Connect23 President's Address

Following is the "State of the Fellowship" address presented by President Kevin Stone at Connect23.

​Today I am charged with giving a State of the Fellowship Address. If you read my Annual Report, you have a decent idea of the state of our fellowship, but this address is different. The Annual Report is a report of everything that happened in the past Fiscal Year, which was April, 2022-March 2023. This address is to give you my assessment of the state of our Fellowship – today. 
Last year at this time, I had only positive things to report – we were coming out of COVID, we were adding a new church, we had filled several open pastoral positions around the Fellowship, and most of our churches were reporting financial and numerical growth. Our Vision strategy was gaining momentum. The word I used last year during this address was “poised.” We were poised to move forward well.

Well, in some ways we did move forward well. In other ways, we experienced setbacks. As I described it in my Annual Report, it was an exhilarating ride with some hard bumps along the way.
I will start with what went wrong. And since I have discussed all of this in other forums, I will keep my synopsis very brief:
We disaffiliated with our brothers in Steinbach, MB over theological differences. This process was very gracious, healthy and necessary, but still very painful and disappointing. Our church in Wolf Point, MT decided to disaffiliate because they felt disconnected. For me, this was unexpected and inexplicable, as Gary and I had been communicating with them, they had been visited multiple times recently, and they had recently secured their new pastor through the FEBC.
Our finances have not kept up with the projections we made in 2019. The setbacks started with COVID, which paused our efforts to gain visibility and personal connection with the churches, and also distracted church leaders from supporting or joining our Fellowship. The recent economy has turned funds which historically generate income into funds that lose money. The significant estate gifts that we received every year before we set this plan in 2019 have not continued. 
So, the savings we thought would last until at least 2026 have reached a point where the directors felt we needed to change course. Nothing about our mission or vision has changed, but we are going to have to do it with less resources. 
So, this is what we’re looking forward to over the next year: Two less churches to potentially get involved, no more printed magazine to build connection, closing the international office and working from home, less employees and less hours for existing employees, and most notably – Gary will no longer be our Ministries Coordinator, as the position is being suspended. 
At this point, I could cleverly say that this year, I’m changing my keyword from “poised” to “poisoned.” But to dwell on the negative things that have happened would be a misrepresentation of my true outlook for this fellowship, as well as a misunderstanding of the way God tells us to view our ministry. 
James 1 tells us to count our trials as joy, because they bring about perseverance, or some translations say steadfastness.
To illustrate, I will share a personal story: almost 17 years ago, I had been hired to be the Worship Pastor at Crosspoint Bible Church. Right as we took the position, the housing market crashed, and we were unable to sell our home in Virginia – so I worked in Virginia full time and flew to Omaha on the weekends to lead worship and flew back to Virginia to work during the week. I did that for about a year and a half. During that time, I had several people ask me what I thought God was trying to tell me. They were hinting that since this was so hard, God must not want me to do it. I told them the last thing God told me on the topic was to accept the call to Crosspoint, and the fact that circumstances are hard do not change that.
Good Christian people seemed to be telling me that difficult circumstances are an indicator that God wants us to change course. To me, that seems like a gross misrepresentation of what God tells us in his word.
Folks, the FEBC is facing trials right now – just like most Christians, churches, and denominations around the world. But these trials should not discourage us. We should count them as joy, as they build perseverance in us. Of all the changes facing us, the most personal to me is the loss of Gary as my coworker. I am saddened, and I am mourning this change. But I believe more than ever that God is calling us to persevere as a Fellowship. Gary believes the same thing.
Why? Because churches have always benefited from connection, and if anything, this need is growing. 
So, let’s talk a moment about what is going right:
In his four years with us, Gary has had a positive impact on many individuals and churches. He has walked through some pretty tough times with several of you, and I know you benefitted from his wisdom and experience. He has helped me and our ministry in countless ways. I am glad to report that Gary’s appreciation for this Fellowship has only deepened, and even though he is being laid off, he plans to remain on the Commission on Pastoral Care as a volunteer.
Speaking of commissions – we retained all of our directors and added new commission members this year, strengthening the volunteer leadership of our Fellowship.
We did add a church last year, and they have already begun connecting with us in various ways. Gary and I have both visited or preached at Rock Valley Chapel this past year, and I know Paul and Carol Carpenter stopped in to visit them as well. 
We hired a new Fellowship Focus editor, and while we have seen a lot of turnover in that position over the past few years, I think Rebecca is a great fit for the position, and she is very well-suited to help us transition to an online-only magazine.
Our Vision Statement of connecting your leaders with resources has really taken off. You can read more about it in my report or in a recent Fellowship Focus article, but to summarize: The short-term goal was to get some new resources out there. The long-term goal was to increase interactions with your church leaders as they see us as a source of help and information. Over the past year, we have had trouble getting new resources finished because we are so busy talking with your leaders and offering them support. That’s wonderful, and it is happening ahead of schedule.
While we are cutting costs, we are still going to be at a healthy level for this Fellowship. We will have one full-time employee and several part-time employees, we will transition to an online-only magazine, but we have been talking about the inevitability of that for several years. We will be without an office, but our staff has been working a lot from home since COVID. 
As for the finances – the unrestricted funds have not dwindled to zero. They had decreased to the point that if nothing else changed, they would reach zero perhaps as soon as next summer. Because things are changing, we should be able to maintain a balance in those funds through next summer and beyond. There have been moments in the past when FEBC employees had to wait to cash their paychecks until checks from churches were received. We are not there.
Many of the funds that provide direct support to your church, such as scholarships, Shepherd Renewal, and such are in restricted accounts, which means we cannot use them for any other purposes, and they are currently funded to continue providing consistent levels of support.
Last year I said we were poised for great things. This year I believe we are even more poised. Does that sound like the ramblings of a crazed optimist? Maybe, but consider this: If the words recorded in James are correct, these trials are sharpening us and building character in us. If his strength is made perfect in our weakness, we are positioned to once again say: “Only God could do that!” 
More importantly, everything I see in God’s Word points me to the truth that God does not measure us by how successful we are, but by how faithful we are. God has never told me to grow this fellowship by a certain number of churches, or to balance the budget by a certain year. God told me to serve this fellowship of churches as well as I can. He told me to be faithful.
I am continuously blessed by the faithfulness of those around me. Your FEBC staff, directors, and commission members are dedicated servants, and they are passionate about this fellowship. I see it regularly. I wish each of you could experience that with me, as it is such a great affirmation of the value of this ministry. They remain faithful.

​I am asking you to remain faithful.
Faithfully pray for your local church and for this fellowship.
Faithfully give to your local church and consider whether you can also donate something to the Fellowship. 
Ask your church leaders to faithfully give to the FEBC. If every church would meet the challenge of giving 4% of their overall budget to the FEBC, we could restore all of the things we are currently cutting.
Faithfully encourage others to see the value in this work, whether they are fellow church members or members of another church who might consider joining us. You have a much more effective voice among those who know you than I can have from a distance.
Faithfully serve this fellowship. Less staff members means we will need more volunteer support to strengthen our churches. For instance, a visit from the FEBC doesn’t have to be a visit from Kevin or Gary.
Faithfully connect when we have events such as Connect or retreats. Get involved in what we are doing.
There is a lot going right within this Fellowship. But Habakkuk 3 tells us that even if nothing were going right, we can take joy in the God of our salvation. He is our strength. We know that God has been supremely faithful. Let us praise him for all he has given us over these 134 years and let us strive together to be faithful in stewarding this ministry.
I praise God for all He has done for this Fellowship. I praise Him for what he will continue to do for this Fellowship.
May He bless each of your churches.
Thank you.
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Much of our time at Connect23 was spent having heartfelt conversation about many of the topics within the above address. One of those topics, the position of full-time Ministries Coordinator, was discussed in great length, and as a fellowship, we’re taking a leap of faith and deviating from our original plan to suspend the position. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin Stone has been in full or part-time ministry for over 30 years. Before accepting the position of President, he spent 12 years as the full-time Pastor of Worship at Crosspoint Bible Church in Omaha, NE - one of our FEBC churches.