September 28, 2026

Dear St John’s Family,

My family has been at St. John's for fifteen years. What I remember is not the budget. It is my daughter Grace running the Christmas Eve acolytes and bossing her older siblings around as last-minute subs. Breakfast in the parish hall. Packing potatoes. The men's morning group. Father Chris or Father Ben preaching something that made me uncomfortable in a useful way.

All of it happens because a few hundred households decide every fall to pay for it.

Some of you heard from a member of the vestry or the stewardship committee this past week. Thank you for picking up, and thank you for the kindness so many of you showed our callers.

Our goal is $1,125,000, and we are asking most households for one step, five percent above last year. For a family pledging $1,000, that is an additional $50 across the year. One more dollar a week. And if you have never pledged before, a first pledge is a full step. It counts the same.

This Sunday, October 4, is Stewardship Sunday, and it is also the parish picnic at Monica and Jeff Wiley's farm, at 2280 Abert Road, Lynchburg. If you can, bring your card and put it on the altar that morning at church. Doing it together is worth something that mailing it is not. If Sunday does not work, pledge online at stjohnslynchburg.org/give in about two minutes or drop your card in the mail this week.

Either way, come to the picnic. I would love to see that field packed, and I mean that whether or not you have decided about your pledge.

Our new rector, Dr. Christopher Beeley, arrives on November 1. What we hand him is a parish that is strong, whole, and fully funded. That is within reach this fall, and it is entirely up to us.

See you Sunday,

Tommy Battle

Chair, Stewardship Committee