Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, Pastor Natalia Terfa, Mike Isenberg, Nate Boucher, Rachel Henderson, Patti VanLiew, Ann Maczuga, Cathy Krogstad, Pam Eliason 

Absent: none 

Call to Order: Mike called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm 

Opening Devotion: Patti led us in devotions/prayer. 

Adoption of the Agenda: Cathy made a motion to adopt the agenda. Nate seconded the motion. Motion carries. 

Approval of Previous Minutes: Nate made a motion to approve minutes from the April 16, 2024 council meeting. Rachel seconded the motion. Motion carries. 

EXECUTIVE TEAM REPORTS: 

President and Vice President’s Report- none 

Pastoral Report- Pastor Chad Brekke 

Along with the warmer weather, this Spring has been a season of some active ministry and service around Prince of Peace. Our leadership and other volunteers responded to avoid possible citation from the city related to the well-hidden drainage area to the south of our main parking area. Multiple bags of garbage along with at least one large piece of furniture were removed from the less than desirable location. Some of these same volunteers also helped out with our regularly scheduled Jeans and Junk highway clean up. 

There were also bible studies, quilting, council meetings and retired men’s group volunteer activities. Add to all of this mission and ministry done in Jamaica, visitation and communion ministry, plant sale and youth activities, gardening, and more! Yes, there were also funerals, weddings, and vibrant, meaningful worship services. A group of delegates also represented Prince of Peace at the Synod Assembly where our own Pastor Natalia was among the final two candidates to serve as the new bishop. Bishop elect Jen Nagel was elected to serve while Bishop Ann Svennungsen was thanked for her 12 years of service as Bishop. 

A group of nine will be part of the 2024 Vision Trip to Tanzania which will depart on June 20 to visit our friends and partners in East Africa. The group will return on July 2. 

Paul Hahn, our Business Administrator for the past several years has retired. His last official day was Thursday, May 16 but he remains available to our team to answer questions or to aid with the transition to the next person. Our financial secretary, Rachel Henderson continues to be instrumental in helping with this transition. We hope to have the new Business Administrator in place by the end of next week. 

This Sunday will be Pentecost Sunday and we continue to give thanks for all the ways the Holy Spirit continues to blow through this church and send the Good News out into the world! 

Your partner in ministry, 

Pastor Chad 

Pastoral Report- Pastor Natalia Terfa 

Thanks for all the ways you all supported and continue to support the Harm Reduction Box on our property. We’re still figuring out the processes for keeping it filled, but we’re making it work. The ways this has been spreading and connecting people to help and to POP is also pretty astounding. Way to go everyone! 

• ¾ Time Off Week Schedule – May dates are past but here are June dates as well :l Chad off: May 6-12, June 3-9 
• Natalia off: May 13-19, June 10-16 
• Chad will also be out of the country from June 19 to July 2. 

• Thank you for the support and prayers as I went through the Bishop election process. It was a wild ride and more intense and exhausting than I anticipated, especially going all the way to the end. I continue to be proud of the ways I showed up and grateful for how much I learned, which will continue to ripple out from POP into the greater church for a little while longer. 

• And as always, in the interest of clearly communicating my availability – here’s the link to my digital calendar scheduler. Anyone can find a time to meet (in person, via zoom, or on the phone) with me at: https://calendly.com/nataliaterfa 

~Associate Pastor 

Pr Natalia Terfa 

Ministry Team Reports: 

Care Team 

Mental Health Connect had a wonderful Stories of Hope breakfast, with 280 people in attendance and we made it to our fundraising goal of $50,000, several POP ambassadors were able to attend this event. This was also the 10th anniversary of mental health connect and breakfast set the stage for an exciting year and continued growth ahead. 

Harm Reduction box has had an overwhelmingly positive response. We continue to replace almost the entire stock at least once a week. We have also had several calls after the new stories. We have a donor who is planning to send a significant donation for use of supplies, and we have also had another church contact us to get them started on setting up another harm reduction box at their church in the Twin Cities. 

Quilter’s team has finished several quilts and is getting ready to donate them. ~Pam 

Outreach Team 

* Avenues for Youth Brooklyn Park has 5 residents who will be graduating from High School this spring – a HUGE accomplishment given all the challenges these youth are experiencing during this time of their life. Outreach donated a graduation cake and ice cream, graduation party decorations and gifts for the 5 graduates. We solicited gift card donations from the POP congregation and received five $25 gift cards. The Avenues graduation celebration will take place Saturday, May 18. 

*In May, volunteers participated in a food packing event at Second Harvest Heartland. 

* We are recruiting volunteers for the Park Brook Elementary 5th Grade Graduation celebration on Wednesday, June 5. Volunteers are needed Wednesday morning to serve breakfast to the students and their teachers and Wednesday afternoon to serve cake and beverages to the students and their families at the commencement ceremony. There is a sign-up sheet on the Welcome Center Kiosk. 

*In June, we are thinking about doing another diaper drive. (no newborns but everything else). 

*In July and August, we’ll be working two Wednesdays to help with CEAP’s farm fresh. The dates are: July 10 and August 7th. There will be sign-up sheets. 

*Also in August, CEAP says they have quite a bit of stock of school supplies left from previous years. So…we will see what they need from POP May 1st. 

We held our Spring Highway 81 clean-up on May 5th. Thank you to all for your help. You are awesome! 

~Ann Maczuga 

Care Team – Property Team – Sunday Morning Experience 

The Gardening Team requests again to think about maybe doing a Saturday morning spring cleanup of the church gardens. Last year we did that, and it was a good turnout, and a lot was accomplished. 

~Cathy Krogstad 

Staff Reports: 

Youth and Childrens and Family Ministry – Katie 

PRAISES from PAST Events 

• Plant Sale (Phase 3) is now done, and it was our most organized year yet! Any plants remaining will be used by the Garden Team to beautify the Church gardens. 
• Middle School Ministry ended at the end of April with a fantastic End of the Year Bonfire (complete with S’mores, Root Beer Floats and games around the Church. 
• Children’s Ministry continued to see an uptick in new visitors throughout the end of the year. We ended our School Year Ministry on May 19th with a Pentecost Party (complete with balloons, birthday candles and more) 
• High School Ministry wrapped up their year with an End of the Year BBQ 

CURRENT UPDATES 

• Working on finalizing plans for Middle School AND High School for this Summer. Middle School will meet for day long events on Wednesdays that will alternate between Service and Fellowship 
• High School will meet periodically throughout the Summer as well and the full schedule will be out by Memorial Day Weekend 
• Summer Day Camp starts on June 10th. Will be meeting with Staff the week after Memorial Day 
• Working on doing a “deep clean” of the CLC and both conjoining closets. Working with both rental Churches to get those areas cleaned up and organized 
• Will enjoy a short “lull” before Summer Ministry and Summer Schedule kick into high gear 

Continuing to work on organizing/cleaning/purging the Church as the Rental Groups continue to ask for more space. 

~Katie Rykal 

Unfinished Business: 

• Council discussed some ideas and suggestions for improving the financial situation of POP, such as creating a plan, timeline, and action steps for the financial, marketing, and ministry aspects, restructuring or rethinking some of the positions and groups, finding ways to organize and communicate the needed tasks, and prioritizing the things that need to be done. Extreme cuts have been made in staffing so we need to find other funds. 

• The council discussed making an announcement once a month letting the congregation know the needs of the church and organizing special fundraisers for Sunday Coffee and other needs. We discussed adding a suggestion box in the Welcome Center. There was discussion on a refinance of our mortgage, and Pastor Chad reminded us that POP did refinance before Covid. Also, interest rates are high. 

• take a closer look at. They also mention some of the repair and maintenance needs of the church building, such as the furnace and the AV system. 

• The council is willing and capable to work with the staff to collaborate to find solutions to turn our situation around. We have a committed team who loves the church and wants to put in the work. 

• Pastor Chad said we have an active, committed, faithful church and he is confident we will see our way through. 

New Business: 

The council will continue having additional brain storming sessions to work on POP’s financial situation, prioritizing things that need to be done, planning fundraisers for building needs. 

The council wishes Nate Boucher blessings in his entrance into candidacy to rostered ministry in the Minneapolis Synod of the ELCA. 

Next Meeting: Our next meeting will be held Tuesday, June 18, at 7:00 pm via Zoom. 

Adjournment: Rachel made a motion to adjourn. Cathy seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 8:09 pm