Here is Page 10 of the recently-released, hot-off-the-presses Good Shepherd Impact Report.
Here are the top five numbers out of that page full of … well, numbers.
1. For 2017, we have averaged 308 households per week giving to God through Good Shepherd Church. That’s up from 292 households per week in 2016.
2. Our 2017-18 budget will require just over $71,000 per week. The good news is that throughout 2016-17, we averaged right at $61,000 per week for Operating Fund and $10,000 per week for the Beyond fund. This year we are folding it all into one budget, and I suspect we will reach our goal. We have asked those who pledged to Beyond (a capital campaign that funded our Living Room and our Zoar Expansion AND that concludes in March 0f 2018) to continue giving at the same level, just all to the General Fund. This is what Julie and I will do.
3. In terms of 2016 attendance, I just saw a stat sheet that out of 34,000 United Methodist churches in the USA, Good Shepherd is the #33 highest attended (average of 2,022 in 2016). That stat is not in the Impact Report, but I thought I’d throw it out there. We were #40 in 2015 and #100 way back in 2005. In case you’re interested, in 1973, when I was 11, I was ranked #33 in the USA in tennis for Boys’ 12-and-under, so there’s that.
4. We have given over $460,000 to Missions in 2016-2017 (that figure is in the Impact Report but not on the page pictured above. Those funds fuel ministry in India, Russia, Casar (North Carolina), and Steele Creek.
5. Because of the ongoing generosity of the people of Good Shepherd and the wise yet aggressive leadership of our Finance Team, the $4.7 million dollar debt figure above is now obsolete. It is now just under $4.5 million as this week we made a large principal payment against our indebtedness.