Board Chair Report from September 12, 2009 Board Meeting

Our 2009 Annual Gathering made clear the work of the Board of Directors for the year. We were reminded that our days of depending on real estate sales to balance our budget were over, that a third of our churches either do not contribute to the financial well being of the conference via Our Churches Wider Mission or via Per Capita dues.   We voted a budget that committed us to get our financial house in order by 2013. 

The major challenges facing the Board of Directors when we met on September 12, 2009 were: 

* Make a responsible decision regarding our Santa Barbara real estate. 
* Be faithful to our conference commitment to the planting of new churches. 
* Work toward fulfilling the directive of Annual Gathering to present a balanced budget by 2013.  

Prayerfully and thoughtfully the board took decisive steps to meet these objectives.  We voted to slow the sale process on the Santa Barbara property and extend our marketing timeline up to 2 1/2 years.  We don’t know what will be able to get for the property in a couple years, but we think that now is probably the worst possible time to sell the property. 

We also voted to delay paying the Cornerstone loan until the Santa Barbara property sells.  This decision allows us a 12-14 month window for 3 of our new church starts to seek alternate funding for their early years.   In the original commitment the conference was scheduled to financially support these churches for 3-5 years.  Our current financial reality makes that commitment impossible.  By providing a few more months support we hope the stories of lives changed in these ministries will inspire other Conference churches (maybe yours?) to partner with these churches in their mission and ministries.   It allows us to continue to fund the Youth and Young Adults ministry and to remind churches that in the future 50% of the Strengthen The Church Offering will fund a portion of that ministry.  It also gives us time to determine future conference staffing for growth and vitality.

Of course, the effort to balance our operating budget was not completed in one meeting.  In the future, we will be continuing to look for cost savings, though most of our expenses are for staff, and we believe we are probably actually understaffed right now to meet the expectations of Conference churches for basic services like search and call, crisis mediation, etc.  So we must also expend our energies on awakening congregations to the challenges and opportunities placed before us.  All of us who know of the important work we achieve together as a conference must continue to tell the story to every church in the conference.  We must convince our churches to support Our Churches Wider Mission.   We must convince all of our churches to faithfully pay per capita dues.  Each one of us must support the financial development team’s work.   We were able to end our board meeting with a preview of our new on line magazine which holds great potential for us to all stay connected in the life of this conference.

Your Board of Directors believes that you support the Conference’s mission priorities of church development, building community in diversity, and youth programs.   In one Board member’s words, “We should not let lack of money make us let go of the vision of what we are doing.”  The Conference Self-Study completed in this last year says that you agree.  And here are some of the reasons your Board of Directors believes that we are making faithful decisions, however difficult, for the Conference’s future: 

1. We’re hardly broke.  At least not yet.  We project cash on hand at year-end to be approximately $800,000.   Many other Conferences would envy these “problems”.  We are acting proactively so that we can be making faithful choices now, before the money is completely gone. 
   
2. The value of the Santa Barbara property can recover as fast as it disappeared.  The economics of development land is very different than the economics of single-family homes.  The economy is showing some signs of bottoming, and if it were accompanied by a return of lending to land development, the time to sell the property could return quickly. 
   
3. We’ve come this far.  Of the 14 new and affiliating churches since 2006, only five are currently receiving any subsidy at all.  Could there be a clearer indication that the Holy Spirit is blessing this work, and that we should find some way to continue, even if it requires severe budget adjustments.
   
4. The leadership of those three churches is very committed and resourceful.  Their churches have combined average worship attendance of almost 150, and although they are not ready to be self-supporting financially, it is entirely possible that they can find ways to keep their ministries going.
   
5. Our new churches can spark a renewal of existing churches.  The passion and commitment to Good News is infectious, so being connected with a new church is a great way to strengthen existing ministries and churches.
   
6. God finds ways to accomplish God’s Plans.  Looking forward to 2010, we see clear prospects for 4 more churches wishing to affiliate with SCNC of the UCC, 1-2 affordable new church starts, and perhaps one re-start of an existing church.  That is a planned total of 5-7 new churches.  This Conference continues to be the most active church-development conference in the UCC, mostly because God has blessed us. 

Many thanks to Keith Clark, Director of Finance, Administration and Communication, the Information & News Committee and the Editorial Committee for developing Connecting Voices so that I can keep you informed about the work of your Board.  If you have questions or comments, the contact information for each Director is in the Conference Phone Directory.  I look forward to keeping you informed in this way as the future of this Conference unfolds.