Open Wide Our Hearts

OPEN WIDE OUR HEARTS!

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~ Matthew 6:21 (NRSV)

Welcome to our Stewardship Pledge campaign at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church! This year we encourage all to Open Wide Our Hearts. Your Stewardship Ministry Group seeks to bring encouraging stories from our members to be shared regarding our life as the Pinnacle community. Stories of love, sharing and caring for one another solidify God’s call on us to be inspired by the acts and faith of us all at Pinnacle.

We have come through a remarkable few years and have remained a witness to Christ in a divided society, meeting events around us with God’s Spirit. We of the Stewardship committee call on you to unite in our efforts to reflect God’s great love to everyone, as we open wide our hearts.

Faithfully yours, George Colberg, Elder Stewardship Ministry Group

As George Colberg reminds us in his note from the Stewardship Ministry Group, as Christ has opened wide the heart of God to us, so we can open wide our hearts to God and to each other. Giving is a good place to start, as God puts the church and its ministries on your heart. We invite you to read this brochure and to prayerfully consider your participation for 2023. Thanks!

OPEN wide our hearts to Welcome

The decision to become a member of Pinnacle Presbyterian Church was an easy one for me. I was quickly drawn in by inspiring worship that teaches God’s word and overflows with hope. Worship is always enhanced by the magnificent organ and gifted choir that lifts the service to greater heights and leaves me humming hymns well into the week. – Sunny Schaefer Edwards

OPEN wide our hearts to Love

I was hospitalized not too long after our move from San Diego and joining Pinnacle. A series of unfortunate circumstances led to my unexpected hospitalization. As far as I knew no one outside of my wife even knew I was hospitalized. When I was greeted by a chipper “hello there!” it was our Pastor standing in my doorway. “I wanted to check on you…” My kids didn’t know I was in the hospital, but there was the Pastor, making me feel like part of the family. A feeling of warmth, comfort and love flooded over me knowing that my Pastor very early in the morning just popped in to see if I needed anything and to check on me. – George Colberg

OPEN wide our hearts to Encourage

I officially joined Pinnacle in the fall, but since the day I entered the sanctuary in June, I knew I had found my faithful home. I enjoy seeing my daughter find acceptance in the youth program, the congregation, and developing her own understanding of spirituality and faith. I felt encouraged to learn more about the history of Christianity and being a Presbyterian in the Christianity 101 class. I look forward to further exploring my faith, spirituality, giving, and receiving with Pinnacle.

Since joining Pinnacle, I have felt more welcome and loved than I could imagine. The people in church have begun to feel like a second family, and I am forever grateful for that. I am excited to be learning about my faith through confirmation and also excited to share my faith with the congregation. Pinnacle has truly encouraged me to remember God is always with me and to stay true to myself.

OPEN wide our hearts to Serve

There is no prescribed program. No set formula. The assistance is one-on-one and different for each patient. It could be helping from the early point of waiting on a diagnosis, a period described by a patient as “falling without a parachute”. I was struck by the critical nature of the ACT II ministry. The concept of one-on-one Christian service to another of God’s people in immediate need of personal care and support was a natural. I believe if Pinnacle were to perform no other service, this alone would justify the fellowship’s very existence.

Whole-Life Stewardship

It’s More than Financial Giving

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:18-20 (NRSV)

Over the last year, you may have noticed our use of the term “whole-life stewardship” and wondered exactly what that means. Often Christians think of stewardship in context with managing the financial resources God has given you. Financial stewardship is just one way that we worship God. The other way is through the day-to-day relationships that surround us. Before others can trust us, we must demonstrate actions deserving of their trust. We need to genuinely care about their joys and hurts. We need to help when help is needed. And we need to treat others as carefully, and as gently as we want to be treated ourselves.

So, remember, your worship of God does not stop when you leave the Pinnacle parking lot. In fact, it is only beginning. Desperately care about the salvation of every person God places in your life. Then, love them with mercy and grace as you are also loved by our Creator.

Funding Our Ministry

Giving to the ministry of Pinnacle Presbyterian Church in 2022 exceeded $2.7 million (including general fund and restricted contributions), and total income to the church was approximately $3 million during this period.*

How is the income used to further our impact and ministry?

Pinnacle’s mission is concentrated in four areas: Local & Global Ministries; Christian Education; Worship, Music, & Arts; and Congregational Care & Life. These four areas are supported by direct spending as well as administrative expenses, use of our beautiful facilities, and, our most valuable asset, our ministry and support staff. When we allocate the expenses across our ministry areas, our utilization of funds is allocated almost equally across these four categories:

Local & Global Ministries 28%

Congregational Care & Life 22%

Worship, Music & Arts 25%

Christian Education 25%

These percentages are approximate and intended to provide a visual representation of the ways that Pinnacle’s mission is put into action and supported. The 2022 Annual Report will include detailed income and expenses for the fiscal year from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

* This contribution/income summary is based on contributions between January 1, 2022, and December 20, 2022 (allowing time for publication before year-end).

For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has— not according to what one does not have.” ~ 2 Corinthians 8:12 (NRSV)

Our church ministries rely on your regular financial support, as well as your gifts of time and talent. We live out our faith by bringing our gifts and offerings as an act of worship of our abundant God . . . a God of limitless power and goodness.

As you prayerfully consider what God is calling you to give in 2023, be as generous as God has been generous with you. As a spiritual discipline, we invite you to make an estimate of your expected giving through a giving commitment for the coming year. Your annual gifts are used to support all of Pinnacle’s ministries including Worship, Music & Arts, Christian Education, Congregational Care & Life and both local and international Mission. There

Preparing God’s Church for Future Generations

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ~ Matthew 6:21 (NRSV)

Our church has unimaginable resources, both financially and the spiritual gifts and talents of our members. Pinnacle is a generous church. While many churches have struggled financially from the almost two-year impact of the COVID-19 virus, Pinnacle members continued to faithfully support the ministries of our church. Praise be to God.

While we celebrate the response to our annual appeal, we face challenges in setting aside resources to maintain a 20-year-old campus and developing innovative new programming to reach our community for Christ. God never changes, but the communication tools and strategies to reach hurting people do. For generational ministry, we need to honor and care for the treasure that is our church. Our campus is a holy place where people gather to find God, learn about God’s goodness, grace, and mercy, and grow in their spiritual walk. It’s also the launching point for our church ministries, as well as serving a wide host of community ministries from grief, alcohol and drug support to Scouting programs. Pinnacle’s a busy place.

As you think about giving back to God from the resources entrusted to you, consider the importance of remembering Pinnacle in your estate plans.

Common

Real Property / Real Estate

The Legacy Giving page on our website: pinnaclepres.org/legacy-gifts offers ways to support the church either directly or through our Foundation. We are also glad to assist you or your estate attorney for questions about your personal wishes. Please contact us at 480.585.9448 for more information.

25150 N. PIMA ROAD, SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85255 480.585.9448 | PINNACLEPRES.ORG