Wardens’ Report: June 2020
The Wardens’ Report: highlights from monthly Vestry meetings, designed to provide information about our growth, finances, priorities, and progress in our strategic plan.
The Vestry met remotely on June 30. Brad Jones opened us in prayer, and we received a report from Isaiah Brooms, our Director of Youth Ministries. We are grateful for his flexibility and initiative in taking up Resto’s livestream and video presence. Please join us in praying for him as he prepares to be ordained as priest in the fall.
David reported that, in response to an appeal from the head of the Anglican Church in North America’s “Next Generation Leadership Initiative” (Rev. Dr. Esau McCauley), he used his authority to direct $2000 to support the Initiative.
We formalized decisions made between meetings, approving a few further disbursements from the Benevolence Fund. Even with those disbursements, the Fund has used less than half of the amount the Vestry allocated. If you attend Restoration and have a financial need, please do ask. Further information is here. We also approved two motions to disburse money from our Building Fund for painting and to purchase items for reopening.
The two main questions of the evening were our budget for fiscal year 2021 (which begins September 1) and our reopening plan. On the budget, Brad Jones, our Treasurer, reported that giving and expenses remained good in May.
Thank you to those who continue to give generously, and to our staff for their wise care with expenses. Brad presented the Finance Team’s draft budget, with three options: contract 5% compared to this year; steady state; and expand 5%. We had a discussion, and will consider a final draft at our July meeting. Given how much remains uncertain for this year and next, it is unlikely that we will approve the “expand” option.
The Reopening Team provided us a superb proposal and, after extensive discussion and some tweaking, we approved it unanimously. You can find more in prior communications from us and from David, and can read the full plan.
As always, we welcome your questions and feedback. You can read an archive of past Wardens’ Reports on our website or Vestry Meeting minutes on CCB, under the ‘Files’ tab in the ‘Entire Church Group’
– Kevin Marshall and Johanna Montague, Wardens