SENIOR WARDEN'S THOUGHTS ON THE ANNUAL MEETING AND 2025
Blessings to ALL. “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me.” Isaiah 6:8
I can’t say enough about the dedication and quality of our vestry members who answered the call to serve. Special thanks to our outgoing vestry members – Mary Csar, Mary Herin, Ed Rivera, Arely Cox, and Christopher Leonard. They all made huge contributions to the well-being of our church. Our newly elected slate of vestry members are Laura Leonard, Daniel Flynn, Cyndi Bloom, and Kim Ouellett. We are grateful and blessed to have such dedicated and talented members to help guide us into the future.
If you missed the Annual Meeting last Sunday, we did a short recap of 2024. Highlights included expenses in line with the planned budget, and parking lot revenues hit a record $165,000. Our Christmas Gala with Wycliffe Gordon netted the church $39,000, well over our projection. Thanks go to our co-chairs – Carole Bouchard, Mary Herrin, and Bill Lintz. A lowlight, the pledges, and plate revenue were $60,000 below the planned estimate. We are still overcoming the effects of the pandemic, construction, and other unforeseen events.
Looking forward to 2025 I see lots of promise. Our church membership is continuing to grow. Our new members are making a significant impact. Our Walk in Love stewardship program brought in a record $1.1M in pledges as of today. We are still expecting to receive more pledges in the first quarter of 2025 toward our goal of $1.2M. Thank You Everyone!
Our Junior Warden, Wazim Reid, showed the new architectural renditions of our north and south columbarium. They are on display in Harris Hall for your viewing. The columbarium was not part of our Capital Campaign and needs a refresh. Our architect estimates we will need between $150K - $200K. We have received $50,000 so far in gifts toward the project.
Gary Paris, our treasurer, spoke about our plans to convert our church, parish hall, and administration buildings to solar power with no additional debt to the church and significant savings in the years ahead. We are currently on hold waiting to see what happens to the tax credit from our new government before proceeding.
Rev. Robyn gave a wonderful presentation on Congregational Development which you all will be hearing about in the days and weeks ahead. St. Gregory’s already has a good start in this area with Rev. Robyn’s Center for Spiritual Formation.
With great humility, dedication, and respect,
Bill
William Lintz - Senior Warden and Chairperson of St. Gregory’s Stewardship Ministry