Week two – Making a Budget – David

Making a Budget
Brookhaven Wesleyan Church
I interviewed Pastor John Walton the assistant pastor
January 21, 2009

Process:
1. Staff submits subjective budget lines to treasurer
2. Treasurer takes budget to committee meeting where the budget is set
3. Budget is given to Local Board of Administration for final vote of approval

Each pastor has his/her own different procedure on the budget lines. Their job is to gather the subjective needs in the area they are accounted for, and submit them to the treasurer. For instance, one of Pastor John’s budget lines is the musical department, so when creating the budget he would go and find what needs replacing and/or repaired. He determines how much money it is all going to cost and records the final cost onto the budget.

Once the treasurer has all the budget lines, he/she takes the request to the Finance committee which consists of four people: the Senior Pastor, Treasurer, Vice Chairman of the Board, and one elected official. In this meeting, the committee sets the budget for all the needs in the church. This includes everything like salaries, utilities, and even snow removal. After the budget is set, it is then taken to the Local Board of Administration where there is a vote to see whether the budget is approved. If the budget is not approved, then the Local Board of Administration will change it. Pastor John says he has been in meetings that have been one hour long, to meetings that have went for three hours long.