Prince of Peace

EXECUTIVE TEAM MINUTES MAY 2018

0

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

May 15, 2018

Present: Pastor Chad Brekke, Allan Grant, Julia Sevald, Wayne Boike, Melissa Johnson

Absent: Lynn Anderson

Call to Order: President Allan Grant called the meeting to order at 6:20pm.

Devotions: Melissa led us in prayer.

Adoption of the Agenda: A motion was made by Julia Sevald and seconded by Melissa Johnson to approve the agenda.  Motion approved.

Approval of Previous Minutes: A motion was made by Julia Sevald and seconded by Melissa Johnson to approve the minutes from the April 17, 2018 Executive Committee meeting. Motion approved.

Reports of Officers:

President’s Report: None

Treasurer’s Report:

Notable April activity:

  • For the month of April, receipts were higher than expenses.
    • The general/building fund activity for the month was a gain of $5,487. This is favorable to budget by $4,642 but unfavorable to prior year by $1,773.
    • Total April offerings were basically flat to budget but lower than last year by $7,165.
    • Overall, expenses are favorable to both budget and prior year for the month.   The favorability to budget is mainly related to timing of personnel expenses and a lower mortgage payment.
  • For April year to date, receipts are lower than expenses, resulting in a YTD loss of $26,283. This is unfavorable to budget and prior year by $6,441 and $27,176, respectively.
    • Giving throughout the first four months of 2018 is down from last year and expenses are up, mainly related to the purchase of a new AED machine and HVAC/roof repairs as well as timing of medical insurance payments
  • The general fund cash balance available for use at the end of April is a deficit balance of $2,195 which means we are effectively borrowing from the designated funds to cover normal operating expenses.
  • The only designated fund with significant activity in April was the Camp Wapo Plant Sale fund.

The executive team is reviewing and discussing options to help support and strengthen the financial position of the church.

Vice President’s Report:

  • The Leave a Legacy team met and approved a MeVo Streaming Camera that Nate had requested. The purpose was to improve the quality of our streaming of worship services and anything we may wish to stream/share. The new camera is superior to what we currently have and the sound can be piped in from our board console. The dollar amount requested was $ 800. The council then voted to approve this via an email vote. It was unanimously approved.

Secretary’s Report: None

Senior Pastor’s Report:

  • Our Spring Forward In Faith stewardship emphasis has been well received during the past month. Our focus has been on the vital ministries we share as a faith community. We have tried to help members see the connection between their giving and the impact our congregation is having on the lives of so many people.
  • The challenge has been two fold. First, he asked people to consider taking a growth step of $5 in their weekly giving. The second priority of the campaign has been to raise the value of year-round, consistent giving that is not affected by presence at worship. Pastor Chad has had several people communicate with him directly that they are responding by raising their giving but it will take some time before we can measure the broader response.
  • The ELCA Larger Church Conference for senior pastors was once again a valuable learning experience. This year the conference was held in SC. The main presenter was Reggie McNeal. He is a well known missional leadership expert and author of many books. Much of his focus at this conference was related to his book “Kingdom Come: Why We Must Quit Our Obsession Over Fixing the Church and What We Should Do Instead” (Tyndale, 2015). In this book McNeal challenges the church to shift its narrative from a church-centric to a kingdom-centric storyline.
  • The next Vision Trip to Tanzania is just around the corner from June 14-27. A group of 10 people will represent Prince of Peace as we visit ministry partners throughout the Kilimanjaro region.
  • The summer worship schedule begins on May 27 when we go to one Sunday service at 9:30am. Wednesday eve summer worship will begin in the CLC on June 13 with one “community worship in the park” scheduled for August 22.
  • The new daycare did not receive the funding they required to start up as a new business. We are actively seeking other possibilities to partner with an organization that may need space during the week in order to generate rental income to support the budget.
  • Pastor Chad attended the Synod Assembly. They re-elected the current bishop, Ann Svennungsen, for another 6-year term.

Unfinished Business: None

New Business:

  • There needs to be an amendment to the Continuing Resolutions to remove Spiritual Development as a council position and add both the Property and Youth council positions. The constitution just gives us a maximize number of positions, not a minimum. There is no rush on this, but we will need to let the Nominating Committee know that they do not need to fill that position in the future.
  • We got a designated gift of $30,000 to be used for property and structure needs.
  • Wayne updated us on his dealing with the insurance company regarding the hail damage from last year. We received $43,123 from the insurance company for the HVAC, roof and hail damage. There is now an additional $31,880 coming to fix what needs to be fixed. They are proposing an additional $5,100 to address some issues that would prevent something like this happening in the future (hail guards).
    • Our deductible went from $1,000 to $5,000.
    • We have enough insurance money to nearly cover the air conditioner repair costs.
      • We will recommend to the Council that the repair be done on the air conditioner and that we hold off on the hail guards until we have some additional information.

Action Items:

  • Our next Executive Team meeting will be August 21st at 6:15pm. There will be no June or July meeting unless it becomes necessary.

 

  • Our next full Council meeting will be Tuesday, August 21st at 7:00pm.

 

Prayer: Allan Grant led us in the Lord’s Prayer.

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Julia Sevald and seconded by Melissa Johnson.  Motion approved.

Respectfully submitted,

Melisa Johnson

Council Secretary