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First Baptist Family,
Believe it or not, we have reached the final month of 2025. Which means two things at the same time: It is time to put the finishing touches on this year and it is time to properly plan for next year.
With that in mind, I want to begin with a few notes about 2025 as it draws toward a close.
Truthfully, I want to "raise an Ebenezer" as the great hymn says, like when Samuel raised his "stone of help" in 1 Samuel 7, to acknowledge and praise God for God's help, protection, and faithfulness.
Coming out of the hurricane ravaged Fall of 2024, for many of us, 2025 was a year to put the pieces back together and move into what was next for us. While that was true for many of us as individuals or families, it was also true for our church as well.
One way this was seen within the context of our church was in relation to our church facilities. We began 2025 spending time and money to fix damages caused by Hurricane Milton, namely wind damage repairs to our tile roof, light poles, and fences, as well as clearing downed trees on our campus.
Those repairs, of course, were unexpected and unbudgeted, but as the year pressed on we carried on with "ordinary" maintenance and repairs. And those, often unseen accomplishments, are something worth celebrating, too!
In Florida, our air conditioning system is a critical component, and as you might recall, our aging system has given us some trouble in recent years. The "heart" of our system are our chillers. This year, we made significant repairs to our existing chillers, and also placed an order for a new chiller which will arrive and be installed in early 2026, so that when the heat of summer arrives next year, we will be well prepared to keep our building cool. You should know this was a significant investment. Particularly, our chiller replacement is a capital expense to the tune of $294,000.
Yet, thanks be to God, God's faithful people, and the careful, steady leadership of our Stewardship Committee over the last several years, we were in a place to be able to make this investment using reserves, meaning we did not need to incur debt for this purchase.
Speaking of debt, when I arrived as your pastor, the only debt we carried was the remainder of the $250,000 loan we took out in 2011 to pay for the construction of our Columbarium. I am thrilled to tell you we made the final payment on that note in November, which means First Baptist Church of St Petersburg in COMPLETELY DEBT FREE! Again, thanks be to God!
Of course, many other wonderful things, beyond our building and finances have happened in 2025. We welcomed 19 new members so far this year, five of those by baptism. We onboarded Robin Priddy as our new Associate Pastor. We generously gave to support the CBF Offering for Global Missions and stepped up to support our Food Pantry Ministry to meet the real needs in our own neighborhood. There has been much good and wonderful ministry to celebrate!
As we draw to the end of the year, amid my celebrating and Ebenezer raising, let me be straightforward with you about our church finances, as I always try to be.
This year, your giving has been strong - as of the end of November, we had given just over 97% of what we had budgeted for the first 11 months of the year.
This year our expenses have been slightly higher than anticipated - as of the end of November, we had spent just under 5% more than we budgeted for the first 11 months of the year. (To be clear, I am speaking here of our operating expenses, which includes the hurricane repairs, but does not include the capital expenditure from reserves to pay for the new chiller.)
The bottom line is that as of the end of November, our year-to-date operating expenses have outpaced our year-to-date operating revenue by $42,657. This cashflow deficit is more than entirely attributable to our early-2025 hurricane repairs, which were not budgeted. Nonetheless, of course, we would prefer not to end this year with a deficit.
Church family, I am not anxious, in large part because 2025 is not over! I am hopeful in this final month we will close the gap and finish the year strong, perhaps even fully erasing the deficit. God's has been faithful over and again; God's people have been faithful over and again. I am confident when we close the books on 2025, we will have yet another reason to celebrate!
To make that happen, as we come to the final weeks of 2025, let me encourage each person to consider how you might give generously to finish this year strong. For many of us, this might be traditional giving, but here at the end of the year some folks might want to explore the tax benefits of gifting the church securities or making a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA required minimum distribution. (If this interests you, let me know and I will be glad to connect you with folks who can help make that happen!) I'm confident we will give generously this month and put ourselves on the best footing possible as we move into 2026.
And speaking of 2026, I did mention now is the time to properly plan for next year.
A couple of weeks back, we unanimously approved our 2026 church budget, which planned for $775,000 in tithes and offerings, a modest 3% increase from this year's budget.
Each year, we invite every church member to seriously and prayerfully consider how you will contribute financially to the ministries of our church in the coming year. And then, to make this decision concrete by submitting a pledge card as a worshipful act of commitment.
Your pledge is not an obligation, no one from the church office is going to hunt you down to collect. Really, it is not really even for the church's benefit or planning. Rather, it is a spiritual exercise, an opportunity for each of us to recommit ourselves to our shared work of helping people experience God's gift of life in Jesus.
Paper pledge cards will be available beginning this Sunday, or, if you prefer, you can submit your pledge card online here. I hope you will join over the coming weeks in taking a look at your personal budget for next year and setting a course for your giving in the coming year.
I know I shared a lot, very quickly in this particularly long note; my apologies. Thank you for reading this far! If you have any questions about anything I've shared, I would love to hear from you anytime.
Give me a call, text, or email, or swing by the church office. Or you can catch me this Sunday. We'll be celebrating the Second Sunday of Advent - the Sunday of Peace, and enjoying one another's company around the tables at our December Fellowship Lunch. I hope to see you there!
Blessings,
Ben
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