Report of the Executive Director, June 13, 2009
United Methodist Union of Greater Detroit Report of the Executive Director
To the Board of Trustees – June 13, 2009
Introduction
A most welcome email arrived in our office Tuesday, June 2, 2009 along about 3:16 p.m. (not that we spend all our time clock-watching). It reads as follows:
Connie & Bill
The funds were received and our existing loan was paid off today. I want to extend my personal thanks and the appreciation of our Finance Committee, along with our Congregation for all of your help in processing our new loan with the United Methodist Union. This loan is a win-win for our Church and the Union. It has been a pleasure doing business with you!
Thanks again.
Doug Gress, Finance Committee Chairperson
First United Methodist Church, Farmington
So why tell you? A trio of reasons suggest themselves. The first is blatantly selfish. It makes us look good. And anything that makes us look good, makes you look good. Conversely, any time we screw up…well, you get the picture.
Second, the email highlights one overlooked benefit of the United Methodist connection. While I never met Doug Gress until a few weeks ago, I was his grandmother’s pastor from 1969-80. Her name was Esther Kinnick, who transferred to Newburg UMC from Grace UMC in Detroit. Esther had been around life’s track a few times when our paths crossed. Which may explain why she answered every inquiry about her health with the phrase: “All things considered, I’m able to be about and take a little nourishment.” Now, forty years later, I find myself saying the same thing. Esther’s son, Joe, (Doug’s uncle) put me on the big white horse that nearly threw me, the first time I dressed up as John Wesley and attempted to ride to church. And Joe’s daughter, Cheryl, (Doug’s cousin) provided one of the greatest-ever bride stories from my 1,600 plus weddings. None of which explains why we loaned Doug’s church $500,000.00. But, with apologies to Archie Bunker, it did feel like “All in the Family.”
Third, Doug’s email illustrates something I have been saying for months. Much of my work at the United Methodist Union has to do with befriending…or, in some cases, re-friending. Which has nothing to do with “giving away the store” to curry favor among the customers. Generosity, while always a virtue, should never be employed as a tool. The prior virtue is collegiality, which involves remembering who you are, where you’ve been, and who has journeyed beside you all the way. Clearly, my predecessors in this office believed (and behaved) similarly. But as I said last month in my comments about “systems” and the way pastors feel about them, never have so many trusted so few, so little. Which is why (for folks in jobs like mine) “second mile” need to be ” modus operandi,” rather than the occasional exception.
Toward that end, we hosted over 400 Annual Conference attendees for pie, fruit, coffee, and conversation on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at Adrian College. But anybody can ply people with pie. We had 14 trustees who engaged them in a warm and hospitable manner. All told, a nice evening, and well worth the money spent and effort extended.
And to further that objective, I am taking a group of Monroe area pastors to breakfast on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 followed by a breakfast with downriver pastors on Monday, June 15, 2009. But, if things go as I think they will, both mornings will be more about stories than sausages, opportunities than omelets, dreams than donuts.
But enough food talk, we do have a bit of business before us.
- Pontiac First UMC- We are inching ever closer to the sale of this church building. Truth be told, we have a pair of offers, one of which is from the current occupant of the building, Power House Christian Center Church. The other offer (now in its third proposal/counter proposal stage) is from Berea Family Tabernacle. Both congregations are offering $250,000.00. One is offering $15,000.00 down. Both are seeking Land Contracts. The differences involve interest rates, monthly payments and length of contracts. Neither church is “flush” with cash. Care is being taken to discern “ability to pay.” We could know a great deal more when we gather on June 13, 2009. Or we could know nothing.
- Other Real Estate Issues – At present, we have some form of ownership interest in 15 pieces of property. These include:
- 2 parcels of vacant land
- 4 occupied or unoccupied residential housing units (1 Land Contract)
- 9 occupied church buildings (4 of which are being rented, 5 of which are being purchased on Land Contracts)
- Workshop for Local Church Trustee Chairs- On March 14, 2009, Art Christy and Dr. Phares Noel led a well-received workshop for over 30 local church trustees as part of “March Madness” (a District Leadership Training Event). There was a lot of interest in a follow-up session to discuss the sharing of ” best practices” (”what worked for us…who worked for us”). Phares and Art have planned another session, hopefully widening the net and developing a network. This will take place on Tuesday, June 23 , 2009 at Nardin Park UMC (7:00-8:30 p.m.). Doris Hildebrand has agreed to serve as our host. Invitations have been mailed to trustee chairs of every church on both districts.
- Pontiac St. John UMC- For several years, their trustees have wrestled with the issue of handicap access and the need for a ramp. Complaints from within the congregation brought the issue to a boiling point. The church consulted a local contractor who prepared a rough drawing. The City of Pontiac rejected it, saying that it needed to be prepared by a licensed architect. I secured one for them, agreed to split the $500.00 fee, and set things in motion. It turns out they don’t need a ramp. They need a graded sidewalk. Measurements have been taken and drawings prepared. Multiple copies have been provided to the trustees. The ball is now in their court, but they now have official documents (drawings) which the City of Pontiac will accept. Stay tuned.
- West Outer Drive UMC- For the last month, this church has battled water issues in its basement. The water is clear, not sewage. Lines have been snaked. City workers have been engaged, But every attempt to find the source has failed. We had Scott McCarrick install a pair of pumps which have minimized the impact, but they run constantly. As of this writing, a new expert with highly sophisticated equipment is on the job (thanks to Dr. Phares Noel for the connection). The costs (already in excess of $2,000.00) are being shared between us and the church. But we still lack answers and the end is nowhere in sight. This could be both ugly and costly before it is done.
- The 2010 Annual Meeting & Banquet- Next year’s date will be moved forward to the second Thursday of October (October 14, 2010). The place will be Farmington Hills: Orchard UMC, a church which has never previously hosted us. The confirmed speaker is Rev. Dr. Kent Millard, pastor of St. Luke’s UMC, Indianapolis (the largest United Methodist congregation in our North Central Jurisdiction). His book The Passion Driven Church is widely known and affirmed. But his ministerial roots are in South Dakota and the small membership church. An esteemed colleague and a personal friend, Kent will be blessing to us all.
- Metropolitan UMC- I continue to be in conversation with Rev. Tonya Arnesen and other interested parties. At the moment, there is nothing new to report, but interest on th part of others is escalating. There must be a top level meeting to weigh options and identify new ones, That meeting must occur before fall. I will continue to press the issue, lest we drift toward a demise that could have been avoided.
- As Concerns Loan and Grant Requests Elsewhere on the Agenda- I strongly recommend the approval of the Grosse Pointe UMC refinancing loan ($500,000.00). The data is available elsewhere in your material, as is the rationale for my endorsement (see addendum). In an informal polling of our Finance Committee members and our officers, all responded positively.
Concerning the Urban Methodist Youth Camp, I wrote the following in a memo to the Youth and Young Adult Committee:
I tilt favorably for several reasons. First, it will involve kids from several of our urban churches. Second, the pastors already enlisted constitute an impressive coalition. Third, I trust Cliff Stallings ability (as a previous camp dean and a highly organized individual) to pull this off. Fourth, I have a 30 page document on my desk detailing camp policies and procedures. But most interesting is the goal of an inter-church basketball league next winter as one outgrowth of this summer’s effort. Fifty years ago, I played in such a league involving several UM churches in Detroit.
My one suggestion involves releasing the money in stages. We could start with the $3,000.00 down payment that the camp (Judson Collins) requires. There could then be incremental releases related to numbers of campers actually signed up. The leaders would have the guarantee of the total amount in the event that a fall compliment of campers was enlisted. But in the event that recruitment did not go as well as planned, we would not have expended the total $10,000.00. This would mean, of course, that our money… above and beyond the initial payment to Judson Collins…. would be largely committed to scholarships for participants.
Concerning the JFON/Newburg UMC/Rev. Paul Perez proposal, the application (written by Rev. Marsha Woolley) pretty much says it all. This meets several of our newly-stated objects.
a) It helps one of our rebounding congregations
b) It links a pair of our west-side churches (Newburg and Dearborn First)
c) It features a community-oriented ministry
d) It furthers the development of one of our most promising leaders
Better still; the $20,000.00 can be split over two budget years (2009-2010)
Finally, concerning the parking lot resurfacing at Ford Memorial UMC, this is one of those loan/grant proposals regarding property that we consider frequently. This is a good church, receiving good leadership. By the time we come together, we will have a recommendation concerning the loan/grant ratio.
Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Dr. William A. Ritter, Executive Director