July 2007 Newsletter


"The Meeting"  

By: Craig Rippy


The Elders, Brian, and Rick were sitting in the Northeast classroom after a Wednesday service. I had been talking to Everett and had arrived to the meeting a few minutes late.

As I walked in I heard Rick's last sentence tail off, "We just can't pay them any longer." Gene's head went down and Alan shook his slowly back and forth. Brian was twirling his hair frantically.

I asked if I'd missed something important. Rick looked around at the others and then realized he was going to have to speak since the others were in shock. "The church budget is so low that we are going to have to make decisions about cuts, deep cuts."

I could tell by his eyes he wasn't talking about cutting back on communion juice. I asked him what the books looked like. He said, "We've been running about two hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars behind weekly for the year. To average, that would be over fourteen thousand dollars a year."

That was more than communion juice. I looked at each one around the table. "What do you fellows propose?"

Gene looked at Alan and vise-versa. Each gave some suggestions. Brian chipped in a thought. I just sat there allowing the information to settle in.

Further discussions forced all of us to make some drastic decisions. Each knew that the building situation needed to be considered. The driveway needed work. We had obligations to missions, benevolence, and scholarships. And of course, we had the regular monthly bills to deal with.

By the time we concluded the meeting Brian and I had taken in total over eight thousand dollars in pay cuts, we cut the mission budget in half, and decided to forget any building program for five years. All work on the parking lot was going to be donated if it was to be done. Vacation Bible School would have to be drastically scaled down. We were going to completely stop offering any scholarships for Bible College tuition, Church Camp, CIY, et cetera. It was decided to refer all benevolence to the Caring Center. We also, determined to sell the van and have parents transport their children to Camp, AYN, CIY and any special activities.

Brian said he would work hard to find less expensive ways to decorate for Vacation Bible School. He also said he would begin finding ways to store old Sunday School material so it could be reused. Under his breath we could hear him say, "Doug and Diane aren't going to be happy about this."

Rick said he would monitor and find ways to cut back on electricity and propane usage. He also said the Praise Team would put a hold on all upgrades or replacements. He reminded us how good the music was during the electrical outage this past winter. He even suggested cutting paper costs and postage by not having the weekly bulletin or monthly newsletter.

Gene and Alan said I should stop driving for hospital visitation; forget representing Solid Rock at OEF meetings, camp meetings and the Missouri Christian Convention.

The only suggestion I could make was to ask the congregation to evaluate their personal giving.

By the time we were done we had saved enough to survive. Yet, each of us was wondering how we could carryout the commission Christ had given us?

Becky had brought a cool washcloth and laid it on my head. She whispered, "Craig, Craig, are you sick?"

As I woke up I noticed my side of the bed was drenched in sweat. Becky was leaning over me with a very concerned look on her face. And all I could do was mumble, "I should have talked to Everett longer."

I hope this nightmare never becomes reality. Of course, it's up to each of us to make sure it doesn't.