Executive Director Update – July 2026

Governance Restructuring: The Leadership Summit was held on June 25 and was attended by the current chairs or representatives of each of our committees. We worked on organizing our meeting schedule and activities under our new 4 board structure. As a reminder, we are trialing this arrangement through the summer with plans to present bylaw revisions at the October congregational meeting.

Human Resources and Evaluations: Through meetings with Rev. Nayiri from the Florida Conference and the efforts of several of our committees, we have refined and clarified the purpose of our Personnel Committee and our approach to staff and ministerial evaluations.

Accounting: Many thanks to Catherine Cake who is still managing much of our finances on top of her full-time job. We have contracted with ClergyFinancial, an accounting firm specializing in churches, to manage payroll and accounts payable, effective July 1. Lindsey will continue to process all payments and pledges to UCG.

Hometown Work Tour: About 15 UCG’ers gathered on Saturday, June 27 to tackle a list of basic repairs and deep cleaning throughout out campus. Our efforts included re-digging spaces for water drainage, cleaning the gutters, painting patches where other repairs were done, and some cleaning tasks. Many thanks to everyone who attended!

Tenant Leases: We have one confirmed tenant who will join us on August 1. We are in discussions with the second tenant and awaiting Department of Children and Families inspection to verify our space can meet their needs. Long-term tenants are a new thing at UCG which required drafting a lease agreement. Many thanks to Lisa Debroux for reviewing it with her keen legal eye!

Google Migration: Our current systems are all based in Microsoft software; however, sharing files is really challenging in OneDrive. Our office staff greatly prefer and already heavily utilize the Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, etc.). Our Information Technology firm, InTouch, will be assisting us to migrate all of our computer files to a secure Google Drive in early August. We are all very excited about the change and its impact on ease and efficiency of our many tasks.

Contract Reviews: Some of our contracts for various services (Cox Internet, Xerox, Health Insurance, etc.) are nearing the end of their term. We may be able to save a substantial amount of money annually by revisiting our needs and exploring alternate contracts. We started with the internet/phone services where there is the most substantial opportunity for savings. GRU has been out to assess our property’s compatibility for their fiber internet service, and InTouch has been gathering quotes for an alternate phone system. I am awaiting quotes from both.

Sanctuary Sound: Many thanks to Brandon Telg for his connections to two local audio engineers who offered simple suggestions for improving our overall sound quality. Lindsey and Collin met with them to discuss potential equipment purchases that may help solve specific sound quality issues. Many thanks to Meizon Church for loaning us some equipment to trial before making a purchase. Thank you to Brent Seagle who reached out about our audio systems for hearing aid users, and to the folks who have reached out to share their experiences. We will focus first on improving the overall sound quality and then trial some hearing aide compatible audio systems. I anticipate a better sound experience for all by the end of October at the latest.