Congregational Meeting Minutes

All Congregational Meeting Minutes

Sept.11, 2016

11:15 AM

 

Council in Attendance:

John Marone, Patrick Adams, Linda Chilson, Jennifer Parkins, Alice Bevans, Dave Troy

John called meeting to order and opened with a prayer

John started out by pointing out the Call Process bulletin board. And explaining about how the call process works. Where we are at this point and how we moved forward.

Jennifer explained that Pastor Dean Stewart was supposed to be here this Sunday but had been called away to a family emergency. He and his wife will be gone from now until October 19. In the meantime we either have to continue to do services ourselves or bring in a Supply Pastor. In order to do communion we must have an ordained Lutheran pastor. Carla Newman Smiley from Lutheran Campus Ministries is willing to come and help out a few Sundays, she already does one Sunday a month in Troy and she is not ordained so cannot deliver communion. 

Verna asked who we have in case of emergencies. We would like you to call John for now at the church phone number. He will have the church cell phone with him to receive those calls. In the case of emergencies we have a few pastors in the area that can do hospital visits or funeral services if needed. 

Jennifer went on to recap our visit with Pastor Dean Stewart. Jennifer, Alice, Patrick, Linda, and Louise met with Pastor Dean Stewart on Thursday, Sept 8th. We were all impressed with his knowledge and his sense of humor. He is willing to come and do full-time while we are in the call process. He is anxious to do adult classes and other studies. While he is away he will look over their financial need and get back with us about what he would like in terms of salary. Patrick will go through our budget to decide what we will be able to pay him.

Karen asked what our plans are for the parsonage is. John explained that we are not sure at this point that Bishop Wells encouraged us to hang onto it until we know what a new pastor’s needs may be. In the meantime we need to do some work on it to get it ready for whatever we do decide to do. Patrick pointed out that whatever we do do with the parsonage the congregation needs to be in on that decision and that it will be voted on by everyone, it is not the council’s job to make that decision on our own. We just look at the options and then decide what we think are the best course of action and bring it back to the congregation.

Norma asked how much of an increase are we looking at for a new pastor’s salary? John explained that is not something we know at this point but that we are thinking rather than much of an increase we will need to look at someone with five years or less experience quite possibly even a new seminarian.  One of the steps in deciding what we can offer as salary is to do a financial review.  This is then put in a document that is sent to the synod, pastors searching for a new call also fill out a document and send it to the synod with what they need in terms of salary, housing and other factors. New seminarians will be available in October (which we are too late for), January and February. Bishop Wells advised us that this process will take us as long as we need it to.

Doug asked how soon will we pick a call committee and how do we pick the call committee.  John explained that we are not quite that point yet but are getting close. There may be some members of the congregation that are asked to be on the committee but also those that feel they would like to be on the committee may also put their name in and are encouraged to. There is a questionnaire that will be sent out in the next week that will help that call committee fill out the Ministry Site Profile that gets sent to the synod.  This profile is what the synod uses to match prospective pastors to us. Prospective pastors have a profile they fill out also and that is used by the synod to help match them up to ministry sites.

John then explained that we had two boards that we were going to ask people help us fill up.

We are asking what you would like to hang on to.  What are you willing to let go of?

In the process of trying to come up with answers it was decided we needed a third board for what we aspire to be.

The things we came up with that we want to hold onto are:

• Our relationships with each other
• Music
• Youth ministry-Sunday  School
• Pledging
• Wednesday morning bible studies
• Theology on tap
• Community service and events
• Children’s sermon
• Home visits
• Traditional liturgy/traditional and new
• Being faithful Christians
• Inspire group
• Welcoming and accepting of everyone
• Fun and loving

The things we are willing to let go of are:

• Our ideas of what youth ministry used to look like
• Holding onto traditional times for church and Sunday School
• Stringent and restrictive ideas
• Adiaphora-Greek for all the stuff that doesn’t matter and gets in the way of praising God
• Exclusionism

Things we aspire to be

• Invitational and inclusive
• Actively visit members and each other
• Good communication
  Email, blog, newsletter, phone tree, Facebook
• Prayer Chain-more ways to care for each other, add in the bulletin who needs prayers
• Financial stability-fund raising and community activities
• Being involved in all aspects of church needs to be all members
• We need to be better Evangelists
• Excited about God’s work and making church relevant to all!!

 

These boards will stay at the church for people to more comments on if they would like.

Meeting adjourned at 12:45

 

July Council Minutes

Genesee Lutheran Parish Council Minutes

July 7, 2016

 

Dave Troy, Patrick Adams, Linda Chilson, Alice Bevins, Jennifer Parkins, Dana Carter, John Marone, Pastor Dave Deckard

Meeting called to order at 7:00

Patrick gave the financial report

Pastor Dave announced that he would in likely be leaving; he has decided to accept a call at Sheppard of the Valley in Boise. They will probably be leaving in early September.  He is just waiting for the council and congregation to meet down there and accept it. He should know by Sunday, July 10^th before the end of services. Once he has the confirmation he and John will announce it at church that day.  They will be leaving immediately after services on the 10^th to go down and look for a place to live, and then continue on with their vacation.

He gave us ideas on how to fill the gaps and assured us the Synod will help us as move through the next steps to begin the call process in finding a new pastor for our church.

May Council Minutes

Genesee Lutheran Parish Council Minutes

May 10, 2016

 

Jennifer Parkins, Linda Chilson, Alice Bevans, John Marone, Dave Troy, Pastor David Deckard

Meeting called to order at 7:10

Jennifer gave devotional

 Approval of minutes from the April 12^th meeting moved by Jennifer and seconded by Alice, motion carried

 New business:

Lawn care-Need to spray for dandelions at both the Parsonage and Church

                Dave Troy has a tank and sprayer he would donate, Jennifer has an ATV to pull it, Pastor Dave

will talk to Doug about doing it and that we will pay him. If not Pastor, will check with Wilkes for getting it done.

We need to write a letter of thanks to Doug for the new mower.

The furnace at the Valley needs to be checked, it did not want to come on.

Summer worships are all planned and ready to go.

 Financial report:

Patrick was not able to attend but sent out a report on the finance report by email to all the council members; we operated in the black for the first quarter.

 Pastors Report:

Kayce is working on children activities and would like to have some money to help with costs.

Jennifer moved that we allocate a $200 discretionary budget for this

Dave Troy seconded.  Motion carried

Thrivent would like to bring in a representative to talk about what Thrivent is and how people can join.

 Synod Report:

Jennifer said they got a lot of information and would like to present it at a meeting to be set on a later date.

 By-laws:

Jennifer presented two copies of the constitution and reported that there were changes to the by-laws during the reconstruction that need to be changed to fit within the perimeters of the constitution.

Currently we have nothing on record with the Synod. We have by-laws for one parish with dual membership. She would like to set-up a subcommittee to go over the changes that need to be made and come back to the council with a report after they meet.

 

Adjourned at 8:25

 

GLP Council Meeting Minutes - Oct. 13, 2015

Genesee Lutheran Parish Council Meeting Minutes

Oct. 13, 2015

Jennifer Parkins, Courtney Scharnhorst, Alice Bevans, Patrick Adams, Dana Carter, Pastor Dave Deckard

Guest-Katie from Family Promise

Meeting called to order by Jennifer at 7:03

Devotion by Dana, Amy will do in November

Review of minutes, change wording from Pledge Drive to Pledge and Offering Amount, also Amy may not be liaison for Evangelism as that is still being determined how it is being done.

Katie from Family Promise explained the group’s mission as it’s a shelter. It is comprised of interfaith hospitality and made up of various churches in the area. A host church provides rides, dinner host, evening host and overnight host for an 11 week rotation. Twenty-nine families have been served in the Moscow-Pullman area. She asked that we consider being a partner for a hosting church rather than a host. Jennifer said we would look over the information and get back to her. Dave suggested the possibility of partnering with the community church and St. Mary’s church.

Jennifer said three of the women who attended the Catholic conference in Philadelphia while the Pope was here would like to share the message with our congregation. She suggest that would be a good time to talk with them about Family Promise also.

Jennifer reported on bible request from Kaycee Gregory. She has looked into the cost and found a good deal online for a Lutheran based bible. Pastor Dave said the money is already there. Jennifer will ask Kaycee how many she needs.

Pastor’s report:

Lots of events scheduled. Need more people to sign up to help. Marie Linchan is helping generate excitement within the business community. Creating a great feeling of renewal.

New members classes, All-saints Sunday and Reformation Sunday are all coming up. Fall Festival is coming up, Christmas wrapping event when and where  it needs to be publicized.

Lots happening in general with youth, Sunday School and confirmation.

Treasurer’s Financial Report:

Patrick handed out and reviewed income/expense year-to-date report.

E-bay store is up and running, Susan Riggs and Steve Edwards are running this. Amy requested a printout of what has been sold and for how much made to generate excitement. Patrick is seeing an increase in giving. Increased awareness of our financial status is likely the reason.

Executive Committee report:

Jennifer reported we will be ready to offer and contingency plan soon and still reviewing options

More people will be giving testimonies. Discussion on the feeling of prior testimony given by Linda as well as Jennifer’s talk about security. Keep inviting people to church.

Discussion:

Alice’s Christmas Party.

Dana brought up Christmas for Kids and how we want to do it this year.  Patrick made a motion to sponsor one family (or three children), Courtney seconded, motion passed.

Patrick asked to form a nominating committee for new council president, since Jennifer’s term is up in January. Discussion followed. Start getting suggestions for people willing to serve on the nominating committee, it was suggested that we have three people. Alice and Dana volunteered to serve.

Closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

GLP Council Meeting Minutes 9/8/15

Genesee Lutheran Parish Council Meeting

September 8, 2015 (updated by Patrick Adams 10/14/15)

Attending:

Patrick Adams, Dana Carter, Amy Peterson, Alice Bevans, Linda Chilson, David Deckard, Jennifer Parkins

Called to order at 7:02

Jennifer gave devotion, Matthew 14:19

Dana  will do it in October

Kaycee Gregory wrote a letter requesting bibles for children’s ministry. We discussed and decided we needed a little more information, approximate number and which bible would be most useful. There is $500 already in the budget that she can use to get the bibles.

We also received a letter requesting a lock for the Valley church because they felt some things have been stolen. After some discussion it was decided Jennifer would let them know that nothing was stolen so for now no action is required.

There has been some miscommunication on things that have been going on with the church. It was decided we needed a liaison for six committees. It will be the job of the liaison to report back to the council  monthly.

1. Buildings and grounds-Patrick

2. Education-Linda

3.Worship-Dana

4. Activities-Amy

5. Evangelism-Amy

6. Financial-Jennifer

Pastor’s Report:

Sunday school breakfast will be this next Sunday, September 12.

Financial Report:

Patrick gave a handout showing financial report.

Executive Committee Report:

The Executive Committee consists of Jennifer Parkins, Patrick Adams, Linda Chilson and Pastor Dave.

The Executive Committee met several times this summer and have discussed recommendations for how we need to deal our financial situation. Which is basically we are running out of money and not getting enough coming in from offering to continue much beyond the first of the year.

The recommendation by the committee is that we ask congregation to pledge. Our hope is to find what people are willing  to give for the year. After that we will come up with contingency plans if people are not willing to commit to enough for the church to continue as we are at this point. The Executive Committee will continue to meet to discuss contingency plans and bring them back recommendations to the council.

The Executive Committee needs approval to move forward with the motion. Alice Bevans moved to approve the motion. Dana Carter seconded.  Motion carried.

Alice Bevans moved that the Executive Committee start searching recommendations for a contingency plan. Amy Peterson seconded.  Motion carried.

Jennifer Parkins moved to accept the minutes from May 12, 2015 meeting. Alice Bevans seconded. Motion carried

Patrick asked that we develop a Financial Committee to help him with offering counting and record keeping. This will bring us more in line with ELCA guidelines.

Patrick asks to have two council members in the capacity of Treasurer Assistants. Alice Bevans and Dana Carter said they are willing to do that.

Amy brought up that we need to offer both grape juice wine during communion. There is also is a need for more bodies to do communion set-up.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45

February 2015 Council Minutes

 Genesee Lutheran Parish Council Meeting

February 10, 2015

Courtney Scharnhurst, Amy Peterson, Patrick Adams, Jennifer Parkins, Linda Chilson and Pastor Dave Deckard

Meeting called to order at 7:00PM

Jennifer did the devotional and Amy Peterson will do the devotional in March.

Pastor’s Report:

Lent services will start on Wednesday 18th out at the valley and will be soup meal prior to services.

Holy week starts on March 30^th Easter is on April 5^th.

Pastor Dave will be gone on Palm Sunday so the congregation will be handling Palm Sunday Services.

Spring break starts on March 27 with no Sunday School on Easter Sunday.

Pastor Dave would like us to come up with a policy for Funerals, with him giving an idea of what he would like. We will look over his suggestions and vote on it during March’s meeting.

Discussion on new council members, Jennifer said that Alice Bevins has agreed to become the new council member.

Patrick made a motion that Alice be the new council member. Amy seconded it. Motion carried.

In the future we have a few other members that are interested in joining the council as positions are open. Carly Stutzman , Steve and Susie Edwards have all said they would be interested.

Financial Report:

Patrick reported that he has gotten the Quicken program and working with it now.

He has asked that when counting the offering that he has 2 people count the money and then hand it to Patrick in an envelope to deposit.

There were three accounts with several names on them and those names have now been removed with only Jennifer and Patrick remaining on the accounts.

Meeting  adjourned at 8:00 PM

Annual Meeting Minutes

Genesee Lutheran Parish

Annual Meeting

January 18, 2015

Jennifer called the meeting to order at 11:45

Prayer was led by Jennifer to get the meeting started.

Committee Reports:

Building and grounds: Doug gave a report of Building and grounds-It has been an easy year when it came to maintenance with the Parkin’s taking care of the grounds out at the Valley church and Pastor Dave taking care of them here in town.

The biggest problem is going to be the sewer here at St. John’s Doug and Brent did a report on what that is going to entail. Roaches construction came and cleaned out the pipes for us and did and estimate on what it is going to cost to fix it. Everyone agreed that we should get a second bid ad make a decision after that on which company we will have fix it.

Education: Kaycee Gregory is heading up Sunday School and doing a very good job.

Activities: Different activities that we have ongoing are Inspire, Theology on Tap, Bible Study, Youth group, Young Woman’s group with many other single activities throughout the year.

Worship: Music-Pastor Dave comes up with the focus for each Sunday, then Patrick and the other musicians come up with music according to that focus.

Outreach: Habitat for Humanities- we have provided lunches and are in the process of gathering kitchen supplies and other essentials for the new family that is moving into the home. Verna and Rosanna are helping to put together a couple of quilts aslo.

Cemetary: Holly Sampson has been taking care of the St. John’s cemetery and Dan is not sure she is going to want to continue so if there is anyone who would be willing to do it, there is an application process to go through. The Parkin’s family is taking care of the one out at the Valley church.

By Law Changes:

We would like to change the by law’s from having to have three quarterly and one annual meeting each year to just having to have one annual meeting a year and calling special meetings when necessary.

Gayle Rossebo moved to change the meeting requirements to only one annual meeting a year. Susan Riggs seconded.

Discussion opened, no one had any discussion. Put to vote and passed unanimously.

The bylaws change

a.      The annual meeting of the congregation shall be in January between the dates of January 15^th and January 31^st.

b.      Quarterly meeting of the congregation will be help in the months of April and October. (this line is now being eliminated from the bylaws)

The second change we would like to make, to change the required number of council members from nine to seven.

Current reading:

1.      The Church Council shall consist of nine (9) members elected for a term of three (3) years but elected in such a manner that after the first election one-third (1/3) are elected each year, No members shall be eligible for more than two (2) successive terms in the same elective office.

Proposed change would read: seven (7) members elected for a term of three (3) years’…and continue as previously written.

Our current council consists of the following members:

Pastor David Deckard

Jennifer Parkins (Chair)

Susan Riggs, Treasurer (term ending this meeting)

Linda Chilson, Secretary

Gayle Rossebo, council member (term ending last year)

Doug Cartwright, council member (term ending this year)

Patrick Adams, council member (Term ending this year)

Courtney Scharnhorst, council member

Amy Peterson, council member

Dana Carter, council member

Jennifer explained that we are currently having trouble filling the council with nine members and that we have four positions that are being vacated this year.

Linda Chilson moved we change the number of required seat to seven. Tezra Barnes seconded.

Discussion opened with no discussion, voted and carried unanimously.

From this day forward we will only be required to seat seven members on the council.

Patrick has offered to fill the positon of treasurer. Floor opened to others who would like the position of treasurer.

Verna Studer moved to name Patrick as the new treasurer and Rosanna Cartwright seconded. Motion carried unanimously. After this meeting Patrick Adams will be our new treasurer.

Benevolences:

Christmas Eve offering went to the Emergency Fund

Easter offering: Suggestions for offering benevolence:

Lutherhaven, Emergency Fund, Lutherhaven Scholarship, Alternative’s to Violence, and University of Idaho Campus Ministries.

Verna Studer moved to give the Easter offering to these five projects.

Marilyn seconded

Opened to discussion, no discussion.

Motion carried unanimously

Pastor’s Report:

Talked about the BINGO card we did in church was to show what all we have been doing and how so many people have been involved, and how our passion (the whole congregation) brings it together with our passion. We just need to keep this passion going and keep furthering our mission.

BIG PICURE!!!

Financial: Funding our mission

Susan Rigg’s presented this past years financial report and this next year’s proposed budget.

We were $24001.08 short this past year so we are taking some out of savings to cover this amount. That will leave us with $24000 in savings.  We have 41 households with 84 members, if 30 families could increase offering by $67 per month we could be break even.

Pastor Dave’s medical insurance is requiring him to put $214 a month into a Medical savings plan. This will come directly out of his pocket. Susan purposed that we increase his pay by this amount each month to help cover the cost.

Tezra Barnes moved that we approve the budget with the increase to Pastor Dave’s salary of $2568 annually be included in it.

Dana Carter seconded. Opened to discussion it no discussion

Motion carried unanimously

The BIG PICTURE is that we need to come up with some better ways to fulfill our mission and not just pay our bills. 

Susan Riggs has volunteered to fill a new position as Fund Raising Coordinator. There are three projects already in the works for this coming year.

Some future projects are:

An Appeal Letter to the Community

Bake Sale at Easter

Garage Sale in August

Any and all suggestions are welcome and open to consideration.

Meeting adjourned with the Lord’s Prayer

January Council Minutes

Genesee Lutheran Parish Church Council Minutes

January 10, 2015

In Attendance:

Patrick Adams, Susan Rigg, Courtney Sharnhorst, Jennifer Parkins, Linda Chilson , Dana Carter, Doug Cartwright,  Gayle Rossebo, and Pastor David Deckard

Brent Studer gave a report on the sewer problem at St. John’s:

He had Roach Construction come in and check it out for us. There are roots growing into the pipes in two places. The quote was for a replacement of the pipes with a new material that is supposed to control the growth.  It is $4385.

Jennifer said that Jed Capus referred us to another place and that it might be wise to get a second quote. Everyone agreed that would be a wise business decision.

There is a possibility that we will have a contributor for half the cost.

Financial Report:

Susan did pull $20000 from the mission investment fund.

Dave’s health insurance is going to be requiring him to put $100 in a health savings plan, and it may be a good idea to give him an increase of $1200 a year to help with that cost.

The Christmas Eve offering was around $800 and that will be put into the benevolence account.  It will be discussed at the annual meeting if this is what we would like to do with Easter service offering also, or if we would like to do something else with it.

Pastors report:

Anderson’s have giving us a donation of garbanzo beans at PNW, which could either be used as a donation to the food bank or to put into the benevolence fund also. Linda will write a thank you letter to them.

Pastor Dave will be gone January 27^th through February 3^rd, Dana and the youth girls will doing leadership at services and Patrick will be taking care of the music.

Patrick had a sample of the new directory, which will be distributed shortly. It will continue to be updated as we get new people.

Sunday School report:

Christmas program was very nice this year.  Kacey is doing a wonderful job of giving us direction this year and we appreciate her leadership.

In helping with the annual meeting and our message we are asking the teachers to ask the children and adults: What fires you up about this church?  Pastor Dave is also going to include a page in the bulletin asking the congregation the same thing.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to discussion on what we want to present at the Annual Meeting.  Our main message will be Finding Your Passion.

Jennifer will be presenting the changes we would like to make to the by-laws, the amount of members we need to have on the council and the number of meetings we need to have each year.

Susan’s new role will be introduced and we will have vote on new council members and new treasurer.

We will have committee reports

Discuss how we would like to use the Easter offering.

Financial report will be given.

The end will be what we hope to focus on this next year. Commitment to our mission not just paying the bills and what we need to do to be able to continue this mission.

Council Minutes from May 2013

Genesee Lutheran Parish Church Council Minutes

May 14, 2013

In attendance:

Pastor Dave, Gayle Rossebo, Patrick Adams, Amy Peterson, Jennifer Parkins, Susan Riggs, Doug Cartwright, Linda Chilson

Amy did devotion on Stewardship.

Doug reported on buildings and plans. They are planning on weed & feeding the lawns. There was a discussion on replacing the steps at St John’s.

Pastor’s report-

First Gospel group was at Patrick’s house, he found this to be very helpful. Theology on Tap went great. Youth will be attending the new Star Trek movie on the 16^th.

He will be gone some Sundays this summer so will be looking for people to help with services.

First Sunday in June church will begin at 9:30 through the summer at Valley Lutheran.

Pastor hired a couple of kids to mow the lawn at St John’s.

Rosanna asked to use the Fellowship Hall at St John’s on May 25^th for graduation party, this was okayed by the council.

Ole suggested recycling the can to get the youth a soda maker. Pastor donated a buffet warmer.

June 9^th there will be a showing of the Sunday School movies.

Pastor gave a report on Synod conference and came back with some ideas for Stewardship.

This summer we will be getting some books and dvds by Mark Allen Powel for the council to pass around to read and watch to help us come with how we want to handle it here at Genesee. When we come back in September we will discuss what we have gotten from the books and dvds.

There is going to be a workshop on Stewardship at Moscow Emmanuel Lutheran, will get more details on that for us.

Pastor is going to be working on having church’s from our cluster doing some things together. The first one he would really like to work on is inviting them to attend and be involved in Rock-N-Roll Sunday in September.

Another is to have a Good News Evangelism workshop on some of the things we do differently here and that seems to be working. ie: Theology On Tap.

One Celebration Sunday we may have a bus for us to go to another Church in the Cluster and celebrate with them.

Next meeting will be in September.

Council Minutes from April 2013

Genesee Lutheran Parish Church Council Minutes

April 9, 2013

In Attendance:

Patrick Adams, Susan Rigg, Courtney Sharnhorst, Amy Peterson, Jennifer Parkins, Linda Chilson, Gayle Rossebo, Dan Carter, and Pastor David Deckard

Amy will do devotional next month.

Susan went over the Budget report and let us know she will transferring one of the CD’s into the general fund.

We discussed what is going to happen with Vacation Bible School this year, there was someone who was going to coordinate it but she had to back out due to other obligations.  The theme this year is Code of Armor. Pastor Dave felt as long as we could get people to help out he could come up with a plan so that we will have VBS. He will report back on how he is progressing with that.

We moved on into the Pastors report-

Pastor reported on how well Easter services went and thanked everyone for helping with services and music.

There will be a monthly meeting with any Parishioners that would like to come help work on sermon ideas for the month.  

Pentecost Sunday is May 19^th and would like ideas on how we want to celebrate it this year.

Services move out to the Valley Church May 5^th and will continue at 10 through May and change to 9:30 in June. The 28^th of April is the last day for Sunday School for this year.

On Saturday soon he would like to get people to come help clean up the yard and take down lights at St John’s.

We need to come up with guidelines for how the church will help with funeral services and meals. Susan said she will help organize meals unless anyone else wants to do it. We do need to get names and phone numbers of people who are willing to help out with the meals.

Next month we will work on our Mission Statement

Genesee Lutheran Parish Church Council Minutes

March 12, 2013

In Attendance:

Patrick Adams. Dan Carter, Doug Cartwright, Courtney Sharnhorst, Amy Peterson, Jennifer Parkins, Linda Chilson, Gayle Rossebo, and Pastor David Deckard

Gail moved to have Courtney Scharnhorst as Vice Chairman and Dan seconded, with a unanimous vote.

Pastor Dave reported that Easter services are taking shape. He needs volunteers for Holy Week services. There have been some plans for Spring Break activities for the youth. Preparations are being made for moving services out to the Valley Church in May, service times for the summer will be decided on at a later date.

We had a long discussion about how to move on with our Mission work on Stewardship this year with some tentative plans being made.  There was a lot of good input from everyone on the subject and a lot of good ideas.  One thing we decided and knew was that the people of our church are our assets and that we need to let them know they are our assets.  The first step is to get to know our congregation, their wants and needs with the first of this happening on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. 

February Church Council Minutes

Genesee Lutheran Church Council

Monthly Meeting

February 26, 2013

Attending:

Jennifer Parkins, Courtney Scharnhorst, Doug Cartwright, Susan Riggs, Dan Carter, Patrick Adams, Linda Chilson, Pastor David Deckard

Meeting was started at 7PM

Jennifer Parkins read to us about Holy Leisure-

Holy Leisure , as do prayer and work, serves God. It may sometimes be self-refreshment or refreshment by another. But it must result in a return to work and prayer with renewal and joy.

Benedict’s genius was t recognize that leisure is also God’s and should be so absorbing as to be timeless. Still those monastery bells peal regularly, reminding us who we are, and calling the community to prayer, work and play. Order in all of life, they toll, right priorities, ad balance, are essential.

I often forget that God wants me to laugh, to enjoy, being myself, to rest. “Peace comes from living a measured life,” says Sister Joan. “Peace comes from attending to every part of my world in a sacramental way.” Peace comes from holy leisure!

Next month Susan will bring something on “Devotion”

Financial report was given by Susan Riggs-

Things are the same as reported at the annual meeting. We did get a Memorial Donation from the family of Bud Deister. The Portico account is now being combined for both St Johns and the Valley Church as one. So far things look good for the Donations Button on the Blog site; Susan plans on checking that once a month for now.

Sunday School Report-

The Sunday School classes are now preparing for Passion Sunday program.

Erika Grieser is interested in taking over Phyllis’s position as Worship Committee Chair-Phyllis will be helping her with the transition. This leaves open Erika’s position as the Preschool Sunday School teacher, Vikki Fountain has agreed to take Erika’s place this coming fall.

Pastor’s Report-

The Movies have been a big hit with all those working on them and viewing enjoying them very much. The teens will be working on one more for this year. There will be an evening set up soon where all the movies will be able to be seen, date to be announced. If you have not seen any you really need to plan on trying to make it that evening.

Youth weekend went very well attendance was high with 17-18 teens attending over the weekend. Saturday night had the largest attendance-Patrick Adams came and helped bake Pizza that evening. Food was not a problem as several members contributed with food for the weekend. Another teen activity is going to be done over Spring Break.

Lent Services are going to be Simple and Clean this year, what we will be doing for Holy Week and Easter has not been determined yet.

Pastor Dave has had good feedback on the Vision we have for our Church. He plans on making up a shorter version of what he is foreseeing and the floor plans to mail out so that everyone can see.

Stewardship is our next goal; we have come full circle from what the church was to what it is today, now we need to start working towards the future. Stewardship is important for the mission of our church and we hope to approach this in a new way. We need to clarify who and what membership is. One of the goals for the counsel is to make up a new directory of our members.

New Business-

We need to set up an “Activities Committee” Meeting in early March, possibly a Wednesday evening after Lent Services, Jennifer will get a date set up and let everyone know.

Jennifer welcomed the new council members. We need to look at the offices soon since officers may only serve two terms per offices.

Patrick reported that the ELCA site has many ideas for helping with our vision for this year. He gave us five pages as a sample of things we could do. One way was to look at it as a contrast of how we may look at church and what our goal would be:

Consumer Church                                 Is Different from         Missional Church

Church is seen as a dispenser of                                              A body of people sent on mission who

religious goods and services. People                                       gather in community for worship,

come to church to be “fed”, to have                                         community encouragement and

their needs met through quality                                                 teaching from the Word in addition to   

programs, and to have the professionals                                 what they are self-feeding

reach their children about God.                                                  themselves throughout the week.

I go to church                                                                                    I am the church

The idea of giving out of gratitude not out of debtedness is one way to look at this.  We also need to find how to get everyone to feel a part of everything. First thing though that we need to do is come up with our Mission before we start on Stewardship. It was asked that we come to the next meeting with our goals, ideas of issues and challenges we feel people will face. This could probably be done in a sub-committee with them coming back to us with what they have come up with. Pastor Dave felt we could start the discussion at the next Theology on Tap.

Susan gave us information on the Synod Assembly that was coming up April 19-21 in Boise. Early registration would need to be in by March 10^th. The theme for this year is “Spirit Powers Us”. It was felt that we would like to know what work classes they were going to be having before deciding on whether we wanted to send anyone.

We also need to find someone to be Vice President.

Our next meeting will be March 12, 2013 at 7PM at St John’s.  Meeting was adjourned at 8PM.