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Mariners' Church

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  • We have noticed in the bulletin a consistent and significant shortfall in the budget. Our financial picture does not look real bright when income falls so far behind budget. How can we start a campaign in such a financial condition? What is our current financial position?
    Many of you have noticed a consistent shortfall in our budget this year. We want to explain what that means and how that has impacted our operations this year. As you all know a budget is a plan, a plan for spending money. Each fall Mariners’ prepares a budget for the coming year. The budget is developed by examining where we have been, where we are, and where God is leading us in the year ahead.

    Once a budget is put into action it needs to be reviewed on a regular basis. If the review shows that income is unable to support planned spending then the budget needs to be adjusted to bring expenses into line with income. Our Elders review the church budget & finances every month. When necessary, they make revisions to the original ‘plan.’ For example, our current budget was adjusted this year to accommodate fewer staff members, the economy, and changes to the projected administrative & ministry expenses. We have worked hard to not spend money if we do not have the money. In other words, we have not spent as much as we have budgeted. We do not spend what we do not have! We operate like you do or at least like we hope you do; taking care of the essentials and living within our means; being good stewards.
    Our financial policy has always been to pay our bills first, our people second and programs last. We are committed to paying all Mariners’ bills on time! It is vitally important that we do so to protect our integrity a church under the authority of the Lord Jesus. We are not in debt. We tithe 10% of our general offerings to support local, national and foreign missions. We draw on our reserves only as necessary. We are still trying to find the best way to give you a snapshot of our financial picture. We find ourselves in a place where the traditional method of publishing Budget Need vs. Tithes Received is not accurate enough. So, the Elders have developed the following table…

    Nov. 28, 2010 Attendance:

    347



    2010 Anticipated Expenses

    $ 1,043,983

    YTD Actual Tithes/Reserve

    $ (983,033)

    Remaining 2010 Tithe Goal

    $ 60,950



    *Remaining Reserves for 2011

    $ 105,649

    *It is the elders intent to develop Mariners estimated budget for 2011 at no more than our historical tithing average.
    Our goal is to protect the $105K reserve for true emergencies.

  • Why are we making a decision to leave Bay 50; didn’t we put almost a $1M in renovations just a few years ago?
    That was almost 10 years ago and we have certainly gotten our monies worth. Right now we are paying about $21,000 for our current lease and it expires in little over a year. We have to make the decision to leave now or stay until November 2013. The Elders are unanimous in believing God is leading us to make the move as soon as we can but not before His timing.
  • If we have to leave our present location (Bay 50) before our new church home is ready, what will we do in the interim and for how long?
    Our hope is that we will be able to move directly to our new facility. We have sent a notice, however, to our landlord, Mr. Jemal that we intend to leave by December 2011 unless we can renegotiate the terms of our lease – looking for a rent reduction of approximately $5000 a month and the ability to leave with only 6 months notice. Had we not sent him notification by November 2010 of our intent to leave by November 2011 then we would have been bound by the terms of our lease to stay until November 2013. In any case, our goal is to minimize the time between vacating this facility and moving into our new home. A team is currently looking into temporary spaces like Broadneck School. I reiterate, we know this is disruptive and undesirable so we hope to avoid it all together or minimize the time between.
  • What about borrowing? Is this correct?
    Our whole goal in the Home Free Campaign is to become financially free as a church in order to free up money for kingdom work and winning people to the Lord Jesus. Right now if we do nothing and remain in our current situation, we will pay 21K for a facility every month until the Lord comes. All of that money will not be spent for missions. If you think about our current situation, it is like having an interest only loan every month... where we pay nothing on the principle... and never grow any equity. Our hope is to get the church into a position where that 21K monthly debt goes away. Our strategy for doing that involves buying our own property and building a building that we will one day own. Our hope is to raise as much money as we can over three years in order to take out a loan on the smallest amount possible. We feel that we can raise enough to get a mortgage that would have a monthly payment that is well under 21K per month. Our thought has been we can either help the shopping center pay its mortgage or we could pay down our own.

    I do not doubt that the Lord could give us the entire amount needed to make this move so that we would not have to take out a mortgage. He could do that and I pray he does, but if He does not, I do not feel we would be in violation of Biblical principle if we were to take out a mortgage. Our heart is to always be faithful to the Biblical principles and be the best stewards of God's resources. It is not wrong to take out a mortgage if you are faithful to make the payments. While under such an agreement and making the payments, we are not in debt to our lender in the sense of owing him something that we have promised. Romans 13:7: says: "Render to all what is due them...owe nothing to anyone except to love one another..." One can be obedient to this Scripture as long as he is faithfully making his payments. Our whole point is to get out from under debt. Taking out a mortgage for a season is simply a part of the strategy for getting there.
  • When do we have to terminate our lease for our present location?
    We have already sent in a letter of termination that has been received by our landlord under the requirement of the lease giving one year’s notice. We will have to vacate Bay 50 by 31 December 2010.
  • How many congregants will our proposed facility be able to accommodate per service?
    Our first phase of the building has seating for 535, which is slightly more than the current seating in our own worship space.
  • How many services do we expect on Sunday and at what times?
    Our initial plan is to only have one service until we build up to 80% capacity and then go to a second service.
  • What will be our plan for ministries like youth and children’s to include anticipated numbers that can be accommodated?
    The children and youth ministries plan to grow along with the congregation. Ron and I calculate that a healthy percentage of kids average about 30 – 35% of a congregation. This includes kids ranging from birth through high school (ages 0-18). They will include the same basic plans to expand as the rest of the church.  We will have sufficient space to grow initially in the first phase of the building especially because of the option to move to a second service.  We also currently have further plans for phase 2 and phase 3 to expand the size capabilities for children and youth ministries, in that order, as the church congregation grows.
  • Is the Arnold property a final decision?
    No. Search is still underway to find the perfect piece of property God has in mind for us considering location, price, land for future expansion, parking, etc. Actually there are two pieces of property both in the Arnold area and we have not stopped our search. In each case, we have asked for opinions from our Architects and site engineers to help us determine if the properties are suitable.
  • Did we look at other alternatives other than a completely new building project such as a used facility now up for sale?
    Yes. The Elders did a thorough review first of what was our mission and how could it best be fulfilled. Essentially, the decision was made that Mariners would essentially be a facility where we could “Equip the Saints.” This has set to serve the framework of our building project as you now see it to eventually include space for 535 congregants, youth and children ministry spaces, etc. (Our first phase of the building has seating for 535 which is slightly more than the current seating in our own worship space.) By the way, we also looked at joining another church that was starting to lose most of its congregation but it turned out to be too hard to merge cultures and they seemed to be little interested in aligning with us even though their model of ministry was clearly not working.
  • What can you tell us about the two properties that were mentioned at the Home Free Launch? Give Updates on Land, Building, Etc.

    Both parcels we are now considering are off of Ritchie Highway. Parcel A is a 6.5-acre site in Arnold across from the Arnold post office and close to Safeway. We are currently in negotiation with the owners and nothing has been settled to date. We (and the architects) feel this parcel has excellent potential. Parcel B is a 12-15 acre site a little further up the road on Ritchie Highway. It is a beautiful parcel. We are not as far along in our research and meetings with the county and the owners on this property. We are moving aggressively to get all of our research done. It is a very attractive piece of property.

  • When do we expect our church project to be complete?
    We believe it may take up to three years to buy the property, design and construct the church facility, and raise the necessary funds. As you all know a project of this size depends on so many things to include finding the right property at the right price, the amount of funds we can raise by when, the numerous environmental restrictions and county regulations we must face, and the list goes on. We are setting as our planning factor, however, 3 years and hope that God will accelerate that timeline.