Prince of Peace

COUNCIL JUNE 2017 MINUTES

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Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Council Meeting Minutes

June 27, 2017

Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, Associate, Allan Grant, Lynn Anderson, Mike Isenberg, Scott Reitz, Jeff Hanson, Melissa Johnson, Julia Sevald, Linda Forkey, Rachel Follestad

Absent: Pastor Natalia Terfa, Richard Habstritt, Dale Emter

 Call to Order: President Allan Grant called the meeting to order.

Devotions: Pastor Chad led us in devotions.

 Adoption of Agenda: A motion was made by Linda Forkey and seconded by Julia Sevald to adopt the Council agenda.  Motion approved.

Approval of Previous Minutes: A motion was made by Julia Sevald and seconded by Jeff Hanson to approve the minutes from the April 17, 2017 Council meeting as written.  Motion approved.

Reports of Officers:

Treasurer’s Report:

Notable May activity:

  • For the month of May, receipts were lower than expenses.
    • The general/building fund activity for the month was fairly flat with a loss of only $439.       This is favorable to both budget and prior year by $1,811 and $3,795, respectively.
    • Total May offerings were lower than budget by $5,563, but flat to prior year.       Other receipts for March were lower than budget due to timing of Thrivent Choice dollars, but in line with the prior year.
    • Overall, expenses are lower than budget and prior year by $8,333 and $4,135, respectively. The favorability to budget and prior year is related to the timing of expenses, benevolence payments, as well as fewer repairs expense than budget and 2016 repairs. Additionally, the loan we had entered into for the LED lights has been paid off as of December 31, 2016 so we no longer have that monthly expense.
  • For May year to date, receipts are slightly higher than expenses. The general building fund activity is a gain of $453, which is favorable to budget, and prior year by $11,703 and $10,614, respectively.
  • The general fund cash balance available for use is $51,595 at the end of May.
  • The only designated fund with significant activity in May was the Adult Mission Trip fund.

President’s Report:

  • Allan updated the Council on a few items discussed at Executive Council

Vice-President’s Report:

  • Leave a Legacy request from Natalia – $1000 for the Wednesday Night Worship guest speakers.
    • A motion was made by Mike Isenberg and seconded by Scott Reitz to approve the Leave a Legacy request for $1000 for the Wednesday Night Worship guest speakers.

Secretary’s Report: None

 Ministry Team Reports

 Property Report

Current Projects

  • Drapery and Blind bid.
    • Hunter Douglas roller shades for the sanctuary. Sheerweave 7100 blackout. Color TBD. Nickel beaded chain control. 6 Shades. Estimate is $1,768. Price includes product and installation. Estimated 5 weeks delivery.
    • These are for the windows in the back of the worship center.
    • Could this come through a Leave a Legacy request?
      • Next 12 Months (This year)
  • Roof bubbling
  • Tree in courtyard
  • Tuck point building
  • Clean holding pond south side
  • Short Term (5 Years)
  • HVAC
  • Security lights
  • Computer-operated thermostat
  • Computer-operated lighting
  • LED lighting out side of building
  • Fire alarm panel
  • West metal door separating
  • South metal door not closing
  • Long Term (10 Years)
  • Parking lot
  • Carpet replacement
  • Replace Boiler system
  • Spiritual Growth
  • Operational Efforts: 
  • Committee Membership (On-Going)
    • Roles Defined including anticipated time commitments
    • Resource levels discussed at last committee meeting. We want to make sure we have work and grow organically before any further recruiting efforts.
    • Members Include:
      • Chuck Dube
      • Jim Knuckey
      • Chelle Reitz
      • Candy Kvamme (ten)
      • Brenda Bous

Projects

  • New Volunteer Cards (In Progress) – Jim Knuckey
    • Create a simplified volunteer card design
  • Volunteer/Learning Guide (In Progress) – Chuck Dube
    • Create a means to inform members on volunteer and learning opportunities
    • Start interviewing ministry leads to build Volunteer & Learning Opportunity Guide
  • Develop an on-going New-Member Social Event to facilitate: (Not Started – TBD)
    • Meet & greet with other recent & new members
    • Discuss / Learn about various volunteer & learning opportunities
    • Provide feedback on Prince of Peace and/or faith experiences
  • Council Reporting Development (Not Started – TBD)
    • Identify & report on Spiritual Growth Team metrics
    • Document how-to guide on building the report for future Council Member(s)
  • Spiritual Growth Facilitated Information Desk (Formulating) – Scott Reitz

Here we can provide members and visitors information AND connect them with the right resources for a variety of services including.

      • Volunteer Opportunities for the SME (and Spiritual Growth) Team
      • Registrations
        • Sunday School
        • Summer POP camp events
        • Mission Trips
        • New Member Orientations
        • Group Life
      • Information on Community Life events
      • Information on Congregational Care opportunities
      • Outreach opportunities and needs

To make this inviting and easy for our members/visitors I was hoping to place this in a visible and convenient spot in the Welcome Center. I think it would be best to have a person or two (depending on anticipated service census) staff this desk either every, or every other Sunday between services.

Sunday Morning Experience

None

Outreach

None

Community Life

None

Congregational Care

None

 

Staff Reports:

Children and Family Ministry:

Spring/Summer 2017 Council Report from Katie Rykal

LOOKING BACK/MOMENT OF PRAISE

  • Our Sunday School year wrapped up on May 21st with our Family Worship Sunday. Sunday morning DIG will happen two Sundays a month.
  • We had a great group of 5th Graders receive their 1st Communion on Maundy Thursday. This is the first year (since we switched to doing it on Maundy Thursday) that all students received it at the same time. It continues to be a moving/powerful experience for them and their families.
  • Our list of Baptisms/Upcoming baptisms continue to grow.

 

CURRENT

  • We are currently in the middle of week 3 of Summer Day Camp. Our main staff this year is Haley (Broten) Reiser, Kaetlyn Lindquist and Bailey Massicotte. Our weekly group number is up from last year and we have heard a lot of positive comments from our 1st two weeks. In week two they got to meet police officers and fire fighters which was the highlight for the kiddos.
  • Working with Jan Bolstad to offer StoryTime Sundays on Non-Dig Sundays.
  • As mentioned above – Sunday morning DIG will happen two Sundays a month. We are currently using that time to dig into the Gratitude Project that the Congregation is doing.
  • Gearing up for our weekend/week @ WAPO at the end of July. Our SEEDS Campers (2nd and 3rd grade) attend from July 28-30th, and our YOUTH/TIM Team Campers attend from July 30th-August 4th.

COMING UP

  • Working ahead to gear up for Maternity Leave which will occur in November, December and part of January. The current plan is for Haley (Broten) Reiser to oversee Sunday School with numerous volunteers overseeing other programmatic duties (Trunk-or-Treat, SS Christmas Program, and MORE)
  • Working up towards Rally Day on September 10th.

Youth and Family Ministry:

Spring/Summer 2017 Council Report from Brent Haglund

MIDDLE SCHOOL MINISTRY

  • Mission Week went well! Our theme was Impact & we learned about & practiced ways kids can make a faith-centered difference wherever they are, in a variety of areas (environment, hunger/homelesness, worship, relationships).
  • Also this summer, middle school youth are invited to come before worship each Wednesday for games & fellowship. It hasn’t really caught on yet.

HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY

  • Gearing up for our Compass Points backpacking trip through Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp July 8-16.
  • Have had a lot of 1-on-1s lately for everything from celebrations to family struggles & just continued relationship building.
  • High schoolers have been invited to come before or stick around after Wednesday worship services for fellowship. Hasn’t really caught on yet either 🙂

COLLEGE/YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY

  • We have 3 Journey (college/post-HS) gatherings planned. 1 already was, a campfire at church which was great!. July 29th we’ll share a meal together (hopefully progressive style) & in August we’ll have an outing to MOA
  • Theology on Tap will continue to meet each month. Coming up is June 29 at Insight Brewing.

Pastoral Reports:

Pastor Chad’s Report:

Pastor Natalia’s Report:

Our summer has kicked off and wow what a start! Natalia loves how summer is different but no less filled with life and energy than the rest of the year.  There is a vibe around here in the summer is just so great and she loves being a part of it.

We kicked off all the summer activities on June 11th.  It was a rough morning, with that crazy storm blowing through right before worship and keeping things small. But despite that, we have a lot of people joining us in our 30 days of gratitude and the energy around our summer services and activities was palpable.

Our Wednesday worship services started June 14th, and they are just amazing.  Natalia loves hearing from other voices in the summer, people who have a way of looking at and thinking about God that is different than her own and we are off to just a great start. Consider joining us on these Wednesdays. Invite others, bring friends, encourage people to come with you to see what we’re about on these summer evenings.  We’ll return to worship in the park on the last Wednesday of each month: June 28th, July 26th, and to close out our summer worship on August 30th. We’re so thankful for the partners we have in the Parks and Rec department who help us make this happen (and waive the fees)!

Unfinished Business:

New Business:

  • Katie stopped by to discuss Rally Day. Although it is not until September, it will come up quickly! We have done a Ministry Fair the past two years, and Katie reminded all the council representatives to be thinking about that as they are meeting with their teams this summer. We have a Rally Day budget, but we need to decide on food, so Katie knows how much she has to spend on everything else.
    • We decided on corn dogs and mini donuts and will charge 50 cents each. This will go well with the State Fair theme, and we feel that the congregation will be happy to pay this small amount for the food.
  • We also discussed Katie’s upcoming maternity leave. She is due the end of October and is planning to take 12 weeks of maternity leave. She gets 3 week of paid maternity leave and will save up 3 weeks of vacation, so she will take 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks unpaid. This timeline would mean that she is back at Prince of Peace sometime in mid January. Katie will go down to 50% of her salary for the full 12 weeks. Some of that money will be used to pay Hailey Reiser, who will be filling in for Katie on a part-time basis.

Action Items:

  • Jeff Hanson will submit a Leave a Legacy request for the funds needed for the blinds to be installed on the back windows of the worship center.
  • Our next meeting will be Tuesday, August 15th
    • Mike Isenberg has devotions

Highs and Lows:

  • After his recent health scare, Melissa’s dad is recovering and doing well!
  • Brent and Lynn were asked to host a graduation party for graduating seniors at Brooklyn Avenues. 7 out of the 10 residents were graduating this year. Everything went well. Because food was donated, they were able to use the money they had to buy graduation gifts for the kids. Avenues was grateful they were able to do this for the kids.
  • Linda reported that more than 150 quilts have been delivered to various people and locations through Congregational Care!

A motion was made by Linda Forkey and seconded by Julia Sevald to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved.  Meeting adjourned

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Johnson

Council Secretary