2017 Annual Report

HarmonyBaptistChurch and ChristianSchool

1790 Route 211 East

MiddletownNY10941

845-692-6113

Annual Congregational Meeting

Sunday, May 21, 2017 11:30 a.m.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page NumberReport

3 ...... Pastor’s Report

4 ...... Ministry Leadership Team

4 ...... Benevolence Fund

5 ...... Awana

6 ...... Facilities and Finance

7 ...... Harmony Christian School

8 ...... Community Food Pantry

9 ...... Hospitality Team

10 ...... Harmony Helpers

11 ...... Missions Committee

12 ...... Missions Budget

13 ...... JR Church Report

14 ...... Service Planning

14 ...... Technology Report

15 ...... Young at Heart

15 ...... Youth Report

17 ...... Designated Funds

18 ...... HBC Proposed 2016-2017 Budget

20 ...... HCS Proposed 2016-2017 Budget

Senior Pastor

2016-2017 Annual Report

Allow me to quote myself from last year: God has been good and merciful to Harmony Baptist Church during this past fiscal year. Most churches assess health on the basis of the next two items. I do not, nevertheless they can encourage us. Attendance has been holding and is up a few percentage points. Many new visitors and attenders have been checking us out. Giving, in our treasurer’s words, has been the best ever, which is just some of God’s faithfulness in response to our tiny faith steps relating to ministry and missions. And also, the faithfulness of God’s people in stewardship. Thank you to you who take that seriously.

We had 5 baptisms in 2016 and 4 thus far in 2017. We added 10 New Members and anticipate some more. Some significant changes took place this past year:

  • Replacement of our worn-out pews with gifted-to-us chairs back in August. A great time of teamwork and positive esprit di corps.
  • The addition of a pastoral, administrative assistant: Derek Baalam. Thank you HBC and leadership for supporting us.
  • In 2017 we launched Small Groups and offered training for leaders: Marriage and discipleship, and 1 group mostly for new believers.
  • Some of our saints started the food pantry with very strong support and enthusiasm.
  • We formalized a Hospitality ministry which includes ushers, greeters, coffee, and follow-up with newcomers.
  • There has been some atmospheric change in the congregation.
  • We began a Bible-reading plan which has stimulated many conversations.

Other ministries have continued. See the listed reports contained within. “Thank You!” to all who put their energies into them. I am also thankful for those saints and members of the diaconate pulling of some great tasks lately in baptisms and funeral dinners.

Some future concerns and planning

  • Developing an Elder Board and an effectual Church Council.
  • Greater congregational involvement so all ministries are well covered. We are beyond MAXED for our size and volunteer base.
  • A prayer emphasis for a breakthrough of the Holy Spirit. Our ethos is still needy.

May God incline His ear and help us.

Pastor John

MLT Annual Report 2017

1 Samuel 12:24: “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, consider what great things he has done for you.”

Dear HBC Congregation,

During this past year your MLT board met 7 times from June 2016 to March 2017 and some of the major items discussed during these meetings were the following:

  1. Alpha program ( creating small cell groups outside church)
  2. Reaching out to parents from HCS who do not have a permanent church home
  3. Major renovations & completions of the sanctuary bathrooms, heating systems, and water systems
  4. Replacing of our old pews with chairs donated by Grace Community Church
  5. 3 year plan for our physical building
  6. A program to help fellow churches that may have monetary and labor needs regarding their church buildings
  7. Revising our churchs “Marriage statement “
  8. A review of Time of service for all current church leaders
  9. Additional CPP training & background checks for new helpers within our church
  10. A creation of a “ Emergency Procedure Protocol Sheet” for people who have immediate needs for help within our community
  11. HBC Food Pantry creation and potential liabilities in having same.
  12. Hiring of additional staff Derek Balaam as Associate Pastor and Tim Strait as Youth Pastor

I want to thank all the various committees and individuals within our church family who showed their diligence and dedication to Love and Honor our Lord Jesus Christ with their service.

Respectfully submitted,

Dean A. Lucas, Chairman

Benevolence Fund Report

Dear Harmony Baptist Church Family,
The benevolent fund is used to help those in our fellowship who are in financial stress from time to time. The disbursements are kept confidential.
We had thirteen checks given to various ones for a total of $10,700.
The ending balance as of 5/3/17 is $1,359.63
For God's glory,
Gene Bozsik

AWANA Report

Hooray for AWANA! Hooray for volunteers! Hooray for children! Hooray for Bible verses and awards! Hooray for professions of faith! All of these and many more things we are grateful for at the end of another successful year of programming.

This year our attendance was down a small percentage, but the children attending were very faithful; coming week after week and learning verse after verse and earning award after award.

Three hundred and fifty five awards were handed out this year, ten books completed (no small task) and nine children had perfect attendance. Each of those awards earned constitutes another verse learned, another one of God’s truths tucked away into a child’s heart. That is our goal, of course, to grow disciples for Christ. Each award is truly celebrated within our group and in heaven.

This year also saw three professions of faith; awesome and amazing! We celebrate with our new young brothers and sisters in Christ; may God continue the good work He has begun in their lives!

The program would not work without our volunteers who work week after week, ministering to our children, imparting truth and love to each one. Twenty two adults participated in AWANA this year and we are sure that the program could and would not continue without them.

In the season of rest from AWANA work continues in the background to plan and ready for the coming season. Please consider becoming a part of this vital work in our church if you are looking for a place to serve.

All praise to our God!

Terry and Kathi

Harmony Baptist Church F&F - Annual Report, May 2017

Harmony

Annual Report for Facilities and Finances:

The 2016/17 Baptist Church Facilities and Finance/Trustees are:

Kim Bennett

Garry Furman

John Hopper

Tom Urmston

Glenn Pedersen

The Harmony Baptist Church Facility and Finance team are also the trustees of the organization with responsibilities of the financial affairs of the church. The team members have a desire and believe that the Lord has called them to serve in this ministry.

The 2016-17 year started off with a congregation approved faith based budget which the Lord continues to bless. These blessings have enabled us to maintained our commitments to our missionaries and hire a part time Administrative Assistant Pastor. It has provided a continued healthy financial reserve that has supported numerous major maintenance and safety items. Key items completed in the past fiscal year include the renovation of the Church foyer bathrooms including the addition of an ADA approved handicap accessible unit, replacement of the Church pews with the chairs and the internal financial audit of the Harmony Christian School. We have also worked with financial support from Harmony Christian School on replacement of the water purification systems and the major repair of the drainage along the playground to prevent flooding in the cafeteria.

As we move into our 2017/18 budget year, we have proposed another faith based budget to support and enhance the ministries of Harmony Baptist Church as the Lord leads. Key projects being proposed above and beyond the Harmony Baptist Church budget includes:

  1. Safety: replace fire alarm system
  2. Safety: Pave the Ministry/Church office parking lot (9 spaces)
  3. Investigate the renovation of the main Kitchen facilities
  4. Replace the HVAC system in the Ministry/Church Office.

Respectfully Submitted, Glenn Pedersen

HARMONY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Annual Report to HBC

The 2016-2017 school year has gone by so quickly. We have seen God do great things with the school. I will share a bit of that with you in this brief report.

HCS started the year out with 239 students and currently have 236. Our financial status is good and is in another area of the church report. In the elementary grades, we have continued in teaching a curriculum strong while stepping away from the common core and state assessment testing. Our elementary special events have utilized a few of the church members to help.

On the high school level;

We have had several students accept Christ this year. Our high school has added several new classes to the curriculum. One is an Anatomy & Physiology Couse (college prep) and the other is a Public Speaking Course. Our Science Expo this year was outstanding!

I was asked to answer specific questions about the ministry of HCS in relation to the vision of HBC. The first being 1.What progress have you made toward your goals for your area of ministry. 2. How has God used your ministry to impact people in the last year? How has God used the resources given and the people involved to accomplish His purpose?

My goal was to improve Christian Education while reaching lives for Christ. This two part endeavor was reached by our first step in what I hope will be a much greater impact in the coming years. We sent two teachers and two students to Haiti this year. We have prayed about and now started our commitment to the people of Haiti, in particular Wings of Refuge Orphanage. HCS was actually able to be the servants of Christ to children who don’t have a lot of hope or faith given their life circumstances. Our team effectively ministered to many while there for 8 days. Our two students have come back changed and with a deeper desire to serve Christ! This is our main purpose as a ministry of HBC! We have sat down and prayerfully considered how to use this to impact even more for God. We want to create a partnership with Wings of Refuge Orphanage for future trips. We plan on using the students of HCS to start a drive to collect school supplies and backpacks so that the children can attend school. We hope to plan several mission’s trips during the school breaks as well as have our students do classroom Skypes with the classes in Haiti. We hope that we might become a big supporter for this Orphanage.

So, church family you have continued to be a part of the “Great Commission”, with your support of HCS!

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support for the school. We could not do the work for the Kingdom without it. We look forward to what the future holds for HBC & HCS as God moves us in His direction.

In His Service

Kevin J Barry

HCS Administrator

Community Food Pantry

We would like to thank Harmony Baptist Church for the opportunity to serve our Jesus with the expanded food pantry. This past January we had our first monthly food pantry, serving 10 families, 22 people. Now, 4 months into it we have 24 families, totaling 68 people. While our neighbors are obtaining their food items, they have an opportunity to choose different salvation tracts, Daily Bread, flyers on AWANA, and other Christian literature. They are asked if they have a Bible at home, 2 people were given Bibles. Each food box goes out with a Christian booklet recommended by Pastor John, Bookmark advertising Sound Of Life Radio, and/ or other challenging item. Depending on the size of the family, they are given pre-prepared boxes with staples plus meat, choice of juice, and fresh bakery items. Donations of $5 gift certificates to obtain milk for cereal were greatly appreciated while we had them. There is a table with different items they can shop for themselves.

We have advertised the pantry in many ways in the community to try to reach families in need. We were interviewed by WALL radio giving us the opportunity to bring attention to the food pantry.

Our goals are to help feed our neighbors, physically and spiritually. We feel, God willing, we are meeting and have met our goals so far this year.

The Food Pantry Team consists of 18 people from the church. Our goal is to become like a family with a common cause. Hopefully no one feels it an obligation but a privilege to be serving God and the community together. We open with a word of Prayer before starting each month, committing our Neighbors needs to the Lord. Monthly, each team member is to choose a recipient of the food pantry to pray for.

We would like to thank local groups like1. Goodwill Church for donating their food when their pantry was closing. 2. A local food distribution facility (NFI) for providing many, complete Holiday meals including gifts and a visit with Santa for a large family with many children. 3. other businesses who have contributed. 4. Coldenham Cub Scout Pack 125 who had a food drive for us. Two different articles in local papers on the scouts food drive also gave advertisement to the pantry and a kindred spirit in the writer of the article.

We would like to thank the church family for their generous donations, encouragement, and prayers as we go forward. And thanks to all who have obtained equipment and storage units so we can keep what God has given us fresh and safe.

God Bless,

Nancy and Robbie for the Harmony food pantry team

Hospitality Ministry Report

Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 1Peter 4: 9

Dear Church Family,

It is our privilege to co-lead this ministry, in service to our Lord Jesus. Supported by the effort and commitment of many fine team members, we have had some positive impact over the past year. By God’s grace, this has been part of a larger cultural shift and growth, at HBC. It is our hope that over the next year, as the Lord molds, directs and corrects us, we will do a better job of quantifying the impact and have greater progress to report. Thank you for your patience. If you feel that the Lord is leading you toward this ministry, please speak to us. All to the glory of His kingdom!

In His Service,

Don Nauta and Angela Vitoulis

Primary Ministry Goals:

Welcometo all who come in to worship, especially visitors, that the Gospel and the love of Jesus may be shared with everyone who enters.

Assimilation into the life of the church for those who are seeking the Lord, and/or a home church. This includes connecting people to people, to the worship service, church resources, ministries and fellowship activities.

Supporting Goals:

Development of Hospitality Teams: Teams of people who have passion and sensitivity to support these goals, in partnership with the other Hospitality teams.

Future goal: that team members will be able to make this commitment a ministry priority. Some folks still wear multiple “hats” on a Sunday morning.

  • Greeters:

Goals=team will be small enough that Greeters recognize new-comers. Greeters are enthusiastic about their role.

Progress=current team is smaller than past. Each Greeter has confirmed their desire to serve in this role.

  • Connectors:

Goals=to meet and engage visitors, provide information, introduce to others, assist and encourage as appropriate; follow-up.

Progress=we have connected with many new people over the past year. Even with follow-up, many visitors do not return. But, look around you, Church, and you will see a lot of new faces since a year or two ago, many in regular attendance. How many have you met? Together with our spouses, we are the only Connectors right now, and we believe we have helped a number of people settle into life at HBC. We would welcome some help.

Note: Thanks for understanding if we limit our Sunday morning conversations with you, in favor of new folks. You do still matter to us!

  • Ushers:

Goals=beyond the Collection, to welcome everyone, especially visitors, and assist or direct, as needed, even during the service. To grow a regular team.

Progress=there is now a scheduled team, who are developing their gifts.

  • Follow-up Team:

Goal=to have a couple of people who will make timely contact with visitors who have filled out cards. Preferably someone with email. Jodi emails the cards to us. Visitors may list email address, mailing address and/or phone number for contact.