Committee Meeting Updates

Planning - this committee is committed to keeping the Board looking forward and one of the topics for consideration is succession planning - when key leaders decide to retire, move on or for whatever reason leave their Maranatha office, what steps and plans do we have in place to address those. We will be developing those plans over the coming months including discussing those scenarios with representatives from the Maranatha family. In addition the Planning committee continues to follow up on work done at the Annual Planning meeting in regard to points of emphasis and focus for the Board and the Administration such as Development(attracting families and encouraging investment in the school), Finances and Facilities.

Finance - so we now have a proposal for our priorities and for a 5 year plan to accomplish those priorities. If accepted by the Board at the meeting on November 4th, I will share those here. Good news is that we have a budget for this year that sets the target to have positive cash balance at the end of the year. We will do this while taking some important steps to build margin in our financial position: set aside funds monthly to establish a bank loan payment reserve fund and a deferred maintenance fund. So far this year, we are on budget with both revenue and expenses.

Faciliities - the important, but not glamorous, project to build a retaining wall at the North Campus just outside the lunch room to keep water from entering the building is well on its way and should be completed within 2 weeks. Work on installing a new roof at the North Campus over the Pre-School wing should start within 2 weeks. We received a bid for several thousand less than what it cost us to do the other half a couple years ago. Work on the monument sign should start in November. The Facilities committee also has prioritized other maintenance and capital improvements for undertaking over the course of the next 5 years. If accepted at the Board meeting, I will share those plans here.

Next up the Development committee next Tuesday.

Meeting season...again

Yes, it is that time of month again. Board committee meetings started last Friday. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but I am sure much was accomplished as follow-up to the Annual Board meeting that was held in early October: unity around key matters, looking to the future, etc.

Next up is the Finance committee tomorrow where we will look at approving the budget for this year, monthly metrics, enrollment numbers and our portion of the 5 year plan. Facilities plans to meet on Wednesday to discuss monthly metrics and their portion of the 5 year plan.

On November 2nd, the MAPs group will meet and keep up their energetic efforts to raise funds and engagement with the Maranatha family. It is exciting to see all that they have done and are planning to do. Perhaps you should consider joining them. Lauren Miller is one of the leaders in this group in case you do want to join in. Also on November 2nd, the Development committee is scheduled to meet and will be talking about marketing plans, other revenue sources, monthly metrics and their portion of the 5 year plan. That evening I am going to meet with the Board chairs and Dr Daugherty to gather their thoughts about what they think the future of Maranatha looks like so that we can work towards building a common view on key components of that future.

All that builds up to Board meeting on November 4th, where we will review the committee reports and continue work from the progress made at the Annual Review meeting

Looking to the future

Every month I have the privilege of sitting down for lunch with Dr. Daugherty to talk about leadership of the school. We spend a lot of time thinking about possibilities. Things like how do we increase salaries and benefits for our teachers, how do we pay off the loan for the North campus, how do we attract new families, what kind of facility would meet the needs of the future we are contemplating, and how do we get all of the Maranatha family engaged in the Lord's work here.

It is an energizing time for me because of the potential and real impact of our school on the world. That impact happens today when our football team invites the visiting team to kneel with them in prayer after the game and it will happen tomorrow when your student lives and shares the gospel in college and the work place.

So I believe that it is our duty to passionately plead with our loving Father to bless His ministry at Maranatha to further that impact. I also believe that we all should enthusiastically, persistently, and sacrificially invest ourselves and our resources in our students to prepare them for a life in His service.

As mentioned in my previous post, the Board and Administration are working diligently to develop a Master Plan for answering the questions I asked above. I believe that as we become unified in the direction we take with the school, God will do a wondrous work in our midst. I am certainly praying to that end.

Board Annual Planning Session

For most of the day on Saturday, your school board with Dr Daugherty was holed up in a conference room at Lake Quivira Country Club. The planning committee did an excellent job of setting up the agenda for a productive day. It started off with an hour of sharing personal testimonies with the intent of increasing the understanding of how God has developed each board member and brought them to this point in time. It was moving and challenging!

With that tone set, we then jumped into several hours of discussing and praying about where God would have Maranatha go. It was a strong consensus that we know that God is working at Maranatha and we want to stay engaged with that work. We don't have to look far for His work. That is a good thing!

As we talked about the future, one thing is abundantly clear, there will be change. We strove to gain even more unity around important matters such as finance development, personnel development, mission execution and facilities development. In my opinion we advanced that unification of mind - not uniformity of mind, but unity - so that as we work in our committees, we know we are rowing in the same direction.

Finance development - as we discussed opportunities and threats, it became clear that one of our first priorities is to "owe no man anything" as that is a clear principle in the Bible. So as we come to you with vision for moving the school forward, the first big step is eliminating debt. One motivating factor among many is that we only see more and more government intrusion into the operation of religious organizations and we want to be free financially to invest where we need to protect the school.

Personnel development - At some point in the future, faculty, staff and administration personnel will leave due to retirement, other opportunities, etc. We need to thoughtfully plan for that. We have and will continue to do so.

Mission execution - We love our mission statement. It is what we are all about. So we need to make sure we are evaluating our effectiveness in carrying it out and then making adjustments to do so even better.

Facilities development - talk about potential government intrusion, we can see a time where the government will say you can't use public facilities and grounds because you discriminate against certain type of people (i.e. whether they are Christians or gays) so you can't use our tennis courts, soccer fields, etc. So the next step in finances and facilities is to fund securing possession of land and buildings to defend against that development. Is that land at North campus, purchasing a former Shawnee Mission school, new land, etc has not been decided, but we do believe that continued energies in that investigation need to continue.

So a good day! Please remember to thank all of the guys and the lady who serve on the board for their time praying, contemplating, discussing and acting on behalf of Maranatha so that we can stay in step with our God as He carries out His ministry at Maranatha.