Three Congregations Set Example in Major Missions Campaign
“I know my congregation is no different than any other,” David Chumney, Pastor of First Presbyterian in Paris, said. “We get focused on what we need to do with our own people in our own neck of the woods ... it’s easy to forget about our work and our mission together as a presbytery.” The session of First Presbyterian in Paris gave a gift of $20,000 to the campaign in November of 2003, and has pledged additional amounts for the next two years. “We knew we wouldn’t be the largest gift in the Presbytery, but we felt like we could make an immediate impact on the campaign our Presbytery voted unanimously to support if we went ahead and did something up front.”
In mid December, First Presbyterian Church in Richmond also made a generous gift. “There is never a good time in the life of the presbytery to do a campaign, there will always be a handful of churches coming out of their own capital campaigns or getting ready to start one,” Bill Bailey, pastor of First Richmond said. “We’re in that boat ourselves, but our session realizes that we have church responsibilities beyond our four walls. Bill brought a gift from First Richmond in the amount of $75,000 to the Presbytery Office on December 18th with a caveat: “I told ‘em, ‘don’t cash that check for five days.’”
Rob Blumer, campaign chair, commented, “I’m pleased to say the neither Bill nor any member of First Richmond had to spend time in jail at Christmas for cutting bad checks. Seriously, though, we appreciate the pledges which are beginning to come in from churches and individuals, and some of our larger churches should be able to do a great deal toward fulfilling the goal of the campaign (2.6 million dollars) by spreading out their commitment over a few years, but to receive such generous gifts up front means funds will be available for use sooner.
“I know I speak for everyone in the presbytery which I say ‘thank you’ to Paris and Richmond for kicking us off in a big way. But, I’m aware of other congregations developing generous plans for the campaign, too. Danville has a wonderful plan under way. It began before Tom Farmer retired and is drawing toward a conclusion now.”
“We felt like this campaign was a good opportunity to remind our members of the connectional nature of the Presbyterian Church,” said Bill Owens, former President of Pikeville College and an elder in the Danville church. “This church has been generously supported by members and friends over many years. We decided to have our own campaign among our membership and to provide a dollar for dollar matching gift challenge.”
The Session in Danville is seeking $75,000 in gifts and pledges from among its members to be matched by an equal amount from undesignated funds in their endowment. To date the members of the Danville church have pledged $65,000, meaning double that amount to the Major Missions Campaign.
Danville’s plan is wonderful, the way they’ve seen fit to combine generosity with education about the larger mission of our presbytery in new church development, church redevelopment and the expanding ministry of Burnamwood and with a sense of our responsibility to each other in the Transy family.
For more information regarding the Major Missions Campaign, contact Rob Blumer, Chair, by email: robblumer@yahoo.com or phone: 606-845-0604.
Return your congregation’s pledge or gift to:
Rob Blumer, Chair of Major Missions Fund
Presbytery of Transylvania
2480 Fortune Drive
Suite 140
Lexington, KY 40509
2480 Fortune Drive,
