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Administration
Christmas Flowers
The Poinsettias at Christmas are always a stunning part of the decorations of the Church. Each plant is a gift to the Church “in Thanksgiving for” or “in memory of” a specific individual. Last year, over seventy five plants memorialized a dear one through the holiday season.
This year, the due date for participating is December 10. Please mark your calendars and get your requests processed in time. Mail or turn in the name(s) of the person(s) you would like to memoralize or thank to the church office with your check. ~ Ken Coker
Office Closed
The office of St. Michael’s Church will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 27 and 28, 2008. The members of your staff will be spending the Thanksgiving Holidays with their families. The office will open again on Monday, December 1. ~ Ken Coker
Generation to Generation Campaign Contribution Reports
The Generation to Generation Campaign contribution payment period is continuing! We have been through a year of transition at St. Michael’s; including a year in which a new bookkeeper has joined us and we have upgraded our accounting system. That flux has interfered with our ability to send to you statements reflecting the status of your Generation to Generation Campaign contribution payments. But we now we have statements ready to go out that you should be receiving soon (and you may have received before you read this).
While we hope that we have credited your payments in the system correctly, you may find that payments you have made are not reflected on your statement or you may find other discrepancies. We need your help in making sure any inaccuracies are corrected. If you find that payments are not reflected on your statement, please provide us with the correct information, including check dates and check numbers. I appreciate your help, and your patience, as we work to ensure that we have absolutely accurate records.
I also want to thank you again for your support of the Generation to Generation Campaign. If you think back on what life at St. Michael’s was like before we had the new Laura Hewitt Building and the renovated Belser Building, I am sure you will be amazed at the difference the Campaign has made to us as a parish family. The blessings that have resulted could not have happened without your obedience and faithfulness. We saw God work in our midst and you made that possible.
As you know, we borrowed the money to pay for the renovation and expansion and are paying that loan off as your gift payments are received. We have about $2,000,000 left to pay off (out of a total of about $7,000,000), so your continued faithfulness in paying your Campaign commitment is very important to us! May your Campaign contribution statement serve as a reminder to you of payments which you may have overlooked and in your planning to complete your commitment.
If you have any questions about the information reflected on the statement you receive, please call or e-mail Ken Coker (ken@stmichaelschurch.net) or Ann Hester Willis (ahw56@bellsouth.net). Praise God! ~ Ann Hester Willis, Junior Warden
PAROCHIAL UPDATES - October 2008
From the Parish Register
Baptisms: We receive you into the household of God…
10-19-08 George Chester Greene, V, son of Gina Brown and George Chester Greene, IV
10-19-08 Harrison Bennett Hillman, son of Dawn Irene Montplaisir and John Allen Hillman
10-19-08 Cecilia Heyward Vick, daughter of Mary Heyward Belser and Michael Lloyd Vick
Transferred In: Welcome!
10-7-08 Norman R. Owens, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension, Savannah, GA. Invited by our welcoming St. Michael’s Congregation!
10-7-08 The Rev. Canon Douglas & Mrs. Joanne Peterson, from the Cathedral Church of St. Luke & St. Paul, Charleston, SC. Invited again by our welcoming St. Michael’s Congregation!
10-16-08 Charles Langley & Ann R. Beauchamp, from Church of the Good Shepherd, Charleston, SC. Invited by “the Spirit of the Lord!”
10-21-08 James Eric Layton, from St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Kinston, NC. Invited by our welcoming St. Michael’s Congregation!
Transfers Out: God bless…
10-14-08 Lee Meyer & Elsie Vesper Kohlenberg, Jr., Grace Episcopal Church, Charleston, SC 29401
10-1-08 Winfred Simmons & Mary Addison Ingle Tutterow & children, Mary Addison, & William, St. Philip’s Church, Charleston, SC 29401
10-1-08 Amy Susan Gibson Fraser Morrison Montague, Christ Episcopal Church, Charlotte, NC 28207
10-1-08 Dorothy Hunt Wilson Stark & children, Emma & Lucy, Christ Episcopal Church, Charlotte, NC 28207
Marriages: Congratulations!
10-07-08 Caroline Eve deVlaming and William Daugherty Farrior, IV
84 – D Bull Street, Charleston, SC 29401 Telephone: 843-670-1009
10-11-08 Kendall Harris Jordan and Brents Hayden Lee
1021 Rosewood Lane, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 Telephone: 843-225-1659
10-25-08 Mary Gretchen Kroncke and Jamie Seabrook Sosnowski
132 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29401 Telephone: 843-817-5667
Deaths: Rest Eternal Grant to…
10-06-08 Thomas Lawman Lucas, Jr. M.D.
Where Is The Money Going?
I confess! I have been guilty of “wordsmithing” in previous articles designed to make you aware of your obligation/duty/need to return to God a portion of that which He has given to you. But, regardless of how true or important that message is, or how artfully you disguise it, you can only put it out there x number of times before you can actually hear eyes glaze over and see curtains of the mind being drawn. Me too!
I think that it is easier to pull a string than to push one. I think that it might be more interesting to everyone to know how their offerings are being spent than to continue to “beat the offering drum”. And, hopefully, seeing how the dollars are spent, you will be encouraged to continue your investment in and/or increase your offerings to St. Michael’s.
I have gone though the financial statements of St. Michael’s for the entire year of 2007 and the first nine months of 2008 to create the two pie charts of expenses shown below. They are proportional; hence, the 2008 pie is smaller than the 2007 pie.
In grouping the expenditures together, I have elected to use broader, general terms rather than technical accounting terms to describe the purpose of the expenditure. (There may be those who would say that I choose general terms because I do not understand the technical terms…and they just might be correct!)
13.5% of our 2007 expenditures were for our Children and Youth. 17.7 % went to others through our Outreach discipline. 29.8 % was spent for Pastoral Care, Counseling and Consoling, Sermons, Weddings, and Funerals. And, our Campus is not without its unique hunger! We spent 15.9% of our expense dollars on the maintenance, upkeep, and securing of our properties, historic and contemporary. Amazing! (Maybe not if you live south of Broad in an older residence.) Worship, music, and evangelism captured 9.5% of our expense dollar. And all of these expenditures were directed, coordinated, and supported through Administration at a cost of 13.6%.
By comparing the 2007 expenses to those expenses recorded in the first nine months of 2008, you can see the slight shifts in direction. Not that 2007 is an optimum year (I can think of many reasons why it actually makes a poor benchmark year), it just happens to be convenient in data and memory.
Worship, music, and evangelism expenditures in 2008 are tracking at 14.2% of expenses. We have both a new Worship Leader and an Alpha Coordinator on staff. The expenditures for Children & Youth have decreased to 9.3%. We have one less Youth Minister on our staff this year. The Outreach ministry lags last year, at this point, with an expense expenditure of 14.3% but it is, by and large, a ministry of the “fourth quarter” as the funds become available. Properties and Pastoral Care continue at a pace similar to last year of 15.5% and 29%, respectively. And Administration has increased its percentage of expense to17.7% with a new staff member.
It is no surprise that slight shifts in percentages are emerging. The vision for St. Michael’s Church, as adopted by the Vestry, calls for increased spending in new areas and curtailed spending in others. We hope that you will take both pleasure and ownership as you continue to monitor these changes. ~ Ken Coker
The Old 80/20 Rule!
When I was a management consultant, if I ever needed to make a point with a business manager, I could always rely on the help of the “80/20 rule”. I would say, “You know, John, 20% of your staff is receiving 80% of your compensation expense budget. Are they providing you the best return for it?” Or, “You know, Susan, 80% of your revenue is coming from 20% of your customers. What steps should you take to shore-up those customer relationships?” I don’t know how long this old statistical adage has been around but I have yet to see it fail in its ability to put statistics together in a thoughtful way.
St. Michael’s Church is an interesting exercise for statistics. We looked at the latest full year (2007) of (pledged) promise offering statistics…no names, just a column of numbers! We sliced and diced the numbers and these were the results.
In 2007, the total (pledged) promised offerings to God through the church were $1,227,988 from 273 (pledging) promise units. (A pledging or promise unit could be an individual, a married couple, or a family).
20% of the promise units (55 units) provided 61.4% or $754,541 of the total promise offerings for the year.
80% of the promise units (218 units) provided 38.6% or $473,447 of the total promise offerings for the year.
If you were in charge of Procter & Gamble and were faced with statistics that told you that 61.4% of your income came from 20% of your customers, what steps would you be prompted to take? What opportunities would you see in the 80% of your customers that are responsible for 38.6% of your business?
I know, I know, we are not Procter & Gamble—we are St. Michael’s Church. The financial statistics reported above are incomplete as to the total offerings received in 2007. They omitted the “non-pledge” offerings that add approximately another $500,000 to the total income for the year. Of course, that will skew the results. However, St. Michael’s statistics reflect the same percentages as found in many other businesses. The real question for each of us to ponder is “should they?”
~ Ken Coker, Chief of Administration
The Petrie Silver Alms Basin
In 1781, Henry A. Middleton, Esq. (2) presented St. Michael’s Church with an alms basin made by Alexander Petrie, a Charleston silversmith. The alms basin was a “re-gift”. It was originally a gift from his grandfather.
In 2008, the silver alms basin was used as a centerpiece of the worship services this Michaelmas Sunday.
The beautiful silver alms basin is a rare example of early Charleston silver craftsmanship and has been on loan to the Middleton Foundation at Middleton Plantation.
~ Ken Coker
Gap Control!
August, the eighth month of the year, is over. 66% of the year of 2008 is over. Interestingly, at the end of August, just 51.8% of the funds that were pledged through tithing have been received. Said differently, the cash flow anticipated through your pledges of tithing has not been received in proportion to the amount of the year that has been paid for. That gap of 14.2% places your Church in an awkward financial position. Please examine your hearts and your payment schedules. Help us reduce that gap quickly.
~ Ken Coker
Quarterly Offering Experience Statements
Over the past few weeks, the quarterly statement of your offering experience (year to date) has been mailed to you. One of two things happened: you either received your statement of giving or you did not! If you did not receive your statement, please except my apologies, call me and I will see that you receive one, ASAP! You need not read any farther in this article—go read about ALPHA or Burundi.
If you did receive a quarterly statement, you have had one of two reactions: if the information on the statement agrees with your personal records, all is well. You need not read any farther in this article. However, if the information did not match your records, please give me a call so that we can make corrections.
To be able to give you financial information of your activities, we must record into our accounting system each individual check or gift each week. We cannot record information as a “total sum.” This gives us a number of opportunities for a posting error—all it takes is one missed key stroke!
By sending quarterly statements to you, we have an opportunity to make sure that our accounting information is correct for the year-end tax statements.
We are making plans to send out a third quarter statement after the close of September to continue the process of checking our data. Please call me with any information that does not match yours.
Vestry Approves Employee Handbook
At its August 28 meeting, the Vestry of St. Michael’s Church approved a comprehensive Employee Handbook designed to cover many of the operational activities of the office and employees of St. Michael’s Church. The growth of the office and the turnover in personnel were the motivating factors in the construction of the Handbook.
Ninety percent of the Handbook is best characterized as a codification of the existing methodologies used everyday. The balance of the Handbook represents the restructuring of our activities around the concept of “best practices.”
The Rector and the Chief of Administration spent many hours challenging one another with objectives, ideas, and “how best to achieve them” in the construction of the document. Robby Marion, of the Vestry, and Harrington Bissell, both with experience in personnel issues, gave invaluable insight and suggestions during the process. Once completed, Walker Coleman, IV reviewed the document from a legal prospective.
Robby Marion said it best, “This document is not cast in stone but is living. It will change as the need for change is observed.”
Should you have nothing better to do and wish to read the new Handbook, a copy is available in the Church office for your examination.
Publication Frequency of The Messenger
By tradition, The Messenger, the periodic newsletter of St. Michael’s Church, has been published every other week during the summer months. We used that period of time this last and most recent summer to self-evaluate all phases of our publication and found that we had not made the progress toward giving you the quality of publication that we expected.
We found that, in publishing every week, a certain volume of material was required. We judged that much of our material was repetitious. Having a bulk of information rather than current information is off-putting to many readers.
We additionally found that we had not found the best organizational infrastructure to produce and deliver a comprehensive, informative product to you. Our structure called for too much activity within too small a period of time.
But the moment of truth was delivered, unknowingly, by a young man in a local High School when, while reading our publication and discovering a blatant grammar faux pas, turned to his mother and said, ”I thought the people that wrote this went to College!”
First, we apologize. We have tried to fly too fast and too low! Second, we ask your forgiveness. Third, we get it! The quality of the publication takes precedence over the bulk of or the frequency of the publication.
Effective immediately, we are extending the “every other week” publication schedule of The Messenger to give us time to put in place a new infrastructure of publication planning. New responsibilities will be invoked. New time frames will be imposed. We want to get it right. Then, after we get it right, we will address the issue of publication every week.
Giving On-line to St. Michael’s
“They will not talk about the elephant in their living room!” Have you ever heard that said of someone? The metaphor is a great one. The obvious problem is right in front of us yet we are avoiding it. Well, friends, now is the time.
The problem simply stated is that, in the summer, our “overhead” continues marching in a straight line. This marching line only varies to trend upward as price increases are passed through to us. However, the line made by “cash flow”, the country cousin of “overhead”, looks like a well-used clothes line in the back yard. The ends of the line are higher but the middle is sagging. Our cash flow at St. Michael’s Church is no different than the back yard clothes line. The months of January, February and November, December are higher in giving. June, July, and August are months of lower giving. We have looked at this phenomenon with the Vestry and, sure enough, over the past three years the same cash flow pattern emerges. Feast or famine! Cash flow is healthy at the beginning and end of the calendar year and anemic in the middle of the year.
A substantial reason for this phenomenon is that the summer months bring times of family vacations and weekend trips that take us away from the Sunday services of St. Michael’s. How many times have you been out of the city on vacation and realized that you had forgotten to make arrangements for your weekly financial gift to God to be sent to St. Michael’s? It has happened to all of us…sure, it has happened to me! It is one of those small details that we leave until later - - then forget!
As the Rector has said many times, “Don’t come to me with a problem unless you also have a solution”. Well, we have a solution. When you are away from St. Michael’s, you can now log on to the St. Michael’s web site www.stmichaelschurch.net and make your weekly gift to God through the Internet! A new service has been made available to us by a company called Paperless Payments. Through rather simple instructions at our web site, you can tell Paperless Payments to make a payment from your checking account to St. Michael’s Church and it will happen whether you are at Meeting and Broad Streets or somewhere “off”. You can start and/or stop the instructions at any time or you can establish a regular cycle of payment and never have to remember to bring your check book to church!
Concerned about the security of a transaction like this? Paperless Payments uses “128-bit Secure Socket Layer encryption when transmitting financial data.” I don’t know what that means either, but your twelve year old son or grandson will…ask him! I am told that this is the same encrypting method used by Bank of America and First Citizens--- the most secure available!
As with the use of ATM cards, there is a small transaction fee that will be charged to you for this service. For all electronic check transactions—taking money out of your checking account and putting it into the Church’s checking account—the fee is a flat $1.00, regardless of the monetary amount of the transaction. For example, if you gave instructions to transfer $100 to the Church, your checking account would be debited $101. If you gave instructions to transfer $10 to the Church, your checking account would be debited $11 (I think that there is a message in there).
Another interesting feature of this method is that Paperless Payments lets the Church know who is making the gift so that we can keep your charitable giving tax records accurately when we report to you quarterly.
Someday (certainly not now) this payment methodology will be used by all of us on a regular basis. Sounds like “Star Wars” but the day will come. Change keeps marching on. Granted, for my generation it takes away a little from some of the gratefulness that we feel when we are physically able to place our offering directly in the plate on Sunday! However, we have this technology available to us today to make it easier for us to continue our offerings to God. Please use it knowing that it is just an aide.
~ Ken Coker
Parish Directory 2008
The ability of a church to communicate with its members to exchange information is an essential part of organization. We would like to continue our ability to communicate and would like to “upgrade” the quality of our information. The first natural outgrowth of this effort will be a new Parish Directory! I thought that there was no change in my personal information since I had not changed residences, but then I was reminded that I had changed e-mail addresses and that my wife had her own new e-mail address. My point is that those changes are so subtle that we forget that they have happened! Cell phones, e-mail addresses, children that leave the nest (I’m going to sound like “Fiddler on the Roof”!)
Please fill out the below form completely and give us your most current, up-to-date information. We, of course, will not share this information with any individual or business. We use it only to communicate with you. You may drop the form in one of the blue boxes in the North and South Entrances, or the center Narthex to the church. You may also fax, email, or mail the form to the church office. Thank you for your time and patience in filling this form out and waiting for an updated Parish Directory. ~Ken Coker - Chief of Administration
Parish Directory Information Form page 1
Parish Directory Information Form page 2
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