YEAR REVIEW THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

YEAR REVIEW THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

Sunday

January 29, 2017

4:00 P.M.

GRACE BIBLE CHURCH

3625 South 19th

Avenue

Bozeman MT 59718

406-586-9782

gbcmt.org

Attendance: There were 235 individuals present at the meeting. The Deacons counted 208 ballots

which included 147 ballots cast either at the meeting or absentee and 61 online ballots. 1. Worship - Pastor Jeremy Sauskojus Pastor Jeremy opened the meeting leading the congregational song "Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery." 2. Prayer and Thanksgiving - Bill Vance, Elder

Bill read from Psalm 105 which says "give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!" He prayed, thanking God for all He had done within our body of believers.

3. Affirmation of Board Nominations and the 2017 Budget - Pastor Bryan Hughes

The nominees on the ballot as follows: Deacons: Brian Berger 1 year term (new)

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Dan Welch 3 year term (new) Kelly Hall 3 year term (current) Todd Oostema 3 year term (current) Wes Kamerman 3 year term (current) Elders: Andy Gerlach 2 year term (new)

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Danny Johnson 2 year term (new) 1

Bill Vance 3 year term (current) Gale Heide 3 year term (current) Mark Amunrud 3 year term (current) Global Outreach Charlie Mann 2 year term (current) Committee Ruama Kruse 2 year term (current) Sylver Collison 2 year term (current) The ballot includes the Board nominations and the proposed 2017 budget of $2,239,320. The ballots were distributed and collected for those that had not voted online or by absentee paper ballot. Pastor Bryan encouraged anyone who might not approve of an individual or have a question or concern on the ballot to briefly explain the reason in the comment section of the ballot in order that concerns may be followed up accordingly. He also asked members with concerns to include their name on the ballot, so there can be a follow up with any legitimate concerns that someone may have. 1 It is customary for Board elections to be for 3 years; but new appointments have been proposed for shorter periods in order to

ensure that re-elections are staggered and that they do not all fall in the same subsequent year.

GBC 2017 Year Review Thanksgiving Celebration Minutes • Page 2 of 6

4. Ministry Reports Budget - Bryan Robertus

Bryan started by saying what a privilege it is to present the many blessings we have had at Grace Bible Church in regard to the finances and what a privilege it is for the Deacons to be a part of this. The presentation began with a series of slides projected to the front for all to see. The Total Giving for 2016 was $2,658,032 (Chart 1). The Total Giving includes both General Fund giving and Designated Fund giving. The General Fund giving is money that is not specifically designated to any particular area or person. The General Fund is that which the Budget is based and the Budget is the guide for Actual Spending. Designated Giving for 2016 was about $467,000 and this is money given specifically to an individual missionary or ministry. For 2016 the General Fund giving exceeded the Budget and the Actual Spending was slightly less than the Budget. Chart 1

Annual General Fund giving has exceeded the Budgets the last 11 years (Chart 2). This demonstrates how faithful the Lord has been to Grace Bible Church through the faithful giving of those in this church. Bryan also mentioned that this trend goes all the way back to 1995. Chart 2


The 2017 Budget Proposal was shown (Chart 3). The Budget is the guideline for spending the General Fund and is very similar to the previous year. Some highlights are that Wages were up due to the blessing of being able to add more staff, as well as giving raises. The College Director position was added which started mid-2016. The new Children's Ministry Director position is budgeted for 2017. Utilities are down significantly due to energy saving measures of converting lights to LED in the building and the parking lot. Chart 3

The 2016 Funds Allocation (Chart 4) includes all funds, both Designated and General Fund, and shows in general categories how the funds were spent. Operations and Administration, 26%, represents non-pastoral staff and custodians salaries, insurance, utilities, and building maintenance. GBC Ministries, 27%, includes the resource center, counseling, scholarships, adult ministries, benevolent, children's ministries, salaries for pastors with ministry in-house, i.e., senior pastor, worship pastor, visitation director. Local Outreach, 10%, represent funds used for outreach in the community such as KinderGym, Cribs by Grace, CrossLife, AWANA, Junior and Senior High, and ZoeCare. Global Outreach, 38% and just over $1,000,000, includes funds allocated to Global Outreach Partners, and includes one Global Outreach pastor as well as a portion of most pastors as they teach in ministries like Antioch Initiative. This also includes Operation Christmas Child and other projects like the Louisiana Flood Relief project. The last little sliver, 4%, is the Unspent General Fund which can be used for future opportunities. Chart 4


In summary it has been an exciting year for the Deacons to be able to manage the funds and for the opportunity to be able to support all the various ministries. Thanks to the Lord for His faithfulness. Bryan added if anyone had any questions to please see him or another Deacon or Elder after the meeting.

Youth Ministry - Pastor Jon Montoya

Jon said 18 years ago was his first time at Grace Bible Church as a college student and it has been a joy to have been on staff for the past 13 years. He said as he looks out he sees faces of those that have served faithfully to the children and youth in our church and we are so thankful for their service in Vacation Bible School, KinderGym, AWANA, and Sunday School. A highlight for this coming year is a mission trip for the junior and senior high youth groups in July. There will be two teams of students and parents and we will be partnering with Petra Ministry in Nicaragua. Pray for these trips as we go to serve the people in Nicaragua.

CrossLife - Pastor Matt Thibault

Matt started by saying what a privilege it is serving with the college age group. The purpose statement for CrossLife is to proclaim and extol the name of God, to help college age students mature in their faith, and to equip these believers to serve. Ephesians 4:12 is the theme verse for CrossLife which says "equip the saints for the work of ministry." Those serving with CrossLife include two full time staff, Matt Thibault and Deonte Flowers, as well as four part-time apprentices and 32 student leaders. There will be about 180 in attendance on a typical Thursday night meeting. Additionally, there are Community Group Bible studies for students on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and they are currently studying "The Sermon on the Mount" by Martin Lloyd Jones. Some events throughout the year are the Advance 314 conference, a winter retreat, Veritas Forum (a debate on campus), and a Seder dinner every other year. Looking forward, Deonte will be overseeing a new international student ministry. For anyone seeking ways to be a part of Crosslife ministry, people can pray, seek opportunities to disciple a student, or be a host family and invite students into their homes.

Adult Ministries - Joe Schreibeis

Joe said it is a joy being a part of ministry at Grace Bible Church. Joe oversees Community Groups of which there are 25 co-ed, four women's, and two men's groups. Roughly, 40% of the adult body at GBC is a involved in Community Groups. Men's ministries activities include breakfasts, Agora Discover Workshop, and Men of Truth, which is a weekly men's study going over topics such as Spiritual leadership, Hermeneutics and Theology of Worship. The women's ministries have had the Biblical Womanhood conference and the summer study, thanks to Ardie Kelm for her help with this. Kinder Gym is a great ministry for children and moms that have activities for the kids and Bible studies. This is well attended including many that do not regularly attend Grace Bible Church. Joe is on the Women of Grace leadership team and they have a new mission statement which is "to raise up women in the church who intimately know God through His Word and passionately walk in obedience to Him". Young Adult Ministry has community outreach events, serving opportunities, as well as devotionals. Joe oversees Membership and there is a New Members class offered each Spring and Fall. As of December 2016 there are 738 members in our church. Joe encouraged those who are not members to please consider becoming one, officially committing to the church and coming under the shepherding of the church. Sunday School is currently at about 10% involvement and we are looking at ways to boost this ministry with more classes that started this new year and more planned for the future.

Music Ministries - Pastor Jeremy Sauskojus

Jeremy came on staff at Grace Bible Church 21 years ago and he said it has been a tremendous joy to serve at Grace Bible Church. He read Psalm 96 which states "Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord and bless His name, tell of His salvation from day to day". There are more than 125 serving in the Music and Technology Ministries and they serve weekly by singing and leading in song to give praise to our God. Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5 speak of singing to one another in psalms, and hymns spiritual songs and Jeremy said it matters what we sing. Upcoming in April is the Resurrection Sunday Worship Concert which will be a wonderful time of worshiping our Lord. Jeremy also reported on Pre-Marital Counseling and in 2016 there were 14 couples that went through the counseling and to start 2017 there are already 8 couples that have begun.


Biblical Counseling - Pastor Blake Shaw Blake has been on staff for 26 years with the last five years in the counseling ministries. Counseling is a difficult but joyful ministry, as we help others in this sin cursed world. The Counseling ministry has been in place the last 5 &1/2 years and there are 15 counselors on the Counseling team. Those on the Counseling team give much of their time and great effort to help those in need. In keeping with Ephesians 4:12 to "train God's people" there are Sunday morning classes on biblical counseling. The classes being offered are Introduction to Biblical Counseling, a Biblical sanctification class, a marriage tune-up class, the newly-wed class, and a parenting class. The Biblical Training Conference is offered here each summer in July and is attended by people throughout the country. The Counseling Ministry is associated with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC). There have been six people who have gone through the certification process and about a dozen people that are in the process of being certified. The goal is to offer free counseling to the community and in order to do that there needs to be twelve Certified Biblical Counselors and we hope to get there by next year. Thank you to those serving in the counseling ministry.

Global Outreach - Pastor Dave Barnhart Pastor Dave said this is his 18th year at Grace Bible Church and it has been a wonderful journey. Thank you to the Outreach Partners, both locally and worldwide, to the Global Outreach Team, and to all who have contributed by prayer and giving. There are some Partners that have gone off support. Rex Heckle, a pastor in western Montana, is no longer supported as the church he serves has grown and is now able to support him. Warren Heibert, Chaplain for Gallatin County, is retiring, but may still receive some support for some activities as he continues on a part-time basis. We are grateful for the many years of service Warren has had ministering to those is crisis situations. Additions to the ministry are Randy Jones, previously the pastor at Manhattan Bible Church. He will be assuming the role of Chaplain for Gallatin County. We have also added Misiker's brother, Dereje Kebede, who oversees part of Spread of Grace Ministries in Wonji, Ethiopia. Shannon Cox was taken on last year and is going to serve in the Middle East. Luke Foreman will be doing a one year internship with Bridges International, a ministry of Cru. We are supporting 13 international pastors. This support allows these pastors to continue to minister in their churches and includes countries of Malawi, Ethiopia, Russia, and Ukraine. As we look forward we can be praying for a few individuals. Deke Sobek is in the Moody Bible Institute Aviation program and needs prayer as he is seeking the Lord's will in ministry opportunities. Two of the CrossLife apprentices, Kyla Boschman and Jenette Northey, have expressed interest in missions and will be observers to the committee this next year. Andrew Alberta will also be observing this next year. Zambia and Ethiopia have projects with well drilling for water and medical missions. These projects are tied to the local church to present the gospel as we work. Thanks to all that participated with Operation Christmas Child, Compassion International, and World Vision. The Global Outreach Committee has supported the following local organizations: Food Bank, Zoe, Montana Bible College, Bozeman Prison Ministry, Rodeo Bible camp, Love Inc., Angel Tree, BSF and CBS, Cribs by Grace, the Benevolent committee, Salvation Army, Fathers in the Field, International Students, and Haven. Lastly, the Global Outreach policy update is nearly finished and will be put on the website when completed. Thank you for prayers and support and for your encouragement to our Partners.

5. Senior Pastor's Address/Charge for the New Year - Pastor Bryan Hughes

Pastor Bryan began by saying with all the ministries highlighted thus far, there are many that had not been mentioned. It would take an extensive period of time to sum up all the Lord did among us last year. To mention all the different ministries there is concern several would be left out. Also, everyone of these ministries has multiple things going on. An example of this is the library. The library has 8 volunteers that serve to make that ministry effective. The library offers material from pew sitter books for parents looking for something to keep their youngsters occupied during church to a wealth of books for adults such as Christian living, suffering and grief, and biographies. Last year 7000 items were checked out and over 600 new media items were processed. And that is just the library! To give a full report on all the various ministries would be difficult. Pastor Bryan referred to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build My church." He is doing it. We aren't doing it. We are simply seeking to be faithful and the results are up to Him. As Paul said in 2

nd Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in

earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” In other words, we are all


just clay pots but God chooses to use us and He is using us. So we are thankful for all those who serve in some way, whether it’s in an official position or not in any kind of position at all. God is using the faithfulness of people who serve whether nursery workers, Sunday School teachers, Community group leaders or those helping others with no title or position. God is using all that serve. This last year we had 23 baptisms and 47 new members. Both of those realities are always a joy as we see the Lord work in people’s lives. Pastor Bryan gave a charge to the congregation in the year ahead, giving the same one that Peter gave at the end of his 2

nd letter and the end of his life. 2

nd Peter 3:18 says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” He encouraged all of us to keep growing. We should never get to the point where we think we’ve had enough spiritual growth. Our drive is to grow spiritually and that should be our focus and concentration. We don’t focus on trying to grow the church as that is not our job. Jesus said He would do that. It’s our job to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” That gives Him great glory.

Pastor Bryan reported that the board and committee nominations were unanimously approved other than 6 that abstained as they did not know the candidates. The budget was unanimously approved other than 2 comments, one which will be followed up and the other which was anonymous.

Adjourn: Pastor Jeremy led the congregation in closing singing "Doxology." He then closed the meeting in prayer and gave thanks for the potluck to follow. Meeting adjourned at 5:04 p.m.

Respectfully submitted this 13

th day of February, 2017.

__________________________________

David Wheeler– Clerk

Documents

YEAR REVIEW THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION