ANNOUNCEMENTS
TODAY - Drive-by Parade at Blacknall to Celebrate Margaret Frothingham’s Retirement, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Drive up Iredell from Markham and turn right on Perry. Margaret and Rich will be at the base of the church stairs out front. Please wave and honk while staying in your cars.
Gather Over Zoom | Details Here
Join others virtually for Sunday worship, Sunday school, or weekday morning prayer.
FINANCE | GIVE HERE
We have received $1,556,152 in offerings during this fiscal year (July 1, 2019 to June 19, 2020). Our approved budget is $1,687,052. We will need to receive $130,900 by June 30 to meet our budget through offerings.
Some of our expenses have been reduced since the middle of March. Our expenses are typically around 98% of budget, but we currently project our year-end expenses at 94% of our budget (around $1,586,000). We will need to receive around $30,000 by June 30 to meet our projected expenses through offerings.
On May 6, Blacknall received a loan of $163,900 through the federal Payroll Protection Program (PPP). Federal law provides strict limits on how this loan us used, primarily for payroll. We expect to qualify for forgiveness of most or all of this amount. The amount forgiven will appear as net income if and when we apply for forgiveness and receive written confirmation. This may occur in early fall, so this income may appear in the next fiscal year.
Additional comments from the Finance Committee acting chair
Should the receipt of a PPP loan change our usual goal of offerings equal to the approved budget? Three people contacted me this week with this and related questions. There is no simple answer, but here are my thoughts:
Our members and attenders have been incredibly generous in the difficult months since our last corporate worship on March 11. We experienced reduced offerings during the early pandemic period (March and April). In contrast, offerings were strong in May and early June. We are now on target to meet our reduced expenses with offerings. We may even come close to meeting our full approved budget.
Our first fiscal responses to this pandemic may seem paradoxical. In a time of reduced offerings, our Session called for a special missions offering, and we raised over $40,000 in March and April. While cutting expenses in some areas, we continued to provide planned support to international, campus, and Durham ministry partners. These are strong symbols that reflect our underlying priorities. Continued strong giving will allow us to continue or even expand our benevolence commitments.
Possible PPP loan forgiveness would provide budget support for deficits that may arise this summer or fall. The Session also provided another safety net several years ago through the Cash Flow/ Deficit Protection Fund. So we are confident that we will remain solvent.
I affirm the goal to meet our full approved budget with current offerings. This will provide a strong positive signal for pending Session decisions. Our new fiscal year begins July 1, but we postponed our usual budget process due to the uncertainties of this spring. Uncertainties remain, but we do expect to begin budget planning in July. Our Session will face major fiscal decisions related to personnel transitions and support for ministry partners. A strong finish to this fiscal year will positively inform these decisions.
Please contact Rich Frothingham with questions.
Prayer & Thanksgiving
Pray for Blacknall missionaries Jonathan and Rocio Mikes. Now in transition, the write, “We served on the ground in Mexico for 12 years, helping launch two ministries in the Coyoacan area of southern Mexico City: La Fuente Church and BridgeWay North American School. We are now in the process of transitioning to Charlotte, NC where Jonathan will serve as Director of Global Ministry for United World Mission. We have two children, Sara & Daniel, who have grown up in Mexico City but consider Iowa a second home.” Prayer Requests:
That our family will thoroughly enjoy and quickly adapt to our new life in Charlotte, NC.
Wisdom and dependence on the Spirit, as he settles into his new role as Director of Global Ministries with UWM
That La Fuente Church & BridgeWay North American School will continue to flourish as we transition out of Mexico.
That God will use Jonathan in his leadership role to encourage our missionaries and national partners around the globe as they point people to Jesus.
Full mission support for the Mikes
Please pray for Housing for New Hope working to end homelessness in Durham.
Pray for their Contact teams who are out in the streets meeting homeless people and developing relationships so that they can help them to find housing.
Pray for Executive Director, Russell Pierce, as he leads this organization and for Kay Ferguson who is on the Board of Directors.
Pray for a greater number of affordable rental units becoming available especially as the facilities that can house homeless individuals and families have diminished capacity because of the coronavirus.
Pray for individuals and families at risk and for their landlords when the eviction moratorium ends on July 24.
About the Music
The simple beauty of “Be Thou My Vision” might easily obscure the depth of its text, but I hope not – when singing it, we are together praying that we would live out the gospel in a God-centered way. (It occurs to me that begs a question: what other way would there be??) Walk slowly through the verses. You are praying for all of life, under the umbrella of the first line. It reminds me of Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5: “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” All of us say that we want that, but my experience has been that very, very few actually lean into the prayer-and-submission process by which the Lord might do such work. Margaret Frothingham is an example to me of a life lived committed to that rare aspiration. She has lived in our midst such that it can truly be said, the Lord is the “heart of [her] own heart.” Thanks, Margaret – we have been enriched, and challenged, by your example of seeking to live fully under the Lordship of Christ. May you know the Lord’s good pleasure and blessing as we have known it because of you.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.