For more information or if you have questions, please contact:

• Eric Rodgers | Treasurer | 865.385.1445 | eric.rodgers@cru.org

• Jay Baas | Elder Chair | 919.349.2584 | jay.baas1@gmail.com

• Greg Omland | Administrator | 919.408.0310 x109 | greg@biblechurch.org

On behalf of the Elders, Deacons, and Staff, the Board of Deacons submits its proposed 2023-24 Operating Budget to you, the membership of CHBC. It reflects our intent to align to the ministry priorities of CHBC by adopting a budget that matches our needs as we desire to see the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ bring glory to God as it transforms us, our city, and our world.

• The 2023-24 Budget Proposal is contained at the end of this document (Table 1, page 5; Table 2, page 6); it comes from the Deacons and is available to the members for review and comment.
• There will be an Open Conversation to discuss and ask questions about this proposed budget. It will take place at CHBC in Room 306 on Tuesday, May 23, at 7 pm. Members with questions or comments are encouraged to attend.
• The membership will vote to adopt the budget at the Annual Meeting on Sunday afternoon, June 4, 2023, at 4 pm in the Sanctuary.

• The Elders and Deacons request that questions about the 2023-24 budget be raised prior to the Annual Meeting. Opportunities to do so include attending the Open Conversation or contacting the Treasurer or Administrator by phone or email prior to May 28, 2023 (contact information is listed above). This will enable the membership to center its discussion at the Annual Meeting on big-picture issues.
• Motions for specific amendments to this proposal to be voted on at the Annual Meeting must be submitted in writing by email to Eric Rodgers, Treasurer, by 4 pm on Sunday, May 28, 2023 (contact information above). This will provide adequate opportunity to prepare information regarding any amendment(s) for presentation at the Meeting. All proposed amendments submitted will be presented at the Annual Meeting. There will be no presentation of new amendments from the floor during the Meeting.
• Questions: The Treasurer and Administrator are very happy to meet with any member to discuss the details behind these summary documents. We encourage and welcome feedback and insights on financial matters from our members.

Fellow church members, we come to you as the Board of Deacons (with counsel and recommendations from the Budget Committee) inviting you to vote “yes” to adopt our proposed budget for fiscal year 2023-24 at the Annual Meeting on Sunday afternoon, June 4, 2023, at 4 pm in the Sanctuary.

As you know, each year brings unique circumstances that allow for various increases and decreases to ministry investment areas that impact the whole. A couple of examples: we will not spend as much on our mortgage in 2023-24 as we have budgeted in our current fiscal year (2022-23), because we successfully refinanced it for better terms. Additionally, we budgeted for some line items in 2022-23 that we did not fully spend against this year, nor do we think that those will carry over to our next fiscal year. With careful expense management, we again desire and plan to end our fiscal year in the black financially, prayerfully having seen the Lord provide, through your generosity, in excess of the expenses we incurred.

You'll note that our budget proposal for 2023-24 is both a reduction from the total amount budgeted for 2022-23 and an increase in planned ministry investment from 2022-23 to 2023-24. We continue to pursue people for critical ministry roles and invest in ministry opportunities for CHBC that will allow us to advance the Lord’s mission for our church.

We want to share a few things we’re particularly excited about for 2023-24:

• We, as a church, will continue to invest in the basics. We are investing in our church body and are called to faithfully give ourselves to do the most important things well, most of the time, with all our hearts, for the glory of Christ.
• We are enthusiastic about getting to know one another within our parishes, creating new opportunities to spend time with our CHBC neighbors and care well, advancing the Gospel as we lean into the families in our neighborhoods.
• God has given our Young Adults Ministry substantial momentum and we are excited to further support it in the coming year. We will focus on building community and discussing the Word over table fellowship and look forward to more opportunities to help disciple Young Adults and for them, in turn, to disciple younger generations.

As you read the details of this budget proposal, we invite you to prayerfully consider how you choose to involve yourself in the ongoing ministry of our church body through the investment of your time, talent, and treasure.

Thank you for making CHBC the “pivot foot,” as Pastor Jay often says, of your Kingdom investment and financial stewardship decisions. Our engagement with CHBC over the past year and witnessing our church’s ministry – tangibly, to people – drives us to gratitude; first and foremost, to the Lord, and to you, for your giving by faith has helped provide the means for those ministries.

• Our church’s giving this fiscal year has consistently run 13-15% behind targeted goals, so we anticipate our 2022-23 giving to finish around $3,400,000. We acknowledge that a number of our congregants have departed CHBC over the past year, to Hillsborough Community Church and to many other places.
• As we head into the last month of the fiscal year, we’re prayerful that the Lord will bring another strong June giving month to help us close out the fiscal year in a financially healthy way.
• We are encouraged that, with our good ongoing expense management, we continue to be in the black; we expect this to continue through the June 30, 2023 close of the fiscal year.
• We are pleased that our church family has also been financially generous in many other ways during the first 10 months of this fiscal year, including to the:
• Benevolence Fund – over $90,000 has been given to help other members of our CHBC family in material ways. Over the same period, the elders have disbursed over $125,000 from the fund to meet needs in our church.
• Hillsborough Community Church – over $175,000 has been given (by HCC members, CHBC members, and other supporters) to help Pastor Malcolm and his church-planting team continue their strong start to their Kingdom work in Hillsborough.

• More than a dozen members of the CHBC family have been actively involved in the budget process the past six months, prayerfully seeking the Lord’s will for next fiscal year, considering what items to prioritize.
• In December 2022, the Budget Committee (Treasurer, 5 Deacons, 2 Elders, 2 Staff) started the budget planning process and looked at the key needs of our church during this time.
• The Budget Committee’s guiding principle has been “Realistic, yet Faith-filled”. We want to be grounded in our fiscal reality, yet know that our Lord has “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10) that He can deploy for Kingdom purposes, consistent with His timing, and at His pleasure.
• From January to March 2023, the Budget Committee met monthly to refine the draft budget based on up-to-date giving, refined priorities, and fine-tuned expense estimates. The Committee provided monthly in-depth budget process updates to the Board of Deacons and the Board of Deacons voted in favor of the Budget Committee’s final budget recommendation in April, proposing it for the membership to adopt at the Annual Meeting on June 4, 2023.

• The Board of Deacons’ budget proposal for fiscal year 2023-24 is $3,550,000, a decrease of $407,000 or10.3% from our current fiscal year budget of $3,957,000.
• As our 2022-23 expenses will likely be less than $3,400,000, our proposed 2023-24 budget of $3,550,000 reflects our desire to grow our ministry impact through our wholehearted pursuit of necessary roles and key ministry opportunities.
• Key additions:
• Employee Healthcare insurance & Salary increases – roughly $115,000. (Depending on annual health insurance increase, amount pending.)
• Key subtractions:
• Mortgage refinance ($103,800) – in June 2022, we successfully refinanced our mortgage and congregant loans from 2018 to more favorable terms, taking advantage of the low interest rate environment at that time.  In that refinancing, we rolled the remaining principal from the congregant loans into our new mortgage and repaid our individual congregants, making it simpler for CHBC to just have one monthly payment.  We are very thankful to the congregants who trusted us with these loans, enabling us to move forward with our building addition on the timetable that we desired.
• Addressing Consultant Recommendations ($100,000) – we do not expect to need this in 2023-24.  We spent roughly $2,700 to support meetings and member gatherings related to addressing consultant recommendations this fiscal year. 
• Facilities Reserve Fund & Capital Improvements ($63,200) – our Facilities Reserve Fund is currently at $200,000, a solid level, so we feel that it is reasonable to zero out this budget line for the upcoming fiscal year.
• Consultant Fees ($50,000) – we do not expect to need this in 2023-24.  We spent roughly $5,500 with Leighton Ford Ministries this fiscal year.
• Missions ($40,700) – kept steady at 10% of overall budget.  Please note that none of our current individual missions partners will be impacted by this dollar decrease; in fact, we are adding an additional missionary to our partnership roster.

• CHBC Staff (Salaries and Benefits) – slight net increase includes staff salary increases and an allowance for a health insurance premium increase, partially offset by a reduction of a few stipend positions in the budget.
• Missions & University Support – decreased to keep consistent with historical 10% of budget target. As stated above, none of our current individual missions partners will be impacted by this dollar decrease; in fact, we are adding an additional missionary to our partnership roster.
• Ministry Programs – decreased overall budget after we asked each ministry leader to look at her/his ministry’s average actual spend over the past six years and submit a budget consistent with that number.
• Young Adults Ministry – as stated above, God has given our Young Adults Ministry substantial momentum and we are excited to formally support it in our budget the upcoming fiscal year.
• Special Needs Ministry – our commitment to our Special Needs Ministry remains unchanged. Our Special Needs Fund currently has over $18,000 in it, so the Fund will fully cover our anticipated ministry investments for 2023-24, allowing us to bring that budget line to zero for the upcoming fiscal year.
• Operations and Facilities – we have diligently worked to keep this ministry investment area flat to slightly down, even in an inflationary economic environment. The $63,200 decrease for the Facilities Reserve Fund ($50,000) and Capital Improvements ($13,200) referenced above is embedded in this area.
• Consultant Fees & Addressing Consultant Recommendations – we do not expect to need these expense lines in 2023-24.
• Mortgage – in June 2022, we refinanced our mortgage and congregant loans from 2018 to more favorable terms, taking advantage of the low interest rate environment at that time.