News of the Pews

Archival News

Note for the Congregation from the Capital Campaign Committee

February 28, 2010

The Capital Campaign Committee met last Thursday evening and we have an update for you.

As you know, God is sending us lots of amazing people, and we are struggling to come up with enough room in the inn. We are desperately space-poor in this facility. Since 2005, we have been slowly, deliberately continuing toward the attainable goal of adding space for offices, classrooms, common areas, and storage. Outside factors at the moment, including interest rates and an available work force, would seem to indicate the opening of a window which will not remain open indefinitely.

Three Building Expansion Committees were established in 2005:

Capital Campaign (formerly "Fundraising") Committee (Moderators: Ed Davis, Fran Young)

Design & Construction (Moderators: Troy Slaughter, Scott Woodard)

Interior Design & Furnishings (Moderators: Bettie Slusser, Becky Copenhaver)

Our intention was to be broadly inclusive in putting people on committees, to encourage as much congregational involvement and input as possible. Those three Building Expansion committees are continuing their work in this long and careful process.

Then, the Capital Campaign of 2008, utilizing a paid consultant, implemented a subcommittee structure of its own. Those eight subcommittees all fall under the umbrella of the Capital Campaign Committee.

That subcommittee structure is still in place. So, if you were on one of those eight subcommittees who implemented the Capital Campaign, those subcommittees still exist, and we still need your involvement.

The Capital Campaign subcommittees and their leaders were (and are)—and forgive me if I have accidentally overlooked some of the names of co-leaders, or if I don’t have the name of your subcommittee exactly right:

Finance—Debi Taylor

Fulfillment—Cindy Snead

Hospitality—Faye Smith

Major Gifts—Harrison Clark & Mark McLamb

Prayer—Clara Hare

Promotion—George Rose

Support—Sally Hillbeck

Visitation—Bettie Slusser & Jason Clamme

If you joined the church family since the excitement in 2008, when we launched the Capital Campaign: our Visitation team would like to send two church members to visit with you, in the same context in which most of our members were visited in ’08: we want to come to visit you in your home (or elsewhere if you prefer), and have a conversation with you about our church.

Most reports back from our visiting teams were of exciting conversations—some even made new friends—and most people who were visited expressed relief that, counter to what many were expecting, the teams were not there specifically to ask for, or even necessarily to talk about, money.

A few of our members missed that special opportunity to visit with other church members and talk about what God is doing in Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church. If, for whatever personal reason, you missed having a visit, we will be happy to arrange a visit with you, with a clean slate and no uncomfortable questions.

Again, regardless of how much you already know about the Capital Campaign, or how familiar you are with the plans for building expansion, if you have not had a personal visit from two members of our Visitation team, we would love to make that happen. So if someone from the church contacts you to try to arrange this, please be accommodating. If you would like to initiate that contact yourself, please call Bettie Slusser or the church office.

Thank you, and may God bless you and your household, this Lenten season and always.

Keith Grogg, Pastor

Ed Davis, Capital Campaign Committee moderator

Fran Young, Capital Campaign Committee co-moderator

Bettie Slusser, Visitation subcommittee moderator

The following is a draft manuscript of the presentations made in worship on Oct. 4 by Ed Davis and Fran Young, with additional comments from the pastor. The text was written by Ed; he and Fran used it as a speaking outline.

First let me thank you all for your generous support of the capital needs of the church.

Our church continues to grow and our demographics are changing. We are becoming a younger church, and with that comes the need to provide programs that support these changes. Last Wednesday evening we had at least 20-25 youngsters here for children’s programs. And if you look at the babies we have now, we are truly growing our congregation internally.

Your response and pledges have allowed us to proceed with the design of the addition that we need right now, and we on the capital campaign side of the effort have been busy investigating the funding avenues for the construction with local banks.

We are now nearing the completion of the design and are near to the time when we need to seek a construction loan so that we can proceed with a bidding process. One of the criteria that will be evaluated in that process is our current cash flow into the capital fund. It will need to be as much or more than the projected monthly debt payment. Each week you see the contributions to the capital fund in the bulletin and we have averaged $1800 per week since the beginning of this year. During our most recent committee meeting we had a proposal from a bank to review and based on that proposal we would need $2,500 per week to meet the monthly payment requirement. As you can see we are below that amount by $700 per week and we need to improve in this area so that the bank will have a favorable opinion of our ability to pay for the loan and be willing to finance our project. This will also allow us to build the capital reserve that we will need to begin the project.

I would ask you to prayerfully consider the possibility of advancing contributions you may have pledged on an annual basis. (If we are already at the maximum we can hope to receive, we will have to delay the project until we can accrue enough in the capital reserves to off set the lack of cash flow.)

We again thank you for your support of this church and its programs and I thank God for all of you.

Ed Davis has been nominated by Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church, and endorsed by its session, as Presbyterian Man of the Year, in recognition of his tireless commitment to the church, his generous giving of time and talents, and his able leadership in several areas crucial to our church’s ministry.

Ed is an elder currently serving his first term as a member of the session, in which capacity he is serving his third year as the moderator of our Buildings & Grounds committee. He is a member of the Presbytery of Coastal Carolina’s Communications Committee, and in his capacity as an elder on session has served as presbytery delegate from our church.

Bringing to bear a lifetime of professional expertise and experience, Ed has been instrumental in originating, inspiring, and moving forward the process of this church’s much-needed building expansion. In 2008, he sacrificed countless hours and enormous energy in passionately chairing the capital campaign committee which has allowed this faithful process to take root.

He is a devoted teacher and member of his Sunday School class. With his wife, Sylvia, his abiding interest in the excellence of our nursery, and the care of its children, is exemplary.

In all of his ministry, Ed demonstrates a deep and generous faithfulness to God’s word, and an abiding awareness of God’s call on his life.

After years of faithfulness expressed in various surroundings, Ed proudly and humbly received the sacrament of baptism as an adult in Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church, the first church of which he has formally become a member. The faithfulness of that decision is evident in Ed’s deep and devoted involvement in the whole life of the church, in all its programs and ministries—education, worship, fellowship, stewardship, mission. He is a deeply dedicated servant of God, a worthy representative of the Presbyterian Church, and an enormously faithful example for all who worship and serve alongside him.

When the current Presbyterian Man of the Year, Harry Slusser, was asked privately his opinion of the possibility of Ed being named as his successor, Harry instantly responded, “If Ed isn’t the Presbyterian Man of the Year, I don’t know what that term means.”

The Presbyterian Men and the Session of Carolina Beach Presbyterian Church are proud to recognize Ed Davis as the Presbyterian Man of the Year.

The Capital Campaign Sub-Committee for the expansion of our building is hard at work preparing for a fall campaign to raise funds for the project. We have retained the services of a consultant from Presbyterian Church Financial Campaign Services, the Rev. L. Edwin (Ed) Martin. We have a plan developed by our consultant and have formed committees to carry out the various tasks associated with a capital campaign. The chairs are contacting church members to fill positions. You may have been contacted, or may be contacted in the near future!

Campaign Sub-committee Co-Moderators – Ed Davis and Fran Young

Promotion Committee – George Rose

Advanced Gifts Committee – Harrison Clark and Mark McLamb

Visiting Stewards Committee – Bettie Slusser and Jason Clamme

Finance Committee – Debi Taylor

Support Committee – Sally Hillbeck

Prayer Committee – Clara Hare

Hospitality Committee – Faye Smith

Fulfillment Committee – Cindy Snead

Undertaking this project will require the focus and commitment that are appropriate for God’s service. Watch for a series of mailings in September-October. And—if we may be so bold—we will ask every church member to plan on an after-church dinner on October 19. Rides will be made available for anyone who needs one. It is not inappropriate to change plans or schedule around that date in order to be here. Commitments will be received the following Sunday.

The focus of our efforts is to provide the physical facilities that are necessary to carry out the mission of this church now and in the future. We need your prayerful consideration and support. As we move forward with this project and the need to make personal commitments, let us always remember that this is not for our glory, but for the glory of God—and will only be accomplished if it is God’s will.

—Ed Davis and Keith Grogg