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ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018

First Baptist Church, 773 Main St., Westbrook, ME 04092

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Table of Contents Overview of Ministry.................................................................................................................................... 3

2017 Annual Meeting Minutes .................................................................................................................... 8

Report of the Church Clerk………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9

Children’s Ministry …………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………10

Open Door Kitchen …………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………………11

Financials

2017-2018 Year End ......................................................................................................................... 12

Cash position ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………13

2017-2018 Income …………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………..14

Endowment Portfolio ………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………….15

2018-2019 Proposed Budget …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16

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733 Main St. | Westbrook | Maine | 04092 FBCWestbrook.com 207.854.8394

A Faith Building Community Love God. Love People. Live Like Jesus.

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the

hope we profess, for he who promised

is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we

may spur one another on toward love

and good deeds, 25 not giving up

meeting together, as some are in the

habit of doing, but encouraging one

another—and all the more as you see

the Day approaching. Heb 10:23-25

Our mission is a “together” calling

This mission that Jesus calls us to is clearly a

“together” mission. But, our American society

is increasingly a culture of isolation and

separation. Our homes are comfortable havens

where we have everything we need on

demand.

“Life is what happens when you put down your phone.”

I read this quote the other day and was struck

by its truth. Our culture is now a culture that

looks at screens more than faces. We

communicate more with text than we do with

spoken word.

We think we have it all and that life is easier

and more convenient but, statistics show us

that anxiety and depression are increasing at

an alarming rate. Why?

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for

the man to be alone… Gen. 2:18

Across the country, attendance is down. It’s

down at clubs and civic groups. It’s down at

movies, hitting a 25-year low in 2017.

Attendance is down everywhere people have

gathered, including churches. Our society is

gathering less and isolating more.

And yet, God calls us to gather and then to go

out. We gather for worship and learning and

then are sent out to live out the mission of

loving God and loving others.

Scripture tells us that there is strength and

encouragement in gathering while our culture

is telling us that staying home and “watching

church” on TV or online is just as good as

going. Our culture is convincing us that

listening to a good church podcast is the better

option.

The old adage of “strength in numbers” is

going out of style in America.

The church is a body of people, a body meant

to function together, grow together, serve

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together and worship together. Scripture is

clear on that fact.

Entering my fourth fiscal year as lead pastor

here in Westbrook, I have enjoyed our

together times most. I have been amazed at

what God has accomplished when we’ve

dared join together to serve or follow His call.

I am praying that in 2018-2019, we will go

against cultural societal trends and see some

major growth steps in the together aspects of

our body life.

Looking at who we are…

We’re not a large church and that is totally

okay with me. In fact, I love our intimate,

family atmosphere where people can come to

worship, find friends and jump in to serve.

When we remember to take the first few

minutes after the last “amen” to think of

others, we are a welcoming body and do a

great job greeting new people. That can be a

challenge when we just want to catch up with

people we know and haven’t seen in a week or

two!

Our music ministry team does an amazing job

week after week. I am so thankful for the way

they give their time to serve. Pray with us for

the addition of more musicians to allow team

members a chance to rotate.

One of my favorite things about our body is

that our children are truly valued not as “the

church of tomorrow” but just as much a part

of the church of today as you and I are. They

are welcomed, included and integrated into

our body and also have times designed just for

them. In the first few months of 2018 we’ve

seen our Kidztime program redesigned,

retooled and even have been doing some

redecorating for our “through the bible”

theme. We’ll be getting some regular feedback

directly from our children now and then on

Sunday mornings.

Our new nursery is a big hit! It’s bigger, has

new toys and books and games and is a much

better space for our toddlers.

We saw great enthusiasm for our new, Sunday

morning, faith conversations over breakfast.

We made connections and grew closer

together.

Our Wednesday morning bible study group

also saw some growth. It’s a highlight to my

week. The interactive, any-question-welcome,

format has helped us connect with one

another.

In April we returned to the school we support

in Oratorio, Guatemala with a team of 17. We

directed a VBS program, delivered water

filters, connected with the children sponsored

by people in our congregation, made home

visits and delivered beds, provided 79 health

exams by our team doctor and came home

with 13 additional children sponsored.

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Also, because of our location in downtown

Westbrook, right on Main Street, we have

some opportunities that most churches do not

have. We are accessible to people who own no

vehicles and have very limited income. I am

so thankful that we get to minister to a diverse

population!

Our new immigrant ministry is growing

quickly!

In the last year, God opened doors for us to

welcome a small group of immigrants who

needed a space to pray. Of course, we were

thrilled to have space to say, “come pray here!

We have plenty of room!”

That dozen or so people, speaking French,

Portuguese and Lingala, began to attract

others happy to connect.

Now they have a worship service that involves

50-60 people and meets on Saturday evenings

in our auditorium.

On Sunday, June 24 we will celebrate with our

newest congregation as they move to a full-

fledged Sunday service that will meet on

Sundays at 12:30.

I am SO excited about what God is building

here! With this growth comes numerous

opportunities and challenges where we will

get to see God move and answer prayer.

TEN YEARS OF SERVING?

We’re celebrating 10 years of working

together to feed people in our community

through the Open Door Kitchen. That is so

amazing. Even at tough times, God has

preserved this ministry and kept it going

through our people who are committed to

doing whatever it takes to honor God and

fulfill his calling.

Missions – We are “AND” people!

Hurricane help, food pantry drives, helping

local needs, supporting the local Red Cross

and the Good Shepherd Food Bank,

supporting Westbrook’s new Transformation

Project helping to mentor young men released

from detention, AMG Guatemala, child

sponsorship, hosting a free carnival for

toddlers as part of Westbrook Together Days,

our Open Door Kitchen, community message

board, Abba Women’s Ministry, clean water

filters for 100 Oratorio families … AND on

AND on …

But you will receive power when the Holy

Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my

witnesses, telling people about me

EVERYWHERE--in Jerusalem, AND

throughout Judea, AND in Samaria, AND to

the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

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Our mission is not a matter of here OR

there. We have been called to here AND there

and are continuing to answer that call.

Women’s Ministry

Our Tuesday night group has had a consistent

group of women completing book studies and

building relationships in addition to our

annual Spring retreat.

Leadership

I am thankful for our leadership team and the

teams of people working in each area of

ministry.

I’m excited that we are now at the point, now

that a new constitution and bylaws have been

put in place and we have our feet underneath

us, of seeing some of our original leadership

team members rotate off the official team to

be replaced by others to bring new energy and

ideas to the mix.

Our biggest limiting factor has been that only

“official members” can serve on the

leadership team but many of our most active

and most involved people have yet to take that

official step. May I encourage YOU to take

that step now?

After we chat with a few who are clearly

active, supportive and serving and get the

okay, we will present as many as four new

names to be added to our team at a brief

meeting in September.

No worries, our leadership team is NOTHING

like the boards and committees you may have

served with before.

Our partnership in the gospel is what moves

us forward. We are not a staff driven church

by any means. Without you, our team is

weaker. It’s a TOGETHER thing, remember?

Looking into the Year to Come

We have some challenges and opportunities

ahead that will help us grow in our faith.

1) Personal discipleship growth within

our body. I am praying this is the year

we begin to see small groups take

shape. (yes, a repeat from last year’s

annual report but SO MUCH CLOSER

to reality now.)

2) Financial support for our ministry.

While we support numerous other

things as a body, it’s important that we

not forget that our own ministry is

needing support to be sustainable long

term. 2017-2018 was a difficult year

for our budget for a number of reasons

beyond our control. In fact, you will

see we are proposing taking $30,000

from savings to make up the deficit.

We are proposing a budget with no

increase for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

3) Will this be the year we accomplish

kitchen renovation and move toward

installing an elevator?

4) Bus ministry? Will God move us

toward getting a mini-bus to provide

badly-needed transportation for our

immigrant congregation and Sunday

mornings? Let’s pray about it.

5) Opioid crisis in our state. On average I

get 2-3 contacts a week from families

and individuals reeling from the

impact of addiction. At the least I

would like to see us have a team

assembling emergency kits we can

offer those who come in homeless,

hungry and looking for

encouragement. But, I’d like us to be

seeking God to see if he is calling us to

play a greater role in bringing answers,

support and Life to these hurting

families.

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It has been another incredible year

I am thankful for the accepting and

welcoming culture God has built here. Again,

we have seen some find hope and strength and

begin turning their lives around.

There has been a good deal of shifting in

the church of Southern Maine over the past

year with the opening of Maine’s first

megachurch ministry center. It is a

tremendous addition to the local church. God

has called some to move to help establish that

ministry and see it expand and has called

others to invest more heavily in the smaller,

community churches.

That shifting has affected most every church

in the area to some degree. Transition always

presents both challenges and opportunities.

Things have settled down and the local church

is now stronger and has a tremendous resource

for concerts, conferences and events that it has

not had in the past.

We have already been directly blessed by the

ministries of our megachurch neighbor as its

youth group renovated our lobby and gave the

front of our building a much-needed facelift!

And, Eastpoint drove our Guatemala team to

Logan airport in its two minibuses and picked

it up when it returned. That was a savings to

us of almost $900.

We are all one church working together. It is

not a competition!

As a body, we’ve adjusted after saying

goodbye to some called to worship and serve

elsewhere but have been blessed to welcome

others called to worship and serve here.

We are ready to head into the next year

excited to see what God has planned for our

local body and the church in Southern Maine

working together to reach Maine.

My prayer is that we all will make growing

closer to Jesus our top priority in our lives

over the next year. My prayer is that we will

resist the isolating, separating pull of culture

and make our together time top priority. When

we do that life makes a whole lot more sense.

There is indeed strength in numbers!

It’s a TOGETHER thing!

By Grace,

Scott Linscott

Lead Pastor

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2017 Annual Meeting Minutes

June 3, 2017

Meeting called to order by Scott Linscott, Pastor

Scott opened with prayer.

A motion was made to appoint Cheri Roma as

moderator.

**Moved and seconded, (Jan Perry, Phil Perry)

Motion passes unanimously.

A total of 41 were in attendance, all which were

members.

A motion was made to accept the minutes

presented in annual report as written.

**Moved and seconded that we approve the report

as written. ( Ruth Webster, Cliff McKinley)

Motion passes unanimously.

A motion was made to accept the Mission Budget as

presented.

**Moved and seconded that we approve the

reports as written. ( Stacey Lamson, Dana Kelley)

Motion passes unanimously.

Church Budget

Pastors package was presented. Lines 300, 310,

320, 325 .

Pastor misc. lines/Pastoral Relations lines

340,360,363,365, were presented.

***Moved and seconded that we approve the lines

as presented. Bob Radley, Ruth Webster)

Motion passes unanimously.

Custodian line 500, Music Ministry 600, Secretary

700, Payroll Tax 750, Workers Compensation 562

were presented.

***Moved and seconded that we approve the lines

as presented. (Ruth Webster, Bob Radley)

Motion passes unanimously

Moved and 2nd that we approve the remaining

budget as a whole.

(Bob Radley, Dana Kelly)

Lines 530, 541, 543, 545, 546, 560, 370, 510, 710,

715, 720, 800, 850

Motion passes unanimously.

Reports of the Pastor, Church Clerk, Treasurer-Cash

Position, Expense Reports, Endowment and Open

Door Kitchen were presented.

**Moved and seconded that we approve the

reports as written. ( Cliff McKinley, Deanna Kelly)

Motion passes unanimously.

A motion was made to allow the Accountable Plan

for Pastor to allow up to 50% of his salary to be

allocated for housing allowance.

***Moved and seconded that we accept the motion

as written. (Phil Perry, Jen Printy)

Motion passes unanimously.

Scott closed in prayer.

Meeting adjourned.

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Report of the Church Clerk

Our annual meeting will be held on Sunday, June 5,

2016 to vote on the upcoming Fiscal Year Budget

2015-2016

Members left by Letter of Transfer 3

Gloria Hodgdon

Eleanor Knowlen

James Knowlen

Members left by request 0

Members Deceased 2

Fran Bouchard

Susan Brown

Members joined by Letter of Transfer 0

Members joined Profession of Faith 0

Members joined by Baptism 0

Active Members 55

Shut In. 5

Inactive 5

No. Members attending regularly. 48

Respectfully Submitted

Debbie Cary

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Children’s Ministry- KIDZTIME

It has been an exciting year in the world of KIDZ! Our space has been revamped a bit and is much more inviting. Swing by the Fellowship Hall and check it out!

We are blessed to have a terrific team of teachers who volunteer their time helping our KIDZ learn about the love of the Lord. We recently began a NEW program that starts with Creation (makes sense, right?) and takes our KIDZ right through the Old Testament. Our hope is to bring in other volunteers from church to help teach (do a song or a puppet show, art project, etc.). We are also hoping to have the kids to in church once a month to show folks what they are learning! The first

few weeks of our new program are under our belt and the kids are excited so far. We look forward to seeing where this program takes us!

We continue to sponsor a child from Guatemala, Nery Jose. Our KIDZ are learning, early on, that helping others in small ways can make a difference. Blessings ~

Stephanie Holmes

Deanna Kelly

Leslie Kelly

Noelle Mercier

Bob Smith

Kim Walls

Nery Jose is sponsored by our children.

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OPEN DOOR KITCHEN

The Lord can do more than you can! He has blessed us this past year with the contributions From NNOF, The Bakers Bench, our church, Clients and all the help we get from the volunteers and bakers!

We pray for all those that we serve and all those that help. We are both saddened by and excited for our mission that the Lord has given us. May this mission let us plant mustard seeds and watch them grow.

May God bless you as he has for us!! Respectfully submitted, Clifford McKinley

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FINANCIAL REPORTS

2017-2018 YEAR END

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First Baptist Church Westbrook Maine

Cash Position as of April 30, 2018

Checking Account

General ($22,881.65)

Designated Savings

Building Fund ($ 1,714.76)

Christian Ed/Youth $ 2,531.81

Diaconate $ 2,397.24

Hurricane Relief $ 1,457.05

Benevolence $ 1,124.67

Memorial Gifts $ 721.86

Open Door $ 200.00

Mission Trip $ 7,036.09

Special Offering $ 950.00

Easter Offering $ 1,955.00

Missions 2016 – 2017 $ 7,219.81

Missions 2017 – 2018 $12,063.00

Savings Total $35,941.77

Total Cash $13,060.12

Liabilities

Note Payable FBC $41,970.18

Respectfully Submitted

Reg Cary

Treasurer

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FBC Cash In Report

May 1 2017 through April 30 2018

Giving

Envelopes $68,101.50

Loose $ 4,372.41

Endowment $31,651.00

Online $22,416.00

Total $126,540.91

10% Missions $12,654.10

Other Special Offerings

Thanksgiving $ 892.00

Christmas $ 376.00

Easter $ 973.00

Open Door $ 5,254.26

Mission Trip $31,173.25

Benevolence $ 1,444.43

Hurricane Relief $ 1,437.05

Water Filters $ 4,437.00

Misc Offerings $ 3,686.54

Total Special Offerings $ 49,673.53

Misc Payments Received

Greenough Fund $ 4,000.00

Insurance Claim $ 6,537.39

Total Misc Payments $ 10,537.39

Total Deposits $186,751.83

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ENDOWMENTS

May 2017-April 2018

Morgan Stanley Portfolio

Fellowship H.M.M.F. Endowment Retirement

1/01/2017 $57,294.64 $17,567.12 $271,083.74 $25,163.01

Withdrawals ($35,000.00)

( $8,000.00)

Deposits $9,005.55 $8,232.00

Mkt Activity

14.59% Gain $8,290.53 $ 2,541.96 $34,312.44 $4,832.27

12/31/17 $65,585.17 $20,108.08 $271,401.73 $38,227.28

Spending Bal

04/30/2017 $ 2,459.98 $ 2,039.00 $ 13,151.00

Spent 0.00 ( $ 2,000.00) ( $ 25,651.00)

Awards $ 3,000.00 $ 1,000.00 $ 12,500.00

Avail 5/01/18 $ 5,459.98 $ 1,039.00 $ 0.00

Respectfully Submitted

Reg Cary

Treasurer

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2018-2019 Proposed Budget