Stewardship Prayer:

Eternal God, Through Whom all goodness comes, and by Whose grace we are blessed with all we have.
Inspire us, we pray, to serve You through our gifts.
Loose us from our fears and the bondage that keeps us from doing Your will, that in growing our Ministries together, we may fulfill Your heavenly purposes and live in the joy that You meant for all of us to share.
In Christ’s Name we pray,

Amen.

Good morning. My name is Phil Spessard and my wife, Lisa, and I have been members of St. Catherine’s for the past couple of years. Our family, including our daughters Sydney (4) and Caroline (9 months), is blessed to have found this special church home for many reasons of which I will name a few over the next few minutes.

But first, I thank Tom Hunter, chairman of this year’s Stewardship campaign, for inviting me to share with you my thoughts concerning Stewardship of Treasure. I believe I have been asked by Tom to give this talk today because Lisa and I represent a growing number of young couples and families who have recently joined or returned to St. Catherine’s. I am humbled and honored to accept this opportunity to share our story of what has inspired us to get more actively involved and to devote more of our personal Time, Talent and Treasure here.

I grew up in Richmond, VA and was baptized and active in the Episcopal Church as a young boy and adolescent. Lisa grew up in the Catholic Church in Arkansas, and like me, attended weekly services and Sunday School. Christianity was an important part of our upbringings, but, like many, we did not make church attendance and involvement a priority in our late teens and our 20s. After meeting in the mid 1990s and relocating to Atlanta from VA and AR, Lisa and I agreed we needed to find a church home.

We visited a number of local Episcopal churches, prior to our move to East Cobb. Shortly after our move and before visiting St. Catherine’s, we noticed one day that the Church suffered a terrible fire. I felt so badly for all of you, and I didn’t even know you at the time. You see, when I was a young boy, my church, St. Bartholomew’s in Richmond burned down. I remember hearing the news and feeling as if my very own home had burned to the ground. I will never forget that sinking feeling of loss and pain.

Fast forwarding 3 decades, the fire and the rebuilding initiative peaked our interest to visit St. Catherine’s. I must admit that it was a bit strange at first to be worshiping in the old pink and green Parish Hall during our early visits, but we were so warmly welcomed by everyone here. Rosemary and Steve Wolfe immediately come to mind, but there were many who reached out to us. We quickly knew we had found our church home, and now it has become the central root system of our lives as a family, as parents, and as individuals on our respective journeys to God.

Now that I am a parent and am surrounded by other young families inside and outside of this church, I have become acutely aware of the importance and blessing of our ministries directed at our youth. The curiosity of our children and teens is so beautifully cultivated through the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Journey to Adulthood programs. Those among us who devote themselves to these ministries so ably serve our youth by guiding their spiritual awareness and instilling confidence in that pursuit.

Lisa and I have, in faith, reached out to you, our church family, to advance our daughters Christian upbringing and help guide us as parents. The love and support you have shown us is especially valuable, as we are so far removed geographically from our own families.

It strikes me that just as we have a finite amount of time, creativity and energy to devote to raising Sydney and Caroline from childhood to adulthood, so are we as individuals at

St. Catherine’s limited in number of hours we can personally devote to our youth and adult parishioners and those whom we serve outside of the church at any given time. That is precisely where our generosity of financial resources intersects with God’s intentions. We might consider this a matter of return on investment. Each of us individually will always eventually run short on time and talent. Yet our annual Stewardship dollars will always magnify the value of our personal investments of time and talent by many fold, enabling our clergy, staff, vestry and fellow ministry volunteers the funding required to realize St. Catherine’s greatest potential to positively change and enrich the lives of our members and those whom we serve in the community.

I admit that in the early months of attending St. Catherine’s, we often arrived on Sunday mornings, reaffirmed our faith through the service, took communion, sought guidance from the lessons and sermon and departed for another week. While we felt at home here, something was missing, and we knew it. That missing link was active involvement and a significant financial commitment. Perhaps for fear of becoming overburdened or being inadequate on the talent side of the equation, we initially resisted getting more involved. Over the past year, however, we have become actively involved at St. Catherine’s, leading to a heightened sense of purpose and fulfillment.

I was invited to serve on the Faithful Mission Campaign Steering Committee and have valued the opportunity to get to know and work with these special individuals over the past several months. Lisa has become involved with Catechesis and with Jenny Gale in organizing the Young Families Ministry. We have discovered that it is through active involvement that the true power of St. Catherine’s has fully revealed itself to us. The more time and effort we invest here, the more connected we are with each of you and the more fulfillment we enjoy. The more fulfillment we enjoy, the more we want to see the same enjoyed by others.

If you think about it for a moment, it is the combination of tightly woven gifts of Time, Talent and Treasure which create a robust church community that is allowing us to attract and engage so many new families. Together we can explore where we are and how we may best serve one another on our respective journeys to God. Therein lies the power of our Stewardship. It is through the combined gifts of Time, Talent and Treasure that we are fulfilled in our service to God and we fully achieve and help others achieve their fullest potential in God’s image.

By giving selflessly we discover more about ourselves, and as many within our parish can attest, the more abundantly we give, the more abundantly we receive love and opportunities to create more abundance. What a beautiful cycle God has created for us.

The more we invest our financial resources in St. Catherine’s, the more we enable our congregation to blossom. St. Catherine’s offers each of us meaningful ways to express our love and devotion to God, the church, this congregation and the citizens of the nation and world. Whether it is through prayer for the sick; participating in the Christening of our newest members; being there for one another at times of sadness, loss and grief; quietly serving one another through Stephen Ministry; building a Habitat for Humanity home; or guiding our children through Catechesis, we make important investments every day. While our individual time and unique talents are of tremendous value, our Stewardship becomes complete through our complementary gifts of financial resources. By making a commitment for the year and dutifully fulfilling that commitment, you are quite literally unlocking the fullest potential of our clergy and our congregation to educate, support, and nurture each member on their respective journey to God. That is an awesome opportunity and responsibility.

This is a cause not just worth supporting, but one worth supporting as generously as our circumstances will allow. For some of you who are likely already giving 10% or more of your discretionary income to St. Catherine’s, thank you for your inspiring example.

For the rest of us, including Lisa and me, I propose that we give very careful and prayerful consideration to our Stewardship commitment for 2007, making every effort to raise our giving as a percentage of our income, whether from 8 to 10%, or 5 to 6% or 3 to 5%.

For those receiving phone calls from the combined Stewardship and Faithful Mission Committee in the final weeks before our November 12^th In-gathering, please embrace the opportunity to share with them what you most value at St. Catherine’s and to discuss ways in which you may make a stretch commitment of your Time, Talent and Treasure in the new year and beyond.

Just think of the influence our collective increased support will have on those whom we serve, both outside of and within

St. Catherine’s, be they new members or those who have worshiped here for decades.

Most importantly, in my opinion, Stewardship provides support for our clergy. The value Father Jim and Sherry and, more recently, Kathy, provide all of us is truly immeasurable. If I were to ask each of you individually what they mean to you, I would imagine I would get many different answers but all with the common thread of great significance in our lives.

Personally, I love the way Father Jim communicates with our children with the same care and regard as he does with our adult members. His special qualities have in so many ways led to the recent growth of young families joining and fully engaging at St. Catherine’s. I thank God for Father Jim, for calling him to the ministry, and for bringing him to us in Marietta. We are also blessed and grateful to have Sherry as our associate rector and to welcome Kathy to her new role. Let us make certain through our annual Stewardship that our clergy continue to have what they need, both financially and through opportunities to educate, guide and support us as we seek to carry out God’s plans for us.

Let’s together make certain that our dedicated vestry will have an abundant budget to meet all of St. Catherine’s immediate financial needs in the coming year and will have the ability to keep pace with St. Catherine’s growing ministries. Your continued and increased generosity will make a tremendous difference in 2007.