Master Planning Congregational Discussion�

March 30th, 2025

Welcome & Introductions

Our Problem

We have successfully renovated our Sanctuary!

In doing so, we have solved a long lingering problem, and the first priority of the Master Plan. This moves us to an equally challenging next step of determining what we want to accomplish with the second phase of the Master Plan.

Our Problem – Part II

Establishing this priority is complicated by….

• Additional deferred maintenance throughout the building
• Realistically evaluating our financial assets
• A desire to keep what makes St. John’s special, while also improving it.

Our March 2^nd Discussion

• When we met on March 2^nd, we reviewed handouts related to each of the three priorities.

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• Breakout groups then met to discuss each handout, and shared observations and questions from those discussions with the larger congregation.

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• The team then shared FAQ#2 based on those questions in the e-news and church website.

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Follow-up from our March 2^nd Discussion

• “But I still have some unanswered questions!”
• One of the themes we have as we work through this process will be ‘Reasonable Uncertainty”?

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• What is a Reasonable Uncertainty
• When looking at a large number of projects, we have many questions we could ask and pursue. We also have limited resources to answer all questions.
• Some of these questions….
• Are essential to understanding what options we may pursue, or
• May be nice to know, but won’t affect the decision we may make, or
• Can’t be answered until other decisions are answered first.

So what do we need to do?

• Understanding that we may have Reasonable Uncertainties with where we are at today –

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• Do we have enough information to establish a Strategic Direction or Plan of Action? How can all of our priorities begin to come together?
• What can we accomplish?
• How much will it cost?
• How might we do it?
• What are the limits of this plan?

What’s in a Plan?

• The goal with developing a Strategic Direction or Plan of Action is congregational endorsement of specific priorities and direction.

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• It is not a substitute for details that will eventually emerge and must be addressed, but allows the Congregation to focus planning, discussion, and our valuable resources on items that are most relevant.

Context of Planning

• The intent is to provide a holistic approach to the Wants and Needs of our Church, while also holistically looking at assets

Deferred Maintenance

Property Improvements

Other Church Needs

Both / And Planning

How the Team developed the Plan

• Line by Line accounting of different project costs
• Financial projections and estimates reaching out 7 years for endowment funds
• Other budgetary constraints that may come up (Hiring for a New Minister!)

Team Assumptions

Finances

• We have reasonable cash reserves, but we also continue to pass deficit budgets
• We should leverage our assets, but not compromise our Future

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Deferred Maintenance

• We have a substantial backlog of deferred maintenance & need to ensure critical aspects are addressed
• We don’t have to address every item today however

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Opportunities for Improvement

• We have real gaps in what our facility offers, and how facility supports our congregational mission.

Both / And Team Includes….

• Joetta Prost
• Wanda Crawford
• Melissa Rowland
• Monica Pellman
• Susan Small
• Ann Schuur
• Meredith Green
• Matt Cowperthwait
• Kathy Shell

• Bo Wachendorf
• Cliff Shisler
• Bill Luerssen
• Nancy Johnson
• Linda Heath
• Charles Spencer
• Winnie Goodridge
• Chris Wagner
• Rev. Jenn Gracen.

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What can we accomplish with Both/And Plan?

A holistic list of projects that could be accomplished include the following:

Estimated Costs provided by Beischel, MSA and vendors in 2024

How could we do this with Both/And Plan?

• Key Financial Aspects include:

* Due to deficit year end budgeting, the proposal was to not leverage approx. $70K cash reserves in funding the Both/And plan.

Our First Breakout

• We have shared the high level details of the Both/And plan and what it could accomplish, as well as what it could cost and the resources we could apply to it.

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• We will discuss the funding gap in subsequent slides and after the first breakout.

Breakout Group Formation

• Does everybody have a copy of the handouts that were provided? For those online, able to access it currently?

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• We will count out people to form groups, and assign groups online in Zoom channels

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• Discussion and sharing of sentiments with fellow congregants

Breakout Group Instructions

• Introduce yourself and share how long you have been at St. John’s

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• Assign a scribe for each group to track notes and sentiments from the discussion. These will be collected, so please write legibly!

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• Talk with your fellow congregants and consider the best course of action for each of the prompts.

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• Your group scribe will share sentiments from your discussion at the end of today’s meeting.

Our First Breakout

• Can you envision it? Does the Strategic Direction align with your own thoughts for the Church?

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• Are there elements of this that aren’t clear? Portions you would want to learn more about? Are there ‘Reasonable Uncertainties’, or are there critical questions?

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• We will provide 20 minutes for this discussion. Remember to have your scribe record notes.

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Bridging the Gap

• As was described in earlier slides, there is a financial gap between what we have identified as assets, and what our Project Listing is.

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• The Both/And Team discussed several options that we will cover in the next few slides.

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• More details are also provided on each accompanying handout.

Bridging the Gap – Second Ask

• A ‘Second Ask’ within the existing capital campaign, for those who:
• May not have attended St. John’s in 2022
• May feel inclined to increase their contributions
• May have not contributed in 2022, and now feel the desire to do so.

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This is a fairly common approach, where the second ask would be designed to “Fill the Gap”, and doing MORE than we thought we might.

Bridging the Gap – Selling Specific Artwork

• St. John’s has been fortunate to be the recipient of some wonderful pieces of art, some of which has been integral to the beauty of our Sanctuary.
• Some art, such as the Bertoia – are so integral to our building that we do not recommend even exploring the sale of.
• Some art, we are less attached to, and we have not always been good stewards of – such as failing to insure it or protect it, even though it holds substantial financial value.
• This is a complex issue that we would value the Congregation’s perspective on.

Bridging the Gap – Leverage Music Endowment

• Brought forward by members of Choir and Music Team & Rob
• As the Music Endowment fund has been more proportionately invested, its assets have grown.
• A one-time action to leverage those assets in paying St. John’s staff, and correspondingly freeing up Operating Fund Earnings for the other work.
• Ensuring enough money is still retained within the Music Fund to fulfill music related programming.

Bridging the Gap – Pursue a Loan

• Utilization of a Loan to bridge the financial gap that may exist
• A bridge loan was considered, but not obtained for the Sanctuary restoration. As a result, we do not know hard costs for an appraisal that would be necessary.
• A loan would infer the debt service costs to the Congregation within the annual budget.
• Interest rates continue to fluctuate, but as of December were 7.75%.

Our Second Breakout – Bridging the Gap

• What are your feelings towards each of the options for bridging the gap? How do you feel they align with the Strategic Direction for the Church? Which options would you support?

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• Are there elements of this that aren’t clear? Portions you would want to learn more about? Are there ‘Reasonable Uncertainties’, or are there critical questions?

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• We will provide 20 minutes for this discussion. Remember to have your scribe record notes.

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Shareout

• We would like to invite the scribe from each group to come forward for 5 minutes and share key notes from their group's conversation.

Where are we at Process wise?

• What comes next? In the coming months…
• A congregational vote on 2 related items:
• Endorsement of a Strategic Direction or Plan of Action
• Endorsement of a Funding Strategy based on the Strategic Direction

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• Establishing the Congregation’s support of the Strategic Direction and Funding Strategy is necessary to allow us to move forward
• As things change, we will continue to come back to the Congregation – Just as we did for the Sanctuary Façade.

Thank you!