This Week from Mitch

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday is our Annual Meeting. For those of you who are new to the church, the Annual Meeting is a required day, where once a year the parish gathers to hear the business reports of the church. My sermon will serve as my annual report. After church at coffee hour and again at the Annual Meeting we'll show a slideshow of images from this past year. After the 10:30 AM service, we will elect our slate of vestry nominees and a delegate to Diocesan Convention. We will then have a budget presentation, a presentation from our foundation leader, and hear a few words from our Junior and Senior Wardens.

I am pleased to tell you that St. Martin's continues to grow as new people come and worship with us. This is a blessing for which I am truly grateful. There is hunger for the love of Jesus in our community and it warms my heart that people find that love in our midst.

We also continue to serve. We blew through our goal of 8,000 pounds of food to Harvest Hope and are heading towards 10,000. The Crayton Backpack program continues to go strong, Safe Space Dinners were nominated for a national award, our hurricane relief efforts were acknowledged throughout the state, and our Community House continues to provide a safe place for support groups to meet. Our outreach continues to be powerful. It is a blessing to be a blessing.

With the positives said, financially we still continue to dig our way out from COVID times. Let's face it, bringing a preschool up to state codes for licensing combined with a $500,000 roof was definitely not in the cards. While we are back to pre-COVID numbers in attendance, we spent 2020 not meeting, 2021 meeting outside socially distanced, and 2022 to 2023 working to get back to normal. 

The truth is we are back because we fearlessly pressed forward. At the same time, pressing forward meant spending down our cash reserves. While we are making progress, it is going to be a long road. If you've made a pledge, please do your best to honor it! If you haven't made a pledge for next year, please know that we need it. Ministry does not happen in a vacuum. It takes a team and it takes everyone giving. The truth is, there is a cost to ministry. There is a cost of time. There is a cost of talent. There is a financial cost. 

Despite the cost, St. Martin's continues to be as our Bishop said last Sunday, one of the healthiest churches in the diocese. Now as the third largest church in the diocese, we carry the mantle of being a resource, not only for our members and community, but also for the wider church that looks to us for support. This is both an honor and a calling. As I said before, it is a blessing to be a blessing. To hear more about how we will be this blessing, please come on Sunday for our Annual Meeting.

In Christ,

Mitch