2023 Annual Report
Closing out the night with prayer on New Year’s Eve at the St. Paul campus.
Executive Summary
We had a very strong ministry year, but our leaders, volunteers, and finances are stretched thin.
KEY POINTS
We broke multiple ministry records this year, contributing to one of our strongest ministry years ever.
All of our ministry areas grew in attendance this year.
After almost two-and-a-half years, the Brooklyn Park campus is a thriving congregation.
Both our Leadership Team and volunteer pool are operating at below ideal numbers.
While our finances are stronger than last year, savings is still lower than we want, and giving is irregular, creating financial instability.
SECTIONS
Where We’ve Been: Highlights from 2023
Where We're Going: Plans For 2024
Individual Ministry Reports (new page)
Where We've Been: Highlights from 2023
FIVE RECORD HIGHS THIS YEAR
Largest Service: Easter 495 people (compared to 477 in 2019)
Largest Event: Easter Egg Hunt est. 1,200 people (compared to 550 in 2018)
Most Baptisms: 27 kids, youth, & adults (compared to 26 in 2018)
Largest Group Sent to HLUB: 46 youth (compared to 16 in 2018)
Highest Annual Revenue: $380,571 (compared to $348,754 in 2020)
7 MORE AMAZING HIGHLIGHTS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
RiverLife finally became an officially accredited church in the Alliance (after 6 months of hard work and a pandemic delay).
We launched Thrive Youth at the Brooklyn Park campus, resulting in a 36% increase in average youth attendance.
The Riverbank Food Shelf distributed nearly 60,000 pounds of food.
The church hosted 180 people for a 3-day Soul Care Conference with international author and speaker Rob Reimer. Over 50 people were set free through deliverances.
We collected 300 pounds of school supplies and 362 Christmas toys for children in St. Paul and Brooklyn Park.
We sent 4 church members on our second mission trip to Warren, Germany, and scheduled a third trip for February 2023.
Thrive Youth families (and others) volunteered 525 work hours at Twins concessions stands and raised over $20,000 for the youth HLUB Conference and the church general fund.
2022 ATTENDANCES
Observations:
Average total attendance is up 12% from 2022. (218 in 2023, 195 in 2022.)
Weekly attendance varied greatly, but averages remained level throughout the year.
Our three largest days are Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.
SUNDAY SNAPSHOT
Here’s what a typical Sunday service looked like at RiverLife in 2023.
St. Paul Campus: 84 Adults, 22 Youth, 27 Kids. Total: 133
Brooklyn Park Campus: 42 Adults, 10 Youth, 34 Kids. Total: 85
CURRENT LEADERSHIP OF RIVERLIFE
St. Paul Campus
Pastor: Greg Rhodes
Worship: Shong Vang
Youth: Tommy Lor
Kids: Jeremy Garland
Spiritual Growth: Pang Foua Rhodes
Brooklyn Park Campus
Pastor: Kong Moua
Worship: Johan Yang
Youth: Tim Thao
Kids: Pang Moua
Spiritual Growth: Pang Foua Rhodes
Changes in Leadership
Tim Thao was hired as the Youth Pastor at the Brooklyn Park campus.
Alicia Thoj stepped down from her role as our Community Engagement Director, where she has served for the last 10 years.
2023 GOAL SCORECARD
Become an Accredited Church 10/10
Accomplished all 3 key tasks: established membership, bylaws, and governing board.
Improve the Financial Health of the Church 8/10
Accomplished all 3 key tasks: saved $15,000 in savings, increased financial visibility through quarterly reports, and created a budget for 2024.
But this goal was only accomplished due to generous giving in November and December.
Become a Voice of Influence for Next-Gen Hmong Ministry 7/10
Launched our blog (www.NextGenHmong.com) in October and published 5 articles.
Fell short of our goal of publishing one article per week and haven’t developed a social media presence yet.
Discussed launching a podcast late in 2024.
Develop a Comprehensive Discipleship Strategy 2/10
Continued our existing discipleship opportunities (Life Groups, Prayer Gathering, and Financial Peace University) and hosted a first-time, large-scale conference (Soul Care).
But no significant progress on our 3 key goals: develop a discipleship pathway, expand spiritual growth opportunities, and invest in Life Groups.
This will remain one of our goals for 2024.
Where We're Going: Plans For 2024
4 Strategic Goals for 2024
1. Develop a Comprehensive Discipleship Strategy
Our discipleship options are limited and lack a cohesive strategy. It’s time to change that and integrate holistic discipleship into the life of the church.
Key Tasks
Build a stronger discipleship culture
Develop a discipleship pathway for spiritual growth
Expand our spiritual growth opportunities, such as classes, groups, and one-on-one discipleship.
Raise up new life group leaders and launch new groups.
2. Improve the capacity and depth of our volunteers and leaders
While our attendance has returned to pre-Covid levels, our volunteer pool and leadership team have not.
Key Tasks
Bring back the annual Volunteer Mega-Rally.
Instill an invitational culture into volunteering and leading.
Create materials for onboarding new volunteers into the RiverLife culture.
Celebrate volunteers with volunteer-of-the-month and online volunteer profiles.
Challenge current volunteers to recruit one friend to join them in their ministry.
Encourage ministry leaders to identify a mentee to train and serve alongside them.
3. Stabilize and strengthen our financial position.
Our finances are still too unstable from month to month, causing stress, temporary ministry cutbacks, and occasional spending freezes.
Continue to build up our savings, including non-operational funds raised throughout the year.
Fundraise $15,000 through the Twins Fundraising program, with the goal of reaching $20,000.
Increase the total recurring giving by 25%.
Integrate budget tracking into financial management software and reporting.
4. Become a Voice of Influence for Next-Gen Hmong Ministry
More and more churches are launching young adult, next-gen, and English ministries, but there is nobody out there providing ministry wisdom and insight for young leaders. We believe RiverLife can fill that gap.
Key Tasks
Create a sustainable, weekly publishing schedule, and stick to it.
Create a social media presence and shareable content based on our growing library of articles.
Strategize and test-record a pilot episode for a podcast.
Look for opportunities to meet with and consult other next-gen pastors, churches, and ministries.
Financial Update
Strengths from 2023
Closed the year nearly $18,000 ahead.
General Fund giving has continued to increase every year. Up 7% from 2022.
A stronger-than-average event rental season increased summer revenue.
Taking on a second church rental has provided much-needed additional monthly revenue.
Growth Areas from 2023
Savings remained low for most of the year.
Minimal savings and wide variation in monthly giving created financial instability throughout the year.
2023 Balance Sheet
Income: $380,571
Expenses: $362,591
Net: +$17,980
2023 Revenue Sources
Offering: $297,132 (78%)
Fundraising: $33,41 (9%)
Facility Rentals: $21,242 (6%)
Soul Care Conference: $9,685 (3%)
Covid Clinics: $7,500 (2%)
Misc: $7,671 (2%)
Missions Giving: $3,926 (1%)
Giving Snapshot (2022 / 2023 / Change)
Average Attendance: 209 / 218 / +4%
Total Regular Giving: $276,942 / $297,132 / +7%
Total Givers: 178 / 212 / +19%
60% of giving comes through recurring gifts.
50% of giving comes from 8% of the givers. (That’s an increase from last year’s number—7%.)
26% of givers gave at least once a month.
2023 Monthly Revenue (all sources)
The first half of the year was above average (orange line), mostly because of the Twin fundraiser. The second have was below average with the exception of year-end giving.
2023 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITY
REVENUE
Tithes/Offerings: $297,133
Mission Trips: $1,007
Youth Retreat (HLUB): 12,741
Great Commission Fund: $2,919
Covid Clinics: $7,500
Facility Rental: $21,242
Misc. Income: $38,001
Interest Income: $28
TOTAL REVENUE: $380,571
EXPENSES
Facilities
- St Paul Campus: $36,087
- BP Campus: $33,947
- Custodial Supplies: $1,695
- Loan Interest: $14,239
- Loan Mortgage: 9,819
Total Facilities: $95,786
Administrative
- Office Supplies: $2,488
- Advertising & Marketing: $488
- Subscription Fees: $3,599
- Accounting/Bookkeeping: $3,600
- Leadership Development: $9,227
- Copier/Copies: $4,705
- Facility Rental Expenses: $1,868
- Bank Fees: $1,743
Total Administrative: $27,718
Payroll Expenses: $156,879
Health Insurance: $21,216
Ministries
- Worship: $7,873
- Youth Ministry: $7,804
- Kids Ministry: $3,072
- Connections: $10,367
- Online Ministry: $185
- Spiritual Growth: 5,377
- Community Engagement: $6,610
- Special Events: $12,165
- Other Ministries: $5,015
Total Ministries: $58,468
Great Commission: $2,607
TOTAL EXPENSES: $362,674
NET REVENUE: $17,896
2023 EXPENSES (2022 / 2023)
Payroll: 52% / 49%
Facilities: 29% / 26%
Ministries: 11% / 16%
Administrative: 5% / 8%
Other: 3% / 1%
Summary: These are all great numbers. It means we are spending less on operating the church and more on the ministry of the church.
2023 MONTHLY BALANCE SHEET
July
Income: $29,072
Expense: $32,741
Net Balance: -$3,669
August
Income: $30,205
Expense: $34,584
Net Balance: -$4,380
September
Income: $25,675
Expense: $28,194
Net Balance: -$2,519
October
Income: $27,935
Expense: $31,810
Net Balance: -$3,876
November
Income: $30,792
Expense: $27,918
Net Balance: $2,873
December
Income: $33,441
Expense: $29,555
Net Balance: $3,886
Total
Income: $380,571
Expense: $362,591
Net Balance: $17,980
January
Income: $31,225
Expense: $28,530
Net Balance: $2,695
February
Income: $28,197
Expense: $26,827
Net Balance: $1,370
March
Income: $34,924
Expense: $36,252
Net Balance: -$1,329
April
Income: $34,897
Expense: $29,758
Net Balance: $5,139
May
Income: $34,694
Expense: $28,004
Net Balance: $6,690
June
Income: $39,516
Expense: $28,416
Net Balance: $11,100
