Hello FBC community.  I miss you all.  I am going to get to the part where I tell you what the Board has been up to, but first, I am going to take advantage of my position to communicate more personally to the community that I miss.  How is everybody doing?

These are interesting times, that we know. We’re in the middle of a presidential election, in a pandemic, shortly after wildfires destroyed quite a chunk of our state. Not easy times for any of us. It’s been hard not to let worries and stress drive me to distraction frequently & significantly several times, and that’s just today. If you are having a particularly hard time, either because of one of the above reasons, or any other, lean on your FBC family and let us help. 

FBC has been an anchor in turbulent times for many years for many people. And it is here for all of us during these turbulent times. The office is open. The building is open sometimes, but phone calls and electronic messages are probably the best way to make contact right now. So feel free to call me,  Pastor Erika, the office, or anybody else around here that you feel the need to. I freely speak for your whole community (with a great deal of confidence in my assumptions that I am accurately reflecting it) – we welcome your contact and we want to help.

I’m getting through this time with a lot of help myself, but I have been quite fortunate. I’ve been blessed with good and supportive management at work, and blessed to still have work. I have been required to work from home for months, which is a mixed blessing, but I cannot complain when so many people do not have work at all. So I am thankful.  Debbie and the kids are doing well, all healthy, all managing their modified work/school environments.  Nobody gets through unscathed—Logan is missing his senior year in high school; everybody is missing their friends. But we know that we have been fortunate, so we are available to give more this year and support FBC so it can be an even stronger anchor for those who have not been as fortunate.  

If you’ve been fortunate like me, and want to communicate your ability and willingness to help more, of course we will appreciate that contact.  But if you have been less fortunate, and things are hard, we also welcome that opportunity to help and support you. As a church community, we all work to-gether to make FBC the anchor that it is.  Sometimes we are in the position of being able to help solidify that support. And sometimes we have need of it ourselves.  That is how FBC works, and I appreciate all of you for continuing to keep making that so.

So what was the Board up to at its recent meeting?  It’s budget time, always challenging to try to prioritize all the good things that the Church wants to accomplish against the resources that we expect to have available, and it is particularly challenging to predict things (an unavoidable part of budgeting) in a rather unpredictable time. We had some productive preliminary discussions, the budget committee is well underway, and the stewardship committee has likely already contacted you. It’s an ongoing process. You will be getting more information in the coming weeks.

We also had the pleasurable task of admitting a couple of new members, one of my favorite things to do during a Board meeting. 

And that’s all I have room for this month. Remember, FBC is your community. And it is here for all of us. 

–  Dave Ferry, FBC Church Board Moderator