home > the holy grail
Vision Board Insights
The Holy Grail
We closed the books on 2007 at Grace. We came very close to our income goal of $120,000 in December and brought in $116,830 total. With the extra funds raised, we were able to pay all the bills and have income and expenses balance, bringing the 2007 budget up to the black*.
During the December plea for additional giving, we received about $40,100 from the appeal cards that were sent out in addition to the regular giving. Thank you for your support. These extra gifts were a blessing.
The 2007 budget achievement got a Barry Bonds asterisk because after a closer look at the numbers during the last Vision Board meeting, we realized the amount of benevolence given by the church wasn’t the tithe we had committed to a year earlier. We had a rigorous discussion about this obligation to the Lord and admitted that we were actually in the red.
ssentially we filled our glass but the Lord’s glass was only about half full or half empty depending on how you look at it. In 2007, we gave $54,375 in benevolence and Noisy Offerings. This is 6.6% of the total contributions that were counted. One optimistic glass-half-full perspective is that this is one the most generous benevolence contributions we have ever given. Yeah! And this dollar amount doesn’t include the support you provided to the Flood of Love, the food shelf at Grace, the Christmas boxes, and the CROP Walk. We are growing in many ways. Thank you for your support in these outreach ministries.
We fulfilled our obligations to Lutheran Social Service and the ELCA synod and then conducted a survey to see how the congregation would like to appropriate additional benevolence. The plan in 2008 is to take this tally (see footnote) and divide 10% of the offering on one Sunday a month and meet our LSS and ELCA commitments on the rest of the month. As a Vision Board we committed to tithing as a church so that we would be congruent when asking you to strive toward tithing as individuals. By this measure, the glass was half empty in 2007.
Maybe the God of grace is the ultimate optimist and will look at the glass and see that He’s half way to His next full one. For us trying to pay a full tithe into the Lord’s glass may seem like a Holy Grail that we’ll never fill but as we begin 2008 let’s see if we can do it. In church, like many things, you get out of it what you put in. Invest your time and talents with gratitude and joy. Remember, we’re all in this together and we thank you for your support.
Submitted by Pete Weikle
Vision Board Secretary
*Footnote: Feed My Starving Children 21%, Teen Challenge 14%, Grace4Tanzania 10%, Navajo Nation 4%, CEAP 19%, Our Saviours 12%, Free2B 15%, Church World Services 5%.