To listen to the sermon from June 5, 2016 entitled "God's Generous Grace," please click here.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
In June of 2015, Sound City celebrated our first group of Covenant Members with a banquet dinner. We ate good food, laughed together, and celebrated the amazing grace that God had shown to us. That dinner launched us into a season of planning for the upcoming fiscal year (July 2015-June 2016). We didn’t know exactly what God was going to do, but what we did know is that we could trust his faithfulness to his people.
This past fiscal year has been focused on rebuilding the foundations of the church. As a brand new, independent church re-plant, we’ve had to learn how to do all sorts of things. How do we have a healthy budget that reflects our values? How do we do biblical community in a life-giving way? How do we plan sermon series that will encourage gospel-centered growth in our church family? Over this last year, our intentional focus has been on the health of our young church and well-being of the people who already call Sound City Bible Church home.
A few months ago the elders began prayerfully considering what God would have for us in the upcoming season and felt agreement that it’s time to shift from a mentality of “rebuilding the foundations” to a mentality of “thriving.” Even though God hasn’t shown us every detail as to what that means, we did get a strong sense that we were to begin to turn more attention to evangelism, supporting mission work, and church-planting—all without neglecting the foundations that have been laid over this last year.
A helpful analogy might be that of a car rebuild project. Last year, for the most part, the car was in the garage having the engine and transmission rebuilt. But this year, the car is going to pull out of the garage and go for its first test run. We don’t want to “put the pedal to the metal” and do damage to the recent work of rebuilding, but it is time to put the car in gear, press on the gas pedal, and find out where God wants to take us.
As an elder team, we look forward to the coming year with hope-filled anticipation, and a great love for this church family. As we sense that God is calling us to press forward into the mission that God has given us, we invite you again to join us as we seek to glorify God by proclaiming Jesus, receiving grace, being disciples, and making disciples. Like last year, we don’t know every specific detail as to what that will entail, but we know that we can trust God to provide the grace, the wisdom, the people, the finances, and the plans that we need. We look forward expectantly to this time next year as well, and to the many stories we’ll be able to tell in celebration of God’s good work in the coming year!
Looking Forward to Next Year’s Budget
In a few weeks, the Covenant Members of the church will receive next year’s proposed budget, and they will be asked to offer a vote of affirmation after the twenty-one day period of consideration. This twenty-one day is intended to provide an opportunity for Covenant Members to ask questions and offer feedback to the elders.
As we pray and seek God’s will for the future, we are so excited about what God wants to do in and through our church. Our hope is to not only cover our expenses and support our current ministry partners, but to see God’s ministry impact through Sound City expand. In order for that to happen, we are praying that God would cause giving at Sound City to grow by 10% over this next fiscal year. Your generosity would allow us to grow and expand in some key areas:
Savings
Sound City Bible Church still needs a long-term home, so increasing our savings plan from 7% to 10% would help us achieve a purchase goal sooner.
Benevolence
While we do have money budgeted for helping church members in need, increased giving means that this amount could be increased, and more people could be helped.
Music and Production Director
Pastor Joe has faithfully led the church’s music and production departments for many years, but he believes that God is calling him to invest his leadership in other areas of the church. Additionally, he works full-time outside of the church. If and when the church’s finances allow, the leadership would like to add a full-time Music & Production Director on staff to oversee many important functions of our Sunday worship, as well as leading and discipleship of the worship and production teams.
Local Missions
We would like to increase the amount of money that we allocate for local mission and outreach, particularly through our Community Groups.
Ministry Support
We would like to increase the amount that we send to other Christian organizations who do amazing work, including church planters, international mission work, and other ministry partners as God opens opportunities.