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By Karen Snyder, Treasurer

Introduction

I have been attending this church for 3 and ½ years, usually the contemporary service, and have made many friends. One friend, Sandy Hunter, suggested I consider the position of church treasurer. With the blessing of the church conference and Leadership Board, here I am 9 months later in a very busy position, learning as much as I can about the many services of our active church.

Pastor Andrew and I agreed a regular newsletter to our congregation about the financial health of McPherson First would be beneficial to help us understand how giving is distributed among expenses and also to summarize our big HVAC project.

January through June 2026

The typical 12-month period pertaining to finances is a calendar year, January through December. Earlier this year, our Board voted to change to a fiscal year which begins July 1 and ends June 30. This change was made to conform to Methodist pastoral terms and, to a lesser extent, to coincide with new school years.

I want to tell you about the first 6 months of 2026 before moving on to Tomorrow First. Here is a summary:

  • $343,309 Total Income, including Ministry, Investment Earnings, and Other Revenue
  • minus $29,439 Administrative Operations
  • minus $33,854 Benevolent Giving
  • plus $18,533 Designated Missions Ministry
  • minus $94,761 Lay Staff
  • minus $18,521 Ministry Programs
  • minus $93,898 Pastoral Staff
  • minus $68,006 Property Expenses
  • minus $4,294 Miscellaneous Expense
  • = $19,070 Net Operating Income ($1.00 rounding)

Of Total Income, we earned almost $26,000.00 on our investments at Kansas Methodist Foundation. This is not a budgeted item due to the unpredictable nature of the market. Our investment income and money received for Designated Missions Ministry obviously contributed to our Net Income. The amounts for each of the line items you see above are acceptable relative to our 6-month budget.

I am pleased to work with all the staff, who are conscientious of the ebbs and flows of income and apply the same degree of consideration to expenses.

Tomorrow First Capital Campaign

We are one year into our 3-year capital campaign (October 2025 to October 2028) and, thankfully, more than halfway to our goal of $1,851,744.00. Pledges were funded in 2025 of $534,577.07 and in 2026 (through September) of $455,857.08. This totals $990,434.15, or 53% of goal. In addition to the capital campaign, to pay for this heating and air conditioning replacement, we used a designated memorial fund, a grant, and pre-existing 2024 campaign funds.

The work contract requires a total due of $2,360,582.00, which we have been paying in monthly installments. One more payment of $200,582.00 is due our vendor when all work is done and satisfactory.

We established a 3-year "bridge" loan with Wesleyan Impact Partners to pay the difference between our vendor contract and collected funds. Currently, the loan balance is $1,066,000; this is the level of borrowing we expected at this point in the campaign. Here is an example of how closely the finance team monitors the loan balance: a $1,000 gift now saves $130 in interest for the remainder of the existing loan.

We are grateful for your prayerfully considered contributions to this important project.

Looking Ahead

Our church uses a QuickBooks specialist outside of our office to post general ledger entries and produce month-end reports. I will write to you each quarter after examination of our balance sheet and income statement. But please know you can approach me or contact me (620-680-0554) at any time with your questions and comments.

I am thankful to work with Karen Jonas, Terry Hardman, and Pastor Andrew to use our dollars prudently and to accurately report our financial status to you.

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