Members of the Stewardship team for 2005 were Charles Collier, Fred Dawson, Steve Hundley, Mindy Hidenfelter, Jim Wilburn and Ed Koffenberger.

The primary emphasis of our Stewardship Interpretation team has been to assist the congregation in their commitments of time, talent and funds to support God’s work through First Church. We have used the heartbeat, the Sunday bulletins, special mailings, and Moments for Mission in our efforts to accomplish this. Our theme for this past fall has been "Renewed in the Spirit" as we saw a revitalization of the congregation resulting from the Revisioning studies that were held in 2004. Our VIF giving increased in the second half of 2005 as did our worship attendance and as a result we met the total anticipated VIF income. While the final Faith Commitment numbers for 2006 are not available by the time of this report we have been very encouraged by both the increase in total dollars committed and the fact that about 50% of the respondents indicated they had increased their contribution.

Fred Dawson has become Chair of the Endowment and Bequest committee as part of the Stewardship team. He can help anyone who has an interest in this important area of stewardship.

Intentional stewardship is a life of consciousness about whose we are, the circumstances of our lives, and the opportunities we have been given – individually and collectively as a community of faith.