APRIL, 2015
One by one, they fall asleep and I get to pause
and thank God for being present. God uses
these weekends to reveal Godself to kids in a
unique way. The kids have opportunities to
speak out loud the questions that are on their
hearts. God puts people in their midst who
are able to meet them exactly where they are
and lead them a little bit closer to God's perfect will. I love that seeds are sown and tended, that their roots are pushed a bit deeper
and that their faith is a bit stronger. It's such a
privilege to be a part of this time with the
kids! How could I ever think of
not staying with them?!
Midwinter
As a youth worker, I have to confess that I
dread going to camp. Maybe I'm getting old
but it's exhausting. The morning comes way
too early and the night never seems to
end. Worship is loud (no hymns, lots of
drums). I find myself worrying, "Is she having a
good time? Where did he go? Has anyone had
a God encounter?" There's one shower for 5-6
girls. 11pm snacks on the slab-it's so
late! Every time I sign up I wonder if I could
just drive the kids up there and leave like some
of my other colleagues do.
But then Sunday comes and we are packed into
the car, heading home and I hate to leave. The
kids only want to listen to worship music on
the way home. They snuggle into their pillows
and are quiet, partly because they're tired but
also because they are reflecting on all the
things they've heard and experienced over the
past few days.
Thank you Emily for coming to camp and stepping out of your comfort zone to serve as work
crew. Thank you for sharing with us how God
was speaking to you over the weekend. Elizabeth, in spite of your knee injury,
you came and served without complaint! I'm
so proud of your discipline to read the entire
Bible! Tori, you came to camp at the last minute and I know it's because God is at work in
you. Keep seeking! I'm so pleased that you
came with us Elise, and that you had a good
time! And finally, Dillon. Wow! The only boy
in a car full of girls. You had to bunk with guys
you'd never met before. You are probably the
bravest 6th grader I've ever met! I am so glad
I got to go to camp with you all!
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 1
Parking Lot Update
Meeting with City of Cedar Park (COCP)
A pre‐development meeting was held on December 3, 2014. It
was originally requested to give both the consulting engineer
(BA) and CPFUMC an idea of the requirements of fulfilling their
ultimate development goals along with the more immediate
expansion and repair of the parking lot. During the meeting an
array of topics were discussed with each COCP department
(except the Fire Marshall) . The results of those discussions are
as follows:
Parking within the PEC and Atmos Easements along the eastern boundary of the property. Comments:
COCP staff had no recommendation for this item. One staff member mentioned that parking requirements within these types of easements tend to vary from project to project, and suggested
contacting each entity directly. After the meeting, BA spoke with a ROW/Easements coordinator
with Atmos Energy. He informed BA that they would not allow parking within the easement called
as a Lonestar Gas Easement. BA has not yet received feedback from PEC regarding the smaller electric overhead easement.
Easements and Right of Way. Comments: COCP Staff spoke to the requirement of ROW dedication for
Park Street and the dedication of a drainage easement to encompass the extents of the fully developed 1% annual floodplain. Upon review of the plat dated 1987, BA found that a 10’ ROW dedication was made to accommodate expansion of Park Street at some point in the future. Therefore, no
additional ROW dedication will be required.
Parking Setbacks and Requirements. Comments: COCP Staff indicated that a 25’ setback would be required from the ROW to the edge of pavement. Furthermore, there is a 40’ throat depth (distance
from street to first turning movement) on each driveway. COCP mentioned the City would be somewhat flexible with the throat depth given that Park Street is classified as an arterial roadway but
functions as a neighborhood collector. COCP also discussed the possibility of keeping the driveway
located closest to the building as a one-way drive given the primary reason of tree protection. This
could be called as either an ingress or egress entrance as the needs of the church dictate.
General Discussions. Comments: Future parking requirements for a use such as a church are based on
1 space per 100 sq. ft. of sanctuary floor area, and 1 space per 300 sq. ft. of gross floor area for
office space. It should be noted that COCP mentioned the classrooms are exempt from parking requirements. The addition of parking spaces does not require full compliance with total number of
parking spaces required by ordinance. However, upon the addition of any future structure (or finish
out of existing structure), the site must be made compliant with all parking requirements. Finally,
COCP operates on a 14 day review cycle. Plan submittals are accepted on Mondays, and comments
are generated 14 days later. This cycle repeats until the site development permit has been approved.
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 2
Preliminary Design
Baker‐Aicklen adjusted their concept plan to meet the comments provided by city staff, and submitted
two options to the church for consideration at our Trustees meeting on December 15, 2014. In late December and early January the Trustees gave feedback to BA on the first two options, yielding the third
and final preliminary design option, shown below.
This third preliminary design option provides
67 parking spaces, two-way driveway access
and 5 lighting poles in front of the Sanctuary
building where approximately 31 spaces
currently exist. Approximately 15 trees are
removed in this design. The City of Cedar
Park may ask us to replace these trees as a
condition of a future building permit, so
some landscaping costs may have to be added later. This preliminary design option was
agreed to by the Trustees in their meeting of
January 19, 2015. The preliminary cost estimate for this project was received a few
days later.
The preliminary cost estimate broke down as follows:
Construction Labor and Materials
$145,331
Contingency (@15%)
$21,800
Engineering and Survey Fees
$17,000
Total
$184,131
Building Fund Created
In their January meeting the Trustees designated approximately $5000 in an existing Edward Jones investment account owned by CPFUMC to be a Building Fund to be used for new construction. The Trustees will meet again in February 2015 to develop a recommendation on how to proceed.
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 3
Report on Church Growth Retreat
Cedar Park 1st UMC, February 28, 2015
Cedar Park First UMC (CPFUMC) congregation members met on a cold, icy day to
discuss the church's historical and spiritual setting. The retreat was intended to
prepare the church to explore its calling today and to develop an action plan for
the future.
The meeting started with a review of Learning Team members, goals and steps
involved in completing the church growth plan. Neil Howard asked those present
to review their personal experience with different size congregations. Amanda
Theriot led a discussion on the concept of church size plateaus. Following these topics, Steve Hamman
asked congregation members to form groups according to when they joined CPFUMC. The groups were
entitled Founding Era, Glory Days and Present. Each group was asked to work through questions addressing Context, Church situation and Church size.
See a summary of the findings by each group on page 5:
Additional comments
Church members discussed the findings and offered other comments on issues facing the church-Average Sunday attendance of 125 to 150 seemed to be ideal for most members
Pastoral continuity was essential to church growth
From its beginning through the present church members have been actively engaged in mission and
spiritual development
However, the church's current size limits our programming, mission and outreach potential
Church parking has been an issue; attendance increased during an earlier part of the church's history when parking was increased
Next Steps
Members present heard about next steps in the process including discovering CPFUMC's distinct calling,
attitudes about church size, statement of proposed calling and proposed action plan.
Future meetings are scheduled of the entire congregation and church council as the church works
through this process. Key dates include-March 29, 2015--During Sunday School hour, explore character of our congregation
April 26, 2015--During Sunday School hour, explore character of our community
June 14, 2015--Church Council, review draft plan
July 12, 2015--Church Council, adopt statement of vocation (calling) and action plan
Members who want to learn more about the church retreat and receive a complete packet of meeting
materials can do so by contacting Neil Howard at [email protected] .
Continued on page 5
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 4
Report on Church Growth Retreat
Cedar Park 1st UMC, February 28, 2015—continued from page 4
Topic
Context
Founding Era
1984-1992
Cedar Park a small
town; about 3000
people
Glory Days
1993-2009
Cedar Park growing
with new schools and
retail
Few schools in a rural
school district
Reasonable housing
prices and entry level
homes
Park Street not cut
through to Lakeline
Real estate downturn
affected community
Another real estate
downturn near end
of era
New UMC churches
in area
Church/Congregation
Founded by families
who saw a need
Became 1st UMC;
more traditional
church
Present
2010-2015
Cedar Park 4th fastest growing city in US
Many families with
both parents working
Larger society more
secular; less
"churched"
5 UMC churches in
area
Lots of competition
for family time
Warm and welcoming church; retains
family feel
Emphasis on children
No program directors
and part time pastors
An open, missionoriented church
Spiritual development important;
members took part in
Walk to Emmaus
High degree of ownership in church programs and new facility
Church Right Size
Average Sunday
attendance 50 to 70
Borrowed to construct MMB
Lost annual conference financial support
Short term pastor
appointments
Added youth, children, and music programs and staff
Experienced financial
problems
Average Sunday
attendance 70 to 120
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 5
Pastoral continuity
A mighty church; lots
of mission/outreach
for size
Smaller staff than in
prior era
Financial stability in
last few years
Strong Bible study,
prayer and spiritual
development
Average Sunday
attendance 95 to 120
Parking Lot Funding Plan
Now that we have a preliminary design and a cost
estimate for the parking lot renovation and expansion project, at its February 16 monthly
meeting the Trustees discussed a possible funding model. Using the $184,000 cost estimate from
Baker-Aicklen as a guide, the total financing to
construct the project would come from three
basic sources.
1.
2.
Money we have right now
Money we would borrow
Money we would raise in a capital campaign
(fundraising)
Borrowing and Fund-Raising
On February 25 leaders of the Trustees, Council
and Finance Committee met with Richard Hoppe
of the Texas Methodist Foundation (TMF) in order to better understand our borrowing options.
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the
possibility of increasing our current loan or obtaining a new loan with TMF to partially pay for
our parking lot expansion and renovation project.
TMF holds our mortgage loan for the Multi Ministries Building (MMB). Our current remaining principal on the MMB loan is $304,000. The original
loan in 2004 was for $394,000. Our current interest rate on this loan is 5%. If we only needed
about $90,000, we could “borrow up” on our
current MMB loan. TMF estimates the total manageable indebtedness limit of the congregation
based on our cash flow, not on a percentage fraction of our annual budget. For 2013 and 2014,
CPFUMC has enjoyed an average positive cash
flow of about $11,000 per year. Robert Hoppe
agreed to work up a loan model and loan interest
rates for us based on information that we provided him during the meeting. This loan model
would indicate the maximum additional loan that
we could qualify for from TMF. We expect to receive the loan model input back from TMF soon.
On March 6 leaders of the Trustees, Finance
Committee and Church Council met with Dick
Young of TMF to discuss fund-raising options for
the parking lot project. Two options are available: (1) a short-term approach called Miracle
Sunday with a 1 year pledge period and $2000
cost; (2) a full-blown capital campaign with a 3year pledge period and a cost of $15,000. The
shorter-term Miracle Sunday campaign beginning in September of 2015 seemed to be the
best fit for the parking lot renovation and expansion project. The Trustees will discuss both
options and come up with a recommendation
for the congregation to consider.
In other recent developments, the Endowment
Committee met on March 1 to review the status
of the CPFUMC Endowment Fund. Among several items on the agenda the Endowment Committee authorized a one-time grant of up to
$10,000 to support the parking lot renovation
and expansion project. The CPFUMC Endowment Fund currently has a balance of a little
over $47,000. This grant would fall into the
“Money we have right now” category.
Funding Details and Decision-Making
A full Congregation meeting (or possibly even a
Charge Conference with the DS) would be
scheduled to review and fully discuss all the
details of the funding plan and parking lot project before any final decisions are made on any
part of the project. A written funding plan
would be prepared and sent to all members in
advance once details of the various funding
sources are established and the fund-raising
campaign schedule is sketched out. We would
like to begin construction of the parking lot expansion and renovation in 2015, so a meeting to
consider the parking lot project, its funding plan
and a fund-raising campaign would occur sometime in the next couple of months.
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 6
CPFUMC Electronic
Archive is Up and
Running
CPFUMC now has an Electronic Archive available for use by interested participants. The
Electronic Archive is a place to store computer
files which have lasting or historical value. All
file formats are acceptable. The Electronic
Archive has been implemented as a 1TB (1000
GB) storage device donated to CPFUMC and
residing in the utility closet off the main office
in the Multi-Ministries Building.
Miranda and Gretchen tell the story of Jesus at
the healing pool while Gehrrig, Tony, Addison,
Gwen, Ashlyn, Malia and Allie listen so they
will be prepared for what is next.
Retreat Documents Available
For those unable to attend the recent CPFUMC
retreat on 28Feb15, an 8-page packet of notes
and handouts from that session are available
by email. Contact Neil Howard
([email protected]) to request a copy.
Allie and Gehrrig are ready to ring in with their
bells in our version of Family Feud. It was close
ring ins, they always knew the answers.
This month the Jesus Rock Stars studied some
of Jesus’s miracles. We had an exciting time
learning the stories of water into wine, feeding
the 5,000, the healing pond and raising the
ruler’s daughter from the dead.
Continued on page 8
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 7
Rock Stars—continued from page 7
Gwen, Tony and Josie listen as Miranda tells
the story of God’s ten plagues and how each
time Moses went to the Pharoah to give hime
God’s message.
Tony waits for his turn to be Moses and give
God’s message to the Pharoah, “Let my people
go!”
As we approach passover time it was a perfect
to introduce a the Jewish seder meal.
students, please have them join us during the
Sunday School hour beginning at 9:45. We
welcome all.
Look who is coming. We have requested the
Easter Bunny to stop by on Easter, Sunday,
April 5th. Don’t forget to bring your Easter basket.
We will see you all soon,
Miss Miranda, Miss Gretchen, Ms. Carolyn, Ms.
Amanda and Mr. Neil
Hill Country Community
Ministries Executive Director
Announces Retirement Plans
Gwen and Josie discover the meaning and elements of a Seder meal.
Everyone really enjoyed getting to know Ashlyn’s friend Malia. We look forward to her
joining us in the future. If you have a friend or
know anyone who is 3 years old to fifth grade
Leander, TX, March 5, 2015—Sherry McDonnell, executive director for Hill Country Community
Ministries, has announced plans to retire this
year. McDonnell has been executive director
at
the Leander nonprofit since April 1, 2006.
“No date has been set,” said Jerrell Roque,
president of the board of directors. “Sherry is
graciously giving us time to conduct a proper
search for a replacement and to ensure a
smooth
transition. We will begin the process soon and
during the process it will be business as usual.”
Outreach—April, 2015—Page 8