When it met for the 197th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia, the clergy and delegates approved the bold two-part plan put forward by Diocesan Council. Council met in September, 2018, to receive the report of a task group working on the Honey Creek debt offered which offered two strategies to consider: a traditional fundraising campaign or a temporary additional assessment. Council chose to create a both/and approach combining the strategies to both retire the debt and create a Future Fund as a maintenance reserve for our Retreat Center.
Programs offered at Honey Creek have deepened the spiritual lives and enlivened the faith of generations of Episcopalians and also have influenced the faith of people who have never visited the Retreat Center. The Diocese was in danger of losing Honey Creek to pay mounting debts seven years ago. In 2010, the Bond Sale restructured the debt while allowing Honey Creek to address deferred maintenance issues. At the same time, Honey Creek’s operations were restructured with a business plan that has kept the Center in the black for seven years in a row.
Honey Creek is not a separate entity, but an integral part of the diocese with its debt on the balance sheet of the diocese. Voting to invest in Honey Creek through a special assessment was not a new idea. A Special Session of the Diocese of Georgia’s 1958 Convention meeting at St. Paul’s Augusta approved a resolution for “a 100% increase in the 1959 Diocesan Assessment each year for the next five years” to build the chapel, dorms, cottages, and first lodge building at Honey Creek. Council combined the two approaches so that we both clear the debt while making sure maintenance needs not be deferred in the future and the convention passed the resolution on a voice vote.
The 2-minute video above explains the plan approved.
The two-page Case Statement for this two-part strategy remains online here:
Honey Creek Future Fund Case Statement
