Newsletter Here
December is here, and with it comes the best of the holidays. I like to take this time to reflect on
the year. We started out full of hope and confidence since January 1 marked the end of our
partnership with Shelby UMC and Mears UMC voted to bring me on full time instead of ¾ time.
As of the last Ministry Team meeting in November it is pretty clear that this church cannot afford
for me to continue as a full time pastor without some major changes. The health insurance premium
for 2026 has gone up by 9.5%. Weekly offerings are down, and we have lost some members or
regular attenders by death, illness and the UM Church’s stance on LGBTQ+ clergy, even though
we’re a traditional church. We have been operating at a monetary loss all year and have relied on
our savings. The monthly reports according to our Profit vs. Loss statements reflect as follows:
January – ($5,502.02) Loss
February – ($6,032.80) Loss
March – ($6,135.39) Loss
April – ($3,028.47) Loss
May – ($3,373.08) Loss
June – $845.48 Gain
July – ($6,265.06) Loss
August – ($10,399.89) Loss
September – ($11,994.98)Loss
October – ($2,383.75) Loss
Total YTD 3 Quarter rd ($43,430.80) Loss
Beginning in our January newsletter, we will be putting in a copy of our Profit/Loss Statement so
that you can all know where we are at financially every month. I don’t want anyone to panic because
we do have enough set aside in savings for 2026 to carry us through. Even so, we may need to make
some additional changes, which I will go over in the January newsletter, so please stay tuned!
Speaking of staying tuned, with Kelsey’s assistance we started a podcast called Grace and Truth
with Pastor Bev with its own Facebook page and is also on our YouTube channel. We already have
a steady subscriber base. We’ll be expanding our content a bit next year. The best part is that this
was a zero cost to the church because we already use the same software for our service streaming
(Sundays online). Did you know that with our YouTube Channel you can share all of our services on
your own Facebook pages. So if it is a service that you particularly liked, they’re all in there.
This year we celebrated the lives of: Bill Ensign, Larry Snider, Rebecca Wentzloff, Faye Mobley,
Larry Hetland, Dolores Bauer, Peg Hallack, and David Moschke. Please keep their families in
your prayers as there is no timeline for grief. The first holiday season without a loved one is truly
the hardest.We again created a safe space for our trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
Our Missions Team passed out 130+ Thanksgiving food baskets and expect around the same number of baskets. We welcomed visitors from the Moravian Board of World Missions with an update on missions
ministries in Honduras. Jen Ammo from Warning Lights on this important ministry to prevent sex trafficking. Lydia & Macormack Wyn gave us an excellent musical performance. We made donations to
several local ministries such as Teen Challenge and the Rescue Mission. As we prepare to enter 2026, we do so with hopeful hearts, trusting in God’s guidance for what lies ahead. Whatever changes or
challenges may come, we know that His faithfulness will continue to sustain us. Let us remain open to God’s leading, confident that, together, we will find new opportunities to serve and grow as a church
family in the coming year.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Pastor Bev
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