October 21, 2017
Dear Central Baptist Family,
I hope that your week is going well, and you are finding God’s blessings in your life. I am writing to tell you that our Chair of Trustees, Tom Pokorny, informed me this week that we have sold the camp to Veda Foundation Corporation. In essence, they paid about half of the sale up front, and we have agreed to a payment plan for the remainder of the funds over a period of 3 years at 5.75% interest rate. It is important to note that we worked closely with real estate lawyer Kit Korey, who is a friend of several church members. Mr. Korey oversaw the closing and represented the church in this process. All the details of the sale are public.
The Church by-laws guide the trustees in managing the funds that to continue to support the Church’s capital needs while maintaining and investing funds for long-term benefits. And, as always, the Church’s teams and committees will continue to make recommendations to the Church to access funds when needed upon approval by vote. Please be aware that this does not mean that we can or should stop our regular tithing, nor does it mean that we will be funding every project that the church needs. We want to be good stewards, balancing financial responsibility, ministry, and needed work on the church.
Our church camp is a critical part of our church history. Many of our church members came to Christ at church camp. Many of our church members have put lots of sweat and tears over the years into making it a great place for children, youth, adults, and guests to grow closer to God. While its chapter with Central Baptist Church is coming to an end, we must trust that God’s work on those grounds, and in our church, is not finished by any means. Rather, the camp has the opportunity to be re-vitalized and re-visioned with another organization, and our church has the opportunity to continue our current ministries, and develop others.
So this is a nostalgic, but good day for our church. Together we place our trust in God to do good things at the camp, and to make our ministry more effective. I want to personally thank Tom Pokorny, Jim Hitson, and Karen LaMotte, who have all chaired the Trustees while the camp has been for sale, and have patiently led us through this process. The support of all of the Trustees and the Church has been vital and is very much appreciated. The information about the sale is public. If you need more details, ask one of the Trustees or any of the staff members.
Blessings,
Sonny