Bye bye Miss Banana Pie...drove my Chevy to the lev--Okay, I'll stop
We will miss you, though, if you ever read this.
So last night we had our annual church meeting where new elders and deacons are elected, budgets are approved, etc. My church added a large new addition to our building this past year that included a new sanctuary. Naturally the budget for this year is going to be significantly higher than it was last year because there are more utilities expenses and, most importantly, a mortgage to pay. People were freaked out because the operational budget increased by $70,000 when we actually didn't meet our operational budget for last year. (However, we did have surplus giving in other funds that offset the amount we were short.) We had a building funding campaign that ended in November, so basically if people continue to give as they have been, we'll be okay. Instead, though, a few individuals decided to take issue with the fact that our church-planting line item increased by $10,000 because our church-planting pastor/apprentice became a full-time employee instead of part-time this year and also began pursuing an accelerated seminary education. The number was still relatively small given that he has to support raise the rest for living and seminary expenses, but the discussion went round and round for a good 45 minutes at least about how the church-planting budget wasn't modest enough and "We never voted to plant a church anyway." It was pretty sad to me actually. When you build a large addition, you have to pay for it. That was the real cause of the budget increase, not church-planting. And now we're supposed to cut a really great ministry function? It was also unfortunate that they really seemed to undermine the work that the budget committee and the board had done in laboring over and approving this budget. But the discussion ended eventually and the budget was approved as it should be. The meeting took THREE hours, though. I was exhausted when it was over.
Also, one of my professors coordinates a free volunteer tax service for people in the area who have an income of $45,000 or less. Of course, he has students help him out as well. That starts today, so for the next five weeks I will be volunteering twice a week for 3-4 hours doing people's taxes. I must be crazy.