In Matthew 25 Jesus tells the story of a master who had three servants.

 

Before the master left for an extended trip, he entrusted each servant with a substantial resource of talents. Talents are a weight measurement, each one is about 66 pounds.

 

In some cultures, it was a gold standard. Our text says to one was given 5 talents, to the second he gave 2 talents and the third received 1 talent. In today’s currency, 1 talent is approximately $1.2M; 2 talents is $2.4M; 5 talents is $6M.

 

The servants who received 5 and 2 talents invested what was entrusted them and doubled the value.

 

The third buried the talent, afraid he might lose it.  When the master returned the two who had invested his trust in them, were told:

 

The third servant was called out for being wicked and lazy and lost the trust of his master and his talent was given to the others.

 

In the last several years the Session of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church has chosen to invest out of the abundance that we’ve been entrusted with.

 

Our church is free of debt.  Also, through your giving and the receipt of several large estate gifts, given for both operating funds and extra mission support, we have been able to have a significant amount of cash on hand and have made a significant difference for several ministries we support, locally and globally.

 

Through your generosity, we have enhanced the children’s ministry area as well as the sound in the sanctuary.  We reported many of these investments last January at our congregational meeting.

 

 

We continue to invest in the future of Emmanuel.

 

Three new staff positions were created along with providing raises to our existing staff. We chose to invest in the expanded the use of the sanctuary space to include more activities by replacing our well used pews with chairs.

 

 

In the bulletin, you will be seeing each month an update of expenses and income.

 

Included this month is a report of cash on hand.  We have been paying for many of our investments with money we had received prior to this year.  We have set a threshold of cash on hand to be maintained at $150,000. You can see that our cash balance has decreased by $83,000.

 

We want you to know where this congregation stands financially.

 

We want you to know how grateful we are for your generosity.  In the coming weeks, you will see our financials updated monthly.  If you have any questions, we have copies of the income and expense report available for you at the connection center, we will have it in the office and by clicking HERE. If you want to talk with someone, you can contact Jim Hicks, Warren Nelson, Craig Williams, or David Anderson.