This past weekend, Pastor Barry stated one of our core values in his opening welcome.  He mentioned that in our current series, Dumb Things Christians Believe, we were going to push the envelope. At Parkview we have 6 core values. In some of my upcoming blog posts I will be going through these core values.  Let’s begin with the core value already mentioned.

Always Push the Envelope/Faith

We want to be culturally relevant and we are not afraid to try, even if the end may mean we fail. This is demonstrated by: trying new ideas, tackling big challenges, and thinking outside the box.

I have said on occassion that our church is not risk averse but we are risk adept. We don’t run from risk, we look for strategic opportunities to embrace risk.  I would rather fail trying than fail to try.  My personality embraces risk a little more than the average person – that is the way God wired me and a large part of the reason I was excited about coming to Palm Coast 12 years ago to start a church.

Taking risks and pushing the envelope has been a part of our dna and culture from the beginning – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But even when it “doesn’t work” we have seen so much good come from it.  For example, the most obvious risk in recent times, that failed, was our multi-campus strategy.  I won’t unpack all of the process again, but there were some real positive outcomes as a result.  We discovered, defined and solitified our core better than ever. We moved our entire congregation toward faith. We admitted when it didn’t work and didn’t continue to beat a dead horse. It gave our leadership the opportunity to work together through a very difficult decision, deciding to pull the plug. I could keep going. One thing is for sure though, I am really glad we tried it and don’t for one minute regret it!

On the other hand, there have been some other risks that have paid off handsomely -  I think of  our drive thru living nativity. Who would have ever imagined it would come to be such an incredible city event. Entering it’s 4th year, our nativity has literally become a community and city event.  Each year our incredible volunteer crew has expanded, improved and grown this wonderful event that celebrates the birth of our Savior!  Last year was our best year ever in so many ways and the leadership is already gearing up for Christmas ’09.

Pushing the envelope is just who we are – it is a core value. I refuse to let us sit around with our hands under our butts dreaming about what could of and should of been. Thank you for being a church that embraces faith, takes risks and always pushes the envelope!

I have yet to meet somebody that has not been impacted by the economy. My family is no different.  The church has also been impacted. 

I spoke with a pastor today who told me that when 2 staff members left the church did not replace them because they needed to cut back. He also said that all remaining staff took a pay cut. This church is a growing church that runs over 1,200 and is in a new building. Yesterday, I spoke with a pastor who told me that last week at church he announced that the church is out of money and whatever came in the offering was what they would have for the week.  When our staff was at Andy Stanley’s DRIVE conference, we were told that North Point Comm Church had just cut 1 million from their budget. Granted Andy Stanley is the pastor and they run about 12,000+ but what we see is that budget cuts have reached all churches. I could continue on with more stories, but I think you get the picture.

Parkview has been blessed! Our giving is up 6% this year ( compared to Jan – July 2008).  While that is great, we have also needed to find ways to cut and save.  Last year we were hit hard financially in our community and church, so while a 6% increase is great, we are still below where we need to be. Last year we had to use some of our reserve monies, so we need to put money back into reserve this year and have been unable to do so.  As a result, our finance team asked our staff to have a money saving meeting and see where we could reduce spending for the next 5 months of our budgeted year. One of our finance team members met with our staff team this week and we had an excellent meeting!!  It was a real synergistic effort and the team rallied to do exactly what is best for the church.  Each and every staff member takes seriously the responsibility of stewardship and when asked by the finance team to make some changes they leaped to the challenge!  We are not in a crisis situation. The moves we have made have been proactive and seek to keep us away from any crisis.  We also recognize that in order to build a new worship center we must be lean and mean. Banks find themselves in uncharted territory and we need to get ourselves in the best financial position to build our future worship center.

Each week we list our giving from the previous week’s offerings.  Our budget is $13,600 per week.  Year to date we have averaged approx. $13,100.  With the cost savings measures our staff took the other day, and if we continue with the same year to date offering average, we will do very well at making great financial strides forward financially for the rest of the year.

Now let me say this – my experience of 12 years at Parkview tells me that many people don’t want to know this info. For some reason, and it really puzzles me, our elders and finance team almost never get asked any financial questions. I want to thank you for your confidence in their leadership, but we want you to be informed. In fact, I am not writing this post because we have been asked to do so.  I just want to be proactive in clearly communicating where we are financially.

Our church family gives faithfully and generously. When you consider that Flagler County has the highest unemployment rate (almost 15%) in the state, it is almost amazing at how blessed we have been. All I can say is thank you for embracing the biblical principle of grace giving. God is so good and He is using you as a conduit of His blessings.

If you have any questions about the above information please email me at greg@parkviewlife.com. I will forward your email to one of our finance team members and they will answer your question asap.

Lord, thank you so much for all you have done for our church family.  We will not be consumed with money, we will simply steward all that you give us. We also believe that as we are faithful with little that you will give us the opportunity to be faithful with much. All we want to do is expand your kingdom, see people trust you and experience life change through the God of the Universe. Once again, thanks for the great spirit of our church. Kick the enemy out as he will try to continue his evil devices on your people. We claim “greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world”.  Also Lord, there are a number of our people who are without jobs or who are really struggling financially – prove yourself strong on their behalf!  You are so good! Continue to teach us valuable lessons during these economic times! AMEN!