February 2008

Text Box: And the people said, “Just tell us what you want us to do next” as they waved tan-colored Moving Forward in Faith pledge cards. What a great meeting we had on Sunday, Feb. 24, when the pastor search committee talked about needs for a senior pastor candidate. It has been a blessing to all of us on the committee throughout this search process to receive such approval and love from the congregation about our work. We asked church members to make an additional $35 per month pledge to cover increases in our budget for our new senior pastor, and before the meeting was over, our pledge box had a pile of cards in it. Here is a recap of our rationale for a range in a probable compensation package and our request for additional giving: We do have a candidate for senior pastor who we feel is being called by God to Highland Park Baptist Church. He has a BS in speech communications, a master of divinity and a doctorate of ministry. He has had 20 years of very positive experience as a senior pastor for three churches, including ten years of wonderful relationships and growth at his current church. He significantly increased membership at all three churches, especially in the area of young families with children. Our candidate is a gifted teacher and preacher who enjoys building meaningful, long-term relationships with all age groups. He is an experienced leader and visionary with sensitive pastoral and shepherding skills who understands and shares our mission to reach out to the communities around us. It is clear in our conversations with this candidate that he views church administration as a ministry. To actually bring this candidate – or any candidate, for that matter – to Austin is something of a financial challenge. We heard from several candidates that affording a

Text Box: comparable home in Austin would be difficult for them. We want our candidate and his family to be able to live within 10 to 15 miles of the church and to live a lifestyle comparable to members of the congregation. The cost-of-living difference between our candidate’s home city and Austin is about 5.8 percent. Property taxes in Austin are much higher than in our candidate’s home city, and the national downturn in the housing market has reduced the equity our candidate has in his home for a down payment on a home in Austin. But the current lower home mortgage interest rates are a plus. Besides housing – particularly a down payment – another issue in affording Austin is health insurance. The higher rates in Austin will result in health insurance costs of $10,000 to $20,000 per year for our candidate and his family. But we are working on solving both of these issues. It is important to remember that these would be issues for any candidate we bring to Austin – high housing and high health insurance costs are not limited to our current candidate. The range we expect to pay our senior pastor candidate will be similar to the compensation package in our 2005 budget, $105,000, with three percent cost-of-living increases each year, which brings that amount to $115,000 in 2008. To make sure we were in the ballpark, we checked with churches near us to compare senior pastor salaries. Only one church responded – a Methodist church within three miles of HPBC – and gave their senior minister’s total salary package as $130,000. Our senior pastor’s salary will be within this range. But how can we afford this? The good news is that we are in fairly good financial shape. HPBC contributions have exceeded expenses by $13,000 each year in 2006 and 2007.

Text Box: We do have some expected one-time expenses, such as travel for three members of the search committee to visit the candidate at his home church, a background check on the candidate, travel for the candidate’s family to come for a weekend when the candidate preaches at HPBC, moving expenses, welcome receptions, travel expenses for the candidate before the family moves to Austin and a monthly amount of $1,500 for new program expenses. Because we have been good stewards of HPBC money, we currently have $1,080 each month more than we spend. Also, the day school will pay an additional $1,500 each month to the church, including during the summer months. During the interim we have had about $4,000 per month for pulpit supply, pastor search expenses and intentional interim expenses. And we have been fortunate to receive a $5,000 gift to help with new pastor expenses. Considering these amounts that are available, the estimated expenses and a senior minister compensation package of about $120,000 would reduce our available general fund by about $3,000 each month. We can offset that amount by a small increase in giving. A $35 additional gift each month by each of our 90 pledging families would leave the AGF at its current balance. This is all it will take to bring our new senior minister to Highland Park: $35 more a month! After our Feb. 24 meeting with the church, we know it’s achievable, and we know you agree with us. You will find a Moving Forward in Faith pledge card in this issue of the Mirror. Please consider giving if you haven’t already. If you can give an additional pledge, please cut out the card and mail it to the church office or drop it in an offering plate during worship. These are exciting times for HPBC.

Highland Park Baptist Church, 5206 Balcones Dr., Austin, 78731

Text Box: Address non-profit status of School (as appropriate, consult Employment and Business Organization outside Counsel), 4) Enhance Church Insurance Coverage to include school risk exposure, 5) Implement School Staff and Director Training and Evaluations, 6) Enhance School’s Integration into Church mission and vision (parent, student, and community outreach for Church), 7) Assess needed Management staffing. We are working now to fulfill these goals and make the school’s structure and integration into the Church stronger. The board will approve tuition this week. Current attendee parents and potential parents will then receive next years’ reservation applications. We anticipate advance enrollment will be strong to get us off to a great start next year. Upcoming Board meetings this term are set at 5:30 on March 19, April 16 and May 21, 2008. Please attend if you can. Don Ballard, Chair Martha Fields John Lowe Edna Nation Norma Spivey Barbara Worley

Text Box: The School is having a successful year. We have 115 children currently enrolled with around 10 part-time teachers and staff. The school is financially secure with enough funds on-hand to meet Church By-law requirements. As recently reported, the school has participated in several projects with its sister school, Benjamin Franklin in Piedras Negras, Mexico. The children have also participated in projects for our military troops abroad and other mission-related activities. The Board has also been active in examining governance matters. We have first been updating our funds management and oversight. We continue to improve our processes so that we can establish a budget and strong financials as we move forward. This also includes considering the school’s monthly contribution to the Church. With the recent conclusion of the Church’s task force, the Deacon’s have now set several goals for the Board this term. Some of the goals are already in process while some will be new projects. They are: 1) Increase Board Oversight (Division of Duties, Roles and Responsibilities), 2) Funds Management Oversight (expenditures and processes consistent with Church practice), 3)

Text Box: Approximately 50 church members will be going on their annual Spring Break Skiing Trip to Red River, New Mexico. While they are on this trip the church office will remain open from 9 am to 2 pm. Odette will be here to answer the "big" questions (such as, "Who will win the Presidential election this year?") and the church member volunteers will provide answers to the "small" questions (such as, "Who will win the Austin City Council elections?")
We want to make sure that the business of the church continues to be done during this week; so to emphasize that message we are letting all members know who will be answering the phone and who will be making hospital and house calls for the week of March 10-14.

CHURCH MEMBER VOLUNTEERS:

Monday, March 10th--Barbara Lightsey
Tuesday, March 11th--Judy Wilson
Wednesday, March 12th--Mary Ellen Sullivan
Thursday, March 13th--Dottie Denton
Friday, March 14th--Erna Jeffrey

Deacons on Call

Nancy Lamb (452-8290)
David Turner (327-4609)
Dottie Denton (345-5352)