Melonie Park's philosophy of giving stems from a believer's obligation to be a wise steward of all the resources with which God has blessed him / her. From the way you serve God with your time and talents, to the attitude with which you give back to God the first fruits of your labor through monetary giving - each of us is called to worship Him with our entire life.

At Melonie Park we understand that giving of our material resources for the kingdom of God is a significant part of our worship. We also believe that we as the church are to be meticulous in how we handle those resources entrusted to us. Here is the letter that goes out to all first-time givers explaining our heart toward financial giving and our handling of those resources.

Melonie Park provides members of our body a number of ways to give financially... For each of the following methods, please be sure to designate whether your gift is for general giving, building, missions, benevolence or another area of ministry.

We do have a designated offering time during our service because we believe that the actual process of one’s giving is a vital aspect of worship. However, the leadership of Melonie Park does not desire for money to be a focus of our Sunday Morning experience and we hope that visitors do not feel an obligation to give.

Gifts can be sent by mail or dropped off at the church office at the following address:
Melonie Park Church
Contributions
6602 Indiana Ave.
Lubbock, TX 79413

Gifts can also be set up as an automatic draft from your personal bank account. If you would like to set up this process or have questions, please contact Bill Hamiliton at the church office.

Stock may be donated to Melonie Park Church by transferring investments to our account at Gaschen, Johnston & Associates. Please notify Paul Gaschen of any pending transfers so that we can be aware of any activity and handle it properly.

If the stock is in certificate form, please send the unsigned certificate (keep a copy of certificate) to Gaschen, Johnston & Associates with a letter simply authorizing that the shares be deposited as a gift to the Melonie Park Church account to:

Gaschen, Johnston & Associates
3223 S Loop 289, Suite 315
Lubbock, TX 79423

Also, send a signed "stock power" separately. The stock power should be signed exactly as the name(s) appears on the certificate(s). Note: there is only one stock power needed for each issue - not each certificate. A stock power form is available from Gaschen, Johnston & Associates directly at 806-792-7465.

For Broker To Broker Transfer Of Gift Of Stock/MuTUAL FUND
Please give the following instructions to the firm from which the shares are coming from:

Pershing LLC
DTC# - 0443
Name of Account: Melonie Park Church, Inc.
For Account # 3WC- 073001
# of shares to transfer ($ amount)

If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact Paul Gaschen (link pgaschen7@gjadvisors.com) with Gaschen, Johnston & Associates directly at 806-792-7465.

You will receive a receipt of your tax-deductible gifts in accordance with IRS requirements. Please let us know if you have any specific needs regarding the timing of these notifications, otherwise you will receive only the minimum summary of your gifts necessary to meet government standards.

If you have given financially to Melonie Park in 2008, you will receive written acknowledgement of your contributions no later than January 31, 2009. Please be sure you have informed us of any address changes during the year.

If you plan to make a tax deductible gift to Melonie Park for the tax year ending December 31, 2008, please note that according to IRS rules, your contribution is effective when “delivered”.

In order for your gift to be considered "delivered in 2008", it must be:

• Postmarked by the USPS no later than December 31, 2008
• Received in the Sunday morning offering prior to or on December 31, 2008
• Or funds must be received by a Melonie Park staff member by or on December 31, 2008.

All contributions to Melonie Park Church are applied to the General Fund unless they are designated to the Building Fund, Missions or another area. If you have questions regarding year-end giving, please plan accordingly to get those answered before December 31, 2008.