Jesus stated, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). In his book, Budgeting for a Healthy Church, pastor Jamie Dunlop draws from Jesus’ statement a principle for churches: “To understand what really matters to a church, look past its vision statement, past its website, past its glossy brochures, and look at its budget. Follow the money. What a church treasures—how it spends its money—reveals its heart, its values, and its priorities” (15). This reality is true for Crestview.

Now that we have closed the books on 2024, I want to share several exciting observations that were made possible by your active participation and generous contributions:

In 2024, your giving allowed us to direct $100,000, or 18% of expenses, to international, regional, and local mission and relief efforts! These efforts include the cooperative program, International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Mission Georgia, Flint River Baptist Association, Christian Women’s Center, Fayette Pregnancy Resource Center, McIntosh Baptist Church replant, Crestview Compassion, Lesotho trips, and more. Your contributions clearly demonstrate Crestview's commitment to engaging the world with the gospel, from here to the ends of the earth (Matt 28:18-20).

We devoted $65,000, or 12% of expenditures, to support gathered worship, equipping courses, disciple-making, and ministries to kids and students. Crestview clearly values worship, community, and building up our church (Eph 4:11-12).

We invested $260,000, or 46% of expenditures, in pastoral staff and families, administrative staff, and the development of elders, deacons, and their wives. Crestview clearly values and honors its leaders (1 Tim 5:17; Heb 13:17).

We applied $138,000, or 25% of expenditures, to maintaining the church campus. These costs included utilities, property insurance, and keeping fixtures and equipment operational. Crestview clearly values a functional, attractive, and safe campus as a ministry tool (Deut 22:8).

Separate from these budget expenditures, in 2024, the Henry and Myrtis Holman Memorial fund, a fund set up by past Crestview members in their estate planning to support mission work, distributed $36,000 in Crestview’s name, divided evenly, to the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board. The Holmans set up this perpetual fund in their estate planning. I suspect they will give more to missions from heaven than they did during their earthly days!

Even with your commendable efforts and your leaders’ appeals, the church fell $34,000 short of our budget goal for 2024. However, I am hopeful that with your continued generosity, we can surpass our goals in 2025, enabling us to direct more funds to the initiatives valued by the Lord and Crestview.

Our church’s budget is a key way we work together as a church in gospel ministry. Dunlop highlights the budget’s importance: ”Think of your church’s budget as a long-term mutual fund with an excellent rate of return. It’s a spiritual mutual fund” (36). May every Crestview member be thankful on that last day for every dollar we entrusted to this budget!

For His Glory,

Pastor Thomas