2023 Annual Report : simplebooklet.com

Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Sharing the heart of the Gospel in the Heart of the City Table of Contents Annual Report of the Pastor ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Rev. Dan Turis Annual Report of the Clerk of Session ........................................................................................................................ 2 Elder Rob Heidenreich Covenant-First and The Presbytery of Cincinnati ...................................................................................................... 5 Elder Rob Heidenreich Corporate Report of the Trustees ................................................................................................................................ 6 Elder Rob Heidenreich, Clerk of Session Report on Seminary Inquirer/Candidate ..................................................................................................................... 6 Elder Carol Carhartt Annual Report of the Deacon Board ........................................................................................................................... 7 Deacon Nancy Smith Nominating Committee Report ................................................................................................................................... 8 Mike Millhaem Committee Chair Mission Partners .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 Rob Heidenreich, Mission Committee Children’s Ministry and Church Administrator Report ........................................................................................... 10 Genita Heidenreich Treasurer and Financial Report ................................................................................................................................... 12 Ruth Ross, Treasurer; Genita Heidenreich, Financial Secretary Annual Meeting of the Congregation ......................................................................................................................... 16 Meeting Agenda Closing Hymn ................................................................................................................................................................ 17 They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

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Annual Report 2023 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 1 Annual Report of the Pastor Rev. Dan Turis Dear Covenant-First Presbyterian Church, This past year has been a year of change for Leslie and me. We express our deepest gratitude for the incredible support and kindness you have extended to us. Covenant-First has been a wonderful place to be led by Christ. I am grateful for the events that culminated in me becoming your senior pastor. It is a new era for our church. Not just because I am new. The era that I see moving forward is a time filled with seeing Christ do amazing things in our midst. The era will be marked with new events and ministry. This era will also be marked with two main focuses. Jesus gave us the two greatest commandments. Love Jesus and love others as yourself. These will be the two main foci that will also mark this new era. The way we will love Jesus more will come from an emphasis on discipleship. The next focus will be loving others by communicating Jesus through our words and deeds. We will see our rela-tionship with Jesus as a cup that will be filled with him, and that cup will overflow and become our ministry to the world that needs to know Jesus. Discipleship is the catalyst Jesus will use to create change in Cincinnati. Jesus said to make disciples, not just Chris-tians. To become a Christian means you trust Jesus as Lord; to become a disciple is to interact with that Lord. So, we will be encouraged to grow in our relationship and interact with Jesus. We will be working with the parents to help them disciple their children. We also will be inviting you into a rela-tionship with someone who will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus. You might be asked to help anoth-er grow in their faith. We will continue to grow with our Lord. I have been meeting with you all one-on-one and in small groups. This is precisely what I want to continue to do. These meetings are important because they help me know my church better. It also helps me keep my sermons relatable and challenging. Please reach out and schedule a time to meet with me at your convenience. The future for Covenant-First Presbyterian Church is looking up. Please pray for Leslie and me as we continue to become Cincin-natians. Pray for the ministry and the church. Pray for the staff (Genita, Andrew, Yolanda, and Christy). Pray for new believers to be baptized in our church. Pray that the church grows in its faith and grows with new faces. To the future. Onward! Sincerely, Rev. Dan Turis

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2 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 Annual Report of the Clerk of Session Elder Rob Heidenreich 2023 was an excellent year for our congregation. Year after year, God has blessed our congregation, and we saw that again in 2023. After about two and a half years of faithful leadership by our interim pastor, Rev. Dr. Robert Anderson, we said goodbye to Pastor Bob and Susan, and welcomed our newly called pastor, Rev. Dan Turis and his wife Leslie. At the time of our 2024 Annual Congregational Meeting, Rev. Turis will have marked just over seven months with us, and I know we all agree that he’s off to a great start! And it’s just the beginning of this new chapter in the life of our almost 234-year-old congregation! Like most years, we also had some challenges, notably the collapse of two portions of the sanctuary ceiling. Fortu-nately, those incidents happened when the sanctuary was empty, and ultimately, those incidents alerted us to issues in much of the ceiling; as of this writing, those repairs are almost completed, and once more, we witnessed God’s faithfulness to us in how we avoided any injuries or greater damage, and how he moved through the congregation and other friends of the church to provide the funds needed to pay for these repairs. What follows through the rest of this report are general statistics from the past year. Annually, Clerks of Session compile a statistical report for the Presbytery and for our denomination. It’s a one-page snapshot of various sta-tistics—membership, attendance, finances—and our 2023 report was approved by Session and submitted in early January 2024. This report adds lots more detail than the annual statistical report, although it does include much of the same data. I hope that for all of us it’s a reminder of God’s blessings to us—including in 2023, modest growth in worship attendance, a solid financial position, and all sorts of opportunities for increased ministry as we move forward with Rev. Turis. The following report follows the standard format and normal requirements of our Pres-byterian Church (USA) Book of Order. If you have questions about any of these, please let me know. The Session is comprised of currently serving Ruling Elders of the church and the Pastor. The Pastor acts as Moderator of each Session meeting. Regular meetings of the Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Session are held on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 PM. Meetings are opened with prayer and a devotion, and then closed with prayer. In addition to their charter to strengthen and nurture the faith and life of the congregation, the members of Ses-sion are responsible for the proper use of funds coming into the treasury of the church, and for the upkeep and appropriate use of the property. For Covenant-First (and many other Presbyterian congregations), the Session also serves as the trustees for the congregation. There were two meetings of the congregation in 2023, the reg-ular Annual Congregational Meeting on March 12, 2023, and a Called Meeting to elect our new pastor, Rev. Dan Turis, on Sunday, June 4, 2023. Rev. Anderson moderated the regular March meeting, and Executive Presbyter Lisa Allgood moder-ated the Called June meeting. The Session met in nine regular Stated Meetings in 2024. The Session did not meet for a Stat-ed Meeting in May, July, or December; the Session did gather for dinner and a time of fellowship in December but did not hold a Stated/business Meeting.

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Annual Report 2023 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 3 The following members of the congregation served as Elders on Session for 2023: Elder Rob Heidenreich served as Clerk of Session, and Ruth Ross served as Covenant-First’s treasurer. Elder Hopkins served as Commissioner to Presbytery; as a former Presbytery Moderator, Elder Heidenreich also has voice and vote at all Presbytery meetings. Elder Lisa Allgood served as the Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Cincinnati; she was re-elected by the Presbytery to a second, five-year term at the Presbytery’s November 2023 meeting. (Praise God for her re-election and her continued willingness to service; Lisa’s leadership has been a tre-mendous blessing to our Presbytery and by extension, our Synod and the broader denomination.) The following members of the congregation served as Deacons for 2022: Our interim transition pastor, Rev. Dr. Robert C. Anderson, who began with us on January 3, 2021, continued to lead us in 2023 until mid-July. Following two Sundays with guest preachers after Rev. Anderson completed his service with us, we then welcomed our new pastor, Rev. Dan Turis, on Sunday, August 5. Rev. Anderson also maintained the Brown Bag Bible Study on Wednesdays at noon, and Rev. Turis continued that study beginning in September 2023. CONGREGATIONAL ATTENDANCE Average Sunday attendance: 93 Maundy Thursday attendance: 40 Easter Sunday attendance: 166 Christmas Eve attendance: 146 Our average Sunday attendance grew modestly from 2022 (and has continued to grow in early 2024). Of note, our attendance numbers recorded here do not include those who join us online. Online attendance during the wor-ship service is generally just a few individuals, but we also know others watch the service later in the day on Sun-days or during the following week. We also know that individuals searching for a church increasingly first look at our website, and often watch past worship services online. Online attendance included some regular members/attendees, but also individuals living outside of the region. Term Expiring 2024 Jamie Jewell (Witness/First Term) Rene McPhedran (Share/First Term) Dwight Poffenberger (Serve/First Term) Term Expiring 2025 Alex Balz (Study/Administration/Second Term) Rod Crousey (Study/Second Term) Rick Hopkins (Serve/Second Term) Term Expiring 2026 Carol Carhartt (Share/Second Term) Rob Heidenreich (Administration/First Term) Mike Millhaem (Worship/Second Term) Term Expiring 2024 Charlotte Goering (First Term) Joan McAlonan (First Term) Term Expiring 2025 Jennifer Maxwell (Second Term) Nancy Smith (First Term) Term Expiring 2026 Brian Calfano (First Term) Jenny Adams (First Term)

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4 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 COMMUNION: Communion was served in 13 services, on the first Sunday of each month, and on Maundy Thursday. WEDDINGS: 8. Note: All weddings in 2023 were non-member weddings. BIRTHS: Charles Robert Millhaem, son of Michael and Kelly Millhaem. DEATHS: None. BAPTISMS: Charles Robert Millhaem, infant son of Michael and Kelly Millhaem, baptized on Sunday, Novem-ber 19, 2023; Rev. Dan Turis, officiant. ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP ROLL The Active Membership Roll includes those names of persons who have made a profession of faith in Christ, have been baptized, have voluntarily submitted to the will of the government of this church, participates in the work and worship of the congregation and has been received into membership after attending New Member classes and taking membership vows. It also includes those who have completed a Confirmation Class and been accepted by the congregation. Active members are entitled to vote at meetings of the corporation of CFPC, with the excep-tion of members under the age of 18 (under Ohio state law, only those 18 years or older may vote at corporate meetings). The Clerk of Session is responsible for maintaining the rolls of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church. Session shall delete names from the roll of the congregation upon a member’s death, admission to membership in another congregation or presbytery, or renunciation of jurisdiction. Session may delete names from the roll of the congregation when a member so requests or has moved or otherwise ceased to participate actively in the work and worship of the congregation. Total Active Membership as of December 31, 2023: 101 AFFILIATE MEMBER LIST An individual may only be an active, voting member of one congregation, but at times, individuals may wish to indicate their commitment to our congregation at the same time, while retaining their voting, official membership elsewhere. These individuals desire to participate in the work and worship of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church but maintain their primary church membership with another congregation. Affiliate Members as of December 31, 2023: 0 BAPTIZED MEMBER LIST A baptized member is a person who has received the Sacrament of Baptism, whether in this congregation or else-where, and who has been enrolled as a baptized member by Session. Baptized members are usually children who have not yet made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Such baptized members receive the pastoral care and instruction of the church and may participate in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at the dis-cretion of the child’s parents. Baptized Member’s List as of December 31, 2023: 22 God has blessed our congregation in so many ways, in the past year, and all the years before. As our congregation moves forward in its 234th year, with our still new pastor, Rev. Turis, let’s pray that God will continue to lead, guide and bless us and our ministries, and that we will faithfully follow him into our neighborhood and beyond, joyfully bearing witness to God’s grace and faithfulness. Onward! Rob Heidenreich, Clerk of Session

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Annual Report 2023 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 5 Covenant-First and The Presbytery of Cincinnati in 2023 Clerk of Session Rob Heidenreich The Presbytery of Cincinnati is a council (regional body) of the Presbyterian Church (USA), one of 11 presbyteries in the Synod of the Covenant with approximately 9,000 members in 63 congregations (including Covenant-First!), one New Worshipping Community, and about 145 teaching elder members. In 2023, our congregation participated in meaningful ways in our shared life with the Presbytery of Cincinnati: Our pastoral leaders, Rev. Anderson until August, and Rev. Turis beginning in August, are members of the Pres-bytery and each participate in various ways, including the quarterly meetings. Elder Allgood continued service as Executive Presbyter; in November she was re-elected to a second, five year term. Elder Hopkins served as Commissioner to Presbytery. Elder Heidenreich, as a former Presbytery moderator, continued to have voice and vote in Presbytery meeting. Represented as such, Covenant-First attended and participated as voting members in the four regular Gatherings of the Presbytery as well as various committee meetings and more. The Presbytery has continued to focus time and resources on efforts to strengthen the congregations in our Presbytery, principally through the work of the Center for Learning. The Center for Learning coordinates work with the Elemental Churches program, which Covenant-First completed during the pilot program and with which now almost every congregation has engaged. The Center also coordinates training and informational workshops as part of the Presbytery meetings. Covenant-First has also benefited twice from demonstration grants through the Center for Learning, to support outreach efforts and our music ministries. Those funds supplemented various outreach efforts in 2023. In 2024, the Center is focused on leadership development programs for the pastors in the Presbytery. Currently, Ruling Elder Reggie Roberts (Third) is Moderator, Rev. Deb Uchtman (Bethel Murdoch) is Vice Mod-erator, and Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Yebuah (Kennedy Heights) is Chair of Council. There are many ways for CFPC members to be involved in the work and ministry of the Presbytery, in-cluding serving on various commit-tees and task forces. If you have questions about the work of the Presbytery or would like to get in-volved, please see Pastor Dan, Ex-ecutive Presbyter Allgood, or Rob Heidenreich.

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6 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 Corporate Report of the Trustees Elder Rob Heidenreich, Clerk of Session As required by our by-laws and the State of Ohio, the Church has corporate Trustees. Normally the business of the Church is conducted through Session. However, from time to time those in corporate roles perform tasks directly related to the Church as a corporation, under the guidance and authority of Session. Per our by-laws, the Session of the Church constitutes the Board of Trustees of the Corporation. The annual meeting of the corporation was held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the congregation and the Board of Trustee’s meeting was held at the first Session meeting following the Annual Meeting. Report on Seminary Inquirer/Candidate Elder Carol Carhartt Margaret Heidenreich is our seminary student that Covenant-First is helping to navigate with the goal of becom-ing an ordained Presbyterian minister. Margaret has now completed all of her seminary coursework and will officially graduate from Pittsburgh Theo-logical Seminary with her Masters of Divinity degree on May 31. She has passed two of the required ordination exams and needs to pass three more at the end of April this year. Then she also must complete a clinical pasto-ral experience. After that she can be ordained, and start looking for a church to pastor! We are very proud of her and her efforts to prepare to serve God. We in her home church need to continue to pray for her, and ask God’s blessing on her. It is a beautiful thing to desire to serve God. Elder Carol Carhartt

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Annual Report 2023 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 7 Annual Report of the Deacon Board Deacon Secretary, Nancy Smith Deacon Moderator, Jennifer Maxwell In 2023 the Deacons worked hard to not only serve the needs of the congregation, but also reached into the community to support a broader need base through a variety of activities and initiatives, including the following: • Sent cards, notes, and made phone contact to express sympathy, provide support and encouragement, and to generally check in on congregants; visited several home-bound members • Organized and hosted a “Sprinkle” for the Micheal and Kelly Millhaem family • Sponsored 2 different volunteer outings at Matthew25: Ministries in June and in October; approximately 15 persons participated in each event • Throughout the year, prescription and over-the-counter medication bottles were collected and delivered to Matthew25: Ministries for re-use or recycling • In recognition of Mother’s Day, the Deacons organized a supply drive for Old St. Mary’s Church Pregnancy Center • One of the Deacons organized a 24-hour prayer vigil for member, Jack Weis, during his major surgery • During the month of December the Deacons prepared and delivered home cooked meals for 3 different shut-in families; additional items were prepared and given to several congregational members • A Welcome Luncheon was prepared and hosted for Dan and Leslie Turis in early August • Birthday cards, containing notes of appreciation and gift cards were sent to the primary members of the Fel-lowship Hour “kitchen crew.” • A “Music Appreciation Sunday” was organized by the Deacons and dedicated to the many musicians who enrich worship services with their time and talents • An “installation reception” for Pastor Dan was supported by the help from the Deacons on 10/1/2023. • The year was culminated with the sponsorship of a Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family which resulted in a bountiful supply of clothing, household goods/supplies, and fun toys and sports items for our large family • A short article is prepared by the Deacons for monthly publication in The Covenant Courier The Deacon Board currently consists of the following members: Jenny Adams, Brian Calfano, Charlotte Goe-ring, Jennifer Maxwell (moderator), Joan McAlonan, Nancy Smith

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8 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 Officer Nominating Committee Report Elder Mike Millhaem, chair The CFPC Nominating Committee joyfully submits the following slate for officer and nominating committee elections. For Elder: Jamie Jewell, for a second three-year term Hugh Ralston, for a first three-year term Cindy Standen, for a first three-year term For Deacon, for second three-year terms: Charlotte Goering Joan McAlonan For Nominating Committee Member-at-Large: Barbara Lambing, for a second one-year term Ruth Ross, for a first one-year term Susan Walker, for a first one-year term Marney Weis, for a first one-year tern The Nominating Committee would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Elders Rene McPhedran and Dwight Poffenberger for their service and dedication as they complete their term this year. Thank you for a job well done!

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Annual Report 2023 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 9 Mission Partners Rob Heidenreich, Mission Committee Our congregation has a long history of partnership with mission workers both locally and internationally, and this continued through 2023 and will continue in 2024. Through these relationships, some of which date back for dec-ades, our congregation partners in ministries sharing the gospel around the world. In 2023, our partners included: • Ward & Kari Ballard — Navigator Collegiate Ministries • Justin and Krista Clermont — AIM in Chad • City Gospel Mission/Cincinnati • Joshua Heikkila PC(USA) World Mission in Ghana • Pat Durst – International Friendships at the University of Cincinnati • Rev. Dr. Dustin & Sherri Ellington – The Antioch Partners/Lebanon • David & Carleen Heath – Wycliffe Bible Translators in Nigeria • Mark & Marianne Householder – Athletes in Action • Jim McGill — PC(USA) World Mission in Niger • Tim & Huilan Mountfort – Mission to the World in Taiwan • Ohio Living/Llanfair Retirement Community God is at work through the ministries of these partners. Our partners continually share their thanks for our critical prayer and financial support (through your gifts to our Mission budget). Almost every week, we include updates from partners in the Sunday bulletin; newsletters and materials are always available in the back of the sanctuary. We also enjoyed in-person visits from mission partners in 2023—Mark Householder, who joined us for our first Tailgate Party and helped us secure an autographed Anthony Munoz football for Pastor Dan; and Josh Heikkila, who was in the U.S. for a time in the fall. As partners are available, we’ll look for opportunities to include the in worship services and other gatherings. Additionally, each year during Lent, we collect the Presbyterian Church’s annual One Great Hour of Sharing offer-ing. Covenant-First designates these funds for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, which provides funds for both immediate/short-term, and longer term, relief from natural and man-made disasters in both the United States and around the world. In 2023, we collected $1,376.56 on Palm Sunday for this offering; we’ll collect this annual offer-ing again on Palm Sunday this year. Periodically through the year, we’ve also collected and forwarded funds to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance when major floods, hurricanes, and tornados have occurred. The funds are al-ways distributed and managed through Presbyterian congregations and/or mission partners, ensuring that these relief dollars are provided “in Jesus’ name”. We have so much to celebrate with our mission partners—and lots to learn from them—as together we live into God’s command to all of us, to “go and make disciples of all the world.” Thank you.

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10 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 Children’s Christian Education Report Genita Heidenreich The children’s program at Covenant-First Presbyterian Church is an important part of our church community. Each Sunday the young children for are church head downstairs to participate in Children’s Church. This gives the children an opportunity to interact with Bible Stories in a different way. Our creative teachers find ways to teach the children through crafts, projects, papers and play acting. Our preschool children hear Bible stories and do related crafts. The very young our cared for by our nursery staff. All of these people hel foster an interest and love for Jesus and the Bible through Bible stories. Also, during the summer Covenant-First has the opportunity to invite other children to spend time learning more about Jesus during our Vacation Bible School . All of these program could not happen without the faithful volunteers who work with our children. Thank you to Polly Barnes, Amy Crousey, Kelly Millhaem, Joan McAlonan, Becky Bell, and Maria and Devon Bloom. Church Administrator’s Report Genita Heidenreich 2023 was a year of change, some good, some very unexpected. After voting in June to bring Dan as our full-time pastor, it was exciting to begin a much needed remodeling of the Pastor’s Study. With the hard work of Randy and Darlene Page and some of the work contracted out to different companies it was exciting to have a very much improved and remodeled office. However, half-way through this project an unexpected piece of plaster fell from the ceiling in the sanctuary. This created a large mess and generated months of investigative research to determine the best course of action to ensure the safely of our building and congregation. After consulting with contractors, scaffolding companies, our roofer and engineers a plan as formed and we replaced about 60% of the old plaster ceiling with dry wall, the additional 40% will be done at another time, since it was determined to be safe. We will continue to monitor portion that of the ceiling and take action when necessary. It has taken nearly eight months of work, with a break for Advent and Christmas without construction, to complete the necessary repair. Thank you to all who gave extra gifts to help offset a portion of the cost for these repairs.

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12 Covenant-First Presbyterian Church Annual Report 2023 Treasurer and Financial Report for 2023 Genita Heidenreich, Financial Secretary, and Ruth Ross, Treasurer Covenant-First Presbyterian Church 2023 Actuals/Budget and 2024 Budget The positive net revenue for 2023 was the result of a generous bequest received from David Wilton. This bequest for approximately $294,000 was received in December of 2023. The funds from this bequest were distributed as follows by the direction of the Session. • Invested with Johnson Investments: $104,636.00 • Invested with the CFPC Music Scholars Fund: $70,000.00 • Moved to Money Market Savings $40,000 • Funds Allocated for completion of ceiling repairs: $52,000.00 • Fund Allocated for a special mission project: $29,400,00 The current balance in the Johnson Investment Fund is: $696,208 The current balance in the Music Scholar Fund is: $442,724

2023 Annual Report

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