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NDCBF Townhall Recap 2020 from NDCBF on Vimeo.
NDCBF Townhall Q&A Responses
Sale of the Building
Question: What is the status of the potential sale of the building?
Answer: As of Monday, November 30th, we have executed a contract of sale on our property. We will remain in our current building until December 2021 and have begun the process to find our next facility.
Question: What areas are we considering for our new location?
Answer: Our desire would be for our new location to be within a 6-8 mile radius of our current location. Our ideal location would be one with adequate space for our Children and Youth, a facility that seats 650-800 people, and sufficient parking.
Question: After the building's sale, how much money will we have to buy a new one? Will we have to borrow again?
Answer: We plan to pay off the existing debt, restore our operating cash, cash reserves, and purchase our next facility debt-free.
Question: God has truly blessed NDCBF with the pending sale. I have two questions. (1) From a real estate perspective and current economic condition, did the market dictate a lower sales price than initially e typical consequenanticipated? (2) Will the provisions of Purchase and Sale Agreement allow for the buyer to withdraw from the sale? If so, what are thces?
Answer: We asked for a specific number, and God gave it to us despite the market conditions. The contract is a standard contract where earnest money has been paid, and the buyer stands to forfeit it should the contract be withdrawn.
Question: From what has been reported, finances are in a good place, why is it necessary to proceed with the sale of the building?
Answer: Please don't misunderstand the message; God has blessed us to be in a good place, relative to the reduction of cash we project. However, we're still using operating reserves and not building cash. This current situation is not sustainable for the future. Our goal for the future is to be debt-free, and this decision supports this.
Question: Can we get an update on the work completed for the task forces?
Answer: Following our business meeting in February of this year, we developed Task Forces for the following areas: Prayer, Member Insight, Human Resources, Communications & Marketing, Transformational Funding, Planning the Church Facility for the Future, Property Sale, and Property Acquisition. The Human Resources team has been operating as our in-house HR team and has been instrumental in our interviewing and hiring processes for our open positions. The Member Insight Team has been conducting member surveys and gathering insight from members of the church. Our Communications & Marketing Team has been responsible for all communications regularly. Our Transformational Funding Team has been updating Pastor Dames and coming up with ideas on supporting the church in various ways. The Planning for the Church Facility for the Future team has been surveying our ministry leaders and gathering information for our future facility. Our Property Sale Team has been actively working behind the scenes on the sale of our building.
Covid-19
Question: In a recent sermon, it was mentioned that not attending service in person was viewed as a lack of faith. In an environment where we've seen spikes in cases, businesses closed, office closures, and advice from infectious experts, there appears to be a disconnect in our messaging. We've publicly stated that not meeting in person is not a financial burden, and we've been blessed to have the technology to have the ability to worship in other ways. I question why one's faith is questioned because they chose to follow the guidelines outlined by healthcare professionals?
Answer: When Pastor Dames was speaking about this topic, he said if we have individuals who are hanging, eating at restaurants, and other places with fewer restrictions, how is the church any different? His perspective is if people, specifically young adults and those who are not in a high-risk category, can go to other places with no fear, they can also come to church. If you are high-risk or fearful in any way, we invite you to continue to worship at home virtually. We take this virus very seriously, and your safety is of the utmost importance to us.
Question: What steps are being taken for 65+ seniors?
Answer: We have been taking steps to ensure our seniors are well cared for. Through the pandemic, we have reached out to our seniors through our Clusters and Member Care Team to get an idea of our senior community's needs. We are also working with our Young Adults to develop a Senior Care program to take care of the practical needs of our seniors who need it.
Question: With the pandemic not slowing down, is the church going to cut back on meeting in-person?
Answer: We will continue to meet in-person as long as it is deemed safe by our governor and local government agencies. We take all precautions to ensure your safety while on our campus for in-person worship by practicing social distancing, wearing masks and respecting the CDC's guidelines.
Question: How can we serve the body, both individually and in ministries, when we do not know where or how to get in touch with the local body that we are apart of? Meaning, do not know where they went? How to reach out to them, what we can do? If we are to assemble together as a local body, without any context of sickness or persecution listed to state otherwise, how can we do that when part of the body and the ministries that we had are no longer there? I am open to opening up my home to small groups to share the gospel, meet needs, have children come over to do a Bible study, have parents drop off their child so they can go out and I watch their child, have another, others come over and sit and do their Bible study, while I sit and do mine, cooking at the same time to provide another meal with another in the body.. etc.
Answer: The best way to get in touch with the local body is by calling our church office at 972-437-3493. Our Clusters have been reaching out to every member of NDCBF, and we urge you to get in contact with your Cluster Captain. More information about our Clusters can be found on our website at https://www.ndcbf.org/clusters. In January, we launched our Small Groups, and one of our goals in 2021 is to commit to more home-based ministry opportunities. Due to Covid-19, all of our groups are meeting via zoom or other online outlets, but when it's safe to do so, we will ask for members to open up their homes to other families. If you would like to sign-up to host a small group, visit our website at https://www.ndcbf.org/smallgroups.
Question: Will the church continue to offer virtual formats for services, classes, Bible studies, etc., once the Covid pandemic is over?
Answer: Yes, in the future, we will continue to offer virtual formats of our worship services, classes, and bible studies. Our plan Pre-Covid was to expand our digital footprint and to be able to take NDCBF beyond the four walls of the building.
Finances
Question: Great that NDBCF is getting debt-free. It would be more liberating if the people of GOD were debt-free as well. How should families implement strategies to do both?
Answer: The leadership believes the church should model debt-free living to encourage you to do the same in your households. Just as the church is going through a financial reset, we will ask you to set goals to attain debt-free living. In early 2021, we will give you access to resources and host Financial Peace University stewardship classes virtually.
Question: Update us on how we've been faring since the pandemic. Are we worse, better, or about the same? Are there other options on the table for improving our financial situation? What are they, and when might they be implemented?
Answer: By the grace of God rather than a reduction, our cash position at the start of November is unchanged. Our main contributors are consistent giving, we were able to take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program, and we have saved by the reduction of use in our building due to the pandemic.
Question: Having problems with the new software to GIVE. I would like to have a better understanding.
Answer: If you have questions regarding our new giving platform, ShelbyNext giving, visit our website at https://www.ndcbf.org/give; we have some video tutorials and other instructions on this page. If you need more personalized assistance, we would love to walk you through our new giving platform. For questions or assistance, please contact [email protected] or call the church office at 972.437.3493 Monday-Thursday 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
Question: Discuss issues related to SHELBYNEXT. Can we have an online directory for church members and regular attendees?
Answer: Stay tuned for more information on our new membership database, ShelbyNext Membership. In the first quarter of 2021, we will be sharing more features with you!
Worship
Question: Pastor Dames made the point that future praise and worship songs would be orthodoxy and orthopraxy...ie doctrine/belief and words of praise being the same. Does this mean there will be no children, young adult, Youth, women's, or men's choirs? Pastor Dames did not answer the gentleman who asked about the men's choir. If not, what are you proposing, only Hebraic songs and no music? I would appreciate an answer. Thank you.
Answer: The leading message Pastor Dames was trying to convey is that we want to create an atmosphere centered on God's presence beyond Sunday morning. The goal is Acts 2 Worship is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength while living our daily lives in conformity to the image of Christ, presenting that which is acceptable to Him. This isn't a new practice for NDCBF, but a reminder as we want to ensure the songs we sing are scripturally correct. Our goal is to create unified services where our offering of songs is consistent with the message God is giving our Pastor. We intend to continue to utilize our Children, Youth, Young Adults, Adults, Men, and Women in our ministry, whether in a praise team or combination of praise team and choir.
Question: Since the church is the people and not the building, it would seem that virtual services would be more appropriate rather than encouraging members to attend in person. Why not have the church "without" walls ministry concept.
Answer: We will always have an in-person or virtual approach to worship. In 2021, we will have various opportunities to take the church beyond the walls of NDCBF through virtual options, small groups, and home-based ministries.
Question: Is there a plan to bring children and Youth back to in-person? What opportunities are there for Children and Youth virtually?
Answer: Yes, we have a plan in place to bring our Youth services back in-person in 2021 in addition to virtual Youth Sunday services beginning in a couple of weeks; more information is forthcoming. Our Youth have been meeting online Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm and our Children online on Sundays at 11:00 am. For more information on Children and Youth, visit our website at https://www.ndcbf.org/students.
Question: What is the status of securing youth leaders for both children & youth ministries? Have we looked into why we cannot employ a Children's and Youth Ministry for more than 24 months? What are we going to do differently to create longevity within this role and for the sake of the students they serve?
Answer: We are actively seeking to fill our Children's Director role. We have one candidate who has completed the 2nd round of interviews. Our goal is to have someone in place by the First Quarter of 2021. As of November 30th, we have filled our Youth Ministry Director Role, and we introduced our new Youth Ministry Director, John Mason, during the Townhall meeting.
Question: Is it possible to brighten or provide more light on speakers/presenters/worship team? And improve (increase) sound for Bible Study and Church.
Answer: Thank you for your feedback. Our AVL team works hard and meets regularly to improve the look and the sound of virtual services.
Question: Can prayer hold a prominent place in our church and services? Prayer chapel/space in the new location?
Answer: We invite you to join us for our Morning Prayer Conference Call, we host this call every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:00 am as well as our Morning Devotion on Facebook Live every weekday at 7:45 am. The dial-in number is 267-930-4000, and the Participant Code: 465-642-892. As we're able to, we plan on resuming The Gathering in 2021. Regarding a prayer space in our new location, we are still in the planning stages for our new site and will consider this.
Other
Question: Why is this meeting called Town Hall versus Business Meeting? We are not a town; we are a church congregation or group.
Answer: Town hall meetings are used in various organizational contexts to update groups on information, understand the organization's value, and receive feedback through a Q&A format. We used this term because we wanted to differentiate this meeting from our regular Business and Communication Meetings.