Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Council Meeting

November 19, 2013

Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, AiM Natalia Terfa, Bill Fredrick, Sue Johnson, Melissa Johnson, Julia Sevald, Georgia Larson, Erik Hasse, Morgan Holle and Jennifer Follestad

Absent: Bev Alsleben, Dan Cassada

Guests: Jeff Amstrup, Pastor Glen from House of Prayer Ministries (along with a deacon and his wife and an elder from his congregation)

Call to Order: President Bill Fredrick called the meeting to order.

Devotions: Morgan led us in devotions.

Adoption of Agenda: A motion was made by Sue Johnson and seconded by Jennifer Follestad to adopt the Council agenda. Motion approved.

Approval of Previous Minutes: A motion was made by Jennifer Follestad and seconded by Erik Hasse to approve the minutes from the October 15, 2013 Council meeting as written. Motion approved.

Reports of Officers:

Treasurer’s Report:

Notable October activity:

• Total October offerings & receipts were unfavorable to budget by $15,789 and $3,015 unfavorable to prior year. Disbursements are favorable to budget by $2,117 and to prior year by $1,912 for the month.

• The general fund activity for the month was a loss of $13,313. This is unfavorable to budget for the month and to prior year.

• Year to date, we are now unfavorable to budget by $50,716 and to prior year by $59,077. Beside January, October was the lowest month for net earnings. In order for the church to end the year at a break-even mark, each week’s Sunday offerings need to be at least $14,185. This is higher than any individual monthly average giving for all of 2013.

• The cash balance has dropped to ($38,309), which means we are borrowing against our designated funds for normal monthly activity. Staff has been requested to cut out any expenses that are not necessary for the remainder of the year.

• There were no designated funds with significant activity this month.

• The exec team is in the process of reviewing the budget in great detail in preparation for the December 8 congregational budget meeting.

A motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was made by Sue Johnson and seconded by Erik Hasse.

• Budget discussion: A few questions came up while looking over the budget.

o Can staff members move money around in their budget, as long as the bottom line remains the same? Julia said that it is fine to negotiate and move around the money within someone’s budget as long as the end result is the same.

o Is it possible to take designated funds and transfer them to the general fund? Julia will look into this, but it looks like most of the money in the designated funds falls under several larger pockets of money (Mission Jamaica, for example), and we would not be able to do that with these funds.

A motion was made by Morgan Holle and seconded by Georgia Larson to allow the executive committee the authority to finish balancing the budget that will be presented to the congregation at the annual budget meeting.

President’s Report:

There is a written report submitted from the Property Committee.

Vice-President’s Report:

Disbursement Requests:

• The Committee voted to recommend to the Congregational Council that a capital disbursement of up to $250.00 be made to the POP Property Committee for landscaping.

• The Committee voted to recommend to the Congregational Council that a benevolence disbursement of $1,000.00 be made to Mission Jamaica. This recommendation is for a benevolence disbursement in 2014 from funds authorized for disbursement for benevolence in 2014.

A motion was made by Sue Johnson and seconded by Erik Hasse to approve the disbursement requests from Leave a Legacy Team. Motion approved.

Secretary’s Report:

• There will be a new section to the end of the minutes called Action Items. This is where I will note anything that needs to be addressed of followed up on from our meetings.

Student Report/Update from Brent:

• Axis group right now is a blessing to be teaching/ministering with! Invested small group guides plus curious & energetic kids makes for good vibes.Our next Family Faith Night (once a month parents are expected to attend with their kids) is the 20th. We’re walking through Faith Inkubators’ FAITH 5. We’ll be practicing reading Scripture on the 20th.

• iRev/Revolution are a faithful bunch. Last night Richard Habstritt joined us for packing at FMSC, it was great!

• Several college ministry events are coming up. On the 27th, students in town are invited to stay for fellowship after worship & sandwich making. Then, Dec. 11th parents of college kids are invited to Revolution to put together care packages!

Pastoral Reports:

Pastor Chad’s Report:

• Team 23 Appeal letters will be going out tomorrow. Prince of Peace received about $3,500 on Give to the Max Day. Pastor Chad is making the appeal to the congregation to join “Team 23” and help us close the gap to end our year strong.

•

AIM Natalia’s Report:

• GroupLife is finishing up the fall session to great conversations and great reviews by group leaders and members alike. So thankful for all those leaders who have put so much time and effort into leading. They are what make this ministry so successful.

• We had our first Sunday morning My Story on the 27th of October, and it was really well received. Natalia is still looking for names of members who might have a story to tell, so pass names on to her anytime!!

• Natalia has been helping to support the readers, the visitation team and the cancer support group as well this fall, and each group of people is engaged and excited about the ministry they are providing to Prince of Peace. What a blessing it has been to watch people really learn what it means to “be Prince of Peace.”

FYI on my process:

o Natalia is still working 25 hours a week at Ebenezer Care Center to fulfill the CPE (clinical pastoral education) requirement of my degree. It’s become a (to quote her supervisor) “ministry of death” since people seem to wait until she’s there by herself. But, she is learning a lot, and she thinks this experience will serve her well into her future with POP.

o Natalia was endorsed last month, and will begin her official “Internship Year” at Prince of Peace in January. She will have an internship committee here that Chad and Natalia will assemble together. This still puts her on track for ordination and call in the winter of 2014

Council Reports

Each ministry team is to submit a written report each month. These will be attached to the official minutes. Highlights will be included in these minutes.

Executive Team: No Report.

Spiritual Growth: No Report.

Sunday Morning Experience:

• The SME Committee hosted the annual veteran’s celebration during worship services on Nov. 10. They recognized veterans from the congregation by giving them carnations to wear and showing their service records on the projection screens. They also received a round of applause when Pastor Chad asked them to stand. A book of information about our veteran’s was updated beforehand and available for people to view after services.

Congregational Care:

• CC Committee would like to thank all staff and council members who attended the new membership classes and those who helped with the meals.

Outreach: No Report.

Community Life: No Report.

Modern Worship Arts: No Report.

Children and Family Ministry:

Current Programming Updates

• Sunday School is into the part of the year where every week is something different

o Had a great presentation from Pastor Chad on October 27 – wrote letters to the Amani Children’s home

o November 3rd we finished up the story of Joshua (PreK-K) and Adam and Eve (1st-6th)

o November 10th we did projects for the Stewardship brunch: We focused a lot on giving of our time, not just our money

• Christmas program is on December 15th during the services

• Trunk-or-Treat was a HUGE success with an estimated 100+ kids

o We had 20-25 cars here for them to Trunk-or-Treat to

o Students from POP, Park Brook, and the Brooklyn Park community were all present at some point during the morning

o Already have people who are excited to decorate their trunks for next year

• POPpers has continued with strong numbers as 20 youth recently did some indoor rock climbing at Vertical Endeavors. We have great parent involvement as well

• Operation Christmas Child was on the 17th. We once again had it on the same day as the Celebration Brunch.

o Great group of volunteers who have helped to organize and run the filling day

o We filled 500 boxes this year

o (Allan Grant and family has volunteered to bring the boxes to Grace Fellowship on the 24th.)

• Working on curriculum for the remainder of the school year. Hope to have it to teachers by December 8th.

• Working on filling the Nursery Coordinator position that will become vacant at the end of the year

o Reworking the current job description to create a Nursery Coordinator (1 position) and Nursery assistants (2 positions)

o Heather Zemien will continue on as the Nursery Coordinator

Looking Ahead

• Looking for more opportunities to include Park Brook in our events/programming/etc. They are very willing to work with us, and the students/families respond

• The POP Tots playgroup (0-3 years of age) will be starting up in January/early February

• Will be creating our own VBS (POPS Camp) this Summer. Looking at using Dr. Seuss stories/Bible stories as our basis

Unfinished Business: None

New Business:

• Pastor Glen shared his story with us and talked about how he ended up with a connection to Prince of Peace. Their congregation has been worshiping at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in St. Paul. They want to worship closer to where they live; most members are from the Brooklyn Park area. House of Prayer Ministries would like to begin at 11:30am with Adult Bible School, followed by a 12:00pm Worship Service. We discussed that it could be nice to have a little overlap in the Prince of Peace and House of Prayer schedules so that there is a chance to gather together on Sunday Mornings. We also discussed the possibility of some shared ministries. The logistics of this relationship will be worked out soon.

A motion was made by Julia Sevald and seconded by Sue Johnson to welcome the Liberian congregation, House of Prayer, to share our space at Prince of Peace.

• Jeff Amstrup is here representing the nominating committee and presented this year’s nominations:

o Nominations that will be forward to the Congregational Council for the 2014 Annual Meeting are:

Executive Positions:

 President: Bill Fredrick

 Vice President: Sue Johnson

 Secretary: Melissa Johnson

 Treasurer: Julia Sevald

Council Positions:

 Community Life: Rachel Henderson

 Sunday Morning Experience :Tim Marker

 Out Reach: Richard Habstritt

 Youth: Unfilled at this time

Committees:

 Leave a Legacy: Allan Grant

Nominating Committee (Four openings)

 Chuck Dube

 Dan Ficken

 Heidi Grell

 Jenny Koffski

Nominating Committee (two openings from retiring Council members)

 Dan Cassada

 Bev Alsleben

Synod Assembly Delegates (six openings)

 Allan Grant

 Diane Grant

 Dan Ficken

 Jan Ficken

 Natalia Terfa

 Susan Johnson

A motion was made by Georgia Larson and seconded by Morgan Holle to approve the nominating committee’s nominations. Motion approved.

• The Council Christmas Party will be held December 17th at 7:00pm at Sue Johnson’s house. She will send out an e-mail with more information. Bill will provide beverages, Sue will provide paper products, and everyone can bring a dish to share.

• Our winter council retreat will be held on Saturday, February 15th. Pastor Chad is very excited about the speaker that will be coming in that day, Dwight Zscheile. He will be speaking to us for the first hour and then we will have the rest of the time for discussion and planning. This will be a retreat for both council and staff. We are looking to possibly have this event off site.

Action Items:

• Council members should be working on the end of the year reports. Please get these to Lynell as soon as possible.

Make sure to put the following dates on your calendar:

• Sunday, December 8th – Annual Congregational Budget Meeting at Prince of Peace after the second service

• Tuesday, December 17th – Christmas Party at Sue Johnson’s house at 7:00pm

• Saturday, February 15th – Our council/staff retreat will be held in the morning – plan on being here until about 1:00.

A motion was made by Georgia Larson and seconded by Sue Johnson to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved. Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Johnson

Secretary