Report of the Executive Director of Ministries

Report of the Executive Director of Ministries (EDOM)

Dr. Karen E. Stewart

2022 marked the beginning of reorganized staffing and ministry structure and my start in this new position. I am grateful to God, the Pastor and People of FIBC, and our staff and volunteers for their support and encouragement of me in this new role.

STAFFING AND MINISTRY REORGANIZATION:

Pastor Stephen Thurston continued his work with us as we implemented the new staffing structure and took on the task of reorganizing our ministries. This resulted in a new organizational and ministry chart.

ACTIVE

African Charles Favor/Home Alone Clergy Caucus Dance Deacons Drama General Mission Governance Council HELPS Library Men’s Ministry* Ministry of Protection Multi-Media New Member Praise Team Prayer Ministry Shepherding Social Justice Commission Student Ministry Sunday Sunday Bible Study Worship Support Team** *Is restructuring through 1st Quarter 2023 ** This is the combination of the Ushers and Greeters Ministries.

ACTIVE TASK

Elections Commission Floral & Decorations Ms. Jessie’ s Place Scholarship Tellers

CONCLUDED

Note: Concluded ministries are as such because of one of the following: 1. No active volunteer leadership. 2. Ministry evolved into a new ministry that is active. 3. No regular ongoing volunteer participation

Adult Choirs Fit 4 Life Friday Night Outreach Greeters Marriage Enrichment Mentoring Programs OHOH Foster Care Ushers Women’s Ministry Young Adult Singles

We are excited that new leadership for the Women’s Ministry has been identified, and this ministry should relaunch in the first quarter of 2023.

Staffing also transitioned. We are thankful for Sis. Jocelyn Thomas (Student Ministries), Pastor Roland Pierce (Congregational Care), Sis. Tolanda Coker (Database Facilitator), Pastor Joseph Green (Digi-Pastor), Bro. Raymond Kirkendall (Music), and Bro. Greg McGlothen (Music), who all served faithfully and with distinction in their areas of service at FIBC. With these transitions came new staff. We welcomed Bro. Cedric Evens as our drummer, Bro. Maarcus Hall as our Creative Director of Virtual and Multi-Media, The Rev. Sharmal Cannon as our Pastor of

Congregational Care, Dr. Maurice Terrell as our Creative Director of Worship and Arts, and Bro. Cory Dugar is our lead musician. The ministry of FIBC has been strengthened with their addition to our staff. Our staff will continue to grow as we hire staff for our Student Ministries.

Following my report are summaries from the Staff Pastors and Directors, the Minister of Music, and our Social Media Manager. I praise God for all staff and volunteers in the EDOM ministries. Whether new or not so new, we all have been striving together for ministry excellence while negotiating the waves of an ever-changing landscape.

FIBC WILDLY IMPORTANT GOAL (WIG) RESULTS:

FIBC adopted a Wildly Important Goal (WIG) in the second quarter of 2022. They were: • Goal 1: Increase FIBC’s Sunday in-person visitors (those who have visited on Sunday less than 4 x’s) by an average of 20 guests in-person; and a 10% increase in online viewers each week by December 1, 2022. • Goal 2: Transition 10% of FIBC’s average weekly visitors to actively participating members of the church by December 1, 2022.

As follows is my assessment of each.

Goal 1:

• Although we did see an increase in our overall visitor numbers, our weekly goal was not consistently met. One of the challenges of our meeting our WIG was no clear buy-in from our congregation regarding the WIG nor a clear strategy from members and ministries to assist us in meeting our goals. • The other challenge was the inability to determine who fit the less than 4x’s per Sunday category. For example, if a visitor stood for their first visit, they wouldn’t stand after that, nor would they get a visitor packet and therefore would not get counted. • The final challenge was the inability to get a consistent count of visitors done weekly • It should be noted that our next step luncheon did result in new members getting involved in ministry, attending virtual and in-person new member classes, highlighting FIBC’s ministry to guests, and identifying new leaders and ministry opportunities

Goal 2:

• We were able to meet the goal of increasing our live views by 10% but did not increase our engagement. Although engagement was not a part of our goal, we felt it was a necessary component. • All platforms saw an increase in engagement and new content offerings, with the largest growth on Instagram and YouTube, where we were investing more time and energy

MINISTRY PARTNERSHIPS

• Arc Health - FIBC has partnered with Arc Health to deliver healthcare services in our congregation and community. This telehealth model helps individuals have their yearly wellness check for preventative medicine. This partnership results in FIBC receiving $3000 per month. This will increase to $6000 if they launch the onsite component. • Black Votes Matter – Pastor Donta McGilvery quickly wrote a grant that was brought to our attention by Pastor Stewart to fund efforts for voter education. As a result, we received $15,000 to assist in our efforts! These funds were used to hire staff, drivers and van rentals to help get people to the polls and for voter education.

ON THE HORIZON FOR 2023

We are leaning into our FIBC 2023 Theme. It marks the return of some of the old - we will see the return of some of our Koinonia worship components: gathering for altar prayer, Great 5 with Grace, and a call to discipleship that includes coming to the altar. It will also see the start of something new - The WERR Library moving upstairs to be more accessible to our Sunday Bible Students and the space being converted into a studio that better accommodates our current virtual programming and its expansion in 2023. Also on the horizon are facelifts to other spaces on the property, especially in our Student Ministries areas in the Hope Center Gym. 2023 for us, is about ministry excellence that reaches those in our pews and our community and ensures we are prepared for our new now and our next. God has done, is doing, and will do great things – let’s position ourselves to be a part of what He is doing.

Respectfully submitted,