outreach initiative of VFC. Since that date, and in 2015, we saw an incredible increase in visibility, donations and sales at Thrift. Since our launch at 8700 Shaver Road, conveniently located between Walmart and Meijer, we have seen 67% growth in sales. The income generated helps support FridayGroceries and other VFC outreach efforts. HAITI ORPHANAGE As a church we sponsor an orphanage “Kominote ti Fanmi Nou.” In our support of them, we’ve been able to provide 27,000 meals to children in need in 2015.

OUTREACH & MISSIONS WE SUPPORT + Africa Outreach + Billion Soul Network + C3 Global + Champions Network + Club 1040 + Dynamis World Ministries + Grunewald Ministries + Int’l Fellowship of Christians & Jews

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+ Joe Purcell Ministries, Inc. + Kalamazoo Gospel Mission + Kenneth Hagin Ministries + Kominote ti Fanmi Nou + Living Word Global + Mercy Multiplied + Pray America

+ Strategic Global Missions + Tim Rogers Ministries, Inc. + Tony Cooke Ministries + Wave Network + Whole World Ministries + Youth for Christ - Kalamazoo

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GLOBAL IMPACT The impact of Valley Family Church outreach stretches worldwide. From our local outreach impacting southwest Michigan, to our live stream weekly services that are going all over the world including nations like Brazil, to the Basics with Beth curriculum that is continuing to reach nations all around the world like Shanghai, China, to missionary support and more. Through the generous support and prayers of VFCers, we are reaching the world with the gospel.

FridayGroceries Thrift Store Christmas Dinner Love Week

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Haiti Orphanage

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Missionary Support

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The Basics with Beth Jones

Online Live Stream Weekly Services

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Generosity defines us. 21


F R I D A Y

G R O C E R I E S

FRIDAY GROCERIES FridayGroceries continues to reach thousands across Kalamazoo County and well-beyond. In fact 13 counties are being reached from our hub in Kalamazoo! In 2015 FridayGroceries helped to feed nearly 37,000 people with roughly 332,000 meals in just 102 hours of operation! New bridges within the community were built, as our support from local stores and businesses including Meijer, Target, Aunt Millie’s Bakery, Walther Farms, and Coca-Cola all allowed us to impact people in food-crisis. In addition, we launched a brief devotional service prior to each FridayGroceries and were able to see 252 people choose to make Jesus the Lord of their life!

FRIDAY GROCERIES FOOTPRINT

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50 102 36,886 11,746 331,974 282,185 2,939 252

Number of Fridays open Number of hours open

People fed

Households served Meals provided

Lbs. of food distributed

Total attendees at FridayGroceries devotional

Hands raised during altar call

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Love 24


L O V E

W E E K

Love Week 2015 was another highlight in reaching the local community, albeit in a different form than ever before. In July, we took our FridayGroceries food pantry mobile on six nights into six different communities: Vicksburg, Three Rivers, Comstock, Lawton, Plainwell and downtown Kalamazoo. Each night, we distributed free supplemental bags of groceries to attendees and backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies for kids. In addition, we grilled hot dogs, passed out cold water bottles, led activities, painted faces, manned bounce houses, and gave away thousands of items of clothing and books.

760 5,261 1,387 47,349 35,055 658 6,000 4,700 7,000 1,000 1,848

VFC Volunteers People fed Households served Meals provided Lbs. of food distributed

Stuffed back-to-school backpacks Given away Bottles of water distributed Hot dogs consumed by Love Week Attendees

Articles of clothing given away

Books given away Ice cream cones scooped and given away

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M E D I A S T A T I S T I C S SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook 5,040 followers Twitter 1,705 followers Instagram 1,591 followers WEBSITE

Unique Visits 42,965 Page Views 300,760 MOBILE APP

Downloads 4,426 YOUTUBE

Subscribers 364 Total Views 45,548 PODCAST

Total Plays 26,495

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G I V I N G S T A T E M E N T Donations / Benevolence

$74,116

Missions $70,000 *Local Community Outreach

$1 Million

Giving Total $1,144,116 *The value of VFC’s local community outreach easily equals or exceeds $1 million dollars in gifts given to those in need in our community. Whether it was through the FridayGroceries Outreach, Love Week, FridayGroceries Christmas Dinner or other outreach events, hundreds of thousands of dollars of goods and countless volunteer hours were gladly poured into southwest Michigan in 2015.

Heart for the House Campaign Giving

$265,968

The Heart for the House Campaign is our annual fundraising initiative through which VFCers (and those who do not attend VFC, but who have a heart for what we are doing) commit to give above and beyond their normal tithes and offerings to advance the kingdom of God through Valley Family Church. Because of the faithfulness of those who pledged and gave towards Heart for the House we were able to reach more people through several of our community outreach activities, church expansion and campus upgrades, such as replacing our boiler, adding snow-melt to steps and refinishing the parking lot.

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We are building a movement, not a monument. This is not a spectator sport. 29


B A L A N C E S H E E T Current Assets Cash Inventories & Other Current Assets Accounts Receivable Investments TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS

$465,847 $205,332 $0 $161,221 $832,400

Property & Equipment Main Campus Other Properties Equipment Accumulated Depreciation TOTAL PROPERTIES & EQUIPMENT Summary of Assets & Property Total Current Assets Total Property & Equipment TOTAL ASSETS, PROPERTIES & EQUIPMENT Liabilities Long Term Liabilities Other Liabilities TOTAL LIABILITIES TOTAL EQUITY Summary of Liabilities & Equity Total Liabilities Total Equity TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY

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$10,834,858 $917,946 $1,225,553 ($2,517,103) $10,461,254

$832,400 $10,461,254 $11,293,654

$9,070,953 $84,788 $9,155,741 $2,137,913

$9,155,741 $2,137,913 $11,293,654


S T A T E M E N T O F O P E R A T I O N S Revenue & Support General Offerings Designated Contributions Events/Tuition/Sales/Rents GRAND TOTAL

$3,858,152 $388,381 $648,585 $4,895,118

Ministry Operating Expenses Donations Given

$144,116

(In 2015, additionally, we gave away $1.186 million in food value distributed through FridayGroceries and other outreach events.)

Outreach Ministries & Christian Education Church Ministries and Operations Facilities & Maintenance Human Resources

$207,345 $373,398 $1,750,330 $2,074,008

TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES

$4,549,197

(In 2015, we had a staff of over 60 full and part-time employees.)

Summary Total Revenue & Support Total Operating Expenses NET INCOME

$4,895,118 $4,549,197 $345,921

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