Thank You to the Congregation- 2/3/18

Dear HPC members, former members, and friends,

This letter of thanks has been a long time in coming. Up until this past week, the best path for our church to leave the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) remained unclear. But recent events have made it possible for your elders to see the finish line and to thank you for your role in helping us reach our common goal of leaving the PCUSA for the EPC, a group of like-minded, Bible-based, Christ-centered believers.

We want to thank each one of you who prayed for us faithfully over the past 3½ years. We constantly needed the Lord’s enlightenment for direction and His help to overcome many barriers along the way. Your prayers were heard and answered again and again. For this support we give thanks.

We also want to offer our deep gratitude to those of you who gave sacrificial gifts to raise the sum needed to leave the PCUSA with our property. This giving totals $102,075 to date. We appreciate each giver and anonymous gift so very much.

Early last month after a 1½-year process, the church closed on a $100,000 mortgage loan on the manse (pastor’s family’s home) from Sterling National Bank with payments of $697 per month, or $8400 per year. This brings the total money raised to $202,075.

We have paid $18,550 of this total for closing costs and professional fees over the past 3 years. The remaining $183,525 is just $1,300 short of what we need to pay the PCUSA’s Hudson River Presbytery in order to leave with full rights to our property. We expect to pay the full amount (including an additional per-member charge of $3,500 for 2018) at a final closing with the Presbytery within the next month or so.

As many of you know, recently we discovered that an endowment we had offered to help pay $16,700 of the total owed was not acceptable to the Presbytery. During the past week, HPC members voted unanimously and the Presbytery voted overwhelmingly to accept a revised plan whereby the church agreed to pay this $16,700 in equal payments of $4,175 during 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

We elders thank you again on behalf of our congregation for the wonderful and generous gifts of your prayers and earthly treasure. We see the light at the end of the tunnel, and His name is Jesus.

In His Name,

Jay Castelli, Georgia Riedel, Anthony Ferrante, Nancy Sadlier, and Mike Newgaard