First counts are in

Bill Lorkiewicz does a superb job of tallying the pledges. As you might know, only a few people -- the pledge secretaries -- know who pledges what amount at Trinity. As the stewardship chair, I know... diddly. That's right: I don't know squat. Not a thing.

Well, as to the specifics, that is. Bill does provide me with an overview of the progress of the every-member-canvass. Our first numbers are in; on Sunday, Bill gave me the count for a couple of the saddlebags. With 52 cards returned with pledges listed, our total pledged to date is $84,697. The not-so-good-news is that 9 people reduced their pledge from 2005 by a total of $7686.

I know that Bill will have updated numbers tomorrow night. We'll have to see how we're faring.

The horses have started to come in

Well, our two week express is over. I'd like to say all the bags are back, but, alas, all the bags aren't back. More on that later. In the mean time, I just want to remind everyone that we are having a stewardship committee meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, November 25th, in the Parish Hall. Everyone is invited; we're in need of many hands for the next phase of our every-member-canvas.

And, if you happen to have a saddlebag, you can bring it by the Church then.

Our pledge to the Diocese

Someone asked me a little bit ago how much the Parish gives to the Diocese to support the work of the Church in southern Virginia. At the time, I didn't have a number; now I do.

During 2005, we are on track to give the Diocese $30,000 out of our total budget of $447,508. That's about 6.7%.

Of note with our budget is that only about half of our total operating budget comes from current year pledges. While I don't want to say that we are living beyond our means, it is true that we are blessed with an endowment, and we are blessed that the endowment continues to grow and allow us to do things we would not otherwise be able to do. As I've told some people, we don't act like a church with only $223,000 in yearly pledges; we have programs for a church perhaps twice our size (in terms of pledges).

I guess the message is this: we ought to up our pledges so that we can pay our own way and use the endowment for non-operating costs.

And that is just my opinion... I've upped my pledge; now up yours.

;-)

The ponies are galloping about

At least I hope they are.

I'd forgotten that I wasn't going to be at services this past weekend; I had class for grad school all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I'd hoped to have a chance to put up some sort of race chart, but, alas, I failed. And, I didn't get a chance to see the saddlebag situation until today.

I dropped by the church office this morning; 4 bags have made the rounds completely and are ready to be tallied. Three bags were stopped and the associated horses need resuscitation. So, I guess it's time for me to give mouth-to-mouth to a couple of ponies and get these bags back on the trail.

All-in-all, I'm actually fairly pleased. We'll have some follow-up next week, but I think the bulk of the pledge cards will be in by this Sunday.

That's great news. By the middle of next week, we'll have the preliminary figures so the Finance Committee can start building the 2006 budget. This is the earliest in a long time we will have had a set of planning numbers.

Day Four of the Pony Express

el ladero solitario
Originally uploaded by txiribiton.

Well, like this rider, we are off on the Pony Express every-member-canvas.

I have to tell you that on Sunday, I was dead tired. I worked for hours putting the saddlebags together; I finally climbed in to bed at 3AM, only to roll out three hours later so I could get to the Church Office at 7 to put the final touches on things. Frankly, with all the sleep I've been missing of late (between watches for my recently ended recall to active duty and the baby and school work and real work and... well, you get the picture), I'm surprised I was able to form a complete thought on Sunday morning.

For those of you who missed Sunday, I gave a brief presentation during each service (right before The Peace) and we then commissioned our "trail bosses." Great turnout; we had 17 of the 19 folks involved in canvassing between the two services.

In my talk, I spoke about a couple of things. I reminded all of us of the definition of stewardship -- the care of that which has been entrusted to us -- and I also spoke about the concepts of tithing (a Biblical standard of 10%) and proportional giving (Trinity's expectation... that you know what proportion you give and that you work toward a tithe). And, I talked about the logistics of this year's every-member-canvas. The key point on that was move the bag along.

I know that some people in the Parish don't want to have anything to do with the saddlebag. Okay, sure, it's a bit more of a hassle than just completing a card and mailing it in, but it is also an activity to get each of us actively engaged in the canvass. It forces us to be proactive rather than just reactive and unengaged. So please, please play along. Show that you understand stewardship isn't just a "yearly fund drive," but is, rather, a way of life, a way that each of us manages and returns to God's work our time, our talents, and our treasures.

Peace.

Our horses may have been delayed, but now things are looking great

Great news: Our Pony Express is taking shape. We have our 15 Trail Bosses working for our three excellent Station Agents:

Station Agent: Carol Devine
Carol’s Devine Trail Bosses:

• Sarah Stone


• Jon Cobb


• John Kauffman


• Margaret Radford


• Nick Petsos

Station Agent: Frank Jemmison
Frank’s Fabulous Trail Bosses:

• Carol Mayo


• John Gasser


• Julia & Keir Ballinger


• Pam Oksman


• Dick Fox

Station Agent: Mary Caron
Mary’s Choir of Trail Bosses:

• Barbara Byers


• Bonnie Kroll


• Lance Rocks


• Cory and Patty Williams


• Allen Whitney

Here’s what will happen. On Sunday the Trail Bosses will be brought forward during the service, given a saddlebag, and commissioned for their “ride.” Each Trail Boss will complete their household’s pledge card, return it to the saddleback, and then pass the saddlebag to the next household on the list. They will then monitor the bag’s progress, assisting where necessary.

I’m hoping not too many Trail Bosses have to go out and rescue lost saddlebags...

Your role in this Pony Express every-member-canvass is to complete your pledge card, return it in a sealed envelope to the saddlebag, and then move the bag along the trail.

My thanks to our volunteers listed above. I know that some of the 20 folks listed above may been coerced, but without their help, we’d never be able to have a successful Pony Express.

Ride on!