Dear Morningside Church Family, 
I am so encouraged by all that I see the Lord doing around us, and I hope you are too! Just this past Sunday, God led 13 people—four different family groups—to express their desire to become members of Morningside Baptist. They all came forward after the service to meet with the elders and wives. In addition, Alison and I spoke with a college student who has given his life to Christ and wants to follow the Lord in baptism. What a blessing!

Take a look at our Church Clerk’s report to see more of the blessings he is pouring out. Tonight, we are welcoming 22 individuals into church membership. A number of these are becoming members following their profession of faith and baptism. How wonderful to see the evidence of God’s work turning hearts toward the Savior!
 
The Lord has brought Morningside a long way in just a year’s time. Last year at this time, Morningside’s average worship attendance was 330. This quarter, our average worship attendance was 411—an increase of 25%. At the same time, undesignated tithes and offerings are up 10% from this time last year. And so far in 2019, the number of families and individuals giving to Morningside Baptist Church has increased 12% from 2018. Praise God!

I hope you’ll stop right now and thank God for all of his blessings… I thank him because he has been so good—he deserves my thanks and praise! I also thank him because, as I look toward the future, I need to clearly see how faithful he’s been in the past.

You and I have some decisions to make about the future. Will we trust him? Will we obey and serve? Will we commit ourselves to the work of his church? These decisions are easy when we’re seeing clearly how he has blessed us. It’s when we fail to recall how good he is—how generous he’s been to us—that we hesitate to trust, to obey, to commit.
 
As you read through this Conference Report, be sure to keep both eyes fixed on all our Lord has done for us! 
Your Servant in Christ, 

During the past quarter, the deacons served communion to Morningside members and guests. At Morningside, we worship through communion the first Sunday of each month during morning worship. The deacon body and their family members also visited seven area assisted living homes to share communion with residents as well as visits with several home bound members. Deacon nominations will come before the church body during the month of October. We pray that God will continue to bring forward willing servants. 

Over the last quarter, the Personnel Committee met with Pastor Jonathan and were introduced to new hire Carter Barrow. The committee reviewed all interim staff contracts and job descriptions to make sure they were correct and applicable for the remainder of the year. We also reviewed all staff service awards that will arise in the near future.
 
Lastly, the committee met to discuss the MBC 2020 budget and provided input regarding staff salaries and personnel items impacting the budget. We set a date for this year’s staff appreciation luncheon. It will be held Wednesday, October 23, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. 

July –A clothing drive was held for the Columbus Baptist Association with over 60 bags of clothes collected. They were extremely grateful to receive the support.
Kelsey and Zach Walsh returned to Craiova, Romania on missions. This is a metropolitan area that has several universities with a large Muslim population. They distributed New Testaments to people in unreached areas, participated in street evangelism and assisted with a youth event.

September-We kicked off Operation Christmas Child. What better way to help share the Gospel than by packing a shoebox for a child? Please visit our ministry table located in the lobby of the Worship Center for shoeboxes and any packing questions you may have. Our collection week is November 17.

We are about 6 weeks into the new school year. There are still spots available if anyone is interested in their child or grandchild attending our preschool program. We are organizing our prayer partners with the small groups. If small groups would like to participate in other activities, such as classroom readers, treats for holidays, etc., contact Gwen Pigg for more information!

We have added a new team member, Dan Snow. The team has successfully completed many projects at the CMC including bird nest removal, installing new TV mount with a DVD shelf, and assembled five new children’s tables. Our team has also repaired and added new shims to the Worship Center doors. The old potters wheel that was located along the side of the Fellowship Hall has been disassembled.
Our future projects include, but are not limited to, removal of the dead tree behind the Fellowship Hall and trimming all trees on our campus. 

The Recruitment Committee has been extremely busy reviewing an extensive list of names to consider for fifteen vacancies across eight committees and church office positions. The nominees have surfaced from many different members, committee chairs, and leaders in the church. With all the gifted and talented people at Morningside, the task is daunting at times. God always seems to appear in the selection process. It’s amazing how He brings the group to the right decision at the right time and in a unified spirit.
 
The following people have agreed to serve in their respective roles: 
Weekday Preschool Committee: April Pulkinen, Lauren Hamsley 
Personnel Committee: Dewey McCabe III, Gary Holmes 
Finance Committee: Laura Layfield, Debbie Ball 
Global Ministries Committee: Nancy Buntin, Sam Simmons, Kathy Sims 
Recruitment Committee: Rhonda Kees, Paul Miller 
Ministry Scholarship Committee: Julie Ann Crane, Carolyn McCraw 
Church Clerk: Karen McCabe 
Trustee: Bob Jordan 

Our mission for the Bereavement Ministry is to minister to families in the loss of our beloved church members and to share God's comforting love during this tender time.
After a church staff member contacts the Bereavement Chairperson, Cathy Gilson, who contacts a team leader to assemble a team of 10-12 volunteers to prepare and serve a meal as well as pray for the family. Our Bereavement Team Leaders are Rhonda Kees, Patti Duncan & Diane Padgett, Mary Ann James, Mary Stewart and Cathy Gilson. As of October 2019, we have provided bereavement meals for four families.

We are blessed to represent the love of Christ and MBC, praying that we have brought comfort to the grieving families during this difficult time. This year, one family, in order to express their appreciation, gave the ministry a gift and asked it to be used to bless another family experiencing a loss.
In order to enhance our level of support, we shall present the family with a book of Scriptures for comfort and then, establish contact with the families during the year so that we may continue to show love for them through Christ. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 
~2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

The 2019 Operating Budget was approved in Church Conference by the membership on January 16, 2019. The Personnel Budget was then amended twice in 2019.
 
The 2019 Personnel Budget was amended the first time on April 14, 2019 in a special Church Conference when the membership approved a compensation package for the senior pastor. This package differed slightly from the original budgeted amount.

On June 1, 2019, the Personnel Budget was amended by the action of the Personnel Committee and the Elder Council in consultation with the Finance Committee. The employment contracts for Alecia Cravey, Chris Trammel, and Zach Walsh expired at the end of May 2019. New job descriptions for all three were approved along with salaries that match the revised expectations for each staff member.

It would not be unreasonable to say that the original 2019 Operating Budget reflected some concern about Morningside’s future fiscal health. This concern arose, understandably, during the time between senior pastors and following a season of decline in church attendance. Approving a conservative budget for 2019 was both wise and prudent. As a result, however, there was some uncertainty whether the church would be able to fund a number of needed maintenance and repair issues around Morningside’s campus.

As giving has remained strong, however, it became possible for the Business Office, in consultation with the Finance Committee and with the approval of the Elder Council, to address many of the critical concerns for our facility. The Year-to-Date “Building, Utilities, and Grounds” line item reflects a significant portion of the needed repairs and improvements. As an added blessing, the money not spent out of the 2019 Personnel budget provides an offset for those needed expenditures.
 
Some of the completed maintenance and repair projects include: Worship Center sound system service, mildew clean-up and restoration in the Worship Center, replacing two HVAC units for the Fellowship Hall, window replacements, exterior painting, partial roof replacement on Worship Center, and Sprinkler system service and upgrades.

In light of the better-than-expected giving and the extra funds available in the Personnel budget, everyone involved considered it to be reasonable and responsible to perform the needed maintenance and repairs. With these repairs and maintenance completed, we stand better poised as a congregation to enter 2020 with fewer outstanding liabilities.

If the 2019 Operating Budget reflected some concern about the future of Morningside, the 2020 Operating Budget Proposal reflects a very different outlook. A lot has happened in the last nine months that gives all of us great cause to be encouraged. The 2020 Budget Proposal is an indication of our faith that God is at work among us and will provide for us according to our needs.

The pie chart shows that we expect to give 9% of our Overall Budget to Missions in 2020. This may be a bit confusing. To be clear, Morningside is committed to giving a tithe, or 10%, off all undesignated tithes and offerings to advance the gospel around the world. The Business Office, in consultation with the Finance Committee, determines the total Missions Budget each year by adding all other budgets together and then multiplying by 10%. For 2020, the sum of all proposed non-missions spending is $1,200,472. One-tenth (10%) of this number is $120,047.20. Morningside’s actual contribution to missions will be determined by the amount of undesignated tithes and offerings received in the coming year.

Two new staff members, Pastor Jonathan and Carter Barrow, were hired in 2019. Their budgets are new line items and contribute most of the Ministry Budget increase.
Pastor Jonathan’s Pastoral Ministry budget has three primary areas of focus:
 

1. Community Outreach and Evangelism
2. Ministry Leader Development,
3. Pastoral Care and Counseling. Pastor Jonathan’s vision for 2020 includes a confidence that, “By the end of the year, we will see more new believers growing in their walk with Christ and even more people taking new steps to fulfill God’s will for their lives, to grow in faith, and care for others.”

 
The Communication & Ministry Development budget will provide funds for connecting and communicating with people inside and outside of the church. It will also support our outreach efforts in new ways. Carter’s vision for 2020 includes a desire to “develop ministry leaders to allow them to pass on their excitement for the gospel to others.”

We have not spent much of the Personnel Budget in 2019 because the church has not been fully staffed. Pastor Jonathan came in April, so he will only receive a portion of the amount budgeted for his yearly compensation. Pastor Brandon Johns left in May, so a major portion of his compensation will not be paid. Carter Barrow was brought on staff in August 2019, so he has only received a percentage of his yearly compensation. For these reasons, the Personnel Budget has not been fully spent.

Pastor Jonathan and the Personnel Committee have prioritized hiring a second full-time pastor in 2020. This position is included in the Personnel Committee’s budget request. The Personnel Committee has also wisely anticipated an increase in the cost of employer-paid benefits. This happens every year as insurance premiums go up nationwide.

There are a number of aging systems (HVAC, Audio/Video/Lighting, etc.) in the Worship Center, Fellowship Hall, and older buildings. This budget sets aside funds to make needed improvements and upgrades around Morningside’s campus.

Pastor Jonathan asked the following individuals to submit budget requests for review:
 

After reviewing each budget request, Pastor Jonathan asked Kathy Powell to collate amended requests in draft form for the Finance Committee and the Elder Council to review. The final budget proposal represents the combined efforts of all those involved throughout this process. Truly a team effort! 
 

At present, we owe about $2 million on our mortgage for the Children’s Ministry Center. The CMC building was built in 2014 at a cost of $5 million. Because of the generosity of so many, we have been making excellent progress in meeting this obligation.

The primary reason to maintain a separate budget for the Preschool is ease of communication. Although the Preschool is a ministry of Morningside Baptist Church, it has its own income and expenses that function independently. It is much easier for everyone to see what’s going on financially by maintaining a separate budget.