The Finance Committee / Leadership Council has approved a 2019 church budget which is slightly lower than the 2018 budget. The largest decrease is the mortgage payment. Our Grand Idea campaign has dramatically reduced our mortgage balance, so the monthly payment was recalculated. That has allowed us to plan to hire a Children’s Director, give a salary increase to the staff, and pay our conference apportionments. We also increased the building maintenance budget to allow for the expected repairs. We are happy to be able to increase spending on salaries and programs again.