DRAFT

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Council Meeting Minutes

January 17, 2017

Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, Associate Pastor Natalia Terfa, Sue LaGue, Christina Jobe, Julia Sevald, Mike Isenberg, Richard Habstritt, Dale Emter, Jeff Amstrup, and Jeremy Hansen

Absent: Linda Forkey and Ryan Ohm

Guests: Allan Grant, Scott Reitz, and Rachael Follestad

 Call to Order: President Sue LaGue called the meeting to order.

Devotions: Jeff Amstrup led us in devotions.

 Adoption of Agenda: A motion was made by Dale Emter and seconded by Richard Habstritt to adopt the Council agenda.  Motion approved.

Approval of Previous Minutes: A motion was made by Richard Habstritt and seconded by Jeff Amstrup to approve the minutes from the December 13, 2016 Council meeting as written.  Motion approved.

Reports of Officers:

Treasurer’s Report:

• For the month of December, receipts were higher than expenses.
  • The general/building fund activity for the month was a gain of $38,880. This is favorable to budget and prior year by $4,921 and $7,442, respectively.
  • Total December offerings were higher than budget and prior year by $6,488 and $10,380, respectively. Other receipts for December were lower than both budget and prior year, mainly related to timing of building use income.
  • Overall, expenses are relatively flat to budget but unfavorable to prior year by $2,418. The unfavorability to prior year is related to the timing of benevolence payments.
  • There was a very nice response from the congregation to the year-end giving appeal and contributions related to that appeal were just over $18,000.
• For December year to date, receipts are lower than expenses. Offerings year to date are significantly lower than budget and prior year. Expenses are lower than budget and significantly higher than prior year. The increase over prior year is due to increased personnel expense as well as creating a building reserve fund to use for larger building repairs as they come up in addition to additional repairs expense in 2016.
• The general fund cash balance available for use is $63,042 at the end of December.
• Adult Mission Trips and Designated-Miscellaneous were the only designated funds with significant activity in December.
• As we move in to 2017 we will continue to track our offerings and contributions vs. budget and keep the congregation updated if we start falling behind.

Julia Sevald left the meeting at 7:10 p.m.

 Introductions: For the benefit of the incoming Council members that were joining us for this meeting, we went around the table sharing our name, Council position, and where we were in our term.

President’s Report:

Sue shared a thank-you note from Kathy Arveson for the farewell gift we gave her.

Wayne Boike has been hired as Kathy’s replacement and started in early January.

Sue proposed giving Julia a stipend for her volunteer work that she has done at church while we were absent a Church Administrator. A motion was made by Richard Habstritt and seconded by Jeremy Hansen to pay Julia a stipend of $500.  Motion approved.

The Annual Congregational Meeting will be held January 22, 2017 at 11:45 a.m. Changes have been made to the Constitution to bring it into compliance with the model ELCA Constitution.  These changes will be adopted at the Annual meeting.

The Staff/Council retreat will be held February 11, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove. Need to register yourself.  Sue will send everyone the link.

Vice-President’s Report:

All of the Leave a Legacy allocated disbursement amount for 2016 was spent, except for $50 which was not requested.

Secretary’s Report: None

Ministry Team Reports

Property Report

Committee didn’t meet.

Spiritual Development  (Spiritship)      

Met tonight and informed Scott where we’ve been and where we hope to go.

Sunday Morning Experience

SME committee met on January 9.

1. Key Topics –
   1. Head Usher Guest – Rick Swanson joined a few of us on January 2 defying the very icy roads. Even though the meeting was officially cancelled Rick provide feedback on December WE Teams, and Dale shared with the committee at January 9 meeting.
   2. Christmas Service – WE Teams were thanked for Christmas worship volunteer coordination.
   3. 2017 Goals – The Committee discussed and confirmed the following goals for 2017. The goals in bold font were determined to be most important to accomplish this year.
      1. Head Ushers support –
         1. Continue to invite to visit SME Committee Meetings.
         2. Add (4) Head Ushers for 2017-18 schedule. This will be a primary focus goal.
         3. 1^st Aid \ CPR Training.
      2. Visitor & New Member Welcoming – Provide more definition and support for Sunday Morning Experience to welcome visitors and new members. This goal is intended to define and expand the Visitor Bag concept.
      3. 10:30am Wrap-up – Continue to develop fellowship opportunities after 10:30am worship targeting about (2) Sundays per month for Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sept, Oct, Nov.
      4. WE Teams – Maintain and refine WE Teams in cooperation with Head Ushers.
      5. Coffee and Cookies Team – Maintain volunteer coordination.
      6. Pew Organization & Clean Up: Maintain efforts by Karla, Dianne, and Elaine.
      7. SME Quarterly Socials – February \ May \ October (Q-4 is Advent)
      8. Veteran’s Day – November 12, 2017.
      9. Church Council Member – Recommend next Church Council member for SME.
   4. SME Social – Winter social is being planned for Monday evening, February 20 (President’s Day). Hot Chocolate and home baked bars will be the refreshments. Topic of discussion will be sharing thoughts on how WE Teams can improve on welcoming visitors and new members.
   5. 10:30am Worship Wrap Up – The Wrap-Up is planned for January 30. George Umolac and others will host with refreshments (milk and Oreos are planned).
   6. WE Teams – Coordinators will continue welcoming the Youth volunteers onto teams, and will look to connect with new pledges offering to greet, usher, and serve coffee & cookies in 2017.

(WE Team 1 – Kim, 2 – Dale, 3 – Joel, 4 – George, Coffee & Cookies – Laura E.)

1. Other Topics – The committee is enthusiastic for the coming year.
2. Next SME Team Meeting will occur on Monday 2/06/17 at 6:00 pm

Outreach

Annual project meeting will be next Tuesday (Jan 24) at 7:00 p.m. to set up our calendar. March will probably be our CEAP month.  Anyone is welcome to come to the meeting.

Community Life

The outing to the Luther art exhibit at MIA went well; about 19 people came. Collecting activity suggestions from people.  Might try a movie night in Feb.  Plymouth Playhouse was another suggestion.

 Pastoral Reports:

Pastor Chad’s Report:

We will participate as a pilot church to be a refugee welcoming church. Lutheran Social Services will be administering these relationships in our region.

Pastor Natalia’s Report:

Oh December was so amazing around here and I’m so honored to have been a part of all the different ways we worshipped… the kid’s program, the cantata, Christmas eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.  They were all so different and yet all meaningful for those who were with us; visitors and current members alike.

GroupLife begins the week of January 22nd, as I said in my report for December, with one change.  We’ll be doing TED Talks again!  I was going to do a different series, but as it turns out, it wasn’t the most conducive to group format.  So there we have it. TED Talks are a favorite so I don’t actually think anyone will mind. 🙂

I’m looking forward to another First Call Theological Conference at the end of the month, and this year one of our guest theologians is Pr Chad!  Prince of Peace is taking over yall! It’s great that our reputation as a church and Pr Chad as a leader are a positive force in the world.

A reminder that our Council and Staff retreat/training is on February 11th from 8:30-12 at Lord of Life in Maple Grove.  It’s a synod event that we are piggybacking upon so it should be good stuff.

Thanks for all you do – and welcome to you new council members!  So honored to serve alongside you!

Unfinished Business: None

 New Business: None

Action Items:

Allan Grant will send out to the Council the changes that were made to the Constitution.

Highs, Lows and Prayer Requests: Dale and Christina shared.

A motion was made by Dale Emter and seconded by Mike Isenberg to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved.  Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Christina Jobe

Council Secretary