Charge Conference
Every fall, our Administrative Council meets with our District Superintendent to review important decisions for the upcoming year. This meeting is called, Charge Conference. You are invited to join us, Faith. We will meet on Dec. 5, 2021 at 5:00 pm in the Chapel.
Our agenda will include approval of the slate of elected leaders for 2022, approval of clergy salaries, and vote of continuance for our ministry candidate, Stacy Reaves. In addition, this year we’ll be approving our 2022 budget. The finance committee met on Monday evening, Nov. 15, to review the proposed budget. We wrestled with the red number at the bottom as we celebrated the increased giving through September and October. When planning for next year, we discerned that we should proceed in faith that God can fund what we feel called to do in 2022. If we need to reassess after the first quarter, or after the first six months, we will do so. Right now, the proposed budget for next year is $77,328 smaller than last year’s budget -- so we are living into a smaller budget. We trust God to help us meet our expenses.
I want to celebrate the growth of our food ministry, something that was birthed during the pandemic. We’ve lovingly named this ministry, Food: Body and Soul. We were recently selected to be a site of the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This allows us to offer a better selection and more fresh items to those we deliver to each week.
Currently, our ‘Faithful’ delivery drivers sort and pick up the food for their clients outside on a street south of the Food Bank. This partnership allows Faith to choose the day we pick up fresh food and bring it to the church for storage (in the new industrial sized fridge) until delivery day. This partnership will also let more of you participate in this mission!
We need help sorting food into family boxes. Sorting should take less than an hour and we’re considering doing it on Wednesday or Thursday, late afternoons, or evenings. The entire family can help. If you would like to help, sign up at the service station in the Narthex or contact Lynn Goodrich.
As we approach the Advent season, this time of year brings blessing as we share our abundance with those most in need. We always adopt the kids in Osage County DHS custody. We find out each one’s Christmas list, shop for the items, and bring them back to church unwrapped. These gifts go directly to their foster parents so they can wrap them and give them to the kids on Christmas morning. There are 81 kids this year that need to be adopted. So far, we’ve adopted 51 kids. Can you help us? We need to shop for 30 more kids and help make their Christmas morning special.
Please serve with us this week. Sign up to serve a meal with Family Promise. Help us sort food for Food: Body & Soul. Adopt a child for Christmas. Come join us as we decorate the sanctuary and building for the season on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
See you Sunday,
