As a relatively new member of Brecksville UMC, I was surprised and honored to be asked to prayerfully consider serving on the Leadership Board for a 3-year term. After accepting the call to serve, I was invited to attend and observe the last two meetings of 2024. Kathy Louttit, who has been attending BUMC for about 20 years, and Michael Houff, with whom I attended new member classes in the fall of 2023, also attended to observe before we were officially commissioned as members of the Leadership Board on January 5.

Since then I have learned so much about the church as an organization. There are things I expected to learn about: mission, organizational structure, budgets, and ministry updates. But the element that has been most refreshing, and different from secular organizations I’ve been a part of, is the spiritual basis and focus. Each meeting starts and ends with prayer, and throughout our discussions we are reminded by one another and Pastor Heidi that we are here to create disciples, and our actions and decisions need to reflect that purpose. Considering the setting, this shouldn’t have surprised me. But seeing faith in action during a business meeting is simply a new experience for me. I welcome it and am so grateful and humbled to be part of it.

The January Meeting

Our January meeting began with an opening prayer and spiritual formation by Pastor Heidi. Fun fact: the pastor is not expected to always lead us in prayer; it’s a responsibility shared and rotated among the members of the Leadership Board. But for the first meeting of the year, it was appropriate for her to start us off. And she’s VERY good at leading in prayer – go figure! We then proceeded through the business on the agenda, starting with unanimous votes to re-elect Alan as our Chair and Matt as our Secretary, and to elect Jim Slagle as the new Vice Chair of Trustees a position required by the Book of Discipline. We also unanimously approved the Guiding Principles. We reviewed a proposal for a renovation to the Parsonage and after some discussion about the unknown costs that might arise, approved this proposal. We reviewed and discussed staff reports and the Pastor’s report before the main event: a presentation by Shannon Kantorwoski, Business Manager.

Finance Report

We have been blessed with Shannon’s gifts for just a few months, but in a short amount of time working very part-time, she has made incredible progress and seems to have seamlessly folded into the fabric of the staff and church family. Her grasp of the financial position of the church is solid and growing, and she has a real knack for clearly explaining financial matters in a way that everyone can understand, even those of us who dread the idea of crunching numbers. While the financial picture is promising, the Board felt it appropriate to give Shannon another 30 days to round out the most accurate budget before approving it. That is scheduled to occur on February 13 at our next meeting.

Most exciting was the reporting of pledges for 2025. I’m so happy for our church family, as it’s clear we are growing in our faithful commitment to the success of BUMC and our mission to create safe spaces to grow with God and one another. The pledge amount for 2025 exceeds that of 2024. Fourteen new givers pledged in 2025 who did not pledge in 2024. And forty-six (!!!) givers pledged more in 2025 than they did in 2024. The Alternative Revenue Team was also very successful, raising over $14,000 in additional revenue through the Brecksville Flea, Pumpkin Patch, Close the Gap Campaign and our new cookbook. This is all AMAZING news worth celebrating! Thank you to each of you for your contributions of time, talents, and/or treasure to ensure the continued growth and success of this awesome church.

Thankful

In closing I want to thank the outgoing members of the Leadership Board for their service in establishing this new form of governance. Zane Burgstahler, Eric Louttit, and Carolyn Jatsek brought knowledge, experience, and love for this church to the Leadership Board. I look forward to following their example, and will be excited to welcome another 3 new members to the Board this time next year. Might you be one of them?

– Submitted by Maria Shurik