Faith in Action Partners,
Consider a few real-life stories that have taken place this year, because of your generosity…
…A family of six comes into the food pantry and cannot thank our volunteers enough for providing the groceries that they cannot afford without our help.
…A mother posts on Facebook how thankful that she and her family have found our church, a place that mirrors God’s radical hospitality and grace.
…A church member shares how important the early 838 service has become to them, and how it has helped them find God again in new ways.
Each of these stories—plus so many more—tells how First Baptist puts faith into action, and they wouldn’t be possible without your generosity! As we near the end of the giving year, we as the Finance Team want to thank you for your consistent and generous giving in 2025. Meanwhile, it is also time for us to start thinking about 2026, and how we hope to plan for even more stories like those above. You will find below a form for you to share your 2026 pledge with us for your annual giving. This pledge helps us to anticipate the year ahead, and it allows us to create a ministry plan for our seven Ministries:
- Missions, who needs your help to maintain our building and grounds where important mission work happens, and sends funds beyond our walls to our mission partners
- Evangelism, which includes staff who reach out to visitors and maintain our website, the new “front door” of the church (not to mention buying Munchers’ donuts for our Welcome Coffee meetings!)
- Facilities, who make sure that the building is welcoming and comfortable for members and visitors, and funds a building manager who keeps it that way!
- Worship, which includes the budget needs of communion supplies, organ maintenance, sheet music for our choir, building upkeep so our two worship services can happen, technical needs to broadcast livestreamed worship to participants around the country, and the salaries of (at least parts of) five different staff positions
- Deacons, who provide parties for our Senior Friends who cannot make it to church as often as they would like, and resources for members who are grieving loved ones
- Spiritual Formation, which needs your help to buy books for Sunday school, supplies for Vacation Bible School, and assure that we have a minister who focuses on the needs of children, youth, and families
- Finance (that’s us!) who fund the salary of a bookkeeper to keep it all organized, as we work to help the church remember its stewardship priorities
As your Finance Team, we share our gratitude at each of our monthly meetings, as we see all year long how you have been generous to our annual budget needs, in addition to special needs such as the mission trip to Nicaragua, and our Ministry not Mortgage debt elimination campaign. Speaking of which, what you will not see is a second pledge form for the MNM campaign. That doesn’t mean that it is not in front of our minds. However, in 2025, we began the MNM emphasis at our Annual meeting in January, and this year, we hope to continue that pattern. After the first of the year, once we receive end-of-the-year gifts, we will assess where we stand with the mortgage and develop a plan to hopefully eliminate it in 2026. We would love to be able to burn the mortgage at the church birthday party on June 7 (a full 18 months ahead of schedule!), but we want to be thoughtful and intentional about the plan to get there. So, stay tuned for that meeting, to be held on January 25. That said, many of you have chosen to give monthly toward that goal or have end-of-the-year gifts in mind to meet or even exceed your pledge. Don’t hesitate to continue that generosity, as we watch that “lily-ometer” grow and the mortgage shrink! Our goal is to wait on a pledge process, but to not pause in our giving.
So please prayerfully consider your pledge for our annual ministry plan. As household costs such as utilities and food costs are rising nationally, they are also rising for our staff and our church! Please remember that to simply continue our current level of ministry, we need to increase our giving to keep up. Again, the pledge form is below. If you have any questions about our plan, or anything about our shared story of stewardship, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We love watching God turn your generosity into changed hearts and minds. And we love cheering from the sidelines as you demonstrate your Faith in Action!
Blessings,
Your FBC Finance Team:
Dava Cooper (Chair), Brenda Schenkel (Treasurer), Marylee Southard (Financial Secretary), Holly Grassy (Bookkeeper), Hannes Combest (Moderator), Ramon Schmidt (Steward)
Thank you for taking the time to make your 2026 pledge!
2026 Stewardship Pledge Form
NOTE: The following form will submit your information to Breeze, our church management software (CMS). You can read Breeze’s security policy re: how they handle data HERE. Breeze will then forward the information to Holly Grassy, FBC’s bookkeeper. Holly is the only person who will see your form.
More info:
Now that I’ve pledged, how do I give?
Again, thank you so much for your commitment and your generosity!
Here are three ways you can make your pledge payments:
1) Online at https://1330fbc.breezechms.com/give/online. Choose “Operating Fund” from the top drop-down menu. You may also a select a frequency option from the second drop-down menu if you’d like to automate your giving. Choose your form of payment from the third drop-down menu. (ACH is the option with the lowest fee, 1% + .25 per transaction. Credit card payments have a fee of 2.9% + .30 per transaction.)
2) By simply texting an amount to 785-333-5300.
3) By mailing a check made out to First Baptist Church, 1330 Kasold Drive, Lawrence, KS 66049.
Need help with setting up a Breeze account for recurring giving, or other giving-related questions? Contact FBC bookkeeper Holly Grassy.