Pastor’s eNote: Weekly Update

FFMC started a new fiscal year on September 1, 2024. We also combined our ministry operating fund, local impact fund, and global impact fund into the ONE Ministry Fund. The challenge in forming any budget for a church is less about expenses and more about projected income.

Giving to the ONE Ministry Fund has exceeded our budget projections by $70,443 (14%) through February. We are grateful for all who partner with us financially to sustain and facilitate growth in our ministry. This is good news! It does not, however, mean the church is fully supporting all of its expenses with income.

Even as we celebrate the generosity of this community, we also acknowledge our broader financial position. Quite apart from the ongoing conversations about how to address the ailing Wilson building and the many financial questions that raises, we are also in the midst of a multi-year process to balance our budget. For the current fiscal year, running September 2024 through August 2025, we planned for a deficit of $249,064.72. In order to continue carrying out the ministries we see bearing fruit and not undercut our growth, we have chosen to allocate our reserves to cover this anticipated deficit, as we have done each of the past two years.

Through the end of February, encompassing the first 6 months of our fiscal year, we had projected a deficit of $99,158. Due to your generous support of FFMC, our operational deficit is $31,969.

Our staff and elected leadership continue to keep expenses as low as possible while not sacrificing our critical ministries. With our income ahead of what we projected, we are simply spending less from our reserves to cover our planned deficit. Predicting how the fiscal year will end in August is challenging. With your continued support of FFMC, we can work toward a much smaller deficit than what we planned. This is great news, and we should all be encouraged by that.

Our shared work to balance our budget continues as we plan for the 2025-2026 budget. Our Finance Team and Leadership Team are committed to a fully balanced budget. Thanks to your continued prayerful and financial support, that balanced budget is closer than ever.

Grace to You All,

Craig Brown, Lead Pastor

Josh Meier, Finance Team, Chairperson