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ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018
First Baptist Church, 773 Main St., Westbrook, ME 04092
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Table of Contents Overview of Ministry.................................................................................................................................... 3
2017 Annual Meeting Minutes .................................................................................................................... 8
Report of the Church Clerk………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Children’s Ministry …………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………10
Open Door Kitchen …………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………11
Financials
2017-2018 Year End ......................................................................................................................... 12
Cash position ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………13
2017-2018 Income …………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………..14
Endowment Portfolio ………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………….15
2018-2019 Proposed Budget …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16
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733 Main St. | Westbrook | Maine | 04092 FBCWestbrook.com 207.854.8394
A Faith Building Community Love God. Love People. Live Like Jesus.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the
hope we profess, for he who promised
is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love
and good deeds, 25 not giving up
meeting together, as some are in the
habit of doing, but encouraging one
another—and all the more as you see
the Day approaching. Heb 10:23-25
Our mission is a “together” calling
This mission that Jesus calls us to is clearly a
“together” mission. But, our American society
is increasingly a culture of isolation and
separation. Our homes are comfortable havens
where we have everything we need on
demand.
“Life is what happens when you put down your phone.”
I read this quote the other day and was struck
by its truth. Our culture is now a culture that
looks at screens more than faces. We
communicate more with text than we do with
spoken word.
We think we have it all and that life is easier
and more convenient but, statistics show us
that anxiety and depression are increasing at
an alarming rate. Why?
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for
the man to be alone… Gen. 2:18
Across the country, attendance is down. It’s
down at clubs and civic groups. It’s down at
movies, hitting a 25-year low in 2017.
Attendance is down everywhere people have
gathered, including churches. Our society is
gathering less and isolating more.
And yet, God calls us to gather and then to go
out. We gather for worship and learning and
then are sent out to live out the mission of
loving God and loving others.
Scripture tells us that there is strength and
encouragement in gathering while our culture
is telling us that staying home and “watching
church” on TV or online is just as good as
going. Our culture is convincing us that
listening to a good church podcast is the better
option.
The old adage of “strength in numbers” is
going out of style in America.
The church is a body of people, a body meant
to function together, grow together, serve
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together and worship together. Scripture is
clear on that fact.
Entering my fourth fiscal year as lead pastor
here in Westbrook, I have enjoyed our
together times most. I have been amazed at
what God has accomplished when we’ve
dared join together to serve or follow His call.
I am praying that in 2018-2019, we will go
against cultural societal trends and see some
major growth steps in the together aspects of
our body life.
Looking at who we are…
We’re not a large church and that is totally
okay with me. In fact, I love our intimate,
family atmosphere where people can come to
worship, find friends and jump in to serve.
When we remember to take the first few
minutes after the last “amen” to think of
others, we are a welcoming body and do a
great job greeting new people. That can be a
challenge when we just want to catch up with
people we know and haven’t seen in a week or
two!
Our music ministry team does an amazing job
week after week. I am so thankful for the way
they give their time to serve. Pray with us for
the addition of more musicians to allow team
members a chance to rotate.
One of my favorite things about our body is
that our children are truly valued not as “the
church of tomorrow” but just as much a part
of the church of today as you and I are. They
are welcomed, included and integrated into
our body and also have times designed just for
them. In the first few months of 2018 we’ve
seen our Kidztime program redesigned,
retooled and even have been doing some
redecorating for our “through the bible”
theme. We’ll be getting some regular feedback
directly from our children now and then on
Sunday mornings.
Our new nursery is a big hit! It’s bigger, has
new toys and books and games and is a much
better space for our toddlers.
We saw great enthusiasm for our new, Sunday
morning, faith conversations over breakfast.
We made connections and grew closer
together.
Our Wednesday morning bible study group
also saw some growth. It’s a highlight to my
week. The interactive, any-question-welcome,
format has helped us connect with one
another.
In April we returned to the school we support
in Oratorio, Guatemala with a team of 17. We
directed a VBS program, delivered water
filters, connected with the children sponsored
by people in our congregation, made home
visits and delivered beds, provided 79 health
exams by our team doctor and came home
with 13 additional children sponsored.
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Also, because of our location in downtown
Westbrook, right on Main Street, we have
some opportunities that most churches do not
have. We are accessible to people who own no
vehicles and have very limited income. I am
so thankful that we get to minister to a diverse
population!
Our new immigrant ministry is growing
quickly!
In the last year, God opened doors for us to
welcome a small group of immigrants who
needed a space to pray. Of course, we were
thrilled to have space to say, “come pray here!
We have plenty of room!”
That dozen or so people, speaking French,
Portuguese and Lingala, began to attract
others happy to connect.
Now they have a worship service that involves
50-60 people and meets on Saturday evenings
in our auditorium.
On Sunday, June 24 we will celebrate with our
newest congregation as they move to a full-
fledged Sunday service that will meet on
Sundays at 12:30.
I am SO excited about what God is building
here! With this growth comes numerous
opportunities and challenges where we will
get to see God move and answer prayer.
TEN YEARS OF SERVING?
We’re celebrating 10 years of working
together to feed people in our community
through the Open Door Kitchen. That is so
amazing. Even at tough times, God has
preserved this ministry and kept it going
through our people who are committed to
doing whatever it takes to honor God and
fulfill his calling.
Missions – We are “AND” people!
Hurricane help, food pantry drives, helping
local needs, supporting the local Red Cross
and the Good Shepherd Food Bank,
supporting Westbrook’s new Transformation
Project helping to mentor young men released
from detention, AMG Guatemala, child
sponsorship, hosting a free carnival for
toddlers as part of Westbrook Together Days,
our Open Door Kitchen, community message
board, Abba Women’s Ministry, clean water
filters for 100 Oratorio families … AND on
AND on …
But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my
witnesses, telling people about me
EVERYWHERE--in Jerusalem, AND
throughout Judea, AND in Samaria, AND to
the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
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Our mission is not a matter of here OR
there. We have been called to here AND there
and are continuing to answer that call.
Women’s Ministry
Our Tuesday night group has had a consistent
group of women completing book studies and
building relationships in addition to our
annual Spring retreat.
Leadership
I am thankful for our leadership team and the
teams of people working in each area of
ministry.
I’m excited that we are now at the point, now
that a new constitution and bylaws have been
put in place and we have our feet underneath
us, of seeing some of our original leadership
team members rotate off the official team to
be replaced by others to bring new energy and
ideas to the mix.
Our biggest limiting factor has been that only
“official members” can serve on the
leadership team but many of our most active
and most involved people have yet to take that
official step. May I encourage YOU to take
that step now?
After we chat with a few who are clearly
active, supportive and serving and get the
okay, we will present as many as four new
names to be added to our team at a brief
meeting in September.
No worries, our leadership team is NOTHING
like the boards and committees you may have
served with before.
Our partnership in the gospel is what moves
us forward. We are not a staff driven church
by any means. Without you, our team is
weaker. It’s a TOGETHER thing, remember?
Looking into the Year to Come
We have some challenges and opportunities
ahead that will help us grow in our faith.
1) Personal discipleship growth within
our body. I am praying this is the year
we begin to see small groups take
shape. (yes, a repeat from last year’s
annual report but SO MUCH CLOSER
to reality now.)
2) Financial support for our ministry.
While we support numerous other
things as a body, it’s important that we
not forget that our own ministry is
needing support to be sustainable long
term. 2017-2018 was a difficult year
for our budget for a number of reasons
beyond our control. In fact, you will
see we are proposing taking $30,000
from savings to make up the deficit.
We are proposing a budget with no
increase for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
3) Will this be the year we accomplish
kitchen renovation and move toward
installing an elevator?
4) Bus ministry? Will God move us
toward getting a mini-bus to provide
badly-needed transportation for our
immigrant congregation and Sunday
mornings? Let’s pray about it.
5) Opioid crisis in our state. On average I
get 2-3 contacts a week from families
and individuals reeling from the
impact of addiction. At the least I
would like to see us have a team
assembling emergency kits we can
offer those who come in homeless,
hungry and looking for
encouragement. But, I’d like us to be
seeking God to see if he is calling us to
play a greater role in bringing answers,
support and Life to these hurting
families.
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It has been another incredible year
I am thankful for the accepting and
welcoming culture God has built here. Again,
we have seen some find hope and strength and
begin turning their lives around.
There has been a good deal of shifting in
the church of Southern Maine over the past
year with the opening of Maine’s first
megachurch ministry center. It is a
tremendous addition to the local church. God
has called some to move to help establish that
ministry and see it expand and has called
others to invest more heavily in the smaller,
community churches.
That shifting has affected most every church
in the area to some degree. Transition always
presents both challenges and opportunities.
Things have settled down and the local church
is now stronger and has a tremendous resource
for concerts, conferences and events that it has
not had in the past.
We have already been directly blessed by the
ministries of our megachurch neighbor as its
youth group renovated our lobby and gave the
front of our building a much-needed facelift!
And, Eastpoint drove our Guatemala team to
Logan airport in its two minibuses and picked
it up when it returned. That was a savings to
us of almost $900.
We are all one church working together. It is
not a competition!
As a body, we’ve adjusted after saying
goodbye to some called to worship and serve
elsewhere but have been blessed to welcome
others called to worship and serve here.
We are ready to head into the next year
excited to see what God has planned for our
local body and the church in Southern Maine
working together to reach Maine.
My prayer is that we all will make growing
closer to Jesus our top priority in our lives
over the next year. My prayer is that we will
resist the isolating, separating pull of culture
and make our together time top priority. When
we do that life makes a whole lot more sense.
There is indeed strength in numbers!
It’s a TOGETHER thing!
By Grace,
Scott Linscott
Lead Pastor
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2017 Annual Meeting Minutes
June 3, 2017
Meeting called to order by Scott Linscott, Pastor
Scott opened with prayer.
A motion was made to appoint Cheri Roma as
moderator.
**Moved and seconded, (Jan Perry, Phil Perry)
Motion passes unanimously.
A total of 41 were in attendance, all which were
members.
A motion was made to accept the minutes
presented in annual report as written.
**Moved and seconded that we approve the report
as written. ( Ruth Webster, Cliff McKinley)
Motion passes unanimously.
A motion was made to accept the Mission Budget as
presented.
**Moved and seconded that we approve the
reports as written. ( Stacey Lamson, Dana Kelley)
Motion passes unanimously.
Church Budget
Pastors package was presented. Lines 300, 310,
320, 325 .
Pastor misc. lines/Pastoral Relations lines
340,360,363,365, were presented.
***Moved and seconded that we approve the lines
as presented. Bob Radley, Ruth Webster)
Motion passes unanimously.
Custodian line 500, Music Ministry 600, Secretary
700, Payroll Tax 750, Workers Compensation 562
were presented.
***Moved and seconded that we approve the lines
as presented. (Ruth Webster, Bob Radley)
Motion passes unanimously
Moved and 2nd that we approve the remaining
budget as a whole.
(Bob Radley, Dana Kelly)
Lines 530, 541, 543, 545, 546, 560, 370, 510, 710,
715, 720, 800, 850
Motion passes unanimously.
Reports of the Pastor, Church Clerk, Treasurer-Cash
Position, Expense Reports, Endowment and Open
Door Kitchen were presented.
**Moved and seconded that we approve the
reports as written. ( Cliff McKinley, Deanna Kelly)
Motion passes unanimously.
A motion was made to allow the Accountable Plan
for Pastor to allow up to 50% of his salary to be
allocated for housing allowance.
***Moved and seconded that we accept the motion
as written. (Phil Perry, Jen Printy)
Motion passes unanimously.
Scott closed in prayer.
Meeting adjourned.
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Report of the Church Clerk
Our annual meeting will be held on Sunday, June 5,
2016 to vote on the upcoming Fiscal Year Budget
2015-2016
Members left by Letter of Transfer 3
Gloria Hodgdon
Eleanor Knowlen
James Knowlen
Members left by request 0
Members Deceased 2
Fran Bouchard
Susan Brown
Members joined by Letter of Transfer 0
Members joined Profession of Faith 0
Members joined by Baptism 0
Active Members 55
Shut In. 5
Inactive 5
No. Members attending regularly. 48
Respectfully Submitted
Debbie Cary
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Children’s Ministry- KIDZTIME
It has been an exciting year in the world of KIDZ! Our space has been revamped a bit and is much more inviting. Swing by the Fellowship Hall and check it out!
We are blessed to have a terrific team of teachers who volunteer their time helping our KIDZ learn about the love of the Lord. We recently began a NEW program that starts with Creation (makes sense, right?) and takes our KIDZ right through the Old Testament. Our hope is to bring in other volunteers from church to help teach (do a song or a puppet show, art project, etc.). We are also hoping to have the kids to in church once a month to show folks what they are learning! The first
few weeks of our new program are under our belt and the kids are excited so far. We look forward to seeing where this program takes us!
We continue to sponsor a child from Guatemala, Nery Jose. Our KIDZ are learning, early on, that helping others in small ways can make a difference. Blessings ~
Stephanie Holmes
Deanna Kelly
Leslie Kelly
Noelle Mercier
Bob Smith
Kim Walls
Nery Jose is sponsored by our children.
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OPEN DOOR KITCHEN
The Lord can do more than you can! He has blessed us this past year with the contributions From NNOF, The Bakers Bench, our church, Clients and all the help we get from the volunteers and bakers!
We pray for all those that we serve and all those that help. We are both saddened by and excited for our mission that the Lord has given us. May this mission let us plant mustard seeds and watch them grow.
May God bless you as he has for us!! Respectfully submitted, Clifford McKinley
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FINANCIAL REPORTS
2017-2018 YEAR END
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First Baptist Church Westbrook Maine
Cash Position as of April 30, 2018
Checking Account
General ($22,881.65)
Designated Savings
Building Fund ($ 1,714.76)
Christian Ed/Youth $ 2,531.81
Diaconate $ 2,397.24
Hurricane Relief $ 1,457.05
Benevolence $ 1,124.67
Memorial Gifts $ 721.86
Open Door $ 200.00
Mission Trip $ 7,036.09
Special Offering $ 950.00
Easter Offering $ 1,955.00
Missions 2016 – 2017 $ 7,219.81
Missions 2017 – 2018 $12,063.00
Savings Total $35,941.77
Total Cash $13,060.12
Liabilities
Note Payable FBC $41,970.18
Respectfully Submitted
Reg Cary
Treasurer
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FBC Cash In Report
May 1 2017 through April 30 2018
Giving
Envelopes $68,101.50
Loose $ 4,372.41
Endowment $31,651.00
Online $22,416.00
Total $126,540.91
10% Missions $12,654.10
Other Special Offerings
Thanksgiving $ 892.00
Christmas $ 376.00
Easter $ 973.00
Open Door $ 5,254.26
Mission Trip $31,173.25
Benevolence $ 1,444.43
Hurricane Relief $ 1,437.05
Water Filters $ 4,437.00
Misc Offerings $ 3,686.54
Total Special Offerings $ 49,673.53
Misc Payments Received
Greenough Fund $ 4,000.00
Insurance Claim $ 6,537.39
Total Misc Payments $ 10,537.39
Total Deposits $186,751.83
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ENDOWMENTS
May 2017-April 2018
Morgan Stanley Portfolio
Fellowship H.M.M.F. Endowment Retirement
1/01/2017 $57,294.64 $17,567.12 $271,083.74 $25,163.01
Withdrawals ($35,000.00)
( $8,000.00)
Deposits $9,005.55 $8,232.00
Mkt Activity
14.59% Gain $8,290.53 $ 2,541.96 $34,312.44 $4,832.27
12/31/17 $65,585.17 $20,108.08 $271,401.73 $38,227.28
Spending Bal
04/30/2017 $ 2,459.98 $ 2,039.00 $ 13,151.00
Spent 0.00 ( $ 2,000.00) ( $ 25,651.00)
Awards $ 3,000.00 $ 1,000.00 $ 12,500.00
Avail 5/01/18 $ 5,459.98 $ 1,039.00 $ 0.00
Respectfully Submitted
Reg Cary
Treasurer
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2018-2019 Proposed Budget