Praise the Lord for a wonderful business meeting on Sunday evening, November 22nd. We started off by accepting three people into membership. Then we proceeded to elect the following individuals:
Trudy Patzer – Board member (re-elected for second term)
Carla Litke – Board member (replacing Tony Naim)
Shirley Wynne – Financial Secretary (replacing Susan Bergmann)
Irene Toews – Deacon
The Board also introduced a new position, Moderator Elect. Our current Moderator has one year left on his second term and then must leave the Board. In order to ensure a smooth transition of both governance and the building process, the Board felt that it would be good to put someone in place for the final year to foster that transition. Azhar Laldin allowed his name to stand for that position and the members confirmed that decision.
Dave Barton then led us through an update on our current financial status which has shown steady improvement since the summertime. Following that, he moved into the budget for 2016. The Board had directed that we aim for a zero based budget for 2016 and the Pastoral staff along with the Finance Team did an excellent job of putting together a budget to support our ministry while being cognizant of our building process. Even with the addition of half a year’s salary and benefits for our new Associate Pastor, the budget came in at $767,320 which represented an increase of only $12,820 and the budget was well received and approved.
After the budget, knowing we are in good financial position and being aware of our immediate future financial needs, we saw a video from John Wiltshire, Chair of the Capital Funds Committee, who was out of town but wanted to demonstrate his support for the project and the motion that was being presented.
Then Chris Karam provided us with a detailed look at the building revisions that brought the building size and cost down to our target range of 8 million dollars. Chris walked us through a detailed explanation of the changes and how things will look in both phase one and two of the building project. While there were many questions, he showed that the Building Committee had done their homework and he was able to answer all the questions and move the discussion forward. Chris showed what the exterior of the building would now look like and showed us some conceptual drawings of the completed project. His presentation was both welcome and warmly received.
Having now seen the building presentation and what “we” wanted to see, Tim Hague, Chair of the Prayer Committee, then brought us together and refocused us on what God wanted and how we needed to maintain our service to and honour of Him. He led us through a prayer time, collectively and in small groups, to lift our hearts and minds before God and thank Him for bringing us to this point of discussion and decision.
Then came the time to consider the resolution from the Board of Church Governance as follows:
“The Board resolves that WRBC should proceed with any necessary testing and architectural drawings at a cost of up to $350,000.00 as the first step of our building project on the McGillivray property.”
With very few questions or comments, our members voted unanimously to accept the motion. We are moving ahead with our building program.
