On Tuesday, January 18th, concluding his final Vestry meeting as Senior Warden, Dr. Richard Moothart summed up the feelings of all assembled: after almost two years of transition, Chapel of Our Saviour stands as strong and active as it was before the retirement of Father Dayle Casey – an admirable feat! Hearty and prayerful gratitude is due Dr. Moothart, the members of the Vestry and those on the search committee for guiding our parish successfully through major changes and challenges.

For anyone who has met with and spoken at some length already with Father De, it should be apparent he brings inspiring goals to grow Chapel from the sound foundation he has inherited. That growth must come in one of two ways: expand our membership and increase our Parish’s commitment to worship, ministries and outreach. The two go hand in hand. Chapel needs to be more meaningful in our congregation’s lives and the lives of more of our neighbors and friends. Current members should prayerfully consider increasing their giving to support these essential activities. They should also be active in encouraging non-members to join our fellowship. This comes under the heading of stewardship. I will welcome all volunteers and advice on stewardship as we launch an exciting new year of year-round giving and stronger outreach to newcomers. There are certain areas of our relationship with God and Chapel where we are allowed to be passive but stewardship is not one of them! Please anticipate more activity and more requests for your participation.

Thank you,

Tom VanBenschoten

We owe Father Horle a large debt of gratitude for working so closely with the vestry and chapel staff to keep our modest congregation together and moving forward through such a fragile period. On January 9^th, when we officially thank Father Garry for his interim ministry, hopefully many of you will attend and share with him your personal appreciation.

However, it should be obvious to all that the best way to thank Father Horle for his guidance leading us through the new Rector process would be to provide a solid financial footing for Father Freeman to begin his ministry at Chapel. We are at a critical time in closing the 2011 budget gap. Your pledge or gift at this time is tremendously important; Father Horle will certainly appreciate your prayerful consideration of such an acknowledgement of his efforts. What better way to express your gratitude!

Tom VanBenschoten

Stewardship Chair

With God’s grace, this week will bring a joyous reunion with family and friends to savor good food and thoughts of all the blessings we have received over the past 12 months. Each of us, no doubt, have had struggles to overcome in the past year but have found prayer and comfort in our fellowship at Chapel to help us through the tough times, to enjoy the gifts He has given us in abundance.

I ask that your prayerfully consider the tough financial times facing Chapel as we anxiously await our new Rector. On the positive side, we are seeing increases from more than 40% of those pledged for 2011 to date, and the increases are running more than 2 to 1 against the decreases. But we have yet to receive a new pledge and anticipate normal attrition; perhaps this is a reflection of the difficulty in recruiting new Chapel members during the transition period. We also have about 20% of our membership that opted not to pledge or give in the past year.

Stewardship is reaching out to as many of these individuals as we can, to encourage them to give, not that pledging or giving is an obligation of membership (as it is in many churches in our area), but because our participation and enjoyment of Chapel’s worship, activities and ministries urges us to support their operational requirements, and acknowledge our stewardship duties to His Kingdom on Earth.

As Charles Curtis aptly demonstrated this past Sunday in the adult forum, a preliminary 2011 Chapel budget shows a gap between income and expenses of somewhere around $150,000. That gap can be closed from three sources: 1) capital gains in our endowment, 2) new members and their giving, 3) a better appreciation for year-round giving and why pledges should be only the foundation.

Yes, there is a 4^th option: cutting budget items, be they activities, ministries, outreach or even staff. The Vestry has agonized over cutbacks for the past few years and believes we now have a bare bones budget. Further cutbacks will significantly diminish Chapel’s relevance in parishioners’ lives and in our community.

It is time to comfortably and conscientiously discuss the financial issues facing Chapel, and well past the month of November when stewardship dedicated events and communications to focus attention on the topic. I urge you to pray for guidance, growth and supplemental giving as we seek to better balance our budget

Prayerfully,   Tom VanBenschoten