Walnut Ridge Baptist Church of Mansfield, Texas

Joe Ward

There are two worksheets: One is the one we show the church and the other is an internal one that shows the percentage of personnel as a department by itself. We watch this percentage carefully and try not to allow it over 50%.

The budget development process we use is simple. The pastor and I basically determine what the total budget for the coming year needs to be based on projected growth and current statistics. Our weekly per capita number is crucial in this process as we project the total budget based on growth and use the per capita number to get a "pay out" number or how many people will we have to average in attendance to pay for the budget. The ministers develop a budget for their respective areas, and the pastor and I review and tweak these. After we are comfortable with the numbers, he and I make our recommendations to the personnel committee as for raises and new hires. When everything is fairly well settled, I present the budget to the finance committee. The finance committee tells us whether it is too much money or as was the case this year, not enough money.

After the finance committee signs off on it, we present the budget to the church for consideration. We have two open meeting discussions nights and then we have a church vote.