The past two weeks we have introduced the purpose of the Properties and Facilities Strategic Planning Team and taken a broad look at the key needs identified by this team.
We are experiencing an exciting movement in the life of First Baptist Plano! Over the past several months we have baptized new believers, welcomed several new families to our fellowship and enjoyed meeting numerous guests along the way. Wednesday night has been revitalized and our new Sunday night schedule has allowed for expansion of the Awana program as we seek to connect with new families. In addition, we continue to serve the community through Love Where You Live, disaster relief, and support of our local elementary campuses, even as we aid the spread of the gospel through mission efforts to the Rio Grande Valley, Mexico, and the upcoming student ministry trip to South Africa.
As we celebrate and give thanks for these and many other victories we also ask for God’s direction as we consider the future of our facility. Rising facility maintenance costs continue to steal valuable ministry dollars at an increasing rate each year. Over the past decade, we have seen HVAC expenses and building repair costs rise to levels that require a significant portion of our budget to maintain. Very soon, we will need to replace the entire a/c system; a cost that could come close to one million dollars. Thankfully church volunteers and new maintenance practices have reduced some of these expenses, but much more must be done going forward to have the necessary resources for our current and future ministries.
Overall church membership has declined since 1992; however, our budget giving has remained strong which is a credit to the faithfulness of God’s people. Currently, church members who are age sixty or greater make up 69% of the church membership and give 72% of the monetary gifts. These numbers provide a great foundation from which to build, but will, in time, begin to decline as more of our people graduate to heaven.
We believe that God is giving us some momentum and will help us overcome any of the obstacles that we face, including those that we face with our facility. The church authorized the creation of the Properties and Facilities Strategic Planning Team to look at these obstacles and consider what could be done to make our facility an asset for us and for future generations.
Join us for one of our upcoming information sessions. The Properties and Facilities Strategic Planning Team will share an in-depth review of past and projected trends, as well as provide a thorough overview of our facility options.