Prince of Peace

Council Minutes October 2015

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DRAFT

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Council Meeting Minutes

October 20, 2015

Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, Associate Pastor Natalia Terfa, Sue LaGue, Tim Marker, Christina Jobe, Julia Sevald, Richard Habstritt, Chuck Krych, Jeff Amstrup, Linda Forkey

Absent: Rachel Henderson, Ryan Ohm, Jeremy Hanson

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

Devotions: Richard Habstritt led us in devotions.

Highs and Lows: Tim, Julia, Richard and Sue shared.

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

Approval of Previous Minutes: A motion was made by Chuck Krych and seconded by Richard Habstritt to approve the minutes from the September 15, 2015 Council meeting as written. Motion approved.

Reports of Officers:

President’s Report:

Rachel provided some tutorials for Volunteer Spot but was unable to be here tonight for live training. We would still like to do the live training. Chuck Dube could do the training if Rachel is not able to.

Treasurer’s Report:

  • For the month of September, receipts were less than expenses. The general/building fund activity for the month was a loss of ($12,862). This is unfavorable to both budget and prior year by $6,276 and $6,106, respectively.
  • Total September offerings were unfavorable to budget by $4,462 and to prior year by $1,601. Other receipts for September were slightly favorable to both budget and prior year.
  • Overall, expenses are unfavorable to budget and prior year. The unfavorability to budget is mainly related to timing of benevolence disbursements, as well as higher repairs and utility expenses in the month.
  • September YTD, receipts are less than expenses by $26,268. This net loss is $7,145 better than budget but unfavorable to 2014 by $28,021.
  • The general fund cash balance available for use is $22,318 at the end of September.
  • There were no designated funds with significant activity in September.

Executive team will meet November 9th to go over the budget. A proposed budget will be brought to the Council at their November 17th meeting. Congregational budget meeting will be on Sunday, December 6 at 11:45.

Vice-President’s Report:

  • $200 that was approved for honorariums for the Summer Worship Series, but which was not spent, will be used for signage for the Summer Worship in the Park series
  • When the account balances as of 9-30-15 are available, Leave A Legacy will ask Council to determine the amount available for disbursement in 2016
  • Discussed possible topics for a workshop this fall or early next year. Kathy will get input from Chad about desired theme/topic and JJ will get some input from Thrivent team on topics that have been of most interest to people and most well attended
  • People on the committee will be asked to review the original version of the Plan of Operation from 2001, the revised version from 2005 and the latest draft of the new version that has been circulated and then schedule a special get together to talk just about comments and questions on same and about submitting a draft to Council for consideration

 Secretary’s Report: None

 Ministry Team Reports

Property Report

  • Installed ballast in office hallway and installed faucet for sacristy.
  • Marsh installed new thermostat in nursery.
  • Replaced burnt out lights, repaired CLC door unit that was pulled off the door, repaired stool in women’s bathroom across youth room and checked all stacking chairs for loose and missing screws and repaired 10 of them.
  • Trimmed bushes on berm & hauled away.
  • Fixed kitchen sink drain, replaced (19) 4 ft. cfl lights and replaced batteries in emergency lights found by fire marshal.
  • 50 more cfl 4 ft. lights were ordered.
  • Marsh Heating finished maintenance on Oct.12 after getting rained out on Sept. 24. On unit #12 replaced flame ignition unit and will order an inducer motor after approval of $583 proposal. Unit would not fire and the inducer motor is making a lot of noise. Unit #12 is the nursery unit.
  • Egan Electric to come out to fix 2 parking lights ($950), replace 3 sanctuary ($100) and CLC stain glass light (at least $100)? Will need lift to do project. Last spring decided to put this project on hold until more money this fall. The sanctuary lights need to be replaced so the burnt out LEDs can be returned to manufacturer for warranty.
  • Priority for future projects per Kathy:
·         Replace AC unit with AC/Heating roof top unit in CLC

·         Install centralized thermostat system

·         Replace unit #9 which is 35 years old

  • How about new roofing for chapel?
  • Marsh Heating indicated we got more hail damage on the roof top units. Need to get insurance adjuster out.
  • Shingles are missing to the tar paper on the chapel roof and it looks like the sanctuary roof has some loose shingles also.
  • Will need roofer for sanctuary.
  • Need an insurance adjuster out to look at roof also.
  • Snow-removal company needs to be found and signed.

 Spiritual Development  (Spiritship)

    • Bev, from our committee, put together a great written story from an interview with a POP member who came to America from another country. The plan is to continue gathering these stories monthly, but we need to decide what media format will provide the best exposure.
    • Our committee wants to guide ministry teams on how to use VolunteerSpot to gather volunteers and log hours. We can’t have this task fall on just 3 or 4 people like it is now. We propose sending invitations to church members who would like to assist with VS data entry for 4-5 hour chunks at a time. We hope to push VS’s use forward at this time with greater emphasis to see how well it’s received with broader participation.
    • Shortly we hope to put a banner, map, poster, or combination of these in the Welcome Center displaying ministry and community opportunities for members & visitors to “Find Your Fit”. Our committee has funds available for this type of promotional material.
    • Using the church directory along with those who have pledged hours, we would like to continue to reach out by phone to church members and give them a friendly hello, and ask how we might be able to help them get involved.
    • We have a group of 6 that pray regularly for our church, and for guidance and wisdom on how to move forward and make POP members and visitors a blessing to each other and the community.
  • We’re thinking about ideas for putting more detail about volunteer opportunities on this year’s pledge cards.                                                          

 

Sunday Morning Experience

  1. Conducted SME Meeting October 12th – Location: POP Office
    1. Attendees were: Laura Erickson, Chuck Krych, Kim Niesen
    2. Key Topics
      1. Volunteer Spot Recent Effectiveness
        1. Look into possible simplification options – Krych
      2. Visitor Bag Review – Have 6 available – Need to revisit/fill – Niesen Leads process to be completed on next Committee Meeting
      3. Incorporation of Head Usher’s into SME Team — Krych to follow up with Barfknecht – One Head Usher per meeting in attendance
    3. Veteran Sunday Discussion – November 8th – Krych to follow up with Keller for Vet inclusion into bulletin, screens not yet captured
    4. Team to work on Re-Defining our purpose as lines somewhat blurred with focus on Volunteer Spot
    5. Next SME Team Meeting will occur on 11/09/15 at 6:15 pm

Congregational Care   

Great new member session. Council members visiting with new members was appreciated. Four family units joined.                                           

Outreach

We had a regular Outreach Meeting in October; our next meeting will be on November 10th.   Here is a list of completed and upcoming events and projects the Committee is working on:

  1. We had about 20 Volunteers cleaning up Highway 81 for “Junk and Jeans” on Sunday, September 20th.
  2. The Mobile Blood Drive was held on Monday, September 28 and we had 34 units of blood donated. We had an abnormally high level of cancellations or our results would have been better.
  3. Jodi Spoden leads our efforts on Brooklyn Avenues. Starting in September and October, we want to promote heavily collecting the following supplies for Avenues: toothpaste, toothbrushes, bar soap, body wash, and shampoo.  We will be having Melissa Petersen of Brooklyn Avenues do a Ministry Moment on Brooklyn Avenues during next Sunday’s service.
  4. There also is a fundraising concert on Friday, November 13, 2015 at Discover Church. This will be similar to the one held at Prince of Peace a year ago.
  5.  I attended the meeting at City Hall with Brent Haglund of the church staff on the first six months of operations of Brooklyn Avenues. A report was submitted to the Council.
  6. On Saturday, October 24, CEAP will be doing a special event “FEED THE NEED” at the CUB Store on West Broadway about five blocks north of Church. There will be two sessions.     11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
  7. I encourage all Council Members to volunteer, we are very short of volunteers for the second session. They also are looking for volunteers for the Food Shelf.   9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
  8. We’re planning a joint event with the Cancer Support Group at Hope Lodge on October 22nd.   A night of music and Dinner.
  9. We will be assisting Katie Rykal on Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday, October 31. Students and their families from Park Brook are invited to participate.
  10. The Reading Buddys program will start the first week in November. The interest in this program is great; we have 15 volunteers.

Pastoral Reports:

Pastor Chad’s Report:

We are off and running into the busy fall ministry schedule. Our Sunday school and youth ministries are in full swing along with GroupLife, music ministries, and other groups that take a break during the summer. Nearly every corner of our large facility at Prince of Peace is in use on Wednesday evenings with confirmation, choir, adult study, daycare and various meetings taking place all at the same time. Talk about holy chaos!

A few items of note as we speed toward Thanksgiving:

  • There continues to be a strong early response from synod congregations to the matching funds appeal sponsored by POP toward the work of Lutheran Disaster Response to the refugee crisis in Europe. Over 70 churches have participated. We are over halfway to $50,000. I will be meeting with the bishop and a delegation from our synod’s partner synod in Leipzig Germany on 10/23 to get a first-hand report of work being done by our Lutheran partners there.
  • The adult discussion/class I am leading on Wednesdays has been a great experience attended by about 40 people each week.
  • We are welcoming another group of enthusiastic new members this week. A common theme among this group has been an extensive search for a church home that has resulted in choosing POP.
  • I will be visiting ministry and outreach partners in Tanzania from 1/25-2/5. A primary focus will be traveling to the remote Rukwa region in the far western part of the country to assess progress on the Neema Secondary School supported through our Africa Fund. A group trip is scheduled for June 16-29.
  • I will be leading a stewardship campaign for Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN. I have led an initial organizational meeting with their leadership and will be the guest preacher for their three weekend services Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
  • Give To The Max Day is coming up on November 12. We are excited to have a matching gift donation of $4,000 to help POP beat our last year’s total. As soon as our total for the day reaches $4,000 that amount will be immediately doubled on the way to what we hope will be a new record!

Thanks for your participation in the ministry and outreach we share at Prince of Peace.

 

Pastor Natalia’s Report:

What a great start to the program year!

 

  • Rally Day (the Great POP Get Together) was wonderful, and the ministry fair was a success! I look forward to how we continue to grow that event each year.
  • GroupLife has kicked off another year, and TED talks are going great so far!  Many positive comments are coming to me from leaders each week, and there’s a lot more to come.
  • Our Cancer Support Sunday on October 11th was a powerful and emotional moment as a part of worship.  I got a lot of feedback from people and how well received it was, and we’ll plan on doing it again next year. Our group will continue to meet monthly, at 6:30pm on the 2nd Wednesday of the month.
  • The weddings I was able to be a part of this fall (Sept 26, Oct 2, Oct 10) were wonderful celebrations with POP members, and the Marriage Retreat (Oct 3) was a great morning of reconnection for those who were a part of it.
  • Upcoming:
  • Our Congregational Care Team is going to do another training/information session in November.  We’re planning on brunch (quiche potluck – yum!) and a chance to connect people into all of our caring ministries (Prayer team, visitation, befrienders, etc).

Unfinished Business: None

 New Business: The Annual Congregational Meeting will be scheduled for Sunday, January 17, 2016.

Action Items: None

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

Respectfully submitted,

Christina Jobe

Council Secretary