2023
quarterlyREPORT
Seamless summer was in full swing as we headed into the 3rd quarter. 41 volunteers served 400 lunches in July to 60 children in our community. 76 kids attended our VBS Stellar, July 10-13 & 16, resulting in 5 salvations! BIG thanks to the 40 volunteers who rocketed us on an out-of-this-world adventure! Just days before school started back, with the help of 15 volunteers, we delivered 86 backpacks to children in our seamless summer families. At Super Tailgate Sunday, we launched 18 LifeGroups and had 40 new people joining LifeGroups! Our second year hosting the Multi-Church C4 Event saw 200 students in attendance with 3 salvations. We could not have done it without the dedicated 32 volunteers. We thank you! In September our student ministry and Covenant Community youth came together for a Fall retreat at Adventure Ocoee. 40 youth and 11 adults attended the retreat which centered on building an attitude of service and leadership. At Night of Worship, around 140 joined us for an immersive worship experience that combined videos and testimonies from our Israel trip. It was a powerful evening. A HUGE Thank You to our 13 volunteers who worked tirelessly to pull it off!
Making the Gospel Relevant
by
Loving God
Decisions for Christ
Loving Others
People in LifeGroups
Making Disciples
Equipping & Serving in some capacity
9 Baptisms
and 19 decisions for Christ!
Engagement Growth
The approach of warmer weather always sees a dip in attendance. It's to be expected, especially during the summer months.
Service Attendance
AVG JUNE 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG JULY 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG AUGUST 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG SEPTEMBER 2023 ATTENDANCE
Lifegroup Participation
(Most LifeGroups took the summer off and did not meet regularly in July & August)
AVG MAY 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG AUGUST 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG SEPTEMBER 2023 ATTENDANCE
Student Ministry Attendance
AVG JUNE ATTENDANCE
AVG JULY 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG AUGUST 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG SEPTEMBER 2023 ATTENDANCE
Celebrate Recovery Attendance
AVG JUNE 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG JULY 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG AUGUST 2023 ATTENDANCE
AVG SEPTEMBER 2023 ATTENDANCE
Stepping Out In Faith
In February, we set a salvation goal of 150 for 2023 and asked everyone to pick 3 people they would be praying for. We're happy to report, we've reached 73 salvations so far in 2023!
God Has A Wonderful Plan
Most of our LifeGroups took July and August off. We launched 18 LifeGroups at Super Tailgate Sunday. 40 additional people joined LifeGroups as a result! In September, LifeGroups began a new book study by Ray Comfort, God Has A Wonderful Plan For Your Life, which will rap up before Christmas. So far, the response is positive!
Vacation Bible School
Stellar rocketed kids on an out of this world adventure! We had 76 kids attend and 40 volunteers helped us pull off another fantastic VBS resulting in 5 salvations!
Super Tailgate Sunday
C4 Multi-Church Youth Event
What a great event of encouraging and equipping around 200 students to go share the gospel! Roger Glidewell of Global Youth Ministry delivered a superb message of how youth can have tremendous impact amongst their friends and on their school campuses. Students were further resourced with gift bags containing multiple tools to share the gospel with their friends. The Orchard Worship Team led the music masterfully, and all leaders agreed it was an excellent night resulting in 3 salvations! A BIG thank you to the 32 volunteers who made it happen!
Youth Fall Retreat
The retreat centered on building an attitude of service and leadership amongst students. We focused the worship, small groups, and even activities on students working together and helping each other. With our 5 adults and 22 students joining together with Covenant Community's 6 adults and 18 students, we had a great time at Adventure Ocoee! The low ropes course, swimming and inflatables at the lake, and the mud run were both fun and challenging team building activities enjoyed by all.
Night of Worship
Can you imagine walking in the footsteps of Jesus? We took a group to Israel this past June that got to do just that. On September 24th, we shared that experience with our church.
Around 140 joined us for an immersive worship experience that combined videos and testimonies from our Israel trip with songs of praise. It was like nothing we’ve done before. We owe a BIG Thank You to our 13 volunteers who spent countless hours preparing for it. What a powerful night!
Celebrate Recovery
We've had 4 decisions for Christ! Even though they have 19 leaders, 80 rotating volunteers plus 2 paid childcare workers each week, these serve numbers may seem like a lot already, but did you know Friday night operations are on a larger scale than Sunday mornings? Not only do they need volunteers on First Impressions and Worship teams for the usual Sunday morning stuff, they also offer Celebration Place for youth, childcare and cook/serve meals every Friday night as well. Those are just the needs volunteers fulfill. Their leaders run the small groups that take place after the evening worship. If you've never stopped by Celebrate Recovery, we recommend you do. You might find your calling!
We continue to find innovative ways to inspire growth and share the gospel with those around us both physically and digitally. Our For Gilmer strategy has adapted and grown in ways we never imagined! From serving meals to playground maintenance, we have been hard at work continually identifying and meeting the needs of our community.
Here are a few ways we are doing just that weekly:
Weekly Family Resource Packets Available On-Site Each Week
Praying for our Community, Leaders, and Individual Needs
Community Partnerships with the School System, Food Pantry, and local EMS
SEAMLESS SUMMER
In July, 41 rotating volunteers served, on a daily average, 60 children a total of 400 lunches.
Back[packs]-to-School
Just days before school began 15 volunteers helped us shop, stuff and distribute 86 backpacks to the seamless summer families we'd been feeding all summer long. Plus several of our VBS volunteers helped us provide a mini VBS experience with worship, bible stories and some "Stellar" activities.
MEETING TOGETHER
=
DEEPER CONNECTIONS
We wrapped up the book Anyone But Me in our LifeGroups that's been a huge hit. Ray Comfort's unique style of sharing the Gospel with strangers showed us all we could do this too!
We continue to look for new ways to engage with our online audience. We understand not everyone can meet in person, which is why our digital presence is so important to us, both on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. Take a look at the social connections we're making!
2023 Quarterly General Fund
$175,035
Current Fund Balance
$186,250
2nd Quarter Budget
$213,324
2nd Quarter Giving
$177,656
2nd Quarter Spending
2021
$565,027
Total Contributions
2022
$885,149
Total Contributions
2023
$615,833
Contributions to Date
Student Ministry
$16,995
Current Fund Balances
$9,984
Total Giving
$6,238
Total Spending
Celebrate Recovery
$15,899
Current Fund Balances
$3,752
Total Giving
$5,275
Total Spending
For Gilmer
$2,978
Current Fund Balances
$500
Total Giving
$3,073
Total Spending
Guatemala
$2,771
Current Fund Balances
$203
Total Giving
$0
Total Spending
Highland Parkway
Future Home of The Orchard Church
$1,189,837
Current Fund Balances
$1,202,838
Total Giving
$36,949
Total Spending
Extraordinary Expenses
$21,000
Master's Plan for New Facility
$11,894
Leveling Improvement to Highland Property
We hope that this information gives you a complete and well rounded look at how we seek to steward our resources. Your obedience and generosity makes all of this possible. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to our executive director, Larry Lynch. You can call at 706-621-5160, or email through the button below. He manages our accounts and is more than happy to help!
If you would like to give towards our mission for 2023:
The Orchard Church
7288 Hwy 515 N
Ellijay, GA 30536
706-621-5160
hello@orchardellijay.com
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Super Tailgate Sunday was on fire! By that, we mean it was both powerful and HOT, even with our earlier start time. We launched 18 LifeGroups that had some awesomely decorated tents. We worshipped, baptized 9 people, enjoyed fellowship, ate delicious food and even danced! Over all, it was a huge success with 40 new people joining LifeGroups!