When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him. In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."  - Albert Camus (1913-1960)

 As we start a new year, I am thankful for much in our church community, which brings a smile to my face:  the cheerful, welcoming smiles of fellow members; children engaged in RE activities; hard-working and dedicated staff; folks pitching in and doing their part to help our church community thrive and grow; volunteers working in the larger Baton Rouge community to “make this a better world”; beautiful music; thought-provoking messages from the pulpit, discussions in classes and in the books offered, just to name a few. 

As we begin this New Year, we also start with meetings to review and have the church membership approve our annual operating budget for 2012.   Also, as part of the strategic planning, we will be gearing up to have a capital fund drive in order to accomplish several major goals over the next few years, including additional staffing, church campus improvements and additional programming.  The passage of the annual operating budget and a successful capital fund drive are essential to meet these goals. More information on the capital fund drive will be provided at the Congregational Meeting in January.

As noted in December’s newsletter column, the 2012 Financial Commitment Drive, Finance Committee and Board are continuing to work on the 2012 operating budget proposal, and will hold the following meetings leading up to and including the vote to approve the 2012 budget:

Sun. 01/15/2012 - NOTE THE DATE CHANGE - Open Meeting to discuss the 2012 Budget, after the second service, in the church office.

Tues. 01/17/2012 - Board Meeting to Recommend a 2012 Budget to the Congregation for Approval

Sun. 01/29/2012 - Congregational Meeting to vote to approve the 2012 Budget

Our next board of trustees meeting, noted above, will be at 7:15 pm January 17^th, 2012 in the church office. Interested members are welcome to attend.  If you have a question or concern, or need to contact me directly, please call me at 225-931-6270 or email me at michael_hebert@bellsouth.net.