Meetinghouse Hill Minutes

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2011-05-16T10:28:00.001-07:00

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Spiritual Life and Worship

2011-03-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Recorder: Dana Wiggins

ATTENDING – Tex Haeuser, Dana Wiggins, Rick Angell, Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell, Frank Arsenault, John McCall, Elsa Peters.

OPENING PRAYER – passages shared from Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth.

REVIEW OF FEBRUARY MINUTES – approved as read.

MINISTER'S TIME – John McCall: Life of church is going well with good attendance. Energy is on an upswing. Some key words throughout Lent will be used such as "Rising" and "Testing".

Elsa: Opened discussion on a new Lenten liturgy; accepted by all.

LENTEN EVENTS – Debbie will ask Kathy Cotter about Lenten Library materials.
(March 9, 7-7:30 a.m., followed by chancel service at 7:30 a.m.) SL&W hosts the Ash Wednesday breakfast – Simple fare of scones, muffins, fruit and beverages offered for 27 participants. Elaine, Dana and Debbie set up night before and Tex, Frank and Dana served in morning. Sexton was emailed to request table and coffee pot set up.

HOLY WEEK – School vacation falls within Holy Week so this may alter attendance patterns.
(April 17, time?) Palm Sunday – Debbie and Elaine organized palms last year, finding them stored in the downstairs fridge and in a box by the office. They placed in tall vases in the morning for the ushers to hand out. Many were collected and saved after the service for table decorations for the Soup Supper on the following Friday.

(April 21, 7:30 p.m. service) Maundy Thursday communion offered by intinction at 7:30, (may need 2 ushers, 2 deacons, 2 chalices and 2 and half loaves).

(April 22, 6pm service and 7:30 p.m. service) Good Friday Soup Supper(6:00-7:15 p.m.) – co-hosted by SL&W and Guild, serving approx. 80 between two services that evening. Tex and Rick offered to work in the kitchen. Elaine will organize 10 soup donations and serving help from the Guild. Bry Wiggins will bake bread. Dana will help serve and list menu items on easel. Some will meet night before to set up and decorate tables (Debbie used palms last year-left from Sunday's service).

(April 22, 23, 24) Easter Vigil - sign ups March 13 through April 17. The vigil begins after the 7:30 p.m. service on Good Friday and ends after Sunrise service on Easter morning.

(April 24, 6:00 a.m.) Sunrise Service led by Elsa – communion offered (may need 2 loaves, 2 chalices and 2 deacons), 100 or more expected.

(April 24, 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.) Easter Sunday - 2 Sanctuary services led by John.

ELDER LUNCHEON – (June 5) Invitations were discussed: Tex brought a sample to show and Debbie offered to hand address. Deadline for nominations is April 8, one week later than last year. Tex has worked out a schedule for acquiring and deciding on nominations - new and from previous year. Beacon ad calling for nominations was found and will be resubmitted this year with new dates. To cover expenses, Rick will ask the Eskimos for $100 and groceries, stamps and invitation costs come out of the administration budget.

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS – (March 12) Elaine and Debbie considered availability to help with Joel Pond's baptism at 10:30 a.m. in chapel; (March 26) Auction for Mission trip; (May 15) Children's Celebration Sunday as the last day of church school with the church picnic afterwards; (May 22?) Annual Church Meeting; (June 5) Founder's Day with celebration of Elders of the Church; (June 12) Confirmation Sunday.

Next Meeting: April 7, 2011
Agenda: Dana Minutes: Debbie Prayer: Elaine

Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Administration Team

2011-03-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of March 3, 2011
Recorder: Ron Bennett

Present: Ron Bennett, Chris Mills, Deb Sandler and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Deb called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Ron agreed to record this meeting and run the next meeting in April.

Minutes of the Admin. Team February 4 Meeting: reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
• Financial Statements and Budget: Financial results through February 28 were presented by Cyndi. The year is 16% complete. Revenues are at 14.2% of year’s budget. Decrease in revenues is due to the fact that no revenue from endowments has been requested as of yet. Without the endowment revenue, we were on budget.
Expenses are at 16.9% of year’s budget, which is essentially on budget.
• Tenant Update: We reviewed Guy’s report on the tenant at the 509 Sawyer Street house. His report was generally positive. We have replaced the old refrigerator and will be replacing the stove. The electric service will be upgraded to 100 amp service. We will remove the old unused oil tank in the basement. The front porch also needs repairs. In return for this we will insist on a restoration of the monthly rent to $1,000 on July 1st. Cyndi was asked to write a letter to the tenant outlining the upgrades and new rent.
The tenants in the corner house report no problems. All tenants are current on their rent.
• Insurance Renewals: To be discussed at the April meeting.
• Team Member Replacement: No update.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
• Counting: No report. All appears to be going well.
• House: See above comments under Tenant Update.
• Planned Giving: Ron indicated that he will write a fifth article to appear for the Beacon in a few months.

NEW BUSINESS:
• Energy Efficiency Presentation - Discussed and agreed to send information to Dick & Barbara Merrill as well as Tom. We believe improvements undertaken during the past 3 years have made our properties energy efficient.
• Emergency Guidelines - We reviewed email from Nancy MacLean, Moderator, concerning usher guidelines for handling emergencies, the absence of evacuation maps in rooms, and the battery backup for fire alarm systems and the elevator. Many of these issues have already been addressed by Stan Jordan, Rick Angell and Tom. The House Committee will review all of the issues carefully at their next meeting and get back to the Council.
• Financial statement review by Smith & Associates - Review work completed. We are awaiting a draft of the financial statements.
• Nancy MacLean also inquired into our team’s role overseeing the personnel committee for non-clergy. Deb agreed to contact Nancy to provide some history about this oversight role being removed from the A Team by the Council in 2008.
• Web site issues were discussed with no action taken.
• We reviewed an email from the Maine Conference UCC announcing a seminar on April 2 for those responsible for church financial matters. Cyndi will not be available that day. We discussed the correspondence and believe we are compliant with appropriate policies and procedures.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday April 7 at 7 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 8:08 p.m.

Church Council

2011-03-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of March 17, 2011
Recorder: Robin Reinhold

Present: Sally Hinckley, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Robin Reinhold, Carrie Skeffington, Elsa Peters, Carl Murphy, Bob Morse, Andy Ellis, John McCall, Peggy Murray, Nancy MacLean. Absent: Matt Early, John Shoos

Opening: Nancy MacLean opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Robin offered a reflection about how the proverb “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” applies to our church.

Meeting Minutes: from the February meeting were reviewed and approved.

MINISTERS’ TIME:
John - reported that there will be a fundraiser on Saturday evening, April 2nd in the sanctuary. It will be a musical program by 3 groups to raise money for the medical team that is going to Konbit Sante in Haiti. Tickets are $15. John said that it was heartwarming that we can and want to make our space available for the wider community.

Elsa - reported that there are now 17 people going on the Maine Seacoast Mission trip this July. She reported that the group is planning a Spaghetti Supper fundraiser on Saturday evening, March 26th at 5:30. The ticket costs are $7 for adults, $3 for children, and $20 for a family. There will also be an auction at the supper. Tickets will be on sale in Wright Pavilion on Sunday.

Elsa also reported that she is working on arranging for camperships for the people that will be attending Pilgrim Lodge this summer. She sent a letter last week to parents of kids she knows are interested. The Church Council is responsible to hand out money for these camperships from the interest earned from 3 endowment funds (these are listed in the segregated funds in budget). In addition, the Hilltop Guild and the Holly Daze Bazaar each donated money for camperships. Elsa requested authorization from the Council to distribute the funds, and all members were in agreement of this.

Elsa also began a discussion about how we can create a larger sum of money for camperships in the future. Suggestions included:
1. Ask the parents of the children who are planning to attend Pilgrim Lodge to organize some fundraisers. Elsa said that other churches in the area do this.
2. Host an “Adopt a Camper” program where sponsors are found who would be willing to donate money to send a child to camp. This would be a tax-deductible contribution.
3. Host a “Winter Picnic” in Guptill Hall where box lunches are sold.
Questions were raised about how to get the word out about opportunities (perhaps an announcement from the pulpit?). Perhaps Elsa should form a committee (like the Scholarship Committee under CF&G). Or should CF&G oversee this committee? Council decided to look at this again next year.

OLD BUSINESS UPDATES:
Emergency Guidelines - Nancy reported that these guidelines are complete and are in circulation. The Administrative Team is working on signage, elevator access, and phone access. The User Guidelines for Emergencies document was modified and a line was added in the middle of the guidelines specifying that, in case of an emergency, all Sunday School children would be evacuated by their teachers to the Church parking lot. Other issues (from last month’s minutes) concerning fire drills, the fire alarms, the phone system, and the elevator were presented by Stan Jordan to the Administrative Team and are currently being looked into.

Discovery Center Legal Status - Andy reported that he reviewed the documents for the Discovery Center and they appear to be in order. He explained the history of how the Discovery Center Corporation was established and that the Church Council is responsible for electing the members of the Board of Directors of the Discovery Center.

UCC Conversation (Part 2), The Association - Elsa shared information about the history of the United Church of Christ. She explained the difference between contracts and covenants and helped to clarify how Biblical covenants are instituted by God whereas historical covenants are instituted by people. Elsa then shared a diagram of the origins of the UCC and explained how the two entities (the Congregational Christian churches and the Evangelical and Reformed church) came together to form the UCC.

Elsa explained that there are currently 37 churches in the Cumberland Association, of which we are a part, and that each church contributes to the energy that goes into the association. A portion of our per capita dues goes to the association through the conference. Churches are assessed per member, and the association uses this money mostly for administrative costs.

Financial Futuring Tasks - Nancy and John met to discuss the role of a Working Group and what its mission would be.

John proposed the question: “Do we want the Working Group to generate next steps or just come back to the Council with information and have the Council decide what to do? In other words, do we want only information or do we want recommendations, too? This was discussed, and it was suggested that the Working Group should gather information, report to the Council, and then based on discussions and feedback, come back with recommendations. This should be done in steps, with conversations happening throughout the process.

A timeline for the process was discussed, and it was decided that, if we identify the task and ask people to be in the group, realistically they probably would only get to meet once before the summer and then would pick up the work again in the fall. The hope is to engage the congregation with some questions to help the group determine what direction they will be going in. It is anticipated that the recommendations will not be ready for the 2012 budget process.

The next step is to decide who is to be in this group. Several names were suggested, and Council members were asked to forward any recommendations to Nancy.

Filling Vacancies:
Four members of the Council are finishing up their term (Andy, Sally, Phil, and Nancy). New members need to be found for the Council and for the Stewardship Committee. Council members were asked to come up with 5 people they would like to recommend for these vacancies and forward the names to Nancy by next Wednesday, March 23rd.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting: April 28th; Carl Murphy will be the opener and recorder.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2011-03-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of March 3, 2011

Committee Attendance: Jennifer Fetting, Tom Hamerski, Elsa Peters.
Subcommittee Guests: Margaret Thibodeau and Elinor Redmond

This month the EFG committee invited representatives of the subcommittees to attend our March meeting. The representatives of the Inquirer’s group (Margaret) and the Growth group (Elinor) accepted and visited.

Inquirer’s:
1) Margaret is taking care of Inquirer’s Meeting this month (with Tom).
2) Church picnic (which is not Inquirer’s but also discussed at this time).
a. Margaret offered to take charge of the picnic.
b. The church picnic will be May 15, 2011.
c. Seating was an issue (may be again if it is nice out, fingers crossed). It’ll be important to line up lots of volunteers to bring different sides; Eskimos usually handle the grilling.

Growth:
1) Elinor put together a handout on the history of the Growth Group, and the approaches they’ve taken in the past.
2) Current projects include bookmarks, handouts, etc. Things seem to be going well with the group; like all groups, including ours, they could use more volunteers.

Important Upcoming Dates:
• Church Picnic – May 15.
• Confirmation Sunday - June 12.
• Capture the flag game – 2:00 p.m. 5/22/11. It’ll be held in a park in either South Portland or Cape Elizabeth.

Bible discovery will be led by Beth Hess & Deb Theriault (many thanks to them both!). Dates unknown at this time.

Mission and Outreach

2011-02-24T10:09:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 3, 2011
Recorder: Suzanne Lindner

Attendees: Sandy Dyer – Co-Chair, Sarah Randall, Jan Bosse, Richard Parker, Mike Kasputes, and Suzanne Lindner.

Opening Prayer: Richard Parker offered opening prayer.

January Minutes: Minutes from the January 6, 2011 were approved with one revision noted: $200 is to be given as an honorarium to our guest speaker on Mission Sunday.

Treasurer’s Report: Presented by Mike Kasputes who noted that both the Elder Program and Social Witness ministries budgets have been lowered from last year.

Minister’s Moment:
• Elsa noted that the educational process is already planned.
• Noted that she had spoken to the guest speaker for Mission Sunday and that he will be at both services. Also noted that he has stated that he does not need us to worry about his accommodations; he will be able to make his own plans.
• News of Budget: the budget was passed this Sunday with no discussion. Two things that pertain to us:
- We were note given the increase that we asked for
- Council is undertaking a project. They will be looking at staffing, giving, etc,and how we are using our assets. This should start soon and they will be looking to us for information. They know that we are looking into our groups that we give money to.
• Elsa brought a mock up of the Mission Sunday bulletin.

OLD BUSINESS:

Mission Sunday Service: Noted that all pieces should be e-mailed to Elsa and the following was confirmed:
• Call to Worship – JanBosse
• Unison Prayer – Laurie Carey
• Children’s Time – Mike Kaputes
• Prayer of Illumination & Scripture – Kristen Silvia
• Prayers of the People – Elsa Peters
• Tithes & Offerings – Jan Bosse
• Benediction – Suzanne Lindner & Sarah Randall
• Hymns – Elsa suggested switching Be Thou My Vision to be the first
song. Committee agreed. Order of hymns was agreed to be:
1) Be Thou My Vision
2) What Gift Can We Bring
3) I The Lord of Sea & Sky (Here I Am Lord)

Elsa asked what we wanted on our Bulletin cover. Committee decided we would
use a picture of Acadia.

Request was made to Elsa to mention at this week’s service that there will be envelopes in the pews this Sunday. Committee then discussed and decided that we will wait until week of the service to put envelopes in the pews as the information on the Mission Sunday service is already in the Bulletin and Sandy will mention the envelopes in “Life of the Church.”

Elsa reminded us to say at the beginning of the service that any offerings not in the envelopes will go to the church.

Preparation for Discussion of Donation Guidelines with John McCall in March: John’s e-mail to the Committee asking us to focus on those charities that are not receiving money from other sources was read. Also his request for us to examine the charities that we do give money to was discussed.
• Noted that we need to come up with a filter/criteria when considering
charities. Noted also that once we have the criteria, we will then need to consider how we prioritize. Lastly, we will then need to balance the needs in some way: food, shelter, etc. Many needs to balance.
• Elsa suggested that it comes down to: Who are we? Who do we support to express that?
• Homework: Each committee member should think about what criteria they think are important. Elsa suggested that we look at scripture, too, to gain insight into the work that we do. Richard also suggested that we should look at things that are supported in other areas of the church as that might help us to know what to focus on, too.

Thank You Notes:
Received by Good Shepherd Food Bank, Long Creek Youth Development Center (for the presents), Preble Street.

With regards to the Mission Mall, thank you’s were received from Cancer Community Center, Animal Refuge League, Hospice of Maine and Preble Street.

NEW BUSINESS:

One Great Hour of Sharing Material: Noted that this will happen on April 3rd.
• Discussed Bulletin inserts and envelopes.
• Noted that it is predetermined where the money will go.
• Noted that we will ask Laurie how we do this.
• Decided that we can hang posters to remind people that it is coming and that
we will wait until March to do this.
• Discussed that we will want to place notices in two Beacons: February 28th
and March 14th.

How to Divide Distributions This Year Based on the 2011 Budget:
Decided we will determine this after next month’s discussion and be more fluid in how many organizations we give to and how much money we give based on prioritization, special needs, etc.

Jan noted an increased need for housing security deposits because the stimulus money is all gone now. Jan noted that she would speak to Crisis Ministries.

OTHER BUSINESS:

Committee discussed the membership of our team: Who will be here, who will not, what we need.
• It was decided that we will need to discuss again in one of our next meetings.
• Discussed the limit for membership in the Committee is two 3-year terms.
• Discussed how many members we are allowed. It was noted that the by laws state at least six members but that we currently have nine members.
• Realized that we will potentially need 3 new members.
• Noted that we need to turn in information in May for new members in June.

Closing Prayer: Richard Parker offered closing prayer.

Next Meeting: Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Laity Room
• Co-Chair: Sarah Randall
• Devotions: Jan Bosse
• Recorder: Laurie Carey

Church Council

2011-02-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 17, 2011
Recorder: Bob Morse

Present: Roger Addor, Matt Early, Andy Ellis, Sally Hinckley, Nancy MacLean, John McCall, Bob Morse, Carl Murphy, Peggy Murray, Robin Reinhold, John Shoos, Carrie Skeffington, & Phil Whitney.
Absent: Elsa Peters
Guests: Rick Angell & Stan Jordan

Nancy MacLean, Moderator, opened the meeting at 6:35 p.m. Bob Morse read a reflection questioning whether meaning and enjoyment in life can be found solely by keeping score.

January Minutes: Reviewed and Accepted.

Usher Emergency Guidelines: Reviewed a draft created by Rick Angell and Stan Jordan.

Broad areas: Fire Emergencies, Medical Emergencies and Security Emergencies.

Guidelines to be simple and streamlined so usher can readily see them.
• A laminated copy will be located at the back of the church for ushers.
• Not necessary to post on wall anywhere

Concern: There is nothing about the Sunday School in these Guidelines.
• Evacuation drawings no longer located in each room. Important to replace them - refer to Admin Team.
• Teachers are given "fire drill" guidelines - they lead children to parking lots.
• Parents need to be informed that they are not to go to classrooms.
- If a parent removes a child, the child’s teacher or emergency personnel may have no idea where that child is.
• Concern that rotating parents in the nursery have never been given instruction on what to do in case of fire. They need to be informed.
• Question: Do Fire drill guidelines go to parents? Just to teachers?

Editorial suggestion for Usher Guidelines:
• Decision: Reference to separate Sunday School Guidelines needs to be added to Usher Emergency Guidelines near the bottom. " See separate guidelines for the Church School".
• Add a set to Actions by Ushers: Notify Worship Leader that a problem exists if they are not in a position to see it.

Suggestion to identify ENTs and doctors in advance who might be in church when a medical emergency with a parishioner occurs.
• Reflection about possibility of training some members in CPR.

If the church loses electrical power:
• Does the fire alarm system have a battery back-up? Yes. Who checks it? How often?
• If a cell phone were used to dial 911, would it be possible to know where the person calling is located? Yes. South Portland has a GPS system for just that reason.
• If people were in the church elevator, could they get out? Need to mark where key is located.

With power, would someone be able to successfully operate the church telephone?
• Suggestion that instructions need to be placed on each phone on how to use them for emergencies. Refer to Admin Team for signage.

Thanks and appreciation given to both Rick Angell and Stan Jordan for their excellent work with these Emergency Guidelines. Stan will prepare another draft incorporating suggestions.

Web Page: John McCall reported that work for the past three weeks has been intensive with a goal of working out every bug. It is very intuitive, adaptable, and flows well. It should be ‘live’ on Monday, February 21. Possibility of demonstration at some time in Davidson Lounge to show how it works.

Scholarship Committee: They have done excellent work. Council unanimously agreed that special approval is not needed for Committee to request donations to the Scholarship Funds.

Budget Adjustment: Nancy Foran will be taking a Sabbatical from mid-June to mid-October, and will not be paid for her Sabbatical. However, one month of the four months is her vacation, for which she will be paid ($474.25). There was a mix-up in the budget. It will not be changed to reflect the additional vacation payment: we will simply be aware of this over-ride at the end of the year.

UCC Conversation, Part I: At the Council’s request, John McCall shared a diagram of “The Covenant Partners in the United Church of Christ” - individual, local, state, national. Emphasis was placed on the importance of covenant, since lack of hierarchy might suggest we can do whatever we want, thus losing track of meaningful relationships within the larger UCC. “Our glue is covenant.” We make mutual promises to each other, and hold each other “gently accountable.” John talked about the UCC as the merging of 4 historical denominations, but emphasized this does not change the reality that each church remains autonomous.

Financial Futuring:
Questions:
• How do we manage to live with a limited amount of money and do everything that we want to do?
• How do we fund what we want to be as a church?
• How do we apportion our resources? How do we decide to do that?

Realities and Questions:
• Membership trends are down in progressive protestant churches.
• Who will be in the pew in 2015, and how will they be supporting the church?
• We need to be thinking of the long-term. What is a realistic change in our income in the next five years?

Defining Role of a Working Group to be set up to consider facts and trends:
• Financial forecasting through fact gathering from similar churches
- Percentage of staff compensation.
- Percentage of budget for mission outreach.
- Personnel Committees and what they deal with.
• May find reluctance to share, protectiveness, and a level of resistance.
• Will quite certainly be a need to look outside Maine for comparisons and trends.
• What about alternative worship services? How do we attract new members to the church?
• How to we think about and look into the possibility of renting out more space?
• Possible exploration: Tolerance for a congregation to spend money from endowment
• What time line are we thinking about for this to take place? December 2011 for the 2012 Budget year; AND 2015 long term.

Need for sharp focus on what we are asking the Working Group to do -- a Mission Statement.
• John McCall and Nancy MacLean will meet to prepare a draft for the next meeting.

Gratitude and Appreciation: Nancy passed around a thank-you card from three Harle siblings for financial support which enabled them to attend camp at Pilgrim Lodge.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting: March 17; Robin Reinhold - Opener/Recorder

Adminstration Team

2011-02-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 3, 2011
Recorder: Deb Sandler

Present: Ron Bennett, Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills, Jim Otis, Rod Redstone, Deb Sandler and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Chris called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. Deb agreed to be secretary for this meeting and Jim agreed to be secretary for the March 3 meeting.

Minutes of the Admin Team January 6, 2011 Meeting: Reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget:
Financial results for the month of January were reviewed. The year is 8.3% complete. Revenues stand at 8.3% of the year’s budget.

Expenses are about 10.7% of the year’s budget. Overall, actual income and expenses vs. the budget appear reasonable. The financial report was unanimously accepted. Once the Discovery Center has provided Cindy with their year-end data she will be prepared for the annual financial review with Smith & Associates which will take place on February 8. The Discovery Center and Holly Daze Bazaar are included in that review as requested by the Council in 2009.

Tenant Update:
509 Sawyer Street: Guy and Tom will do an inspection of this house this month to check on several electrical issues brought forward by the tenant. Pending the inspection the A-Team will decide whether it is time to return the rent to the original cost of $1000/month.

331 Cottage Road, 1st Floor: The Art Gallery held its Open House in January. The new inside basement door was installed to create privacy from those people bringing rummage sale items to store in the basement. 2nd Floor: All’s well.

Church Insurance Renewals:
Cyndi sent a copy of our insurance policy to the team in January. We tabled any further discussion until we hear a review from Scott Stacy.

Team Member Replacement:
Chris agreed to take a list, provided by Cyndi, of the current Counting Members and write a letter asking if any of them would be interested in serving on the A-Team in the future.

Committee Reports:
Counting: All appears to be working smoothly.

House: The door has been installed. Signage has been ordered for the Narthex/coatroom area. Placement for those signs will be determined with the help of David Allen. The committee will meet soon to discuss the bids for painting the Sanctuary which Tom has been busy compiling.

Planned Giving: Ron agreed to run the same 4 articles, which he wrote last year, in the Beacon later on this year.

NEW BUSINESS:
Annual Meeting: Both Ron and Deb expressed gratitude to Matt Early for the excellent job that he did explaining the 2011 Proposed Church Budget at the Annual Meeting last Sunday. His presentation was so clear, concise and complete that the vote was taken with no questions needing to be asked. Thank-you Matt!

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 7 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:55 p.m.

Growth Group

2011-02-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of 2/14/11
Recorder: Elinor Redmond

Members Present: Rick Angell, Elinor Redmond, Dave Allen, Sue Ross. Guest: Sarah Bloom.

Dave opened with a reading entitled ‘the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee’.

1. Sarah Bloom is a new member of our church who agreed to share her experiences and impressions. Sarah grew up in the Catholic Church and had not attended any church in many years, except for a UCC church on Cranberry Island. She had visited several churches in the Portland area and happened to talk with her neighbor, Ellie Chatto, who suggested Sarah try our church. Sarah appreciated all the information she received on visiting the church, being especially impressed with the history of the church and the statement of faith. She read all of the pamphlets in the welcome envelope thoroughly and saves the bulletin each week. She felt welcome from her first visit. She joined the bell choir. John called as he does with all visitors. As an oboist, she thoroughly appreciates the quality of the music at our church. The only negative she has found is the fact that people chat during the prelude and the postlude. She wants to use that time for prayer and to appreciate the music. Dave asked her what is what like the first time she came. She came alone and went to the coffee hour where people reached out to her – and she reached out to others. She preferred attending services alone as she was evaluating the experience and did not want to be distracted by another (she would not have wanted to have a ‘parish host’). She appreciated the flexibility to learn as she wanted to learn. She recommends that more current members attend the Inquirer’s meetings.

2. SL&W and Welcome Packets: Rick read from the SL&W meeting minutes concerning the ‘vigorous discussion’ held by members. The church staff has the responsibility to determine what information is in the pew racks and what is included in the welcome envelopes. Our group continues to be very interested in having the brochures updated so that they are easier to read (simpler, with bullets instead of long sentences). Sue is making a list of the brochures presently in the envelope.

3. Elinor will represent GG at the 3/3 EG&F meeting.

4. Welcome Brochure: Dave will pass along the wording changes to Bryan.

Update on activities:

5. Welcome Notes: Sue called Darla twice. There have not been any new visitors leaving contact information.

6. Friendship Pad Options: Elinor brought information on a cloth covered pad (~$10) which may hold up better than the vinyl covered version. Also, Staples yielded few options. Elinor brought in a ‘sheet protector’ which seemed too flimsy. Dave is going to continue the search. We want to see samples of the options.

7. Bookmarks: not much to report. Bryan will work on them in March.

8. Signage:
• An individual is very upset at the thought of having any signage in the narthex.
• The A-team has ordered sign.
• Rick and Stan are working on emergency signage.

9. Homework: Each member will review our ‘idea’ materials and bring 1 idea for the group to work on. Dave will e-mail the ‘ideas’.

Next Meeting: Monday, March 21.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2011-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of 2/3/11

Attending: Rick Angell, Dana Wiggins, Deb Riley, Elaine Brownell, Tex Haeuser.

Meeting Start: 7:00 p.m.

Opening Prayer: Once again Elaine offered a prayer of hope and thanksgiving. Deb added her thoughts and prayers for Elaine’s father who recently passed away.

Review of January Minutes: Approved without correction.

Minister’s Time: John was attending a conference and was unable to attend the meeting.

Ash Wednesday, 3/9/11 at 7:00 a.m.: Dana provided the group with an outline of the activities drawn from previous years experience that need to be accomplished for a successful breakfast this year. Decisions on food, personal support, material needs and activity time frames were made. A final review will be made at the 3/3/11 meeting.
Dana is the Team Leader.

Maundy Thursday Communion, 4/21/11

Good Friday Soup Supper, 4/22/11 at 5:30 p.m.: A brief discussion was held covering amount of food required, personnel required and equipment needs. More detailed planning will be done over the next two meetings on 3/3 and 4/7/2011.
Elaine is the Team Leader.

Easter Vigil: Bryan Wiggins will provide a sign up poster that will be placed in the Narthex and near the Wright Pavilion at various times beginning on March 13 and going through April 17 at least. Sign up notices will also be placed in the Beacon and Bulletin.

Easter Sunrise Service: Several members have volunteered to help John/Elsa at the service. A more detailed planning is required over the next two meetings.

Elder Luncheon, 6/5/11: Tex provided the group with a detailed outline listing all of the functions needed to be performed to put the luncheon together. The who, what, and when of each item needs to be identified and them monitored by SL&W.
Tex is the Team Leader.

Possible agenda items for the next meeting:
- Finalize Ash Wednesday plans.
- Maundy Thursday planning.
- Good Friday Soup Supper planning.
- Easter Vigil update.
- Easter Sunrise Service update.
- Elder Lunch detailed planning.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:00 p.m.

Next Meeting: March 3, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Church Council

2011-02-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

First Congregational Church, UCC
South Portland, Maine
Meeting Minutes of January 20, 2011
Recorder: Andy Ellis

Present: Matt Early, Sally Hinckley, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, John Shoos, Robin Reinhold, Carrie Skeffington, Elsa Peters, Cyndi Alden, Carl Murphy, Bob Morse, Andy Ellis, John McCall.
Absent: Peggy Murray, Nancy MacLean

The meeting was opened at 6:30 p.m. opening by Matt Early followed by a reflection and prayer by Andy.

The meeting minutes from the December meeting were approved.

Minister’s Time:
Elsa reported that she had checked in with pastor parish relations committee as part of the ongoing 360 review process and had very good conversation.

John described current progress on website. There is no “go live” date yet, but Chris Keiter is working with web developers and we will be updated on progress.

Discussions:
A special fundraising request was brought to the Council for the Maine Seacoast Mission trip in July. A spaghetti dinner and auction is planned for the 26th of March. Elsa anticipated that there will be about 20 people on the trip. There is an enthusiastic group planning the dinner and auction and they are hoping to raise enough money so that all interested people can go without paying out of pocket. The Council approved the request.

The Mission Team has decided that half of the Christmas offering will also be used for the Maine Seacoast Mission trip. It has also been requested that there be an additional special offering for the trip on February 13th in which people can designate (by noting in subject line on check, or on the outside of pew envelope) that the offering should be used for this special purpose. The Council approved this request as well.

Discussion of Proposed Budget:
Matt Early reviewed work of the budget committee with input from Cyndi Alden and the other Budget Committee members (John Shoos, Andy Ellis, Elsa Peters and John McCall).

Income: Actual pledges seem to be holding steady. The pledge number in budget is has been increased by 6% (over pledges received so far) based on historical performance of budgeted pledges vs. actual. Rental property figures are based on rents from current tenants. Expected interest income / endowment support is based on a formula that has been used in the past (may be slightly optimistic, but endowment has seen some recovery in past year). The “Revenue Other” line includes rummage sales, Holly Daze bazaar, and other gifts. The Per Capita contribution campaign was successful last year, so this income line was raised vs. last year’s budget.

Expenses: The Committee reviewed expenses trying to trim where possible. Matt discussed long-term examinations that we will need to undertake in order to establish a balanced budget in the future. Mission had asked to have budget raised back to 2008 levels, but committee proposed staying at current level. Matt discussed OCWM Conference giving, and the fact that we may not be able to maintain current levels in the face of declining membership and revenues.

Other than Mission, Personnel is the other major expense category. For the second year in a row, there are no staff pay increases slated for this year. The overall Personnel expense line is fairly static despite increases in benefit costs because of some other changes (the Youth Minister position has been eliminated and Nancy Foran, the Elder Chaplain, is taking leave of absence.) It was suggested that the Congregation will need to take the opportunity to examine personnel and expense issues over the next year before we draft our next budget.

It was noted that we are very fortunate to be in such good financial shape compared to many other churches in Maine.

Teams have done a very good job of cost containment. Education Growth & Fellowship has reduced their budget request from last year. The Budget Committee will recommend that a few line items in the Music budget draw from designated funds (Easter Brass, etc.) and suggest that monies requested for chair replacement in the rehearsal room be drawn from Major Maintenance. Phil Whitney also reported that the Eskimos will be donating money from their annual fudge and cookie sale for replacement chairs. Expenses for Spiritual Life & Worship are budgeted to be in line with last year.

It is expected that heating expenses will go up this year, along with benefit costs.

Actual revenues were well above what we forecasted for 2010, leaving less of a deficit than we had expected for the current year. The budget deficit for 2011 is projected to be slightly under $15,000.00 with the ability to support from retained earnings (now at $31,746).

Matt Early discussed the packet that will be presented at the Congregational budget meeting, including informational reports of past year activities related to the endowment, the Major Maintenance Fund, and Community Crisis Ministries. Reports for the Discovery Center, and Holly Daze Bazaar will be included later in the Annual Report.

The history of the retained surplus and current income trends were discussed. The retained surplus had been approximately $100,000.00 at its height several years ago. Current giving has leveled off as expenses have trended higher generally and the retained surplus has diminished over time.

The Council approved the proposed budget.

The Council discussed the relationship of the Discovery Center to the Church. Nancy MacLean had reported in an earlier email that Dan Cummings has offered to speak with members of the council about the history and intent of establishing the Discovery Center as separate corporate entity. The Council looks forward to that hearing the details of that conversation.

Roger Addor suggested that we thank the Stewardship Committee for their hard work this year and John Shoos thanked those who assisted in making calls, including Roger Addor, Phil Whitney, and Bob Morse.

Matt Early discussed current financial status of the Discovery Center and the Council reviewed balance sheet and profit and loss. The Discovery Center has suggested a repayment plan for their earlier loan in which payments would be made during the school year only as tuition revenue is received. The Council accepted the plan.

Bob Morse reported on the selection of delegates to represent the Church at Association and Conference meetings:

We now have 6 potential lay delegates to UCC meetings. Rick Angell, Peggy Murray, Dick & Barbara Merrill, and Adam & Jean Siulinski.

John discussed future series of discussions about structure of UCC, Maine Conference, and Cumberland Association. These discussions could help the Council to understand some of the issues in the budgeting process such as our Church’s giving to OCWM. The Council agreed that they would like to have these discussions, and they will start in February.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Mission and Outreach

2011-02-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 6, 2011
Recorder: Kristen Silvia

Members Present: Maureen Clancy, Richard Parker, Laurie Carey, Sarah Randall, Sandy Dyer, Jan Bosse, Mike Kasputes, Kristen Silvia.

Opening prayer offered by Maureen Clancy.

Treasurer’s Report was presented by Mike Kasputes. No concerns were raised regarding the report.

Minutes from the December 2, 2010 were approved with the following change: “Our Christian World Mission” should be “Our Church’s Wider Mission”.

OLD BUSINESS:
Mission Sunday Service
• The order of service and each member’s role was reviewed.
• Maureen will submit a Beacon announcement regarding the Service by January 24th.
• Final draft of the service and hymns will be submitted to the office by February 7th.
• Laurie will create envelopes for the pews for members to donate to the Maine Seacoast Mission trip.
• Elsa will contact the Director from MSCM regarding his plan for the sermon and his preferences regarding accommodations.
• Maureen will contact the SMCC McKearnan Center about accommodation rates if the Director prefers staying there.

Coffee Hour
• Members volunteered to bake, setup and cleanup for the two upcoming coffee hours we are hosting on January 9 and January 16.

Upcoming Meeting
• John will be joining us in March to discuss our protocol for deciding which organizations to which we donate money. At our February meeting, we plan to develop a framework for discussion of this important topic.

NEW BUSINESS:
Thank You Notes
• Received from Bangor Theological Seminary, Wayside Soup Kitchen, Maine Council of Churches, FCCUCC Food Pantry, Preble Street, and Family Crisis Services.

Email from Carol Zechman
• This email involved a request for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Champion(s) in our church to help support local agriculture and promote CSA shares.
• We decided to redirect this to Social Witness Ministries. Maureen will contact Carol to let her know.

Closing Prayer was offered by Maureen.

Next Meeting: February 3, 2011 in the Laity Room
• Co-Chair: Sandy Dyer
• Devotions: Richard Parker
• Recorder: Suzanne Linder

Administration Team

2011-01-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 6, 2011
Recorder: Chris Mills

Present: Ron Bennett, Guy Gledhill, Deb Sandler, Chris Mills, Jim Otis, Rod Redstone, Cyndi Alden (Business Manager) and Scott Stacy (visiting).

Call to Order: Ron called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. Per the rotation schedule, Chris will record this meeting and run the next meeting.

Introductions: Ron introduced Scott Stacy who is considering A-Team membership.

Minutes of the Admin Team December 2010 Meeting: reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Finance: Cyndi reports that 2010 expenses were down 9% and revenues were up 12%. The budget deficit for 2010 was just under $4000, reduced from $27,000.

Tenant Update:
• Sawyer - Cyndi has not heard from tenant concerning tenants job status. Cyndi believes tenant will not be in a position to raise rent (currently $800 mo.) soon . In our desire to work with tenant, the rent was to move from $800 to $900 to $1000 by June. Guy suggested Cyndi keep us informed of situation.
• Cottage Road (1st floor) - the first floor has been rented as of December 15 as an Art Gallery. The Art Gallery owners signed a one year lease and paid the December and January rent of $1200 month. They requested that a new door be installed above the side door steps to prevent people who are using the basement to store rummage sale items from entering their first floor space. The A-Team agreed to do this.
• Cottage Road (2nd floor) - this lease is for $750 month. Cindy reports the tenant is happy.

Major Maintenance Fund: The fund was explained for the benefit of our guest.Major projects to all three properties in recent years were reviewed for Scott.

Signage: The House Committee is working on 2 new directional signs for the Narthex.

Insurance: After a discussion on our insurance policy,Cyndi agreed to scan the current policy and send a copy to the Team, including Scott, for review. Insurance is up for renewal in October. The Team agreed a review should be done by March/April.

Team Member Replacement: The A-Team needs two new members by June. Scott will inform us of his intentions and Guy will talk with his son-in-law. Chris suggested polling counting team for interest.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting: Chair Peggy Murray sent Cindy a list of who is scheduled to count each week. Things are working well.

House: Chair Guy Gledhill. We are still in the waiting phase to see if there are any leaks from the steeple work before we consider painting the sanctuary.We have had one quote so far.
Guy reports that the east wall of Guptill Hall is damp. Many teams have worked on trying to solve this issue in the past. The House Committee is watching and brainstorming new causes and solutions.

Planned Giving: Ron put an article in the December Beacon.

NEW BUSINESS:
Cornerstone Fund: We were asked by Elsa to look into the option of recommending participation in the Cornerstone Fund to the congregation. After looking over the fund Ron advised that it would not be in our best interest to participate. Both Elsa and the
A-team strongly agreed.

Financial Review: Smith and Associates will have a report by the end of February.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday February 3, 2011 at 7 p.m..

Meeting adjourned 8:06 p.m.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2011-01-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 6, 2011

Attendance: Scott Ayre, Jennifer Fetting, Carolyn Foster, Tom Hamerksi, Karen Pierce, Elsa Peters.

1) Standing Sub-Committee Reports
a. Coffee hour: There hasn’t been any problems with getting volunteers this year, which is great. There have been some breakdowns in communication, but overall it is going well.
b. Sunday school: Carolyn reported that the 2nd semester teachers are recruited - lots of enthusiasm.
c. Library: Karen reported that they’ve spent their money and bought new books. New ones are being catalogued, and new purchases will be displayed on tables before worship so that people can see them.
d. Scholarship: Scott was in contact with Nancy re: how people can donate to the scholarship fund. The committee’s first meeting is in late January or early February.
e. Growth: Next Inquirer’s meeting is Monday, March 7.
f. In general, there is a sense that there is too little communication between the EFG team and the people on the subcommittees. Scott Ayre is going to send the leaders of each subcommittee an email, inviting them to send a representative to our March 3 meeting (and twice a year hereafter) to report on their activities, needs, etc. and let us know what we can do to help them.
g. Jennifer will email Tom in the church about turning the heat on in Wright Pavilion at 7:00 pm on the first Thursday of the month. Brrrr it’s cold in there.

2) New Business
a. Concerns were raised that too much team meeting time is bogged down with the details of the different subcommittees, and not enough generating new ideas for activities, etc. So there is going to be a huge, seismic shift in how the committee works. This is a good thing.
b. Next meeting will be agenda-free and will involve lots of brainstorming, so show up with ideas!

Food Pantry

2011-01-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 13, 2011

PRESENT: Cyndi Alden, Frances Jane Addor, June Wiggins, AnnElissa Leveque, Barbara Merrill, Jan Files, Gail Dransfield.

BALANCE: Income Paid Out BALANCE ENDING
12/31/2009 2010 2010 12/31/2010
$5,113 $2,841 $ 3,164 $4,790

OLD BUSINESS:
1) Re-shelving and keeping the pantry floor less cluttered. Volunteers are asked to re-shelve any bags left for over 7 days. **New - Place the bag tags on the yellow pad under a paper clip. AnnElissa will take care of notifying Jen, noting the non-pickup on the index card and yellow tab.

2) Please staple a note on each bag stating recipient’s name and the total number of bags included in that order. This will help Cyndi and Jen know who gets what.

NEW BUSINESS:
1) Expired foods. The USDA web site states that expired foods are safe for consumption. The church council has restricted us from distributing any expired foods and from selling these items, even labeled as expired, at any of our coffee hour sales.

Barbara Merrill will contact Preble St., St. Johns pantry, the Root Cellar, Woodfords and other pantries to understand how they handle expired goods.

Any expired foods should be placed in the large box in the pantry. Our volunteers are encouraged to take whatever they can use. AnnElissa will throw away any foods left in that box at the beginning of each month.

2) Reminder: Include a listing of area pantries with new requests. These blue forms are in the folder on the desk.

3) Gail will pull all index cards of requests earlier than 2008. All requests from 1/2009 until the present will remain in the index boxes.

4) There will be a sale of the “Odd and Exotic” items during the coffee hour on Feb. 13. Any and all volunteers please come before the 10 o’clock service to set up the sale and then help with the sale and clean up.

Cyndi will put an announcement of this sale in the 1/24 Beacon and in the bulletin.

5) Preble Street is holding a meeting of representatives from the greater Portland food pantries on Jan. 21 from 12 - 2 at Woodfords Congregational church. Jan Files has volunteered to go. Barbara Merrill, Gail or Purdy will also attend.

6) Next meeting May 12, 2011 4 o’clock Laity Room.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2011-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 13, 2011

ATTENDING: Rick Angell, Tex Hauser, Frank Arsenault, Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, John McCall.

OPENING PRAYER: Elaine welcomed everyone with hope for a happy and successful new year.

REVIEW OF DECEMBER MINUTES: approved as is.

MINISTER’S TIME: John informed us that this is "ordinary time" in the church calendar. It is just the rhythm of life combined with the winter season ‘till Lent is with us. Time for all to just breathe out and prepare for what is coming.

UPDATES:
• Conformation classes - are underway and moving forward.

• Lent - Dana has the list of last year's breakfast needs and will get it out to everyone. The breakfast will be March 9th at 7 AM in Wright Pavilion. Last year was attended by approximately 20 people. Last year’s worked well and will be followed again.

Maundy Thursday Communion will be April 21st.

Good Friday Soup Supper will be on April 22nd. Elaine has the names of people who volunteered last year and expressed interest to make soups this year. This is done in conjunction with the Ladies Guild.

Easter Vigil: Poster will be put out by the first Sunday in Lent. If possible it will be out at the Ash Wednesday Breakfast for those attending to possibly sign up. Brian Wiggins will again do a large format poster for people to sign up on as that worked well last year. Sign up reminders also to be in Beacon and e-mail reminders also will be sent out.

Easter Sunrise Service: Committee will be available to assist John and/or Elsa in whatever way possible. Elaine, Frank, Tex, and Dana volunteered to help.

• Outside Banner: Semi resolved. Will be monitored to see if more needs to be done.

• Pew racks/Welcome Packets: Who decides what should be put in pews and packets? Now it is staff driven. Discussed vigorously amongst the group. Possible alternatives brought up were getting a rack to hold the pamphlets and allow people to pick and choose any of interest. John expressed his view that he likes to get as much information to people and let them decide what interests them. He would like any changes, etc. run through him for guidance.

Rick put out an open invitation for anyone interested in joining the Growth Group.

Next meeting is set for February 3rd at 7 PM. John and Frank will be unable to attend.

Possible new business:
• Finalize Lent/Easter activities.
• Start planning for Elder luncheon (possible date June 12th).

Growth Group

2011-01-18T08:07:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 10, 2011
Recorder: Elinor Redmond

Members Present: Rick Angell, Elinor Redmond, Dave Allen, Sue Ross and John McCall.

Sue opened with an inspiring reading from ‘Hope for Each Day’.

John passed along a request conveyed by Elsa from EG&F. They want to be up to date on the Growth Group’s activities. Elinor will connect with them – via Elsa – and send minutes.

Update on Activities:
1. Welcome Notes: After our last meeting, Sue stopped in to the Prayer Shawl Group. Darla was not present and the group did not know anything about the notes. They were not meeting again until January. Elinor (5 notes) and Sue (0 notes) have been doing them in the meantime. Darla and her group are now ready to start. Sue will do a written procedure list and talk with Jen about saving records as they return from the Prayer Shawl knitters. We can keep a running total of notes sent.

2. Bookmarks: Dave is working with Bryan on bookmarks to place in the hymnals (and Bibles?). Bryan will draft a design. Production will be by an internet based company. The cost will be approximately $60 for 500 bookmarks. Dave has suggested using a pineapple motif as that is the symbol for welcome and hospitality. The mission and vision will be included as well as standard information about the church. Printing ‘Take me home’ on them would encourage just that.

3. Signage: Our group walked around the building to look at signage after the last meeting. No more progress to date – to be continued.

4. Hospitality Moments:
Possible ideas include:
• Dictionary (literal definition of hospitality/what does it mean to individuals)
• Hospitality stories from the Bible (John will find some stories)
• Bookmarks – use the Sunday when the new Bookmarks appear to discuss hospitality and the pineapple. This would include the tale of our carved pineapple at the front of the church. Norman Clark (son of Minister Win Clark) carved the pineapple. He later went to Bangor Seminary but was diagnosed with cancer before finishing his studies.
• Someone could tell his/her story of being welcomed into the church community. Sarah Bloom may be a possible candidate to tell what it was that made her feel welcomed.
Sue had talked with Sarah about joining our committee. While too busy to join, she would be glad to come to a meeting to share her experience of coming to our church for the first time. Sue will invite her to the February 14th meeting.

5. Revisit ideas on which committee might work: Looking over our ‘idea sheets’ sparked conversation on the following topics:
• When questioned on the Ushers’ meeting, Rick said some were open to our suggestions and others were not. Awareness/progress in the area of keeping the aisle open as people arrive. References to ‘new rules’.
• Outreach to groups which use the building: John awaits a call from the AA contact. Elinor will attend a meeting, offer an invitation to worship and pass out the Welcome brochure.
• Friendship pads: We discussed making better use at the space above the pad itself when the cover is opened. Having a plastic sleeve there to hold nametags and messages is one idea. Many covers are now split and need to be replaced. We need 65-70 pads. Elinor will investigate options and report back at the next meeting.
• Welcome packet: Dave will talk with Jen about placing the new Welcome brochure in the packet in place of the old brochure. Rick will discuss responsibility for the Welcome Packet with SLW. We talked about different points of view of what should be in the packet and why. John advocates for getting as much information in front of people as simply as possible. Several in the group felt the present collection of brochures to be wordy and in need of editing. Perhaps groups would agree to update their own brochures themselves.

6. New Group Members: No luck so far.

7. Homework: Each member will review our ‘idea’ materials and bring (1) idea for the group to work on.

Next meeting: Monday, February 14th.

Church Council

2011-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 17, 2010
Recorder: Roger Addor

Present: Roger Addor, Andy Ellis, Nancy MacLean, John McCall, Bob Morse, Peggy Murray, Elsa Peters, Robin Reinhold, John Shoos, Carrie Skeffington, and Phil Whitney.
Absent: Matt Early, Sally Hinckley, and Carl Murphy

The meeting was opened at 6:30 p.m. by Nancy MacLean followed by a poem and prayer by Roger Addor.

The November minutes were approved. Clarification was requested for the statement to support the July Seacoast Mission “using the offering on Mission Sunday, February 13, 2011”. The part of the offering going to this cause will be revisited at the January meeting, probably to include a special appeal and dedication of the loose plate offering.

John McCall was welcomed back after his successful back surgery and recovery and expressed a thankful sense of rejuvenation. He reported a few delays in getting the much improved website up and running, but expects it to be serviceable about mid-January.

The nomination of Scott Ayre for a one-year term and Tom Hamerski for a two-year term to Education, Growth, and Fellowship was unanimously approved.

In the absence of Budget Chairperson Matt Early, Andy Ellis reported for the Budget Committee. Business Manager Cyndi Alden was invited to the meeting to interpret the printed proposed budget, the current financial status, and the projected income and budget for 2011. The situation as it was presented shows a $17,000 deficit likely in closing out the 2010 fiscal year. The budget as proposed for 2011 of over $500,000 would appear to exceed projected income by about $27,000, at the lowest. There is about $38,000 existing in a “rainy day” fund accumulated in past years, but this amount is insufficient to cover both of these contingencies, assuming it was used for this purpose.

• We talked about the need to contact all people who have not renewed their pledges for next year. John Shoos reported that the Stewardship Committee has plans for phoning. Some Council members volunteered to help with the calls. John McCall suggested, and it was agreed upon, that following the next meeting of the Stewardship Committee on January 6, a letter should go out to the congregation describing the financial situation and asking for people to reconsider their financial commitment. The Council needs more information on estimated income to make final decisions about the budget and may be faced with making budget cuts.

• John also asked the Council to put on next year’s agenda an effort to divine longer term projections of membership, income, costs, programs and whatever might impact on moving ahead more predictably.

• The legal status of the Discovery Center: Council members agreed to set up a sub-committee to research this (hopefully, Matt Early, Andy Ellis, with consultation by past Moderator Dan Cummings, who worked on the by-laws during the change in governance).

Bob Morse and Peggy Murray will recruit church members to attend the Cumberland Association Installation meeting on January 20.

Elsa Peters was asked to take a few minutes at several Council meetings starting in February to inform Council members on the organizational set-up for the United Church of Christ. How are we interconnected with the other churches locally and beyond?

Meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Next meeting is January 20, 2011.

Mission and Outreach

2011-01-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 2, 2010 (Revised*)
Recorder: Jan Bosse

Attendance: Sandy Dyer and Sarah Randall, Co-chairs; Laurie Carey, Suzanne Linder; Richard Parker, Mike Kasputes, Elsa Peters, Jan Bosse.

Opening Devotions – Laurie Carey

Minister’s Moment – Elsa Peters
- Bangor Theological Seminary is seeking funds to assist in its works.
- Mission Trip – the first organizational meeting was held before this meeting. It was well attended. An initial fundraiser has been scheduled for March – Auction and Spaghetti Dinner.
- Special Offerings were clarified:
o Christmas Fund – Supports the Veterans of the Cross and Emergency Fund – a ministry of compassion and care for those who serve the UCC.
o Christmas Offering – will provide for the church’s mission trip next summer to Maine Seacoast Mission and support of Common Hope, a charity that supports the education of children in Guatemala as a means to achieve social and economic development for themselves and their families.
o A special offering will occur throughout February including Mission Sunday on the 13th . in support of Maine Seacoast Mission.
- A question was raised about OCWM – “Our Christian World Mission”* – $25,200
(see treasurer’s report). What is this money for and who receives it? Elsa will provide the Team with some education on this fund.

The MO Team received an e-mail from John McCall that posed the question “Among the huge number of wonderful religious and charitable groups that need support, how do we decide where our limited dollars go? What are the principle and priorities?” The Team decided to meet with John in March to discuss this and we would undertake an evaluation of the groups we support.

Mission Sunday Planning – Elsa helped the Team discuss the organization we are supporting and the view of our mission in supporting it. We continued our discussion after Elsa left the meeting and came up with a preliminary framework for the service and who on the team will be responsible for which part of the order of worship.

Life of the Church and Call to Worship – Sandy Dyer
Hymn
Unison Prayer/Lord’s Prayer – Laurie Carey
Children’s Time and Passing the Peace – Mike Kasputes
Hymn
Prayer for Illumination and the Word (Alternate choice from list - Luke 10:25-37) – Kristen Silvia
Message – Maine Seacoast Mission Director
Prayers of the People - TBA whom and when
Sharing Our Tithes and Offerings – Invitation and Dedication – Jan Bosse
Hymn
Benediction – Sarah Randall and Suzanne Linder

Hymns – “What Gift Can We Bring” (HTL 377); “Be Thou My Vision” (HTL 445); “I the Lord of Sea and Sky” (HTL S-17); Alternate “Called as Partners in Christ Service” HTL 353).

The Chapel Service on Mission Sunday will be covered by Sarah Randall (?) and Jan Bosse.

Minutes for November 4 were reviewed and approved.

Treasurer’s Report was approved.

E-mail from the Church Moderator and the Budget Committee – discussion of the 2010 shortfall and what can be done to prevent another shortfall in 2011 will be discussed at the January MO Team meeting.

A new Micah Project Coordinator needs to be appointed – This item is scheduled for discussion at the January MO Team meeting.

Beacon announcements are usually done by Maureen Clancy. Laurie Cary will follow-up on this item.

Thank you notes were received from:
• Maine Conference of Churches (UCC)
• Pilgrim Lodge
• FCC Bazaar Committee
• Riverview Foundation

The following donations were approved for the 4th quarter:
$500 each to:
• Wayside Evening Soup Kitchen
• Good Shepard Food Bank
• Preble Street Resource Center
• Sp/CE UCC Food Pantry
• Family Crisis Shelter (Family Crisis Services)
• Grace Street Ministry
• Maine Council of Churches
• UCC Coalition
• Community Crisis Fund
$1000 to:
• Bangor Theological Seminary

Closing Devotional – Laurie Cary

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Next Meeting – Thursday, January 6th at 7:00 p.m.
Co-Chair – Sarah Randall
Prayer – Maureen Clancy
Recorder – Suzanne Lindner

* = Correction - "Our Christian World Mission" and should read as follows: "Our Church's Wider Mission"

Administration Team

2010-12-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of November 4, 2010
Recorder: Guy Gledhill

Present: Ron Bennett, Guy Gledhill, Deb Sandler, Chris Mills, Jim Otis and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Jim called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Per the rotation schedule Guy will record this meeting and run the next meeting.

Minutes of the Admin. Team October 7, 2010 Meeting: Reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Finance: Things are looking great, we may do OK for 2010; $27,284 was projected for a loss, and we do better as we near the end of year.

Tenant Update: Sawyer Road house - we are still dealing with a dog issue. Cindy will talk with Pam about what was discussed between Pam and the tenant. We are working on getting this tenant back to her full rent. We lowered last year due to a loss in job. We discussed the commercial space, corner house, first floor. We have a 1,000 sq. ft. and will put up a large sign outside. If we get no takers, we may list with a commercial broker. Top floor corner house doing great.

Planned Giving: Ron is still working on this and will place another article in the Beacon.

Committee Reports:
Counting: Chair, Peggy Murray is doing well.

House: Chair, Guy Gledhill.
• The house committee is working on pricing at this time for a system that will allow us to switch from oil to natural gas to heat our church anytime we wish. We would be able to switch back and forth.
• We had a discussion on the east wall of the Guptill Hall, moisture in the wall affecting the paint. We are continuing to watch and get ideas that will fix it once and for all.
• We are watching the steeple repair work and making sure that we fixed the leak before we get into paint the Sanctuary.
• We are also obtaining price for signage in the church to better direct people.

Insurance: We are still working on this item for review.

NEW BUSINESS:
New Budget: We went over the Admin. Team budget for 2011. We adjusted our Rental Property income as we still have the corner house 1st floor empty. We also adjusted our room rentals due to the Discovery Center situation. We did discuss rental increases for the two houses in future times. Our expenses were in line with an increase to utilities, price of oil. The budget was accepted as changed.

Choir: Discuss the need to replace chairs in the undercroft for choir practice; this will come out of Shirley’s budget. This year, the Eskimos are buying the first set.

Beacon: Discussed the need to get communication to the members. Talked about emailing the Beacon, but all do not read all emails sometimes. Mailings can be expensive. Placing some in the Narthex for members to pick up on Sundays. This will always be a continuing discussion.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday December 2, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 8:16 p.m.

Growth Group

2010-12-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of 12/6/10
Recorder: Elinor Redmond

Members present: Rick Angell, Elinor Redmond, Dave Allen, Sue Ross and John McCall.

Rick opened the meeting with a heartfelt and inspiring prayer.

Rick commented that the things we do as a group have a ‘shelf life’. That is, they seem exciting and effective for a while and then the effects wear off. He said our group’s task is to keep things fresh and continue to look at what we do. An example is asking people to sit in different seats. People moved around for a while – and had a lot of comments about it – and now seem to be back where they were in the past. Dave said that urging people to move was a means to an end, a way to get people to talk with someone new. John said he thinks people have an increased awareness of who is around them. Many are looking out for new people.

We proceeded with our update:
1. Friendship Sunday:
Was Friendship Sunday a success? John said there were addresses for 3 new couples on the Friendship pads. There were others there who did not sign in with their information. We could have done more ‘publicity’ – the new website will give us the ability to send out notices more easily. We agreed to repeat this ‘feel-good’ event.

2. Verbal invitation to groups using the building:
John has spoken with 2 groups. Al-Anon (meets Saturday mornings in the Community Room) is reluctant unless there is a scheduled open meeting. They would rather hand out fliers or read a provided statement. AA would love to have us come. The rep is checking with others in the group (meets Saturday afternoons @ 1 in the Music Room). John will contact the Alzheimer’s Support Group.

3. Welcome Notes:
Darla has agreed that the Prayer Shawl group will write welcome notes. Elinor worked on a draft of the text. She and Dave will continue that process. The notes will be written on church note-cards, which include a Bible verse on the inside. Jen will supply the PS group with copies of files created from the Friendship pads of the names of new visitors so that they receive them for their gatherings on Tuesdays. After sending the note, the sheet will be marked with a date and the word ‘sent’. Sue will connect with Darla on the details.

4. Bookmark:
Dave has an idea of using a pineapple symbol (hospitality) and the Vision on the bookmark. We will enlist help from Bryan after the holidays.

5. Welcome Brochures:
The new brochures are in the pews and look great. We discussed other materials made available. How much information do newcomers need (is the full welcome packet necessary or overwhelming?)? How many brochures should be in the pew racks? Who has oversight? Rick will discuss with SL&W.

6. Church signage:
We took a stroll around the church, noting existing signage and speculating on what might improve it. We particularly noticed the lack in the Narthex. Dave will continue the ‘inventory’ process.

7. Hospitality Moments:
From last month’s minutes: “We will provide the next hospitality moment in January. An idea is to use quotes from the Bible that reference welcome.”

8. Growth Group Membership:
Each member will talk with 1 person about the Growth Group and the possibility of joining before the next meeting. Sue talked with Sara Bloom, a new member. She would be glad to be a resource to our group. We discussed inviting her to a meeting so that we can hear her perspective and suggestions.

Next meeting: Monday, January 10, 2011

Music Committee

2010-12-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 2, 2010

Present: Shirley Curry, Kim Early, Anna O’Connor, Sheryl Kieran, Peg Carmichael, and Trudi Bakke.

1. October Minutes - reviewed and accepted.

2. Updates:
• Chairs – The Eskimos have donated $400. to start purchasing chairs for the choir room. Shirley will order the first batch of chairs. The Music Committee has requested a new line in the budget for the remaining batches of chairs.
• Robe Repair – Trudi is working on the Children’s Choir robe repairs.

3. The 2011 proposed budget was handed out. It has already been submitted to Cyndi Alden.

4. Christmas Vespers will be held on December 12th from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The committee agreed to volunteer to do/bring the following:
• Request table set-up – Kim
• Tablecloths and Paper Products – Sheryl
• Centerpiece - Anna
• Hot Cider – Kim, Peg, Anna
• Tea and Half & Half – Anna
• Cookies – Kim, Trudi, Sheryl, Peg
Trudi will make a pulpit announcement regarding the vesper service on Dec. 5th and will ask Elsa to make one on Dec. 12th. Kim will look for volunteers to hand out programs at both entrances to the sanctuary for the service.

5. Other business:
• Shirley reported that David Wallace has consulted on the organ shutters. He thinks he can work on the shutters to make improvements.
• The 10:00 Christmas Eve service is in good shape and Shirley is still working on the 7:00 service.
• The number of children in the Children’s choir continues to be an issue. The committee discussed the possibility of no choir and keeping the choir, but not singing every month. This could give the children a longer practice timeframe so they could perhaps sing on their own without the adult choir,

The next meeting is set for March 3, 2011.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-12-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 2, 2010
Recorder: Tex Haeuser

Attending: Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell, Rick Angell, Dana Wiggins, Tex Haeuser, Frank Arsenault and Rev. John McCall.

Opening Prayer: Dana led the group in a prayer based on an appreciation by Depok Chopra that common to most religions is an awareness of an incomprehensible transcendence, the rich fulfillment that comes from this awareness, and a deep joy and energy that comes from sharing this awareness with others.

Minutes: After a follow-up from John on the budget discussion in the minutes—the initial budget meeting has occurred—the team unanimously approved the November 4th minutes as motioned by Debbie and seconded by Rick.

Church List: John indicated (a) that John and Shelly Porter have moved to Bangor and will be transferring their church membership and (b) that Thyra Porter has confirmed after considerate inquiry that she is unlikely to be returning to church after several years of absence. Debbie moved and Rick seconded to move John & Shelly Porter and Thyra Porter to the inactive list. Unanimous approval.

Minister’s Time: John gratefully thanked the team and the rest of the congregation for their prayers and support regarding his back surgery and recovery.

In response to John’s question, the team confirmed that EG&F handles the cake and baby Jesus birthday party (SL&W has a number of responsibilities during Lent).

Advent & Xmas: Elsa has indicated that a number of the changes for the lighting of the candles that she previously had proposed likely will need to wait until next year to be implemented due to her recent double duty. The candelabra, however, will be installed on the 19th, earlier than usual.

For Christmas, Elsa is rewriting the 7:00 service and John is amending the one at 5:00. Part of the 7:00 adjustment is due to needing to better fit the talents of this year’s Children’s Choir. The 10:00 service will be the same.

John will be announcing and putting out the sign-up sheets for reader volunteers for the 10:00 service.

Debbie asked if we advertise our Christmas services. John said that we have done so in the past but that this year’s budget can’t support it. There will, however, be a big play about it on the website, and the local papers do publish notices. Debbie suggested taking a picture of the pageant and sending it to the Press Herald as they likely would print it. Dana will ask Randall Landry if he will take some shots.

Dana mentioned that they are shooting for Jan. 1 for the launch of the new website (which everyone is eagerly confident will be very cool).

Confirmation: Elsa has proposed clarifying that EG&F has the education responsibilities for confirmation by (with some simplification of the details) adjusting items in the budgets for EG&F and SL&W so that there is a Cake and Confirmation line item in the EG&F budget and that the Confirmation item in the SL&W budget is retasked to Membership and Lent & Easter. SL&W still will have a role in the spiritual aspects of confirmation. Elaine will send Elsa an email documenting the team’s unanimous support for the idea.

Old Business: Regarding Cyndi’s response about covering the expense of the table Debbie acquired for Davidson Lounge, Debbie got a check—case closed.

On a related note, Debbie brought up the need to bring the décor of Davidson Lounge a little more up to date; the vacuous Monet print (in the albeit attractive gold frame) was cited as an example. John mentioned that Phyllis Davidson left a bequest for the periodic upkeep of the Lounge and that he would check on the balance of the fund. The team thought that getting the ideas from some of the younger families might be useful in getting a more modern feel for what in effect is the Church’s living room.

Other Business: Dana suggested that the Jan. 2nd communion be by intinction. John agreed.

Dana mentioned volunteers are needed for this Sunday’s communion. Elaine and Tex raised hands, and Rick mentioned that Scott Berry had volunteered.

Dana said that the sign out in front of the Church is not wearing well; it seems weather-beaten. Dana will see if Adam Solinsky, who built the frame, will look at it. The company who did the signs should be asked to look at it also given that it hasn’t been up very long.

Travel: Debbie will be taking a very exciting trip to Africa; Frank recently returned from a vacation in London.

Next Meeting: Due to known absences, the next meeting will not be on the sixth but instead will be on Jan. 13th.

Next Agenda: Tex
Next Minutes: Frank

Administration Team

2010-12-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 2, 2010
Recorder: Ron Bennett

Present: Ron Bennett, Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Guy called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm. Ron agreed to record this meeting and run the next meeting in January.

Minutes of the Admin Team November 4, 2010 meeting: reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget: Financial results through November 30 were presented by Cyndi. The year is 92% complete. Revenues are at 90.3% of year’s budget. Decrease in revenues is due to reduced tenant rental income and reduced room rental income.

Expenses are at 90.8% of year’s budget. Decrease in expenses is due to lower spending by each of the teams. The most significant item affecting the A Team is reduction in utilities (fuel oil) which is at 68.7% of the year’s budget at November 30. Because fuel oil for 2011 will probably be over budget due to significantly rising prices, a decision was made to completely fill the oil tanks at the end of 2010.

Tenant Update: Tenant at 509 Sawyer Street house is unlikely to be able to pay our previously suggested rent increase in January according to Cyndi.

A new tenant will be occupying the first floor commercial unit at 331 Cottage Road for an artist studio. Rent is $1,200 per month and could begin by mid-December 2010. No repairs will be required. Guy indicated that we will consider installing a programmable thermostat in the first floor unit.

Insurance Renewals: No discussion.

Team Member Replacement: Ron stated that Scott Stacey has indicated that he would like to become a member of the A team in June. He will attend the next meeting to get to know the members.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting: No report. All appears to be going well.

House: Guy reported the following:
• The east wall of Guptill Hall is continuing to blister. It is being continually evaluated to determine if the wall is leaking. If it is leaking through porous concrete, outside excavation might be required to apply sealing.
• The steeple repairs of last summer appear to be successful in keeping water out.
• A suggestion was made to set the sanctuary thermostat lower by 2 degrees on Sunday mornings. Two team members indicated that the sanctuary was too hot the past few Sundays.

Planned Giving: Ron indicated that he is working on a fourth article to appear in an upcoming issue of the Beacon.

NEW BUSINESS:
There was discussion of an email from Elsa to Jim & Cyndi on November 16 concerning the Cornerstone Fund. It appears to be mutual fund tied in to the UCC that promises a rate of return on a five year investment of 4.5% vs. 3% for five year CD’s. To receive the extra1.5% return, an investor must designate a “give-back” gift of at least 10% to a UCC church. The fund’s securities are not insured by the FDIC or any other entity. The members of the A team were somewhat concerned about promoting this type of investment idea without more information. Ron agreed to discuss the Cornerstone Fund with Elsa.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday January 6 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:51 p.m.

Church Council

2010-12-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of November 18, 2010
Recorder: Phil Whitney

Present: Roger Addor, Matt Early, Andy Ellis, Sally Hinckley, Bob Morse, Carl Murphy, Carrie Skeffington, Peggy Murray, Robin Reinhold, John Shoos and Phil Whitney. Absent: Nancy MacLean and John McCall.

The meeting was opened at 6:30 p.m. by Matt Early followed by a prayer by Phil. The Oct. 21 Minutes were approved after correcting the word MISSION with the word VISION in paragraph 5 on page 1.

MINISTER’S TIME: Elsa gave a follow-up on John’s progress since surgery. His return to work is anticipated for Monday, November 22.

The anticipated start of the UCC new website will be delayed by several weeks. New start up date is uncertain.

SEACOAST MISSION: (Refer to Mission Meeting Sunday E-mail from Laurie Cary distributed to Council members on Nov. 18.) Elsa is organizing a mission trip to Downeast Maine. She asked for Council approval of this plan which will take a volunteer UCC group to the Millbridge/Cherryfield area for one week – July 24-29, 2011 - to support the Seacoast Mission with their care and support of children and the aged. Activities, not yet specified, will be mainly refurbishing. She also wishes approval of using the offering on Mission Sunday, February 13, 2011 toward helping defray the coast of travel, food, supplies etc. estimated at $5,000. The Council unanimously approved this request. The Rev. Scott Planting who administers the Seacoast Mission will give the sermon here on Mission Sunday.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT: Matt, who heads the budget review sub-committee of the Council, welcomed John Shoos as the sixth sub-committee member. Matt expressed optimism regarding the pledges received as of Nov. 18. when compared with pledges received at this date in past years. Four more meetings are scheduled before a final statement can be presented to the church on 1/30/2011. Scheduled meetings are 11/29/10, 12/13/10 (first draft for Council review), 01/10/11 and 01/13/11 (final draft for Council review).

Morgan Stanley, investment advisors for the church, have reported total worth of church equity holdings as well over one million as of 10/31/10.

Fuel costs so far for 2010 are down from 2009 due to a more energy efficient system and a warmer year.

DELEGATES: Matt pointed out that the Council is responsible for naming six delegates per year. Last month Peggy Murray and Bob Morse volunteered as delegates for a meeting in New Gloucester; the topic was “Providing a Safe Church” and both were impressed with the presentation. The Council encouraged Peggy and Bob to prepare a summary for the Council and Bob was asked to continue recruiting Delegates.

STRUCTURE OF UCC: Council members felt unclear about the structure of the UCC local and state organizations. Elsa gave a brief review of this, but it was felt more clarification was needed. The ministers will give more tutoring on this in the next month or two.

DISCOVERY CENTER: Matt mentioned that budget timing may be a problem for the Discovery Center; i.e. their budget goes from September to June so that when they submit a budget to the church in November, they may not know what enrollment they will have for the Jan. – June spring session or especially for the Sept. – Dec. fall session. Only a few less students than anticipated will decrease their income by a significant amount.

TEAMS: For the moment all teams seem happy with their number of members. No further discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-12-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of November 4, 2010
Recorder: Elaine Brownell

Attending: Tex Haeuser, Dana Wiggins, Rick Angell, Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell

Review of October Minutes – Approved as read.

Vote to place the following members on inactive list:
The following have moved out of state and have not (yet) requested letters of transfer:
Mark and Kathy Gandolfo; Mitsuko Fowler

ADVENT – (from Elsa’s e-mail) A discussion was held regarding John and Elsa’s desire to make the lighting of the candles during advent a more inclusive and meaningful experience for the entire congregation. Changes being considered include:
1) Installing the candelabra at the beginning of Advent instead of during Christmas week - each week lighting more candles until they are all lit on Christmas Eve.
2) Moving the advent wreath closer to the congregation, perhaps where the baptismal font is, and/or adding another wreath, perhaps in the back of the sanctuary or on the altar.
3)Asking acolytes to bring the light of Christ out of the sanctuary during the last hymn–bringing light closer to the congregation and symbolizing the light of Christ going into the world.

Committee liked the idea of having the candelabra lit from December 19th thru the 26th. Concerns were aired, however, regarding safety during busy services (pageant, etc). The idea of moving the advent wreath closer to the congregation or adding another wreath during advent was also well received. Regarding the “moving of the light” at the end of the service, committee members thought that this would be very effective and meaningful – either carried by the acolytes or perhaps the family lighting the candles during that service. The committee agreed to leave the details to John and Elsa. *

WEBSITE – (Dana) The church’s website will soon be up and running. It was noted that individual websites and e-mails will not be included – only those of the general contact person. Groups are being reminded not to include personal e-mails in the writing of minutes.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES – (Rick) The need for updates regarding emergency procedures was discussed. Those responsible for implementing these procedures, including drills, must be informed and “trained” to respond to an emergency. Further exploration, discussion and communication with Council will follow.

NEW TABLE IN DAVIDSON LOUNGE – (Debbie) Debbie purchased a table for Davidson Lounge from Cherished Possessions to replace the one that is currently in the sanctuary. The cost was $131.00. Debbie will check with Cyndi regarding monies to cover the cost – either from segregated funds or money from 2010 budget.

BUDGET - The 2011 SL & W Budget will remain the same as 2010:
Altar Care and Worship Supplies $400
Confirmation and Membership $700
Devotional Booklets $500
Signing $500
TOTAL $2100

Next Meeting: December 2, 2010
Agenda/Meeting: Elaine
Minutes: Tex

Meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Mission and Outreach

2010-11-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2010
Recorder: Maureen Clancy

Attendance: Sandy Dyer, Co-chair, Sarah Randall, Co-chair, Laurie Carey, Elsa Peters, Mike Kasputes, Kristen Silva, Richard Parker, Maureen Clancy

Opening Meditation - Mike Kasputes provided the opening reflection.

Review Minutes – The September minutes were approved as written.

Treasurer’s Report - Mike Kasputes provided the Treasurer’s report which was approved as written. The quarterly dispersements and One Great Hour of Sharing were included.

Minister’s Moment - Elsa Peters informed the group about the summer retreat plans for the Downeast Coast of Maine with the Maine Coast Mission. Tthere will be room for 50-100 people, teens are welcome, no skills necessary and more to come. A member of Maine Coast Mission will be the guest speaker on Mission Sunday. Elsa also mentioned the next Micah Project - the fall clean up at the Pilgrim Lodge scheduled for October 30.The Pilgrim Lodge is also fundraising for the cost to repair the boardwalk. The Mission Team approved a $400 donation from the discretionary funds.

New Business:
• Laurie reported that the Mission Mall will need gift cards, the Team agreed to $200-250 from the discretionary fund of the budget. Laurie will let Linda know to order the cards.

• Sandy reported that we are short 1 team member. Should we try to recruit or go forward with the existing team? Since we will be losing 4 members in June, the team agreed it would be advisable to seek a new member. Laurie agreed to call Tom and Suzanne Linder to inquire about membership.

• Sarah reported that she met with Greg about a connection with the Fair Trade Coffee and Holy Joe’s. Greg agreed to seek more information and get back to us. Any fundraising effort will need to be cleared through Council before we can proceed. The question was also asked about Maine based efforts to support the troops and if that would be an easier outlet. Elsa will look into. Mike asked if the Maine National Guard had a regular Chaplin and if there might be a fundraising need on this end, Elsa agreed to ask about active duty Chaplains.

• We agreed to hold more discussion on Mission Sunday until the December meeting.

• Sandy inquired about the Maine State Prison Pastoral Fund. This was a group on our list of groups supported but it had been awhile. Jan had agreed to check; we will put this on next month’s agenda.

• Sarah reported that 2 thank you notes were received from Habitat and Iris Network.

• On November 7 Mission will be hosting the coffee hour. We also agreed to host on Jan. 9 and 16 as well. This involves set up at 9 a.m., baking, making coffee, and clean up. We will also sell Fair Trade coffee that day and put out any information we wish to promote. Mike, Sarah, Laurie and Kristen agreed to bring something or bake. Richard will bring cider. Sandy will bring munchkins. Sarah and Sandy agreed to make up a board or display to promote the Mission Trip, to inform on the groups we support, and to ask for feedback on groups members think we should support.

Other Business:
• Laurie reported that Kendra Palmer said she would do the Thanksgiving Baskets again this year. Sandy agreed to follow up with her - her number is 523-9010. We agreed it was OK for Jen to start taking names for baskets.

• We decided to drop Rethinking Christmas for now, without Carol we had lost steam on this idea.

• Recipients of the Christmas Offering would be determined next meeting.

• Mike reported that budget requests will be coming up soon. The team agreed to ask for flat funding.

• Sandy agreed to contact Jenn Hardin and Bob Morse to confirm the Christmas Giving Tree and Mitten Tree projects.

• Maureen agreed to do the Beacon article for the Christmas Offering. That will be due November 15.

Closing – Mike Kasputes provided the closing reflection. The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Next meeting:
Thursday, November 4
Co-chair – Sarah Randall
Meditations – Kristen Silva
Recorder - Richard Parker

Mission and Outreach

2010-11-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of November 4, 2010
Recorder: Richard A. Parker

Attendees: Sarah Randall – Chair, Jan Bosse, Laurie Cary , Mike Kasputes, Suzanne Linder, Richard Parker, Kristen Silvia, Elsa Peters (part time)

OPENING:
Kristen opened the meeting with a reading from Kahlil Gibran on working; Susanne Linder was welcomed as a new member to the team.

OCTOBER MINUTES:
Minutes approved as submitted.

MINISTER’S MOMENT:
SPEAKER FOR MISSION SUNDAY 13 FEB: Scott Planting from the Maine Seacoast Mission. Still to be confirmed.

MICAH PROJECT: Because of too many other commitments, Gretchen has resigned as coordinator. A new coordinator is needed.

HOLY JOE’S CAFÉ: Elsa did not receive a response from the UCC. She is looking elsewhere for information and support.

MAINE SEACOAST MISSION TRIP JULY 24-31, 2011: Elsa distributed information including an estimated budget of $5070 (assuming 20 participants). The two primary items discussed were recruitment of participants and ways to raise money. There are already three definite attendees. The trip will be advertised at next week’s coffee hour and in future bulletins. The Maine Seacoast Mission will also be the focus of Mission Sunday (see above). Other recruitment opportunities will be taken as they present themselves. It was decided that half of the Christmas Offering will be used to defer costs. Additionally, Laura will ask the Administration Team if special offering envelops can be placed in the pews for Mission Sunday and beyond.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
Mike distributed the report. The collections for NIN (Neighbor’s in Need) significantly exceeded last year’s. See Mike’s report for additional information.

OLD BUSINESS:
CHRISTMAS OFFERING: Historically, half of the offering goes for local support and half to support an organization with a global perspective. It was decided that this year’s Christmas offering will be distributed as follows:
- Local Half – to be used to defer the costs of the Mission Trip (see above).
- Global Half – to Common Hope – an organization that supports education and family needs of children is Guatemala. Richard is to send Sarah and Maureen supporting information and contacts so that Maureen can prepare a notice for the bulletin.

COFFEE HOUR: Mission team is the sponsor this coming Sunday.

NEW BUSINESS:
THANK YOUs: Thank you notes were received from Union Theological Seminary, Pilgrim Lodge, Day One, and Preble Street.

2011 BUDGET: Proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 must be submitted in December. After two years of budget cuts, it was decided to propose that the budget be increased to the level it was in 2008 – i.e. $21,000.

POTENTIAL NEW CHARITY - GLSEN - This is an organization that works with homosexual high school students. They have asked if they could be added to our fund distribution list. The decision was deferred until we learn more about this group. Laurie will bring additional information to the December meeting.

REVIEW OF CHARITIES SUPPORTED BY THE CHURCH’S MISSION: The GLSEN discussion raised the need to periodically review and re-qualify the charities and organizations supported by our church. To this end, it was decided that a program to review the organizations on our Outreach List would be put in place by the second quarter of 2011.

CLOSING:
Kristen closed the meeting with a reading from Kahlil Gibran on giving.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-11-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of November 4, 2010

Attendance: Karen Pierce-Souza, Elsa Peters, Jennifer Fetting, Tom Hamerski, Scott Ayre

A. Updates on Team Responsibilities
1) Library and Scholarship: Scott reported that Scholarship is fine; not much happening now, since the real work starts in January. Karen reported that she talked to Kathy and the library is also going well; Kathy is trying to get the library weeded out. She’s open to suggestions regarding new books for purchase. The preference is to use local businesses such as Nonesuch books, which the EGF committee fully supports.

2) Sunday School: Carolyn was unable to attend this meeting and, therefore, there was no Sunday School update.

3) Faith Formation: Elsa sent us her update. One concern she brought up was the teenage Sunday School teaching policy, which is outdated and no longer fully applicable to the church. We, as a committee, voted to overturn the current policy and adopt a new guidline: to allow teenagers (who had been through Confirmation) younger than 16 to be able to teach Sunday School classes.

4) Coffee Hour: Jen reported that coffee hour is going wonderfully well; lots of volunteers and enthusiasm and helpful people this fall. Hopefully this continues all year. I think that much of this is due to all the committees and teams volunteering – really going very well.

5) Nursery: Jen reported that we still need a way of informing the nursery parents who volunteer to help in the nursery that they have to fill out Safe Church background check forms. Jen will post a sign; Scott suggested that there also be handouts with information on who to contact to get the sheets, so we’ll do that too.

6) Growth/hospitality: There was an inquirer’s meeting on Oct 26. Karen and Tom helped out with refreshments and chatting up the inquirers. After talking to some of these inquirers, it sounds like overall the night went really well. The new members are being welcomed into the church on Nov. 7. We need to find a photographer. Since Randall Landry (the usual photographer) isn’t able to be there, Jen will bring her camera and Tom will take the pictures.

B. Other really important stuff
1) 2011 budget requests – we decided on our budget requests; Tom
is entering them into a spreadsheet and sending them in to the powers that be.

2) New team member recruitment – we’re putting this on hold for now, since Scott Ayre has agreed to join the EGF team for a year (whohoo!)

3) Upcoming hospitality things for which we need to split up responsibility,
according to my binder
a. Jesus’ birthday – We need to get in touch with some of the parents
of younger children, people who may be willing to help with setup/cleanup for this event at the 5:00 service on Christmas Eve.

Church Council

2010-11-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of October 21, 2010
Recorder: Peggy Murray

Present: Nancy MacLean, Matt Early, John McCall, Andy Ellis, Bob Morse, Sally Hinckley, Phil Whitney, John Shoos, Carl Murphy, Robin Reinhold, and Peggy Murray
Absent: Carrie Skeffington, Roger Addor

Nancy opened the meeting and Peggy presented a meditation on honoring the saints among us.

John Shoos and Phil Whitney were introduced to the group.

Suzanne Lindner was nominated as a new member for the class of 2013 for Mission Outreach. Motion made by John Shoos and seconded by Bob Morse to accept the nomination. Unanimously approved. Scott Ayer and Tom Hamerski have agreed to join EG&F; Spiritual Life & Worship is still looking for one more member. We will act on these additions at the next meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as presented.

Ministers’ Report:
Elsa sent word that she had nothing to report.
John reported:
• that there were a number of positive comments following the October 10th service framing the Vision* Statement.
• The Web site should go live around November 5th (Friday). There is still a lot of text that needs to be created and posted, and the transition to the new process is taking some time. It does provide much more flexibility and “real time” updating capability. We will be able to upload MP3 recordings of sermons, etc. There will be a comprehensive search engine available. We have contracted with Vanco Systems (recommended by UCC) to support a “donate now” capacity for credit card donations. Chris Keiter will be our new Web Master and Aaron Scifres will be Code Master. We need to look into adding an “opt out of photograph” to our Sunday School registration form since pictures may be posted on the web site. We would not be attaching any names to pictures that are posted on-line. We also need to consider other organizations such as music groups, youth groups, etc. to determine how we obtain permissions.
• John is going to Concord, NH on Sunday, October 31st to preach at the South Parish UCC Church for the start of their 175th Anniversary celebration. Kitty Garlid, Director of Spiritual Services at Maine Medical Center and also a UCC minister, will be preaching here on that date.

Homecoming Sunday Feedback: the delay in starting classes seemed to work well for Church School, although some families were a bit confused, and the delay seemed a bit long. The pressure of preparation for a large fair was an issue in the past, but that has not seemed to bring the results expected. Elsa and John will bring options for dates to the Council next spring.

2011 Budget Committee: Moderator (Matt Early), John McCall, Cyndi Alden, Elsa Peters, Andy Ellis, plus (one additional volunteer is needed). There will be several meetings in November and December, once the Stewardship Campaign is complete, to finalize a proposed budget.

We reviewed the status of the 2010 budget. Pledges are at the level that we expect them to be at this time of year based on past experience. We generally see “catch up” at year end from a predictable number of people.

Nancy circulated a copy of the proposed “Consolidated Church Budget and Financial Reports” that contains the financial information of ancillary entities such as the Holly Daze Bazaar, the Discovery Center, etc. If it is presented as part of the budget package, it will need to be clearly noted that we are voting on the church budget only, and the other financial reports are being presented for information only.

Discovery Center Update: We included a reduced amount of $2500 for rent in the budget this year. There was an understanding that the $5000 was a loan, and that proposed budget assumed they would continue to pay the rent. Gretchen Reynolds is going to forward a copy of the most recent financial statement to Matt. They have two new students with a possible third coming on.

Volunteerism: Nancy asked that we review the “From Stressed to Blessed” document with a focus on the section “Reviewing What Is” and also the “Encouraging Voluntarism and Ministries” document. Phil is going to check with Jen in the office to see what happens with new member interest forms (“Participation Opportunity Sheet”) and how they are routed to appropriate committees, etc.

The Council is responsible for finding or serving as Delegates. The next meeting is the Annual Meeting of Cumberland Association in New Gloucester on Sunday, October 24th from 2:30 – 5:00 p.m. Peggy Murray will attend and she and Bob Morse agreed to work on a list of people who might act as Delegates.

Rick Angell has asked, on behalf of the Ushers, that the emergency procedures be updated since they have not been updated since 1997. Nancy will check with the office to see who will handle that.

Meeting adjourned at 8:29 p.m.

Next Meeting is November 18th.
Phil Whitney will be the opener/recorder.

* - noted correction

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-11-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2010
Recorder: Debbie Riley

Attending: Dana Wiggins, Debbie Riley, Rick Angell, John McCall

Opening Prayer by Dana

Review Of September Minutes - Approved

John McCall:
• Reported that we are off to a good start this church year. There seems to be vitality and energy within the church community. Shirley Curry is trying to breath new life into the children’s choir as there are few members this year.

• Discussed the downturn in attendance at churches during the past 20 years. We are experiencing similar decline, however not as severe as many other churches in our area. Our open and affirming statement has brought many to our doors and affirms our commitment and reputation as a welcoming and comfortable congregation. John gave us an article to read that expands upon this issue.

• Dana mentioned that Elsa is not planning to lead an Advent worship opportunity this year. Elsa is planning to offer a Prayer Practice series of meeting in place of this

• The committee approved an expenditure for bibles to be purchased for this year.

• On-line registration for church school went very well this year. An all out effort is being made to update and expand the email addresses of our members.

• Homecoming Sunday went well, but many felt that the late start to the year felt too late and that we might want to return to the First Sunday after Labor Day next year!

• World Communion Sunday went well also. SL&W forgot about out responsibility to serve coffee. Thanks to Dana for shopping and pulling together a wonderful array of goodies at the last minute.

• Reminder - Friendship Sunday is November 21st.

Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-11-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2010

Attendance: Karen Pierce-Souza, Elsa Peters, Jennifer Fetting, Scott Ayer, Tom Hamerski

I. Agenda
A. Updates on Team Responsibilities:
1) Karen updated us on Library and Scholarship. In both cases, things are good and nothing needed for now.
2) Carolyn was unable to attend tonight’s meeting, so we didn’t get an update on the Sunday School, but at least one Sunday School teacher seems to think it’s going well.
3) Elsa gave us her Faith Formation update. We voted on choices for the children’s offering
a. Camp Sunshine
b. Winter Kids
c. Pilgrim Lodge
4) Jen reported that Coffee Hour is going shockingly, amazingly well. People and groups are being wonderful about volunteering and that is great. We’re filled up through Christmas!

B. Other items:
1) Homecoming Sunday
a. None of us had heard any feedback from other people re: the new setup, other than people liked the coffee hour that day.
b. EFG committee liked it better
c. Not sure how it will work next year
2) Nursery – We need those parents who volunteer to help downstairs to do background checks for Safe Church. There is no such list, however, so we need to figure out a good way of identifying these parents and getting the necessary forms to them.
3) Two potential new members of the EFG team visited today, Tom Hamerski and Scott Ayer. Tom is on board (whohoo!) and Scott is thinking about whether he has time and will let us know.

Music Committee

2010-11-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of September 30, 2010

Present: Shirley Curry, Kim Early, Anna O’Connor, Sheryl Kieran, and Peg Carmichael

1. Reviewed and accepted September 9 minutes.

2. Updates:
• Folders - $260. was spent from the special music fund to purchase new black folders for sheet music. The folders have arrived!
• Chairs – Shirley will be meeting with Guy Gledhill to discuss the chairs in the choir room. Shirley will seek Guy’s advice on topics like attaining funds and whether to replace all the chairs at once or in increments.
• Robe Repair – Trudi will be contacting Shirley regarding the Children’s Choir robe repairs.

3. For the 2011 proposed budget, Shirley recommended cutting the Piano Maintenance line from $800. to $600. and the Instruments for Special Occasions line from $700. to $400. for a total reduction of $500. If it is determined that we need a new line for Chair Repair, we will request $500.
for that line. The Hymn License Fee needs to go up from $230. to $245. as
the fee has gone up. Removing the Child Care line was also discussed.

4. Christmas Vespers will be held on December 12th from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The committee agreed to volunteer to do/bring the following:
• Request table set-up – Kim
• Tablecloths and Paper Products – Sheryl
• Centerpiece - Anna
• Hot Cider – Kim, Peg, Anna
• Tea and Half & Half – Anna
• Cookies – Kim, Anna, Sheryl, Peg

5. Other business:
• Shirley sent out a letter to all eligible children about the Children’s Choir.
• Anna will wash and iron the Bell Ringer’s cloth.
• Peg will wash the piano cover from the choir room.

The next meeting is set for December 2nd.

Education, Growth and Fellowship

2010-10-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2010

Attendance: Karen Pierce-Souza, Elsa Peters, Jennifer Fetting, Scott Ayer, Tom Hamerski

I. Agenda
A. Updates on Team Responsibilities:
1) Karen updated us on Library and Scholarship. In both cases, things are good and nothing needed for now.
2) Carolyn was unable to attend tonight’s meeting, so we didn’t get an update on the Sunday School, but at least one Sunday School teacher seems to think it’s going well.
3) Elsa gave us her Faith Formation update. We voted on choices for the children’s offering
a. Camp Sunshine
b. Winter Kids
c. Pilgrim Lodge
4) Jen reported that Coffee Hour is going shockingly, amazingly well. People and groups are being wonderful about volunteering and that is great. We’re filled up through Christmas!

B. Other items:
1) Homecoming Sunday
a. None of us had heard any feedback from other people re: the new setup, other than people liked the coffee hour that day.
b. EFG committee liked it better.
c. Not sure how it will work next year.
2) Nursery – We need those parents who volunteer to help downstairs to do background checks for Safe Church. There is no such list, however, so we need to figure out a good way of identifying these parents and getting the necessary forms to them.
3) Two potential new members of the EFG team visited today, Tom Hamerski and Scott Ayer. Tom is on board (whohoo!) and Scott is thinking about whether he has time and will let us know.

Diversity Committee

2010-10-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of October 17, 2010

PRESENT: Joan Carrier, Dolores Broberg, Pam Hermann, Kathy Cotter, Connie Baskett, Deb Theriault, and John McCall.

Deb opened the meeting with a prayer by Mother Theresa.

OLD BUSINESS:
We began the meeting with a recap of the Pride Parade in June. Joan and Deb both attended as well as Mike Kasputes, Carol Scheffler, Steve Ferris, Ed & Jill Saxby, and Elsa, and all marched behind the banner in the parade. As always, we were well received. Deb was interviewed by Channel 6 and was on TV. Joan noted that she heard a parade attendee shout out “tell God that” when he read our banner about God’s inclusive love. We were all glad that we participated and continue to have a presence at this important Pride event.

RCAD - John brought us up-to-date on the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination. John & Andrea and Elsa are all members (Elsa is on the Board). The committee formed (initiated by the Maine Civil Liberties Union) during the campaign for gay marriage and has been funded for another year. Hopefully the group will continue to do their important work if the funding ends.

“A Fish Out of Water” - This well-done film challenges common passages from the Bible used to condemn homosexuality. It was recently shown at St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church; unfortunately, none at the meeting today were able to attend. Deb has seen it and shared it with Elsa, and it is the hope of RCAD to show it in areas such as Lewiston/Auburn and York County. Elsa will keep us informed about this.

John's Report - John brought us up to date on the closing of Williston-West UCC. The congregation has joined with the folks at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Portland (who has welcomed gays and lesbians for sometime and been “censured” by their denomination). It seems to be a good fit, and it is hoped that they will continue to grow.

NEW BUSINESS:
Deb mentioned in light of the recent suicides by several young people who were gay or perceived to be gay that we should try to support GLSEN as much as we can. Joan reminded us that GLSEN does have a table at the Mission Mall during the Holly Daze Bazaar, and Deb will contact Laurie Cary to see if they are in the Mission budget. We also need to make sure we support the ONA Coalition, which is the part of the UCC that helps churches on their journey to becoming Open & Affirming.

Diversity Sunday 2011 - Diversity Sunday will fall on January 16th (MLK, Jr. weekend Sunday as usual). John said he has heard there will not be an MLK, Jr. Breakfast that has historically been put on by the NAACP in Portland and instead there may be an invocation held on Sunday evening, January 16th.

We all tossed around ideas for the service. Elsa had just preached on “Coming Out”, and Dolores felt that we all hide behind masks sometimes and perhaps this would be a good topic. It then turned to the idea of each person’s uniqueness being celebrated, the idea that no two of us in the whole world is exactly alike. (like snowflakes! ) Another important theme was “being fully present” when we listen to someone. Pam shared a story of someone with early Alzheimer’s being forgetful and people seemingly bothered by it, but had they known this person’s “story” they would’ve been more compassionate. John suggested perhaps we have a series of vignettes telling people’s stories such as this one.

It was decided we would have a sub-committee meet with John to give this idea more shape and shake out the best parts of it all. Dolores, Pam, and Connie all agreed to be on the sub-committee. Once the minutes are shared with those not present at the meeting, if any of them wants to be on the sub-committee they are welcome to join. Members can email the committee to let us know of their interest. Once the ideas are discussed and whittled down to a workable topic, everyone will get their part to work on for the service in January.

The next meeting will be determined after the sub-committee meets, and Deb will also find out from Shirley when extra choir rehearsals for Christmas are set to begin so we’ll know when the best time for everyone will be.

Deb closed with a reading of some words of Anne Frank.

Respectfully submitted,
Deb Theriault

Administration Team

2010-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of October 7, 2010

Present: Ron Bennett, Deb Sandler, Jim Otis, Rod Redstone, Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Jim called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

Minutes of the Admin Team Sept. 9, 2010 meeting: reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget: Financial results through October 7 were reviewed. The year is 77% complete. Revenues stand at 72% of the year’s budget.

Expenses are about 79% of the year’s budget. Overall, actual income and expenses vs. the budget appear reasonable. The actual loss was $(57,244) vs. a budgeted loss of $(27,289). The financial report was unanimously accepted. Cyndi agreed to: (1) cutting off statements on the last day of the month and (2) quarterly summaries of major maintenance work item expenditures. A discussion regarding the audit cost vs. budget was held and it was determined that it was higher than budget due to Discovery Center inclusion and to a mistake on the budgeted amount. Cyndi will get the Discovery Center cost broken out by end of November.

Tenant Update: Cyndi contacted the tenant at 509 Sawyer Street house via e-mail to ask about increasing rent to $900/month on Jan 1 but did not receive a response. Cyndi will contact the tenant again and get a response. The committee discussed and agreed that there should be an annual inspection of the house. There is also the issue of the dog. Cyndi will contact Pam Howard about the status of the dog and will brief the committee at the next meeting. The downstairs commercial space at 331 Cottage Road is still vacant. Jim will contact Roxanne Cole regarding the property. In the next lease a clause will be inserted to have the lease automatically renew with a 3.5% increase unless 30 days notice is given.

Chancel Railing: This item is complete and will be removed from next month’s agenda.

Church Signage and Rummage Storage: Guy will contact Dave regarding the signage.

Church insurance renewals and possible agent review: Ron will contact Scott Stacy and see if Scott would like to attend the next administration meeting in order to discuss review of Church Insurance. We may also want Pension/Health reviewed as part of the process.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting: We have a very responsive group of counters right now. We have established a process of scheduling on a quarterly basis that seems to be working well. We only had one "missed" Sunday over the summer and the ushers handled that by locking the plates up and it was taken care of on Monday. Generally counters only need to serve 5 times a year or so and they are doing a great job covering for each other if conflicts come up.

House: Maintenance on the balcony ceiling will be delayed until after the winter to ensure that there will not be any more leaks from the roof and steeple.

Planned Giving: Ron will do another article in the Beacon before the end of the year.

Fuel Oil Strategy: Guy reported that he could get fuel oil for .10 over rack price from Frederick Brothers. The administration team believes that we should continue to wait until the market stabilizes. We will review four vendors for fuel and maintenance, Frederick Brothers, Giroux, Webber and Dead River. The House committee will be asked to put fuel conversion onto their agenda.

Homecoming Sunday, Sept. 19: The council voted to change the day's events so there was no need for us to be present with a formal table display and sign-up.

A Team Member Replacements: Ron and Chris will be off the team next June and we have to provide for new replacement members. We have not yet come up with an overall replacement strategy.

NEW BUSINESS:
Web Site: There was a discussion at Eskimos that they might not be mentioned in the new web site. Jim contacted Chris Keiter after our meeting and he said that the Eskimos as well as other church groups are in the new web site and there will be contact info.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 8:23 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Rod Redstone

Mission and Outreach Team

2010-10-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 2, 2010
Recorder: Laurie Cary

Members present: Sarah Randall, Sandy Dyer, Laurie Cary, Kristen Silvia, Jan Bosse, Maureen Clancy and Associate Minister Elsa Peters.
Members absent: Mike Kasputes, Richard Parker and Kendra Palmer.

Kendra Palmer met with Laurie Cary prior to the meeting to resign from the Team as she has found new employment out of the Portland area and will not be able to attend the meetings. She will be able to lead the Thanksgiving Day Baskets project this year, however. We’re sorry to lose her on the Team but wish her well in her new job.

Meeting begins: 7:10 p.m. with Sarah leading the meeting.

Sandy Dyer led the opening reading with a prayer on the spirit of giving by William Sloan Coffin.

Roundtable introductions were made followed by sharing of special times during the summer.

Homecoming Sunday is September 19, 2010. Mission Outreach had decided in the spring that we would not have a booth this year, and would instead volunteer a couple of Sundays to serve coffee hour and share our projects with other parishioners and invite their involvement.

Treasurer’s Report: None as Mike Kasputes is absent due to illness.

Minister’s Moment: In recognition of Labor Day, Elsa invited Christopher Teret from the Southern Maine Labor Council to speak as part of her sermon on September 5th.

Gretchen Reynolds is trying to line up a Micah Project for the month of October. Our Youth Group will be going to Pilgrim Lodge on Saturday October 30th to help with the end-of-summer clean up.

A Mission Trip is scheduled for July 24–July 30, 2011 to Downeast Maine to work with the Maine Seacoast Mission. There is not fee for lodging or food, except a request for money for supplies. Elsa hopes to have at least ten volunteers for painting and other work depending on the skill level of the volunteers.

The following Thank You notes were received since the last meeting:
• South Portland Cape Elizabeth Emergency Food Pantry
• Gwen Moore – Children of China fund
• The Center for Grieving Children
• Andover Newton Theological School
• Protestant Hospital Ministry
• United Church Christ – Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund
• Shalom House
• Serenity House
• Oxfam of America
• Preble Street

Special Offerings: Neighbors in Need will be received on Sunday, October 3rd. Laurie is preparing the articles for the Beacon and will contact Betty Deschenes with the date to place the envelopes in the pews.

Mission Sunday: will be held Sunday, February 13, 2011. Several themes were discussed; a decision will be made at the October meeting, along with a planning schedule.

Sarah Randall re: Holy Joe’s Café – this program provides UCC Exchange coffee to our troops in the Middle East. Discuss further at October meeting.

Quarterly Disbursements: $500.00 each for a total of $3,500.00 to the following Maine non-profits:
• Union Theological Seminary
• Preble Street Lighthouse Shelter
• Day One
• Equality Maine
• Habitat for Humanity
• Iris Network
• Pilgrim Lodge

Jan Bosse volunteered to check on Maine State Prison Pastoral Fund, a Maine Special Support that we have not allocated funds to in several years.

Long Creek Birthday Cakes: Maureen states that she has been approached by Long Creek contact Emmy Brown. Ms. Brown is trying to determine how many churches donate birthday cakes to Long Creek to be sure all cottages receive one. Our cake goes to Spruce House, which is a boy’s cottage.

Sandy closed the meeting with a rereading of William Sloan Coffin’s prayer.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Growth Group

2010-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 10/4/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Elinor Redmond, Sue Ross, Dave Allen, John McCall. We send our apologies to Stan for needing to schedule the meeting without him. Every member is important and we look forward to seeing him at the next meeting.

Dave will ask different members to provide the opening for each meeting. He opened the meeting with a prayer.

Dave sent out the following documents before the meeting: Growth Group Ideas (a table listing activities spotlighted at the last meeting), Friendship Sunday Ideas, and 2 versions of the Welcome brochure. We followed the Growth Group Ideas table along with the meeting agenda.

1. Friendship Sunday: John said we have not had a designated ‘Bring a friend to church Sunday’ in 3 years. We need several rounds of notice in the Beacon and a postcard as a tangible reminder for people to take with them from worship. We agreed to go ahead with planning for Sunday, November 21st. Tasks were divided as follows:
• Rick will announce the event during a hospitality moment on Sunday, Nov. 7
• Elinor will create a written invitation (postcard) for people to mail to a friend.
• Elinor will write the Beacon article
• Sue will talk with EF&G about the Growth Group’s hosting the coffee hour.
• John will plan the sermon with a theme around friendship/making people feel welcome. He may include a way for the congregation to actively participate in the service.
• Mandy Shumaker will be giving the children’s story. Dave will ask her to use a friendship theme.
• John will call Robin invite if the Joyful Noise to sing.
• Sue will talk with Elsa about having the Sunday School groups make posters for the church

2. Invitation to Worship in Thanksgiving baskets: Dave will contact missions and he will create the invitation.

3. Article for Beacon on hospitality: Elinor is working on it.

4. Verbal invitation to groups using building: John will contact AA and Al Anon to ask whether there is a time to visit them with the invitation.

5. Handwritten notes for newcomers: These notes would be mailed to first-time guests. They would be identified by their names on the friendship pads. We focused on process. If we have a generic note, does it matter if the address is in different handwriting? We discussed enrolling a group to write the notes. The church would supply paper, stamps and the text for the note. Rick will talk with Darla about whether the Prayer Shawl group would be willing to take on this project.

6. Bookmark: Dave will work on the bookmark. ‘Keep it simple’

7. Ushers: Rick has scheduled a meeting for Sunday, November 7th. Topics include demeanor, posting (where ushers stand), seating particularly welcoming people near newcomers. Rick wants to provide a handout to remind ushers of the points discussed. Sue suggested keeping a copy with the carnations. Also, Rick will e-mail the points to each team on the week of its turn.

8. Welcome Brochure: We looked at the 2 versions of the brochure. We did not have the most recent version from our group and Elsa had based her version on the ‘older’ text provided. We agreed we need to have the Mission segment inside the brochure. John will work on the Open and Affirming text. He wants it to more precisely follow the wording voted upon by the congregation. The group preferred using the more traditional headings (‘worship’, ‘music’, etc.). We decided to keep it simple and not use any photos. The UCC was formed in 1957. Dave will work with Bryan Wiggins to bring together the ideas.

9. Church Signage: Dave is working with the A-Team.

10. Building Tours: Rick will give tours to new people as requested.

11. Hospitality Moments: Dave had prepared a list of ideas for hospitality moments. He will speak on October 17th and ask the congregation what Hospitality means to them. Rick will be providing the moment on Nov. 7th when he announces Friendship Sunday. We hope Stan will agree to appear in December.

Next meeting: Monday, November 8th.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Agenda items for next meeting:
Friendship Sunday
Welcome brochure
Walk down ‘Growth Group Ideas’
Elinor will do the opening

Growth Group

2010-09-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 9/20/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Elinor Redmond, Sue Ross, Dave Allen
Several members checked in at the start of the meeting. We are very sorry that Kendra has moved and will miss her valuable insights.

Review of minutes: We used the minutes of the June meeting to remind us of what we hope to accomplish: 1. growth through more people worshipping and 2. welcoming all who come. The challenge for our small group is to determine how many people can work on each project, to accomplish tasks outside of meetings and to focus on a few things that we think will be of most value.

1. More people worshipping (Question for John - what do we do now to advertise and attract?) Our discussion ranged freely and touched on points made in past discussions.
• Elinor suggested holding church suppers for the community. Dave questioned whether that would be a fundraiser? Most likely it would be an event which would pay for itself. The group felt it would be a lot of effort with an unsure return.
• Put invitations to worship in the Thanksgiving food baskets. Putting invitations in the food pantry baskets was declined by the food pantry team Dave will contact the mission team.
• Elinor will write an article about hospitality for the Beacon. Rick will send her his article from last year. We will solicit the congregation for their ideas on how to draw people to our church.
• Elinor demonstrated the type of talk (invitation to worship) which might be given to groups such as AA that meet at our church. Consensus was that would be a good and easy action to take.
• Rick is offering tours of the building.
• Sue spoke about a family night at another church. It was an event focused on activities/entertainment for children such as a comedian.
• Friends Sunday. This concept generated a lot of enthusiasm and ideas. It is simple and achievable. It could start with a ‘hospitality moment’ during worship. We suggest (these ideas need approval from John) targeting Thanksgiving Sunday (Nov. 21st), as has been done in the past. We will have several notices and announcements. We will generate a written invitation which worshippers can use to invite a friend (or 5). The Sunday School can make posters to hang about the building. ‘Friends’ can be the focus of the service. The Growth Group can sponsor the coffee hour.

2. Making people feel welcome (what we do now): We looked at the list of favorite ideas from other churches which we generated on May 10th:
• Street signs: Rick found we would need to take an example of our suggested sign to the SP City Council and say why we feel we need signage. The group decided that our church has good visibility and signage is not needed at this time.
• We looked at the hand-written welcome note Dave received during his visit to the Falmouth Congregational Church. We could solicit volunteers with good handwriting to pen the notes and mail them to newcomers (or provide in the Narthex). Consensus was to do this
• We looked at the simple bookmark provided by the same church. We could put one in every hymnal as well as offer it to newcomers. It is a simple, tangible way to get our contact information into people’s hands. We should include our new church vision. Consensus was to take this on.
• Rick plans to meet again with the ushers, focusing on friendly demeanor and providing an usher at the entrance near the pulpit. Sue said she ushered at the spot and was met with enthusiasm. Dave offered to work with Rick on the agenda/message to the ushers.
• Church welcome documents: Sue and Elinor met over the summer. The group is very happy with the progress she made on a new welcome bulletin. We should include the new church vision on the pamphlet. Dave will forward the vision wording to the group. We had a few suggestions such as including more specifics about Mission Outreach (Dave will draft a summary). Dave will ask Dana or Brian Wiggins to look over the document for graphic advice. Susan will send Dave an electronic copy of the wording once she has made changes resulting from our discussion. We foresee its being offered to visitors by being placed in pew racks, etc. We will find out what approval is needed.

Next meeting: possibly October 4 or 6. Dave will do an e-mail to find out the best date.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Church Council

2010-09-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 16, 2010
Recorder: Carrie Skeffington

Present: Andy Ellis, Sally Hinckley, Nancy MacLean, Roger Addor, Bob Morse, Carrie Skeffington, Matt Early, Peggy Murray, Robin Reinhold, Carl Murphy, John McCall, Elsa Peters
Excused Absent: Phil Whitney, John Shoos

Nancy opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Carrie shared some reflections from Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The minutes from June’s meeting were accepted.

• There are contact sheets with the calendar of the year available for all members, along with copies of the bylaws and church budget.
• We introduced ourselves to each other and shared our occupations/skills.
• John spoke about our Safe Church Policy. Frank Knowles will make a presentation during Sunday’s worship service.
• There is feedback that members of the congregation don’t always read the on-line Beacon. Question for future discussion: How do we best communicate to our congregation?
• Gretchen Reynolds and Scott Berry, members of the board of the Discovery Center, joined us for a discussion of the budget situation of the Discovery Center. Currently there are three employees: director, teacher, and floater. Due to low enrollment, the schedule has been modified to a 3-day week. Director’s salaries will be reduced by 25% starting in January with an additional decrease for the school year of 2011. They are requesting a $5000 loan from the church, which would help them meet expenses for the current school year. We agreed to provide a $5000 loan from the unrestricted funds of the church, and requested that the Discovery Center Board provide quarterly updates and a year-end review in June.
• The church received a donation Of $1,000 from the Nancy Wynne Estate. We agreed toaccept the gift and the money will go into the undesignated invested funds.
• Homecoming Sunday is this Sunday, September 19th. Fellowship time is in Wright Pavilion.
• Our vision statement was sent to the teams and has been in the Beacon. There was a suggestion to make the vision statement the theme of a church service: FCCUCC – A Christian Family: Loving, Welcoming, Serving. We will put the vision statement in the bulletin and again in the Beacon.
• The new web page should be up and running the first of November.
• Team vacancies: SL & W: 1 vacancy; EF & G: 3 vacancies (there are 2 possible candidates.) Stewardship has gained new members since June.
• Nancy read a thank you note for the Pilgrim Lodge camperships given to one family.
• Nancy has agreed to continue as moderator and Matt will be vice moderator of the council.
• Topic for future discussion: volunteerism and the tasks assigned to each of the teams. Nancy will get copies of the document to us for a future meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m.

Next meeting: October 21, 2010
Recorder and Devotions: Peggy Murray

Administration Team

2010-09-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 9, 2010

Present: Ron Bennett, Deb Sandler, Jim Otis, and Rod Redstone. Excused: Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Ron called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Jim agreed to record this meeting and run the next meeting in October. Rod volunteered to do this the next time.

Minutes of the Admin Team June 3, 2010 Meeting: reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget: Financial results through September 9 were reviewed. The year is 69% complete. Revenues stand at 65% of the year’s budget. Highlights include the Per Capita Contributions at 179% of the year’s budget, lower net rental income due to vacant commercial space and less than market residential rent, and lower pledge receipts (normal for this time of year).
Expenses are about 73% of the year’s budget. This probably is due to the possibility that the Sept. 9 statement includes payroll for more than the 9 days and that the annuity and insurance has been paid for the entire year.
Overall, actual income and expenses vs. the budget appear reasonable. The actual loss was $(49,612) vs. a budgeted loss of $(27,289). The financial report was unanimously accepted.
Discussion items with Cyndi next month are: (1) cutting off statements on the last day of the month and understanding when payroll is paid; (2) quarterly summaries of major maintenance work item expenditures; and (3) higher actual audit costs.

Tenant Update: The tenant at 509 Sawyer Street house is now paying $800 per month (up from $700). In order to provide a long notice, we would like Cyndi to contact the tenant before the October meeting to see if increases are possible to $900 at 1/1/11 and $1,000 at 7/1/11 (this is estimated to be the full market rent). The upstairs tenant at 331 Cottage Road is paying $750 per month for this newly renovated space. The downstairs commercial space at 331 Cottage Road is still vacant and we have had only one inquiry. We need to discuss more aggressive marketing with Guy at the next meeting. We also discussed our standard lease and thought that an automatic renewal (unless either party gives an advance 60 day notice, etc.) with an inflation increase should be considered with the next tenant.

Chancel Railing: We tabled this until next meeting when there are more members present. An article was inserted in a Beacon last June describing the railing and requesting additional contributions. No response to date as far as we know.

Church Signage and Rummage Storage: Guy noted last June that there was available storage area in the basement at 331 Cottage Road that could be used for storing rummage items. Guy was going to contact the first floor (commercial) tenant for approval, but that is not needed now since the tenant moved out. The church basement is now being used for rummage sale storage. We tabled this so we can get an update on rummage storage and signage from Guy at the next meeting.

Church insurance renewals and possible agent review: Ron has discussed possible roles with the agent who nicely offered to help in any way. Roles could include being an advisor/consultant or an agent making a bid. We tabled this so we could discuss this at the next meeting when Cyndi and other A Team members are present.

COMMITEE REPORTS:
Counting: No formal report. We are not sure who is the new coordinator/chair for the 2010-2011 year. Jim will contact the Counting Committee and get an update.

House: Deb reported the following:
• The House Committee (HC) met last Tuesday to vote on awarding the 2nd half of the contract to complete the steeple job to Mid Maine Restoration (MMR)(steeplejacks). In June, the HC, after receiving 4 bids, awarded the contract toMMR to inspect the steeple and assess what work was needed to be done to repair the leaking that has caused substantial staining in the balcony ceiling. Last month company personnel went up on the steeple with Tom to do that inspection. Highlights included very complex issues such as poor flashing and caulking around the urns, caulking at the base of the copper steeple, reproofing the cake tiers, rebuilding the 4 louvers and replacing the bottom “quoins” above the roof. The gutter system seems to be working OK. The HC voted on a selected list of work items totaling $17,222 that they feel will correct the leaking problem. Not included in this was the cost for the 2nd day of evaluation and the removal of staging (estimated $4,000), so the total cost will be about $21,000 (Cyndi later told us that the final amount paid to MMR was $20,385). Deb will also check on the contractor warranty/guarantees with the HC.

• The next issues on the HC agenda include having the balcony ceiling fixed and repainted and also painting the sanctuary.

Planned Giving: Ron will do another article in the Beacon before the end of the year.

NEW BUSINESS:
• Homecoming Sunday, Sept. 19: We haven’t heard about any program and we’ll listen for an update this Sunday.

• Fuel Oil Strategy: There are apparently large surpluses of gas and oil on hand right now. However, there are many factors that affect the price, which could stabilize soon. We agreed that we would lock in at $2.35 if the opportunity presented itself before Sept. 30. We also agreed that it is OK to wait longer to watch the market and to consider not even having a contract through the heating season.

• A Team Member Replacements: Ron and Chris will be off the team next June and we have to provide for new replacement members. We need to think of recruiting strategies.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 8:34 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Otis

Food Pantry

2010-09-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 17, 2010

Present: Gail Dransfield, Barbara Merrill, AnnElissa Leveque, Cyndi Alden, Judy Hardy, Janice Files.

Balance: $4,642.12

Requests: May 10 – August 10, 2010
Families / 101 – Adults / 191 – Children / 152

Old Business:
• Newark’s Restaurant brought in cans of food from their can for lobster promo. Healthy Food gave us a mini grant of $500.00. We had donations from Cape Lions, People’s Methodist Bible School, Spurwink School, and a couple of others that I am afraid I didn’t get.

New Business:
• It seems like we jumped over old business & went right to new. We discussed putting notes in our outgoing bags to tell people to call if they want a Thanksgiving basket. It was decided not to do that unless we get the go ahead from the Mission Board.

• CALL IN ON DUTY DAY BY 9:00 TO TELL JEN OR CYNDI YOU ARE ON. IF YOU NEED A SUB, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND ONE AND THEN CALL THE CHURCH & LET THEM KNOW YOU HAVE CALLED IN A SUB & WHO IT IS.

• We are calling our pantry list to see if everyone is still interested in doing the pantry. We have FRANCIS JANE on for MON. - - CYNDI for TUES. - - BERT for WED. - - PRUDY for THURS. - - & JANICE for FRI.

• Gail will contact Betty Crane to see if she is still going to help fill the recipe bags with her. Natalie Charles will be asked to do shopping, Mary Ann McGreehan, Sandy Dyer & Barbara Merrill are subs. Barbara Merrill will do gift card for food & Judy Hardy will do the gift cards for cash donations. Cyndi will chair our meetings from now on.

• We have long term approval from the Council to sell our not so usual food that we collect, after church. (Sorry, but don’t know what to call some of it.) Council says absolutely not outdated food. There is a box in the pantry to put outdated food and it is there for the taking. Otherwise it will have to be thrown away.

• IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU MAKE A NOTATION ON THE FOOD PANTRY CARD, DESK TABLET AND TELL JEN AND CYNDI WHEN A PERSON DOES NOT PICK UP THEIR FOOD AND IT IS RETURNED TO GENERAL STOCK. If you don’t it may make them ineligible if they would call again in a 2 month period.

Our next meeting will be Jan. 13, 2011 at 4:00 in the Laity Room. We hope we have a good turn out.

Respectfully Submitted,
Janice Files

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-09-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 2, 2010

Attendance: Carolyn Foster, Karen Pierce-Souza, Elsa Peters, Jennifer Fetting

Agenda

A. Updates on Team Responsibilities

Karen: Library and Scholarship
1) Karen talked to Kathy (& Deb?)
2) They are weeding out the old books to sell at the Rummage Sale.

Carolyn: Sunday School
1) teachers needed! At the time of the meeting, 1 person signed up for next semester, no one for 5,6,7,8, no backups.
2) Carolyn and Elsa are making calls.
3) Meeting for Sunday School teachers on 9/13 at 6:30 p.m.
4) Curriculum online.
5) Carolyn is still working on the closet, she needs help.
6) C. has an excellent idea: teachers keep plastic boxes o’ supplies in each room. Big plastic tub for returning supplies, that will be put away by grown-ups who will keep things tidy.

Elsa: Faith Formation
1) Elsa had sent us her update via email.

Jen: Coffee Hour/Lemonade
1) Lemonade on the porch seemed to go okay, except the one week when Tom wasn’t around and no one had set things up and no one had volunteered and people got surprisingly upset. Let’s not re-create that.
2) Jen is meeting w/ Jana to get list of people willing to help.
3) Sign-up sheet on easel at coffee hour.
4) Can I get a blurb thingy asking for volunteers in the bulletin or in the Beacon? Or maybe not asking, maybe just letting people know we are looking for volunteers? Just as a way of reaching people who are 1) regular churchgoers and 2) not already on my list and 3) willing to help.
5) Jen is going to email committee heads offering them and their teams (also small group heads) the opportunity to host coffee hour and share their awesomeness with the church.

B. Other really important stuff
1) Homecoming Sunday
a. It is on the September 19th.
i. Concurrent with the Sunday School open house.
b. What are we going to do?
i. After a long but entertaining digression with the SL&W team (nice to meet them), we decided to skip the Guptill Hall thing with each group having tables.
ii. Instead, we’re doing a more-elaborate coffee hour in Wright Pavilion.
iii. People can get their coffee and goodies before/during/after bringing their kids up to meet the teachers.
iv. Trying to get people to bring things by signing up at coffee hour/ making calls.

2) Recruiting new team members
a. Nursery person?
i. We need someone to help Deanna.
ii. This is a pretty sensitive situation.
iii. New update since the meeting: Stephanie Cooke has written up a little thingy for the nursery parents for this weekend so that they can understand that there is a volunteer aspect, as an assistant to Deanna.
b. Ideas/ phone calls/ suggestions.
i. C, K, and J split Elsa’s list of suggestions up among themselves and will be making calls. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.
ii. Otherwise, we’ll need to do more brainstorming.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-09-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 2, 2010

Attending: Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, Debbie Riley, Frank Arsenault and Rick Angell (excused: Tex Haeuser and John McCall)

Opening Prayer – by Dana.

Review of June Minutes - approved as written.

Homecoming:
• On Sunday September 19
• Sunday School Open House will be at 11:30 for children and parents to find their classes, meet the teachers and ask questions about the curriculum.
• All church school registration will be online this year- with Teachers Orientation on Sept. 13.
• EF&G will host an extra special coffee hour in the Wright Pavilion.
• SL&W met with the EF&G committee (Jennifer Fetting, Carolyn Foster and Karen Pierce Souza) to work on plans for the traditional homecoming fair, how many tables and where they will be placed – but after hearing of the church school open house, we thought sign up tables would not be necessary as the parents will be upstairs primarily.
• In lieu of a table we will host the coffee hour in Wright Pavilion on Sunday, October 10
to tell about our groups and encourage sign-up volunteers.
Dick will communicate our coffee hour hosting date of Oct 10 to the point person of EF&G.

Update on Usher Team:
• Team C has confirmed Zachary Culver as new point person for Team C starting October

Beacon Concern: Are enough people reading the Beacon?
• SL&W asks if we read the Beacon as much now as when it was delivered to our homes - the answer was "No" from all present- none like to take the time to read longer documents when going through email volume.
• We'd like to direct this question to the Council to hear their opinion.
• We suggest a simple survey of our congregation to find when/how to make reading it more accessible. Would we benefit by a re-choice offered to members?
• If it were decided that the printed version gets read more often and if we would like to offset costs, it was discussed that businesses from our referral directory could purchase ad space.

Front Sign:
• After checking on the sign in front of the church on Cottage Road, we know that we need a flexible, double-sided, 2.5' X 6' grommeted vinyl sign with scoop cuts to allow wind to move through.
• Debbie Riley and Bryan Wiggins will get prices for comparison.

Acolytes:
Sandy Hansen would like the office to mail letters to the 3rd and 4th graders as a reminder that they can sign up to be an acolyte. She will schedule a date for training the new recruits.

Next Meeting: October 7, 7:00 p.m.

Team Leadership:
•Agendas: Dana/October, Frank/ November, Elaine/December, Debbie/January, Tex/February, Rick/March, Dana/April, Frank/May, Elaine/June
• Minutes: Frank/October, Elaine/November, Debbie/December, Tex/January, Rick/February, Dana/March, Frank/ April, Elaine/May, Rick/June
• Opening Prayer: Elaine/October, Debbie/November, Tex/ December, Rick/January, Dana/February, Frank/March, Elaine/April, Debbie/ May, Tex/June

Adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dana Wiggins

Music Committee

2010-09-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of September 9, 2010

Present: Shirley Curry, Kim Early, Sheryl Kieran, and Peg Carmichael

1. Reviewed and accepted May minutes.

2. Shirley reported that not all groups are having a table at this year’s Homecoming. The committee determined that we host a table in order to get the names and contact information of people who are interested in taking part in the music program in some way. Shirley shared that she rarely gets any new people through this method. The committee then decided not host a table this year.

3. The meetings of the Music Committee for the 2010-2011 year were set as follows:
September 30th
December 2nd
March 3rd
April 7th
May 5th (if needed)
We will continue to meet at 7:00 p.m. in Shirley’s office.

4. Other business:
In May, Shirley requested money from segregated account 3010 to purchase 35 black folders at ~$6.40 a piece. The Committee approved the request. Shirley will order the folders soon.

Shirley will talk with Guy Gledhill regarding replacing the chairs in the Choir Room Kitchen.

Shirley expressed concern over the number of children participating in the Children’s Choir.

The next meeting is set for September 30th.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-09-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 3, 2010

Attending: John McCall, Dana Wiggins, Rick Angell, Elaine Brownell, Debbie Riley, Betsy Keiter, and Tex Haeuser

May Minutes: Reviewed and approved as corrected.

Opening Prayer: Offered by Tex

Minister's Time:
John and Elsa will be offering a sermon series throughout the Summer, June 27- August 20, titled “First Followers”.

In the fall, John will be offering a 4 part series ~ evening study ~ focused upon either the book of Acts or a more in depth study of some of the first followers of Christ.

Discussed summer worship leader needs and requirements - Worship leaders are needed for the following dates: 6/27, 7/4, 7/11, 7/25, 8/1, 8/8, 8/15, & 8/22. Rick and Betsy will work on finding volunteers. A concern was raised that people may not know what is required of worship leaders.

As a side note: some members of the team expressed a concern that people aren't necessarily reading the electronic version of the Beacon. Perhaps a weekly all church email once a week with fewer articles or go back to paper or try to communicate in multiple ways. Should let Council know our concerns. Maybe have congregation choose again preferred method paper or digital communication. Betsy will let Chris Keiter know about this. (Per Chris, issue should be referred to the Admin Team because it deals with the office.)

New sign for outside: Debbie checked with Vistaprint. Cost is $30.00 single sided 2 ½' x 6. We need to provide image-ready. We decided to replace with duplicate of what had ripped ~ we had double-sided so would need 2 banners = $60.00. Debbie will continue to follow through on this replacement.

Confirmation Sunday: Elsa would like to eliminate the kneeling part of the service. There was good discussion within the Team resulting in a decision to go ahead with the service without having the confirmands kneel. We wonder what other churches are doing.

Elder Luncheon: Planning is in great shape ~ plenty of food is being prepared ~ servers, set-up, and clean-up volunteers are all set. 28 Elders have responded, but we are planning on a few extra just in case.

Tex and Darla will be presenting certificates to the new Elders during worship ~ The Rideouts and Helen Adams.

Homecoming: We've had some success but it may be due to the location we had last year. So, yes, we think it is fruitful. We don't have a problem having the 'fair' being a week later than traditional which would be September 19. We had enthusiastic discussion about scavenger hunt w/ prizes for kids.

FYI: The church is looking into making the Sunday School registration process electronic.

June 27th will begin summer schedule.

Rick Angell will be SL&W contact for the office.

Meeting adjourned 8:15 p.m.
Next Meeting: plan to meet first Thursday in September (9/2/10)

Respectfully submitted by: Betsy Westcott-Keiter

Stewardship Committee

2010-07-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 15, 2010
Recorder: Gretchen Reynolds

Opening prayer lead by Gretchen.

Welcomed new addition Bill Campbell.

Touched on recruiting a few more people for Stewardship.

Introduction to stewardship coupled by John McCall and John Shoos/overview of what we do after we believe. Church takes care of the poor; clothing, housing and feeding people. We, as a committee, work to invite people of the congregation to have that sense and give what they can.

Also spoke briefly about the stewardship timeline. How we follow up with pledges, calling people to remind them/ask if they have given a consideration to their pledge this year (if we have not heard from them). Then the Council crafts a budget based on what people plan on giving. Build on what they feel is manageable.

We talked about a few ideas; big banquet, generous givers to come forward, photo book on what is happening in the church and pass it around and seemed to hit on one idea in particular that stuck.

A theme based on One Generation Talks to Another. Where we would have an older member of the church sit up front each week leading up to Consecration Sunday with a younger member in a dialogue of what this church means to them. Memories of the past and glimpses of the future. Print the dialogue each week in a bulletin insert. A few leading questions would be put forth before the service each week to allow the participants to better formulate their exchanges. Thoughts of starting with the older children and finishing with a younger child.

We brainstormed a few people:

• Barry Quinn / Roger Addor

• Phil Whitney

• Lauren Magnuson

• John McCall / Andy Mahoney

On Consecration Sunday restate some of the priceless comments and sum up “what does the church mean to you?”.

We also talked about creating a mural of “what the church means to me” from Sunday school classes.

Looked to meet July 13, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Administration Team

2010-06-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 3, 2010
Recorder: Ron Bennett

Present: Ron Bennett, Deb Sandler, Guy Gledhill, Jim Otis, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order - Deb called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Ron agreed to record this meeting and run the next meeting in September.

Minutes of the Admin. Team May 6, 2010 Meeting - reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget: Financial results through June 3 were presented by Cyndi. The year is 42% complete. Revenues stand at 35% of year’s budget, but endowment support of $48,750 had not been requisitioned by Cyndi as of June 3. If it had been received, revenue would be at 45.5%. Most exciting revenue item is the per capita contributions which now stand at 153% of year’s budget.

Expenses are at 44.7% of year’s budget. This appears to be in line as 50% of employee annuity and insurance has been paid. Also, Mission has paid out over 50% of its budget and will reduce second half payments to meet budget.

Tenant Update: Tenant at 509 Sawyer Street house has agreed to now pay $800. per month (up from $700). She will be contacted before year end to hopefully increase rent to $900. A new tenant at 331 Cottage Road has moved in at a rent of $750.

Chancel Railing: An article was inserted in the most recent Beacon describing the railing and requesting additional contributions. No response to date.

Church Signage and Rummage Storage: Guy reported that these issues are in progress. Guy did note that there is available storage area in the basement at 331 Cottage Road that could be used for storing rummage items. Guy will contact the first floor tenant for approval.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting: No report. Peggy Murray reported subsequent to the meeting that counting is all set through the summer.

House: Guy reported the following:
• The roof is complete. The total cost exceeded the amount reported last month by $9,000 due to extensive flashing required both at the steeple and at the chimney.
• Two birch trees at 331 Cottage Road will have to be removed as their roots are growing into the foundation.

Planned Giving: Ron’s third article appeared in the most recent Beacon. He will hopefully prepare a fourth article later this summer. Two individuals have indicated to him their intention to provide for the church in their wills.

Website Subcommittee: Guy announced that the web site design and implementation contract has been awarded by the committee.

NEW BUSINESS:
A church member who is an account executive at a local insurance agency has asked to review our property insurance. Ron agreed to contact the member to determine if he wants to be a volunteer consultant or become the church’s insurance agent. If he wants to volunteer his services, he will be invited to meet with the team. If he wants to be chosen as our agent, he will be asked to propose on our contracts next year, because annual policy renewals are due soon, and it would not be prudent to change agents on such short notice.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday September 9, 2010 at 7 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:58 p.m.

Church Council

2010-06-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 17, 2010
Recorder: Bob Morse

Present: Roger Addor, David Allen, Chris Dow, Matt Early, Andy Ellis,Sally Hinckley, Chris Keiter, Nancy MacLean, Carl Murphy, Elsa Peters, Carrie Skeffington, Phil Whitney, Bob Morse.

New members not present: Peggy Murray, Robin Reinhold, John Shoos.

Nancy MacLean, Vice Moderator, opened the meeting at 6:35 p.m. Bob Morse read some reflections by Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Introductions - by all for Carl Murphy as a new Council Member.

May Minutes - reviewed and accepted; noted that Food Pantry is already on the list for approved fund-raising in the church.

Minister’s Time:
• John is at a community gathering as the moral voice for the future direction of the city.
• Southern Maine Gay Pride Parade and Festival will take place on Sat., June 19. Our congregation is participating. People are encouraged to meet at Noon at Monument Square.
• John and Elsa will be doing a Summer Sermon Series, “First Followers”, capturing the lives of persons following in the ways of Jesus. They are anticipating building on a theme of discipleship for the coming year.
• Elsa has shared with the Mission Outreach Team that she would like to do an intergenerational Mission Trip to a location in Maine next summer. There will be no upper or lower age limit. There is hope this can be done through the Maine Seacoast Mission. The goal will be home building, with expectations based on type of skill.

Moderator and Vice-Moderator:
• Nancy MacLean shared reasons she is not able to be the Moderator, although she continues for one more year on the Council.
• Chris Keiter shared some of the expectations & his experience in that role. He noted that budget preparation leadership is NOT automatically the Moderator's work.
• There were no volunteers.
• Decision: Nancy MacLean will continue to function as the Moderator through the summer and into the fall. Matt Early will be the Vice Moderator.
• Topic of Moderator and Vice Moderator will be re-introduced.

Homecoming Sunday:
• The Council agreed with Teams that it will be Sunday, September 19. This is one week later than it has been.
• Much discussion about the particular style it should be, primarily around the value of sign-up time at the Homecoming Fair.
• Feeling that it has lost some of its emphasis; not a valuable response for the energy it takes.
• Directions:
- Some may still want to do it; some may not. Group agreed with suggestion that each team have short announcement time spaced throughout the church year at worship services to promote their tasks and ask for volunteers.
- Supervision of refreshments will be handled by EF&G.
- Nancy will get in touch with teams. Word will go out to groups who might like to participate in sign-up opportunities.
• Brainstorms for Sept 19:
- Intergenerational Service with a parade of youth downstairs.
- Church school will begin Sept. 26. Registration will be online.

Church Vision:
• Decision: “FCC-UCC A Christian Family: Welcoming, Loving, Serving.”
• Much discussion about how this will be presented to the congregation. Decision: Report in the “Beacon” that the Vision Survey was initiated by the Council, Elsa was chair of the team, this is what we did, if there are comments we would like to hear them.

Volunteerism:
• EF&G needs three persons. Stewardship needs one person.
• Phil Whitney has made 21 calls to new members. Much appreciation expressed for all that he has done.
• Much discussion: Some areas:
- How are volunteers sought out and selected?
- Why are there often openings on some teams and not on others?
- Is the new governance approach to filling teams working?
- The structure of a Nominating Committee is relatively efficient; at least everyone gets only one telephone call. How do you prevent someone being called multiple times? Suggestion to set up Nominating Committee for filling slots was tabled to the future.
- Nancy, Phil and Elsa will get together to consult with EF&G.

Congregation Annual Meeting:
• Good feelings about it expressed.

Maine Conference Annual Meeting:
• Nothing specifically related to local churches to report.

Next Meeting will be Thursday, September 16, 6:30 p.m.
• Carrie Skeffington: Reflection and Recorder.
• All joined hands at the end with appreciation for the excellent job which has been done by Chris Keiter, Moderator, and Nancy MacLean, Vice Moderator.

Growth Group

2010-06-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 6/14/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Stan Jordan, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, Sue Ross, Dave Allen, John McCall.

Elinor opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m. with a prayer.

Revisit the purpose of the group and validate whether we should continue: Our discussion was free-ranging on this topic. I am including observations. Group consensus is to continue.
• John is grateful there is a Growth Group. It helps to charge up the congregation. New people comment on the welcome they find here.
• Kendra says the group has an important role going forward. She sees more new faces in church and thinks the hospitality tips are helpful.
• Stan notices a lot of people at services he does not know.
• John says some return, some do not. Most Sundays there is someone who is visiting for the first time. Part of our draw is we are open and affirming and intentional about direction.

We discussed whether newcomers attend coffee hour.
• Sue stated we have exhausted hospitality tips.
• Elinor wants us to have a higher profile: report in the annual report and (John suggested) doing an article for the Beacon around Labor Day.

To the question, What is our purpose?
• Stan said ‘to increase welcoming and fellowship of the church’. He found a nearly complete purpose in the March 2009 minutes: To provide a structure and a process to warmly welcome newcomers to our church and to encourage the building of meaningful relationships so that newcomers feel they belong and can participate in our church community. The minutes state we felt we were close. It was not mentioned in subsequent meetings.

John described the pattern of attendance among young church-goers. They might come every week for 6 weeks and then stay away for several months. Nothing is ‘wrong’, they are just making other choices of what to do with their time.

To the question, What is the measure of our success?
• Elinor mentioned John’s reaction, as he has his finger on the pulse of the congregation.
• Stan talked about looking around as you enter the church. Are the ushers happy (smiling)? Are the members happy?

We agreed to focus on both the welcome to people who have found their way to us and to pursue activities that bring people in the door. John said that fewer outside groups use the church building than in the past (the cub scouts and mom & dad’s clubs no longer meet).

We discussed how we function as a group. Next year we want to do more work between meetings. One or two people will handle a project. The agenda will be reports on the project list. We will use e-mail to give one another information ahead of a meeting so that meeting time is saved.

Facilitator: Dave has been doing an excellent job for a few years. He graciously agreed to continue for first half of the program year rather than rotating the responsibility.

Top Priorities:
• Review printed materials to have an overview and to see what materials should be updated. The office has time to work on this task in the summer. Elinor and Sue will look at materials in the pew racks, welcome packets and reading racks. They will look for overlap and report back to the group.
• Kendra is interested in working on events to bring more people in the front door of the church. Friend Sunday, special events.
• Rick will investigate what it the rules and regulations are concerning signage in South Portland so that we know what we have to do to place signs directing people to the church.
• We want to expand on our in-house hospitality.

Everyone will review the lists and resources we already have and come prepared to set an agenda for the year in September.

Next meeting: September 13, 2010

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Church Council

2010-06-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 20, 2010
Recorder: Andy Ellis

Present: Council members Bob Morse, Nancy MacLean, John McCall, Chris Keiter, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Debra Andrews, Elsa Peters, Chris Dow, Dave Allen, Matt Early, Sally Hinckley, and Andy Ellis. Guests: Margaret Thibodeau.

Chris Keiter opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. and Andy read an opening prayer.

April Minutes were reviewed and accepted with a few small changes regarding the list of people that met with website vendors regarding our redesign proposal (see below). Also, there had been discussion in the April meeting about utilizing Constant Contact as a mass email service, but it was decided that we will wait to see how website redesign might address this capability before committing to Constant Contact.

Minister’s Time: Elsa discussed her plan to write a book, and the possibility of making time in her weekly schedule this summer to focus on writing. She may spend one day a week writing from a coffee shop but will be available for pastoral duties and will post some specific hours when she will be available in her church office.

John spoke of some personal news items, including his closing on a new condo in Dow’s Woods, and Ben’s impending return home from 5 months in Scotland. Also, John will not be attending the June Council meeting because it coincides with South Portland’s comprehensive planning committee meeting/workshop. John has been invited to attend this meeting and to participate in the vision process for the city, representing the religious community.

Fundraising Approvals: The Council approved a request from the Food Pantry for their “extras” sale and added it to the list of pre-approved annual fundraising activities. The Council suggested that outdated food should not be sold.

Request to Move Date of Homecoming Sunday: Margaret Thibodeau of the EG and F Team visited the meeting to discuss the possibility of moving the date of Homecoming Sunday from the 12th of Sept. to the 19th. The EG and F Team has had some difficulty in the past getting volunteers together to prepare for Homecoming Sunday and the start of Church School and thought that an extra week would be helpful to the organizing process. Chris will reach out to the Teams for feedback on whether they think that Homecoming Sunday is still effective as an opportunity for the congregation to learn about and sign up for different groups in the church, and if they would have an issue with changing the date. The Council did not have an issue with changing the date. There was some discussion about Sept. 12th being a Rally Day, instead. A decision on all this will be made at the June 17th Council meeting.

Church Vision Statement Update: The Council discussed some of the compiled results of the Vision Statement survey project and some of the suggestions of the subgroup (Elsa, Dave, Chris Dow, and Debra) that were created to showcase the most popular concepts and ideas. The Council discussed several aspects of these statements, noting that the word “God” did not appear in any of the suggestions. There was also some discussion of adding the word “open” into the statement to convey the idea that the congregation is open and affirming. It was decided that there would not be enough time between the Council meeting and the Annual Meeting of the congregation to decide on a statement and bring that to the congregation for meaningful review. The Council will continue to discuss and each member will bring a suggested version to the next Council meeting in June. Email them to Elsa ahead of time.

Volunteerism Ideas: The sub-group on volunteerism (Sally, Phil, and John) reported from their email conversations and suggested that it might be worthwhile to consider utilizing a nominating committee process again. Some Council members had served on the nominating committee prior to the change in governance structure, and thought it worked well. John suggested that one benefit of a nominating committee is “personalizing the ask.” Currently there are openings on several of the Teams that need to be filled, so it would appear that the current method of Teams finding their own members may not be working as well as originally hoped. Dave suggested that we should focus on volunteerism as well as nominating and find ways to help members (particularly new members) find ways to contribute to the life of the congregation. Phil offered to make some calls to members who have joined in the past year to see if there were ways that they would like to become more involved. Discussion of ways to encourage volunteerism will continue at the June meeting.

Website Redesign: Chris, John, Dana Wiggins, Aaron Scifres, and Guy Gledhill have been involved with the Website Redesign project. They have met with and reviewed two vendors who could do the work. The vendors and their proposals are very different from each other, but the end result of either one should be a dramatic improvement from where we are today. They are characterized as follows:
• A less established company; uses the open-source tool Wordpress; project cost of about $3,500 and annual costs of about $150; tool is less tightly integrated and we would need to fill in more of the content (we have people ready to help with this).
• A more established company; uses proprietary tool Aptuitiv; project cost of about $7,000 and annual costs of about $540; tool is more tightly integrated and we would need to fill in very little content
After some discussion, the Council approved going forward with the less expensive alternative, primarily due to the lower cost. Funding would come from a $2,000 contribution which has already been received, additional donations that will be requested, and the balance coming from the Loraine Merrill Cabinet fund.

Annual Meeting of Congregation: Chris, John and Elsa discussed order of items and speaking assignments for the meeting.

Maine Conference Annual Meeting: The meeting will take place June 11, 12, and 13 in Farmington. Our Church has a number of open spaces, and as of the discussion, only John, Andrea, and Elsa were planning to attend.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Next Meeting: June 17, 2010
Opening/Recorder: Bob Morse

Mission and Outreach

2010-06-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 3, 2010

Attendees: Laurie Cary - Chair, Jan Bosse, Sandy Dyer, Mike Kasputes, Kendra Palmer, Richard Parker, Carol Scheffler, Kristen Silvia, Greg Wyman, Elsa Peters (part time)

OPENING:
Laurie opened the meeting with an original note concerning service and the Mission team. Departing members – Carol Scheffler and Greg Wyman – were thanked for their service; new members – Jan Bosse, Kendra Palmer and Kristen Silvia – were introduced and welcomed.

MAY MINUTES:
Corrections to Minister’s Moment
– “Discipleship” will be the theme for next year’s program for our local church, not for the Conference.
– Micah Project: “…………. Kristen Silvia or Gretchen Reynolds might be ……..”
Minutes approved as corrected.

MINISTER’S MOMENT:
Pride March will be held in Portland June 19th. March is at noon. Meet at 10:30 in Monument Square.
A week long Mission trip in Maine is being planned for next summer (2011).
Elsa’s sabbatical will be in 2012. While she has not finalized her topic, she is considering exploring how churches address justice issues. She welcomes other ideas from the Mission Team.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
Donations for blankets totaled $770. This will be sent directly to Church World Services.
It was decided to add Sweetser to our list of approve charities. Richard will update the list and distribute.
The following payments were approved. Reference Greg’s budget report for additional information and details.
$500 Andover-Newton Theological Seminary
500 Center for Grieving Children
500 Protestant Hospital Ministry
500 Serenity House
500 Shalom House
500 Spurwink Services
500 Sweetser

OLD BUSINESS:
FOOD DRIVE – May’s food drive collected 30 Bags of groceries.

MISSION OUTREACH SEVICE ASSIGNMENT 2010/2011:

HOMECOMING SUNDAY - Assignment pending church Council’s decision if this will take place.

BEACON ANNOUNCEMENTS (Special Offerings)- Maureen Clancy

SPECIAL SUPPORT – MAINE & UCC - Richard Parker. This is a new item and consists of assembling a schedule for distributing payments to our various charities. The initial schedule will be based on 2009/2010 dispersements.

BULLETIN BOARD - Assignment not needed.

MISSION MALL - Carol Scheffler

THANKSGIVING BASKETS - Kendra Palmer

CHRISTMAS GIVING TREE - Jen Hardin and Sandy Dyer

CHRISTMAS MITTEN TREE - Bob and Andrea Morse

MISSION HANDBOOK - Laurie Cary

LONGCREEK YOUTH DEVELOPMETN CENTER BIRTDAY CAKES - Maureen Clancy and Sandy Dyer

MISSION SUNDAY - TBD – see note below

EMERGENCY FOOD PANTRY - Sarah Randall

THE MICAH PROJECT - Gretchen Reynolds – if not willing, Laurie, Kristen or Jan may be interested

CHILDREN’S CLOSET - AnnElissa Leveque

Mission Sunday – The question “Is the Mission Team interested in doing?” was left unanswered. Laurie has discussed with Pastor McCall and the best time would be in Feb 2011.

Mission Mall: Will be held 20 Nov 2010

CHURCH CONTACT LIST: Laurie to revise and distribute to the team.

STRENGTHEN THE CHURCH OFFERING: it has been agreed by Laurie and the Pastors, that no special offering will be held for this cause because of the number of special offerings already taken. However, it may be a candidate for inclusion as one of the areas supported by the Easter or Christmas Offering.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-06-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of June 3, 2010
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending: Karen Pierce, Ginny Gledhill, Margaret Thibodeau, Jennifer Fetting, Elsa Peters, Jana Frank.

The meeting began with the approval of the May Minutes.

Jana reported that no one volunteered to serve “Lemonade on the Porch” last Sunday (May 30th) despite a sign-up sheet located outside the sanctuary for the past couple weeks. John did mention during Sunday’s worship, the need for volunteers, and a congregation member stepped-up to serve refreshments after the service. Jana will continue to monitor Lemonade on the Porch during the summer months. However, Jana informed the Team that she will no longer be able to serve on EG&F come September, due to family obligations. The Team appreciates her efforts coordinating Coffee Hour this past year.

Karen shared that the Library and Scholarship Committees have reported no concerns.

Ginny shared that coverage in the Nursery during the summer months will be provided by Diana. For the past several years, high school students have been paid to volunteer in the nursery. The Team was unaware that Diana would be happy to provide nursery coverage, and had just not been asked in the past. The Team appreciates her service and willingness to help out each Sunday.

Margaret reported that the Church Picnic was very well attended, and we had a beautiful day! Many more items were donated this year, and the savings to our budget was almost $150.00! Some suggestions for next year include more tables and chairs set up, and two large containers of lemonade instead of one. Our next fellowship event is the Confirmation Celebration on June 13th. The Team began planning for the event, using the template outlined several years ago, which had the reception taking place in Guptill Hall, and including coffee hour service. As coffee hour has now been replaced by fellowship on the porch, the Team decided to have the reception take place on the porch. A cake, flowers, and balloons will be part of the festivities as the congregation celebrates the confirmation class.

Elsa shared the Faith Formation update. The new Faith Formation Committee will have its first meeting in June. The Team reviewed next year’s calendar for Sunday School, which looked well-organized. Sunday School will use the on-line version of Seasons of the Spirit curricula, and Christ Kid’s Club will use the newly purchased “Faith Practices” curriculum, which incorporates games and experiential learning. Adult Faith Formation has “Beach Chair Theology” starting in July, and many plans for the fall. The Confirmation Class has 8 youth to be confirmed on June 13th. These young adults and some of the mentors plan to continue their faith exploration next fall.

The Team discussed two questions proposed by Council: whether Homecoming Sunday is a valuable activity as it has been conducted in the past, and secondly, should the date by changed to later in September (9/19/2010). Our Team was supportive of moving the date to 9/19 next fall. We also did not think that Homecoming Sunday was a valuable event, as far as recruiting Team & committee volunteers. There was concern about getting information about the various functions of the Teams and sub-committees out to the congregation. Members wondered if each Team might do a brief presentation during worship on Homecoming Sunday, regarding their Team and sub-committee responsibilities and plans for the upcoming year. We also support the idea of a “pot-luck” type fellowship activity for Homecoming this September, rather than the tables and sign-ups as were offered in the past.

As Ginny and Margaret are leaving the EG&F team, members discussed roles for next year. Jennifer Fetting has agreed to be the contact person for the Team. Karen would like to continue her connection with the library and scholarship committees, and Carolyn expressed interest in continuing her efforts with Sunday School. The EG&F Team will be looking for three new members to join the Team for next fall.

Spiritual Life & Worship

2010-06-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 6, 2010

Attending: Dana Wiggins, Debbie Riley, Frank Arseneault, Rick Angell, Tex Hauser, John McCall.

Opening Prayer - by Dana.

Review Of March/April Minutes – Approved.

Elsa requested in writing that we consider changing the format for confirmation to remove the personal prayer for each confirmand and omitting the Church Covenant.

After a careful discussion it was decided unanimously that we would like to keep the laying on of hands and the personal prayer for each confirmand, but we would agree to eliminating the Covenant. We thought that instead of the traditional covenant it might more relevant for the confirmands to write a few sentences about their personal covenant and that it might be blended into the class covenant to be read at the service. Debbie would communicate this information to Elsa.

Rick will be the SLW contact person for 2010-11.

We discussed the membership of the SLW Committee for 2010 – 2011 . Debbie agreed to stay for one more year.

John presented three possible plans for the replacement/ repair of the welcome sign that was recently destroyed by the wind: (A) leave the space open (B) Use the old comma sign (faded and worn) or (C) Order another similar sign. We will do further research and report back at the next meeting.

Elder Luncheon - Dana is organizing the luncheon and will call other church members for help with cooking and serving.

Next Meeting: June 3, 2010; Debbie will set the agenda and lead the meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by: Debbie Riley

Mission and Outreach

2010-06-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 6, 2010

Present: Laurie Cary, Carol Scheffler, Sarah Randall, Sandy Dyer, Maureen Clancy, Elsa Peters.

I. Meeting Opens
Laurie opened the meeting with prayer. The Minutes from the April meeting were approved after the change of the number of volunteers for the Habitat for Humanity Micah Project, Laurie reported that it was 8 or 9 volunteers not 15. Laurie noted that 1 thank you note was received from World Vision for the $250.00 special donation.

II. Treasurer’s Report
The April and May reports were reviewed. Both the Easter Offering and the One Great Hour were up compared with last year. A question was raised on the per capita drive and where does this money go, Laurie will follow up. The Team agreed to a $100.00 donation to the Children of China Fund; it has been more than a year since a gift was given. The reported were accepted as presented.

III. Minister’s Moment
Elsa reported that the Diversity Committee will be marching with a Church banner in the Gay Pride Parade on June 19th. Our Church will be part of the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination.

Also, happily the Preble Street Homeless Voices for Justice Project received donations equaling 3 times that amount the Catholic Diocese had provided in funding. The funding was cut as a result of Preble Street support for the No On One Campaign this past fall.

The Maine UCC Conference meets on June 12th for its Annual Meeting, a resolution will be voted on regarding the covenant for civil discourse. The theme of the meeting is discipleship – how to engage the communities in doing. In this spirit Elsa reported that Gretchen Reynolds might be eager to take on the Micah Project coordination.

IV. Old Business
Laurie happily reported that the slate is full for 2013 team membership. Laurie handed out the new listing and will send it to Chris Keiter. Sarah and Sandy will serve as Co-Chairs. Maureen edited her email address. Laurie will email the updated list to the Team.

V. New Business
a. There will be a Blood drive in Guptill Hall on August 13th from 1:00-6:00 p.m. Maureen agreed to write an article for the Beacon for June, a Save the Date, and then again in July. Laurie will call to request posters for the bulletin board.
b. We will wait until next meeting to decide whether to go forward with Homecoming Sunday or to use the Coffee Hour as a good place to recruit volunteers for the various projects and programs.

c. Assignments:
Annual Beacon articles on offerings - Maureen agreed to write 4-5 articles per year announcing the offerings. Sarah agreed to check the mailbox regularly. Sandy will be the email contact person. We tabled the Bulletin Board, Micah Project, Mission Sunday, Thanksgiving Baskets, and Christmas Giving Tree until next meeting when we have new members in attendance. Carol and Sarah will coordinate the Mission Mall and Carol will check in with Linda Skinner for her help. The Mitten Tree is all set, Laurie will handle the Handbook. Maureen agreed to do some research into the Birthday Cakes at Long Creek – she and Sandy have been handling this piece. Sarah will email Linda Skinner about her continued help with the Food Pantry. There is a drive the second Sunday in May. Jenn Hardin and AnnElissa will continue with the Children’s Closet.

A Mission Mall planning meeting will be held prior to the June 3rd Mission Outreach Team meeting.

May 9th is Blanket Sunday.

A request has been made about consideration for a 5th Offering - Strengthen the Church UCC. If we do this we will be a 5 for 5 UCC Church. Since the date is May 23rd the Team decided it was too late for this year. We will consider it for next year or consider using one of the other offerings for Strengthen the Church.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

The next meeting will be held June 3, 2010.

Laurie will give opening and closing remarks and Richard will take notes.

Respectfully Submitted,
Maureen Clancy

Music Committee

2010-06-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 20, 2010

Present: Shirley Curry, Kim Early, Sheryl Kieran, and Trudi Bakke.

1. Reviewed and accepted February Minutes.

2. Updates:
• Shirley reported that Rev. Alan Meyers from West Brookville, Maine picked up the Reed organ on April 20th after seeing the listing in the ACE Newsletter. The West Brookville congregation lost their organ in 1982 to a fire. Rev. Meyers has shared that the organ is already in service at their church!

• Kim shared with the committee the church’s rental agreement which states that the “use of the Sanctuary by external groups shall be restricted to worship, weddings, funerals, concerts, appropriate educational events, and other uses approved by the program staff/Senior Minister.”

• Chris Keiter has responded that money to replace the choir kitchen chairs would not come out of the annual operating budget and Guy Gledhill added that money would also not be available from the House Committee. Cyndi Alden suggested that such expenditures typically come by request from such places as Rummage Sale or Holly Daze Bazaar proceeds.

3. All current Music Committee members will continue to serve on the committee during the 2010-2011 year. Kim spoke with Peg Carmichael who agreed to join next year and Christi Cannell who would like to attend a meeting before committing. Anna had agreed to talk with Beth Hess – Kim will check in with Anna to see if Beth agreed to join. Another possibility is Kim Knowles.

4. Five Sundays remain open in the Summer Music schedule. Kim will check with Jim Dyer, Lexi Bakke and Joan Carrier and Sheryl will check with Craig Skeffington. The committee agreed to sign up for the summer Sundays that they will write thank you notes for now, hoping to be able to attend those Sundays, but at the very least be able to send out a thank you note in a timely manner.

5. Shirley will be away from the church the five Sundays in August and Peter Dickson will be filling in.

6. Other business:
• Shirley requested money from segregated account 3010 to purchase 35 black folders at ~$6.40 a piece. Committee approved request.

• Shirley shared a note informing us of a men’s quartet called Voice of Praise who will be in the area from Virginia the week of July 12th. The committee listened to a lovely sample of their music. They are looking for churches to perform at – they have CD’s to sell, but do not charge for the performance. Sheryl will follow up to find out how involved of a project hosting the group would be.

The next meeting is set for September 9th.

Administrative Team

2010-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 6, 2010

Present: Ron Bennett, Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone, Jim Otis, Deb Sandler and Cyndi Alden. Excused: Eben Marsh.

The meeting was called to order by Meeting Chair, Jim Otis at 7:07 p.m. Deb Sandler was appointed Meeting Secretary and Chair for the next meeting.

The Minutes of the March 4, 2010 Meeting were reviewed and accepted. (We had no April meeting)

OLD BUSINESS:
Financial Statements and Budget: Cyndi presented a review of the finances through May 6, 2010. She reported that “the financial picture was looking good”. She pointed out that the Per Capita Contribution is surprising in that 130% of the budget has come in. She has gotten many positive comments from members about having added that contribution. It was also suggested that we might take advantage of the locked in fuel prices and fill up our oil tanks before the May 31st cut off date.

The first draft of the Financial Review from Smith & Associates is in. It includes the Holly Daze Bazaar and the Discovery Center. Jim and Ron will take a look at it, sign it and get it back to Cyndi by May 13th. Ron suggested that for next year it would be good to add comparative financials for the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow. The Review needs to be finalized and printed up by the Annual Meeting on May 23rd.

Tenant Review: 1.) 331 Cottage Road: The upstairs renovation has been completed. A female tenant rented it for $750. and moved in on May 1st. 2.) 509 Sawyer Street: The tenant has continued to pay $700. at a reduced rate for one year. A concern was raised that it might be time to get back to the $1000. rent that is on the lease. Cyndi was asked to propose to the tenant a phase back in of $100. every few months. (5/11/10: Cyndi reports that the tenant has agreed to start paying $800. in June while she continues to look for a new apartment or house to rent.)

Chancel Rail Proposal: The Administrative Team went to view the progress of work on the Chancel Rail during the meeting. We were very pleased with the results. Several Administrative Team members wrote checks of support on the spot. (5/11/10: The railings are completed. Dick and Barbara Merrill, who made the first request to have a railing built and gave a very generous pledge in support, have seen it and are thrilled with how it looks.) Ron agreed to write an article for the Beacon asking for further donations. The Council has approved the fund-raising for this project. We have $1300. pledged, the cost is $2400. Any cost not covered by pledges will come out of the Old North Church Memorial Fund, which is managed by Spiritual Life &Worship. Thank you, Eben, for a job well done.

Growth Group Request for Signage: Guy reported that the House Committee is working on it and will report back at our next meeting.

Annual Report: Eben graciously wrote and submitted the Annual Report.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting: All appears to be working very smoothly thanks to Peggy Murray, Chair.

House: It has been a very busy two months:
• 331 Cottage Rd. - renovations are complete, several birch trees that are threatening the foundation have to be removed.
• Roof - we reviewed 5 separate bids for the roof and went with BD Heanssler for a cost of $43,867. 3 bids were higher and one lower. They will be reroofing everything but the Wright Pavilion with Woodscape Architectural Shingles. As of now, there will be two extra costs: replacing some rotten plywood and where the roof and steeple meet the last roofer cut off the flashing, so both flashing and plywood will have to be replaced there.
• Windows – the Undercroft and Guptill Hall windows have been replaced. This completes a 3 phase project…all windows in the church have been replaced now, except for those in the Sanctuary and Narthex.
• Steeple – due to excessive leaking during winter storms Tom researched where the potential leaks might be. After a great audio visual presentation we understood at least what the problem was and reviewed 3 contracts. We awarded the contract to Mid Maine Restoration. They will come sometime in the early summer, construct scaffolding, do a survey, give us an estimate and then the House Committee will vote on whether to do the repairs they recommend.
• Balcony Ceiling and Sanctuary Painting – After the Steeple has been repaired we will award a contract to have the balcony ceiling repaired and the ceiling and sanctuary repainted…fall ’10.
• Gardening – We hired out to have the gardens mulched and trimmed. We have awarded a contract to have the fencing along the southeast wall of the driveway repaired.

Planned Giving (PG): Ron will write a new article relating to planned giving for the Beacon in June.

Web Site Subcommittee (WSS): Guy reported that the committee is looking at 2 bidders with 2 excellent products. One is totally backed up online costing ~$500/yr to operate, the other is free but we will have to do all of the maintenance. Consensus for the A-Team support for the online backup.

NEW BUSINESS:
Check in with Council: Jim Otis will e-mail Chris expressing that Council Members are always welcome to join our A-Team meetings.

Building Safety: Due to loss of storage facilities the rummage sale furniture items have been overflowing in the hallways. The house committee will look into storage options and posting of areas.

Church Contact List and Composition of A-Team Members: We discussed the process by which new team members are to be chosen. Looks like it’s up to us to inspire new members. We have a new member for the Class of 2013: Rod Redstone. Chris Mills would like to step down so we are looking for a new member. The classes at this time are:
Class of 2011: Ron Bennett, Chris Mills
Class of 2012: Jim Otis, Deb Sandler
Class of 2013: Guy Gledhill, Rod Redstone

Deb said she will contact Elsa to remind her to add the Gardening Committee to the member interest survey.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:19 p.m.

The next A-Team meeting will be held on June 3, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by: Deb Sandler, Meeting Secretary

Growth Group

2010-05-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 5/10/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Stan Jordan, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, Sue Ross, Dave Allen, John McCall.

John opened the meeting at 5:45 p.m. with a prayer.

Visits to Other Churches:
The meeting was devoted to each member reporting on their visit(s) to other area churches. The goal was to isolate ‘top ideas’ that would be useful for our church to adopt. Text in italics designate possible ‘top ideas’.

Rick Angell visited the First Congregational Church in Gorham: Rich began by saying that everything they do – we do and much much more. The church did not seem to put much into welcoming visitors. He happened to meet the Associate Pastor who introduced him to the Pastor (who was not preaching). No ushers or greeters. Two people spoke with him during the passing of the peace. He observed that this church gives a lot of bean suppers and speculates that is where they have their fellowship time.

Sue visited Thornton Heights Methodist Church: The only piece of paper in the pews besides the hymnal and the bible was an offering envelope. Three parking spots by the door were marked for ‘Visitor’. There were 2 street signs pointing direction to the church. Stationery greeters stood at the door and handed out bulletins. The bulletins asked visitors to sign a book on a podium. No ushering to seats. The Baptism had a separate bulletin and the Pastor referred to the child during the sermon. The Pastor invited all to attend the coffee hour at the end of the service. The Pastor did not stay at the door. Sue did not know where to find the coffee hour. She was greeted by 2 people during the passing of the peace.

Stan visited 3 churches (!! way to go, Stan!!):

Stevens Avenue Congregation Church: Smallest he visited and he had to hunt for it. Parking was awkward although there was an unmarked lot behind the church. There was a greeter/usher. The minister had an accent and was hard to understand. He was very welcoming and spoke from the floor. 30 people attended service. 6 women were in the choir and sat in the congregation. The church is self-described as a ‘rural church in a city setting’. No nametags. Did not see the minister after the service. Announcements were made by the greeter who called on people. There was a card in the pew rack for follow up by the minister. Coffee was downstairs after the service.

State Street Congregational Church: Greeted outside by lady minister. 2 ushers and 2 greeters. Many people wore nametages and kept them on into coffee hour (there was a basket to collect them at coffee hour). It is a small congregation and before the service the minister personally greeted each individual. She was there during the coffee hour. The choir joined in the passing of the peace. Stan spoke with a couple at coffee hour who described a visit to FCCUCC where no-one spoke to them during coffee hour. He mentioned the importance of keeping the circle open so the next person can step in. Information provided in the pews included: Bookmark (who we are), Visitor card and an ‘About’ brochure.

First Parish, Brunswick: No signs. Tough parking. Old, historic church. Sunday School in separate building. Very friendly greeter. Smiling ushers. Choir and organist in back balcony. Bell ringers in front. Some members had small nametags with a ribbon on them (color had no significance). The lady minister spoke off the podium. Stan was greeted by several people during coffee hour, including the minister. The building had no interior signage. ‘GuestTag’ with sticky nametag in pew rack. Stan noted the most important thing was the friendliness of the people. He was included in the chat.

Stan notes that Ministers at a couple of the churches I visited walked through the sanctuary before the service started and greeted many, if not all, of those attending. In addition, the Senior Minister attended the Coffee Hour and made it a point to greet my wife and me. Those two personal contacts by the Ministermade us feel very welcome.

Kendra visited Peoples Methodist Church: It was a vacation Sunday and 30 people attended. Not many materials in the pews. There was a prayer concern card in the pew which was collected with the offering. Concerns were read toward the end of the service. The minister sent Kendra a card afterward (notecard with a painting of the church). Brochures were not readily available. No signage. The greeters asked Kendra to sign a guest book which included the question ‘where do you regularly attend church?’.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

Kendra also attends a non-denominational church (Family Worship Center) with her family in Dover-Foxcroft. There they spend a long time (10-15 minutes) passing the peace. Newcomers receive a bag with a cookie, bookmark, etc. Not much literature.

Sue remembered at Woodfords Church being matched with appropriate newcomers by the ushers.

Dave visited Falmouth Congregation Church where one enters the church through a social space best described as ‘action central’. The choir was there as well as all coming to church. People were very friendly. He picked up a bright green ‘visitor’s bag’ which was printed with a message thanking (him) for visiting. Inside was a description of the church (brief and colorful), a bookmark, and a hand-written ‘welcome’ note. The church mission was prominent on all church materials. There was a sign-in sheet for visitors on a clipboard in the pew.

New Life: The first 45 minutes were spent singing – most people standing. Electronic projection of hymns. No bulletin. Worked into the service and the sermon. The welcome brochure was simple, with lots of color and included a DVD. There was an evangelistic feeling. He was provided with a good map. The congregation included a lot of young adults. People came and went during the service -- it had an unstructured feeling. The guest card requested extensive information. Full financial status in front of everyone. Immediately after the service there was a chance for newcomers to ‘Connect’ with the Pastor for conversation.

Next meeting we will prioritize the ideas gleaned and see what we can realistically do.

Next meeting: Monday, June 14, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. in the Laity Room.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-05-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of May 6, 2010
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending: Karen Pierce, Ginny Gledhill, Margaret Thibodeau, Carolyn Foster, Elsa Peters, Jennifer Fetting.

The meeting began with the approval of the April Minutes.

Jana had contacted Margaret to report that Coffee Hour is going along fine. The question arose as to when Coffee Hour switches to “Lemonade on the Porch”, which happens when summer worship hours begin. Elsa informed the Team that the date is June 27th.

Karen shared that the Library and Scholarship Committees have reported no concerns.

Ginny reported that coverage in the Nursery was found for the 9:00 Easter Service, however no one could be recruited to volunteer for the 11:00 service. Ginny provided coverage herself, and shared that there were only three children. The Team decided next year to offer Nursery coverage only at the earlier service. This will be publicized in the Beacon. Stephanie Cooke, a parent who volunteers often in the nursery, reported that the number of parents willing to help out has increased since a letter was sent out last month, asking for assistance. The Team agreed that next year, a similar letter might be sent out earlier in the year. As in the past, the Team attempts to provide Nursery coverage during summer worship. We have paid young adults $10.00 for their assistance. Carolyn mentioned we might start with asking for recruits willing to provide coverage as part of “community service”, which most high school students need to complete.

Margaret will cover the Inquirer’s Meeting next week, and New Member Sunday on May 23rd. The Church Picnic takes place on Sunday May 16th. Several people have signed up to bring salads, and other items. Beals will donate the ice cream again, and the Eskimos will provide the grilling. Our next event after the picnic is the Confirmation Celebration in June.

Elsa shared the Faith Formation Update. She has invited five people to be a sub-group called “Family Faith Formation Committee”. We are hopeful this committee can share the load of recruiting teachers for Sunday School, as well as support Faith Formation activities. Christ Kid’s Club held a Local Foods Dinner which was a huge success. Elsa asked if the Team might support the purchase of a multi-age curricula for Christ Kid’s Club which cost $100. The Team approved the purchase. The ritual for Aaron’s departure from Youth Ministry was reviewed. The farewell will take place on May 16th, and the Team will offer him a good-bye gift and thanks. Several opportunities are available for Adult Faith Formation, including Leisurely Lectionary and Beach Chair Theology. The question was raised whether Homecoming Sunday should remain the first Sunday after Labor, or be moved further into September. Team members observed that several families and members did not participate in last year’s Homecoming events, because they were not back from summer activities. Our Team strongly supports the idea of having Homecoming Sunday later in September next year, perhaps 9/19. We did discuss moving Sunday School registration out of Homecoming Sunday, and to an online option. However, we would still like a table with information available regarding Sunday School activities for those interested. Confirmation Sunday is June 13, and our Team will be hosting the celebration for the 8-9 children participating.

Council had asked our Team if we wanted a representative from Council to come to a meeting. Our Team found it very helpful when a Council Member visited last year, and we think this should occur on a regular basis. The big issue for our Team is recruiting volunteers, and we would like to know if Council might have any suggestions regarding this.

The next meeting will be Thursday, June 3rd.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-05-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes – March 25, 2010
(April's meeting moved ahead by one week because of Holy Week)

Attending: Rick Angell, Betsy Keiter, Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, John McCall.

Opening Prayer - Dana.

Review of March Minutes - approved as written.

John McCall: Life of church is going well with 8-10 new families finding us since Christmas and 50% returning. Growth Group is making a difference and doing well. Energy in the church seems to be good and on an upswing.

Upcoming Holy Week Events:
• Mar.28 – Palm Sunday – Debbie and Elaine organized palms – finding them (stored in downstairs fridge and in box by office), arranging in tall vases in the morning for ushers to hand out, saving many after the service for next weeks table decorations for Good Friday soup supper.
• Apr.1 – Maundy Thursday - communion offered by intinction at 7:30 p.m. healing service by Elsa and John – 2 ushers needed along with 2 Deacons, 2 chalices and 21/2 loaves bread.
• Apr.2 – Good Friday – 6 p.m. Service with the Soup supper (hosted by SLW with help from the Guild) offered at 7 p.m. with a second service at 7:30 p.m.
• Apr.2, 3, 4 – Easter vigil - with sign-ups starting on Feb. 21 – Vigil begins directly after the Good Friday service and ends after the Sunrise service on Sunday. Church wide note sent on Monday as reminders.
• Apr.4 – Sunrise Service at 6 a.m. - communion (2 loaves, 2 chalices, 2 deacons) offered by John, with bagpiper David Smart and trumpeter Sally Keiter played to a congregation of over 100 people.
• Apr.4 – Sanctuary Easter services at 9 and 11 a.m. - offered by Elsa - no communion in sanctuary due to larger attendance and back-to-back service times (offered at sunrise service, and Maundy Thursday services instead).

Other Upcoming Events:
• April 11 – Baptism at 4 p.m. in Chapel – one Deacon needed.
• May 16 – Children’s Celebration Sunday- last day of church school with church picnic afterward.
• June 6 is Founder’s Day with the Elder luncheon.
• June 13 is Confirmation Sunday.

Continued items:
• Elsa asks us to explore - What is your vision for the future of our church and what does church mean to you?
• Research for table replacement for Davidson Lounge.

Adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

Please contact me with any edits or additions,
Dana Wiggins

Church Council

2010-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of April 15, 2010
Recorder: Sally Hinckley

Present: Bob Morse, Nancy MacLean, John McCall, Chris Keiter, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Carrie Skeffington, Debra Andrews, Elsa Peters, Andy Ellis, Dave Allen and Sally Hinckley

Chris Keiter opened the meeting at 6:35 p.m. Sally read from her top ten list on being one’s best self, followed by a morning prayer.

March Minutes were reviewed and accepted.

Minister’s Time:
John and his family are moving to a condo in South Portland. Due to added cost of housing, John requested that the Council reallocate his 2010 compensation of $73,705, by boosting his housing allowance to $42,000 and reducing his salary to $31,705. Currently, $37,413 is designated as housing allowance and $36,292 as salary, by vote of the congregation at its January budget meeting. This was approved by the Council and will become effective May 1, 2010.

Church Vision – Update:
The survey garnered 125 responses resulting in a twenty-two page document. Things are moving forward and the Council will be informed as things progress.

Stressed to Blessed – Continued:
A myriad of suggestions were made on how to increase volunteerism within our church. The lengthy discussion came down to a first step in what will no doubt be an ongoing process. For now, ideas from the council members will be sent to Chris Keiter via e-mail. Chris will filter then pass on to Sally, Phil and John for review. Their recommendations will be presented at the May Council Meeting.

Maine Conference:
Annual Meeting will be held in Farmington from June 12 to June 14. Our church is entitled to six delegates with only two presently committed. Contact John or Elsa if you are interested in attending.

Reminder: Annual Meeting Sunday May 23
The Council is now taking nominations for new Council members. Typically the term is three years, however, one may stay as long, but not longer than, six years. Please send names to Dave ASAP via e-mail, and he will compile a list. Also, a new Council Moderator will be chosen at the June meeting.

From time to time there are items stored in hallways, egress paths and other areas of the church building that constitute a hazard. The Administration Team will be given the task of addressing these safety concerns and shall create a policy regarding same.

Website Redesign: Update
Elsa met with two vendors who meet our requirements for web design, with another meeting in the works for next week. Elsa will report back to the Council in May. An early August completion date is anticipated. A $2,000 donation has been made specifically for this project.

Mass e-mails from the Church:
How many are too many? This question arose not because of complaints, but because sending these reminder e-mails regarding upcoming events and other issues is time consuming for our Church office personnel, and may not be that worthwhile. There is a method for unsubscribing that each recipient could implement if so desired. This enhancement would cost the Church $15.00 per month and may be worth trying. The council said yes.

Fundraising:
Putting the fun back into fundraising and tying it all in with the birth of The Vision Statement, may be the way to launch some unique celebrations and raise some money. More on this process as it develops.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Mission and Outreach

2010-04-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of April 8, 2010

Present: Laurie Cary, Greg Wyman, Richard Parker, Mike Kasputes, Sandy Dyer, and Sarah Randall. Elsa unable to attend meeting tonight.

Opening Reading: Carol was unable to attend, so Sarah read Carol’s prepared reading, “Listening to your Life” by Frederick Beauchner.

Minutes from March 4th were reviewed and accepted as is.

Treasurers Report - Greg Wyman:
- Easter Offering collected $1,688. , a decrease from last year ($1899.)
- One Great Hour of Sharing collected $1,441, an increase from last year ($961.36).
- 2nd Quarter payment to Maine Conference of $6,300 paid; thus far have paid half of year $12,600.
- Special support of $4,500 paid so far this year.

Thank you notes received (as follows):
1. “Long Creek Center”- $500.
2. “Southern Poverty Law Center” - $500.
3. “Hospice of Southern Maine” - $150. (This amount was given to Rev Larry Green when he preached and he donated it to Hospice of Southern Maine.)
4. “Bread for the world” - $1,216.25 (Christmas offering)
5. “Preble Street” - donations of hats, mittens and scarves from “Mitten Tree”.
6. “Center for Grieving Children” - money raised during the Holly Daze Bazaar.
7. “Opportunity Farm” - $500.
8. “Root Cellar” - $500.
9. “Preble Street” - $500.
Thank you notes can be found on our bulletin board.

Old Business:
a.) Micah Project: Habitat for Humanity - we had a good turnout about 13 to 14 people. It was a workout demolishing a house and saving what could be salvaged.
b.) Mission Team Nominations for 2010/2011:
--Kendra Palmer agreed to join the team.
--Jan Bossee is thinking about joining.
--Maureen Clancy agreed to serve one more year(maybe two?).
--Mike Kasputes will be Treasurer.
--Sandy Dyer and Sarah Randall agreed to share the job of co-chairing the Team.
c.) Annual Report due 5/4/10 - summarization of what’s been done during the year. Annual Meeting on 5/23/10.

Subcommittees:
a.) Greg Wyman will continue with the Fair Trade Coffee project. Next orders will be taken on 5/9 and 5/16. Last year Fair Trade was able to spend $138. from the proceeds to buy coffee for the church.
b.) Food Pantry Drive starts on 5/16. Notices to go into the Beacon for 4/26 and 5/10. Will give out bags and lists on 5/16 and collect donations on 5/23.
c.) Special Offering - “Blanket Sunday” on 5/9. Money collected to buy blankets, which are then distributed worldwide to areas in need.
d.) Rummage Sale - Saturday 4/17, Prudy Wiggins will need help.

Open Discussion:
Mike Kasputes read the information on Darfur; its format is an educational course which may be best approached by being a separate project or program presented to the church, (film plus several hours of discussion). Team consensus was to table this again until it can be decided upon best way to present the information.

Closing Reading: Sarah finished Carol’s reading.

Recorder: Sarah Randall

Next Meeting - May 6
Opening and Closing Reading - Greg Wyman
Recorder -Maureen Clancy

Growth Group

2010-04-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 4/12/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Stan Jordan, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, Sue Ross, Dave Allen.
Absent: Jim Kupel, John McCall.

Dave opened the meeting at 5:45 p.m. with a prayer.

Usher ‘best practices’ status (Rick):
Rick is convening the ushers for a meeting on Sunday, May 16th at 11:30. All from the Growth Group are welcome to attend. Rick will present the ‘best practices’ at that time. Stan noted that a member of his team tried passing out bulletins at the front door of the Sanctuary. It seemed to go well and she closed the door around 10 when the service started. Dave said that the ushers in the churches he has visited did not escort people to their seats.

Parish Hosts(Rick):
John reported in his e-mail that ‘Nothing to report on Parish Hosts though I continue to make occasional offers.’ Rick has called the 5 people on his lists. None want to be assigned a host at this time. Dave reflected we spent a lot of time and thought on this program that appears to be going nowhere. He suggested we contact those who signed up to BE hosts to let them know what is going on. He will draft a message.

Welcome Cards (Elinor/Kendra):
Kendra sent John a template to use for drafting a postcard size message about our church. Most likely this project is on hold during the Easter season.

Volunteer web sign up (Elinor):
The group has seen the e-mail describing the program drafted by Elinor. She is waiting to be sure Sandy Hansen is comfortable with the entire process before soliciting congregational sign up. Sandy is enthusiastic about the project; just very busy. Elinor will notify Rick a little ahead of sending a church e-mail so that he can give the usher captains a ‘heads up’. Elinor will add a phrase to her message urging people to register on the web-site if they would be willing to greet at some distant future date.

Friendship pads (Dave/all):
Dave pointed out that the present friendship pads are getting worn. Do they present our church in the most useful way for newcomers? Are there always nametags in the back? We suggested having the ushers make sure they are always stocked with nametags. We discussed how many people just write their names and check off ‘church member’, so that more than one page is required for a Sunday morning. Stan pointed out that we will be looking at the products used by the churches we are visiting. We know John has specific uses for the present form of the information requested and look forward to a discussion with him.

Friends’ Sunday (all):
Kendra read the section from the ’52 ideas’ book on Friends Sunday. Printed invitations are suggested. Members could pick an invitation up at church and mail it to their friend, and then follow up with a phone call invitation. Sue talked about having members stand up with their friend during the service (when prompted). Would there be a special service? Possibly have a friends theme for the children’s story and sermon. Have the Joyful Noise sing.  For timing, we discussed early October or possibly Thanksgiving Sunday.

Hospitality Moment:
Do we want to continue with hospitality moments? Only if there are new ideas, although we could have a summary of the ideas presented so far. Kendra suggested transitioning to having people share what the church means to them. We would have a prepared, designated person. Kendra would do the recruiting.

Visits to other churches:
During the May meeting, we will be discussing our visits to other churches. We are looking for what works that we are not doing now. Each person should bring their top 3 ideas to the meeting. The process will be for each person to talk about his/her top new idea. Then each person will present idea #2, etc.

Other:
Stan and Marie have prepared special tags for the greeters. They are stored in the credenza with the flowers. Sandy Hansen has been making sure they are used and put away again.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.

Next meeting: Monday, May 10, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. in the Laity Room.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Education Growth & Fellowship

2010-03-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

APRIL 2010 Meeting Minutes - March 25, 2010
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending: Karen Pierce, Margaret Thibodeau, Elsa Peters.
Unable to attend: Ginny Gledhill, Carolyn Foster, Jana Frank, Jennifer Fetting.

The meeting began with introductions. We were joined by prospective member Lynne Lanctot. We spent some time discussing the organization of the Church and EG&F Team responsibilities.

The March 4th Minutes were approved.

Jana had contacted Margaret to report that Coffee Hour is going along fine.

Karen shared that the Library Committee has reported no concerns. The Scholarship Group is currently reviewing applications. The deadline for submissions was March 15th. They will inform the congregation soon of their decisions.

Margaret will check with Ginny regarding Nursery & PreK coverage for Easter Sunday. A lily has been ordered in celebration of Linda McAloon, in appreciation of her teaching the pre-kindergarten class on Easter. Margaret will also send her a card, mentioning our thanks, and that the lily can be picked up after the service.

The Team will need to begin thinking about the Church Picnic, which takes place on Sunday May 16th. Margaret will put a sign-up poster at coffee hour, asking for donations and salads. New member Sunday is May 23rd.

Elsa shared the Faith Formation Update. The Team is supportive of ordering the online version of the curriculum materials. This will save money. A sub-group called “Family Faith Formation Committee” is being formed as a sub-group of children, family, and youth ministry. Christ Kid’s Club will host a Local Foods Dinner probably on May 1st, 5:00-7:00 p.m. Approximately 40-50 people are involved in Adult Faith Formation activities, which is a great success. Aaron French, the current Youth Ministry leader will be leaving in May. Steve Ferris has agreed to lead the program next year. The Team would like to think of an appropriate thank you for Aaron before he leaves.

The next meeting will be Thursday, May 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Church Council

2010-03-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of March 18, 2010

Present: Bob Morse, Nancy MacLean, John McCall, Chris Keiter, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Carrie Skeffington, Matt Early, Debra Andrews, Sally Hinckley, Elsa Peters, Andy Ellis and Chris Dow.

Chris Keiter convened the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Chris Dow opened with two readings by Ann Weems followed by prayer.

The February minutes were reviewed and accepted.

Minister’s Time:
- Elsa attended an interfaith gathering sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland on the healthcare crisis.
- John announced that Rev. Larry Greer will be the guest preacher at both services on Sunday, March 21st.

Discussion on article “From Stressed to Blessed”:
- Elsa asked the council to read this article in January and she asked us what we thought was being accomplished through the current volunteer ministry of the congregation.
- Responses included church community engagement, Habitat for Humanity, mentors for confirmation, church school teachers, YM volunteers and soup kitchen. In essence, a tremendous amount of work is accomplished by our volunteer ministry.
- Other key points made were the secular culture is changing and that affects church culture.
- The new governance structure was designed so the teams would not be doing all the work. However, that is not the case in some instances.
- We have a low expectation for church membership qualifications which is working against us when it comes to volunteerism.
- Frustration exists with some of the teams having to fill the vacancies on their teams due to the absence of a nominating committee.
- Ideas for helping the teams engage members included utitilization of perhaps a revised Participation Form, new member dinners, announcements in worship, Beacon articles and most importantly personal outreach.
- Discussion will continue next month and hopefully we will have Dave Allen’s input from the Growth Group as we develop an action plan.

Church Vision:
- Elsa reported 80 responses to date on the survey questions according to Survey Monkey.
- The Committee on Vision will meet again after April 5th.
- The council asked Elsa to send out the Survey Monkey link again to the congregation.

Pilgrim Lodge Camperships:
- Elsa told us Pilgrim Lodge camperships are funded by $850.00 from the Holly Daze Bazaar and segregated funds.
- The council agreed that camperships would be available to both children and adults.
- Through Beacon articles and announcements in church, we will encourage those wanting assistance with funding to let us know.
- The church will solicit members of the congregation to help with camperships via the Beacon.

Filling EG&F Vacancy:
- Jennifer Fetting was approved to fill a vacancy on the EG& F Team.

Schools on Wheels Fundraising:
- Maureen Clancy, a member of the Mission Outreach Team submitted a request to the council for a fundraising activity ($500 to $1000 to benefit the Schools on Wheels Project sponsored by the Azande Organization).
- Council decided we didn’t have enough information to make a decision on this. Chris K. will get more details and communicate with each of us by E-Mail.

Check-in with Teams and Committees:
- The question was raised as to whether the council thought there was any benefit to having a meeting with the council and the teams.
- It was decided that the council should make the option available to the teams. Chris K. will be in touch with the teams.

Website Update:
- John reported that the committee working on the re-design of the church’s website has narrowed the choice down to two providers. These providers differ somewhat in the tools they recommend. The committee will meet with them before making a selection.

More Comprehensive Church Budget:
- Chris K. reported on the meeting on having a more comprehensive church budget.
- A sample budget was circulated showing what a comprehensive budget might look like.
- The point was made that the reason for including these other groups with the church budget (Holly Daze Bazaar, Community Crisis Ministries, Discovery Center and Investment Oversight) was for transparency and awareness, not for control.
- Consensus was that this was a good idea but should be reports instead of budgets for the other groups and might be more appropriately titled “Proposed Church Budget and Financial Reports”

Fundraising Activities:
- Report of the subcommittee on fundraising was distributed.
- A variety of fundraising activities were discussed.
- Decided to table further discussion until next month.

Adjourned: 8:32 p.m.
Recorder: Chris Dow

Church Council

2010-03-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes - February 25, 2010

Present: Chris Keiter, John McCall, Andy Ellis, Bob Morse, Chris Dow, Matt Early, Elsa Peters, Sally Hinckley, Dave Allen, Carrie Skeffington, Roger Addor.

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chris Keiter. Roger opened with a short essay on the use of the 86,400 seconds we are allotted each day, followed by a prayer.

Minutes for January were reviewed and adopted.

Minister’s Time: John was pleased to report that Sue Stevens, a long time active member of our congregation, is starting a formal process to become a Commissioned Minister within the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Elsa reported that the Adult Faith Formation class is using a new curriculum during the Lenten season.

Budget: Chris reported on the successful completion and congregational acceptance of the 2010 church budget.

The Budget Committee, as a follow-up to the budget just passed, is working on a way to incorporate into the 2011 budget an accounting of monies raised and used by groups not currently included, e.g. the Holly Daze Bazaar and the Discovery Center. There was a lot of discussion about what this change means. Chris will develop a sample of what that might look like to help further the discussion.

The Budget Committee is also entertaining ideas for new fund raising possibilities. Sally Hinckley and Carrie Skeffington will work with Chris on this.

Website Design: Requests For Proposals (RFPs) for updating our website were sent to six website companies. Responses are due back by March 5th.

Annual Meeting: The date agreed upon is May 23. The meeting will be held immediately after service.

Sanctuary Railing: Eben Marsh, from the Administration Team, took us to the sanctuary to describe the railings that have been proposed for the stairs that go from the main sanctuary level to the first level of the chancel. The Council liked the design and thinks that it is a worth while effort. The projected cost is $2,500. A total of $1,300 has already been pledged, including $1,000 from Dick and Barbara Merrill (many thanks!) The Council discussed and approved having the Administration Team solicit the remaining funds from the congregation.

Bulletin Boards: A request through Bob Morse by the Eskimos to be able to set up an easel to publicize events was turned down. This means of communication has been considered before by the Council and rejected as being too intrusive. The need for a review of effective use of current bulletin board space, with the agreement that space should be offered to the Eskimos, was recognized. Elsa agreed to pursue the review.

Christ Kids Club Fundraiser: Elsa submitted a completed Fundraiser Form to allow the Club to sell tickets for a church dinner to be held on Saturday, May 1. They will be in charge of ticket sales and in the preparation and serving of the meal. Proceeds are to go to Haiti relief. The Council gave its approval

Church Vision: Elsa reported that the Vision Committee has come up with a set of six questions which will be presented to all church members. The Committee plans to use the responses to draft a vision statement, with fall homecoming as a completion target.

Pastor Parish Relationship Report: The document “Reflecting on Our Ministry,” which had been distributed to Council members by Ken Ross and Mandy Schumaker at last month’s council meeting, was opened for further discussion of the evaluation process. The consensus appears to be, both from the minister’s and the Pastoral Parish Relations Committee point of view, that this newly developed format, although quite exhaustive and time consuming, served as an effective means of refocusing an array of attributes central to an effective ministry and to the better incorporation of the laity in achieving goals. Parish Relations has recommended a four or five year interval for repeating the process; they will check in with John and Elsa about every 6 months regarding their development objectives.

Other Business: Spiritual Life and Worship submitted the name of Frank Arsenault to become a member of the Class of 2012. Council approved.

The Food Pantry requested approval to distribute brochures on healthy eating. This allows them to apply for a $500 grant, to the benefit of the Pantry. Council approved.

Discussion of the article “From Stressed to Blessed,” distributed by Elsa for discussion this month, was postponed until the March meeting.

Adjourned: 8:27 p.m.

Recorder: Roger Addor

Growth Group

2010-03-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Meeting Minutes of 3/8/10

Members present: Rick Angell, Stan Jordan, Elinor Redmond, Kendra Palmer, Sue Ross, John McCall, Dave Allen.
Absent: Jim Kupel

Stan opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m.with a prayer.

1. Web volunteer sign up (Elinor) - LotsaHelpingHands is a free web-site which provides a way for volunteers to sign up for activities that fit their desires and calendars. Elinor has created a location for us on that site: FCC Volunteers (http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/621960/). Initially we will pilot sign-up for Greeters at the back church entrance and the office entrance. We plan to have an official designation Greeters can affix to their nametags so that people recognize the purpose of their presence. Elinor will be the coordinator and Dave will be her back up. This will be a pilot program so that we can see if it is something useful for other areas of church life. Elinor will try to provide phone sign-up for those unable to use the web. She may need help if the demand is too great.

Actions: Elinor will contact Sandy Hansen about the project and see if she wants to try scheduling Front Door Greeters in this way.

Elinor will write a descriptive e-mail to circulate among members of the Growth Group to be corrected/added to.

Rich will forward said e-mail to the Usher Captains, with instruction to pass it along to the Ushers on their team either through e-mail or telephone.

Elinor will put the contents of said e-mail in the Beacon.

2. Welcome Cards (Elinor) - Elinor presented the idea of creating a postcard size invitation to worship at our church, welcoming all and giving the times and basic church contact information. The cards would be located by exit doors. The target audience is members of groups using the church (nursery school parents, members of AA, students of yoga, etc.) so they have an easy way to know when worship services occur.

Action: John will send a draft to the group before the next meeting.

Kendra will send John a postcard template.

3. Usher Meeting (Rich) - The next meeting will be Sunday, April 18th. We reviewed Dave’s notes from the last Ushers’ meeting. He will put together a card of ‘best practices’ for ushers. Stan reported on his church visits: he particularly noticed that smiling, very pleasant ushers create a great first impression. John remarked that he sees the cluster of ushers blocking the center aisle as folks enter the sanctuary as imposing. We wondered if splitting the group and standing to the side would help. We discussed the value of having an Usher at the front side door to give out bulletins and seat those who wished to be escorted. We discussed having an usher in the balcony vs. having a small pile of bulletins for congregants. These are good topics for the Ushers’ meeting.

Action: Rich will organize the meeting. He will put together a card of ‘best practices’ for ushers.

4. Status of Parish Hosts (John/Rich) - There has been one great Parish Host/Guest match. All other guests have declined the opportunity when it is offered, either by John or by Rich. Rich has had two very positive telephone conversations with Guest families. Both have been most complimentary about our church yet do not want to have a PH. We speculated that the idea might seem too much of an obligation to newcomers. Kendra reminded the group of discussion at the last meeting of presenting the program differently, in a casual introduction. Sue thought the PH might make the call. John suggested that would feel like too much pressure. An alternative idea is to have 1 or 2 PHs available each Sunday to be matched up with newcomers as needed. John and the ushers would make the connection. Kendra wondered if people who come alone to church are more receptive to the Parish Host relationship.

Action: (I am fuzzy on this. I know we want PHs ‘at the ready’ to try this out). Elinor will set up the web-site for sign-up.

5. Hospitality Moment - Stan will provide the next tip on Sunday, March 28th (Palm Sunday). Dave is keeping track of the topics.

6. Other - Stan asked Dave about the project gathering information about small groups in the church. Dave has been ‘on hold’ as the purpose was to be a resource for the PH program. We do still need to have a comprehensive listing of the small groups in our church.

7. Agenda Items for next meeting:
• Friendship pads (& nametags)
• Update: Web signup, welcome cards, PH program
• Friends Sunday
• Tags – greeters
• Hospitality moment

Next meeting: Monday, April 12, 2010 at 5:30 in the Laity Room.

Respectfully submitted,
Elinor Redmond

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-03-11T07:25:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes – March 4, 2010

Attending: Frank Arsenault, Betsy Keiter, Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, John McCall, Tex Haeuser, Rick Angell.

Opening Prayer - by Betsy.

Review of February Minutes - approved with several edits (see attached revision).

John McCall - Upcoming events:
>Old Business
• Feb. 17- Ash Wednesday- SLW will host breakfast at 7AM followed by a 7:30am service. Was an excellent breakfast and service with 25 attending in Davidson Lounge.

• (Carried Item) Mar. 21- Hospice Sunday with Rev. Larry Greer giving the sermon with a talk on end of life care in Davidson Lounge after the service.

• (Carried Item) - Apr. 1 - Maundy Thursday –communion offered at 7:30 pm healing service by Elsa and John.

• Apr. 2 - Good Friday Soup supper – Hosted by the Guild. Elaine will follow up with the Guild to see if SL&W can help in any way.

• Apr. 2,3 and 4- Easter Vigil - with sign-ups starting on March 7th. An easel with sign up sheets will be placed outside the Chapel on the landing for that service and then moved to near the entrance to Wright Pavilion for the Sanctuary service and coffee hour.

• (Carried Item) Apr. 4 – Easter - Sunrise Service – communion offered with 2 needed to assist John.

• (Carried Item) Sanctuary services at 9 and 11- no communion in sanctuary offered due to larger attendance and back to back service times (but offered at sunrise service, and Maundy Thursday services).

• (Carried Item) June 6 - Founder’s Day with the Elder luncheon.

• (Carried Item) June 13 - Confirmation Sunday.

>New Business
• It has been decided to recycle all of the retired Pilgrim Hymnals as the market place is over flowing with these type of hymnals. Tex will look into the O’Neil Street DPW as a site for recycling.

• A new table will be purchased for Davidson Lounge to replace the table now used for communion in the sanctuary.

Elsa Peters - (Carried Item):
>What is our vision for the future of our church? – What does church mean to you?

>Lenten theme is “Toward transformation” – Elsa is offering a 6 week Bible study with 2 times offered; Monday evenings at 6:30 to 8:30 and Tuesdays mornings at 10:30 - 12:30 leading with the curriculum she has written and made available electronically, with hard copies available in the office.

>SL&W Terms of Members (Carried Item) - Review of Terms: we're not sure about this rotation but we are filling it in and getting more information so we have it on record.
• Class of 2010– Betsy and Debbie
• Class of 2011 – Rick and Dana
• Class of 2012– Elaine and Tex
• Class of 2013– Frank

>Elder Selection Process – The process for selection of Elder candidates was discussed. It was decided that Tex will chair a committee including Dave Allan, Darla Harris and Rick Angell to choose candidates to be presented to the SL&W Team for approval. The SL&W approved list will in turn be presented to the annual meeting for final approval.

>Agenda Items for next meeting: The next meeting will concentrate on Holy Week preparation:
• Maundy Thursday
• Good Friday
• Sunrise Service
• 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. Sanctuary Services

Next Meeting: 7:00 p.m. on March 25 (this will be April's meeting moved ahead one week due to Easter events)
Prepare agenda and Chair next meeting – Rick ; Minutes – Betsy.

Adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Rick Angell

Administration Team

2010-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 4, 2010

Present: Ron Bennett, Deb Sandler, Guy Gledhill, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone and Jim Otis.
Excused: Eben Marsh and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

The meeting was called to order by the Meeting Chair Ron Bennett at 7:05 p.m. Jim Otis was appointed Meeting Secretary and Chair for the next meeting.

The minutes of the January 7, 2010 meeting were reviewed and accepted.

Old Business:
Financial Statements and Budget: We reviewed our financial statements and budget for the period January 1 through February 4, 2010. There was a $(9,962) loss for this period vs. a budgeted loss of $(27,284) for the calendar year. Given the seasonality of certain expenses and accelerated payments of other expenses, we felt the variances were reasonable and we concluded that we are on track at this time. We happily noted that we have received 101% of the budgeted Previous Year’s Pledges.

Tenant review: 1.) 331 Cottage Road: The downstairs is currently rented for $1,200 per month to a commercial tenant and things are going fine. The upstairs residential tenant has left after many years and we are currently seeking proposals to rehab the space so it can be rented again (see House Committee report below for details). 2.) 509 Sawyer Street: We have a residential tenant leasing on a (temporary) reduced rent of $700 per month.

Chancel Rail Proposal: We noted that our Procurement Policy calls for 2 proposals if the proposed expenditure is estimated to be $500 to $2,500 and 3 proposals if the estimated cost is $,2500 to $10,000. We felt this could go either way. We reviewed a very similar proposal provided to FCC in early 2007 from Thomas Pittman, Cabinetmaker, for $3,000. Eben Marsh also contacted Wright Ryan (WR), a local reputable contractor and they have submitted a detailed proposal (with a schematic drawing) for $2,500. We discussed this extensively and felt comfortable in awarding the contract to WR, subject to: Council concurrence, congregation feedback and oversight by Eben Marsh (he offered to do this-thanks Eben!). We also noted that the WR drawing reflects different style ballisters than the present ballisters which extend across the chancel. We would like Eben to contact WR and see if they can modify the design to match the ballisters and provide us with an updated schematic drawing (before our March meeting) that we can use when we show this to the congregation. Eben should also ask if this will result in any additional cost. We are also planning to put an article in the Beacon.

Committee Reports:
Counting: Peggy Murray didn’t submit a formal report, but she has been nicely organizing the counters and related scheduling.

House: The House Committee has been very busy recently with the upstairs at 331 Cottage Road. They have inspected the premises carefully and have designed an RFP which includes numerous work items to bring this one (1) bedroom residential unit up to rentable status. Notable items include correcting the front entrance, new kitchen, bathroom remodeling, painting and new electrical plugs and CO2/smoke detectors. We noted that the Committee has done an amazing job. The RFP has been sent out to 3 vendors, with one (1) proposal received so far. We discussed the need to have three (3) proposals and Rod offered to provide another possible vendor (which he has done already!). We hope to have 3 proposals to evaluate at our March meeting. We also expressed a concern about the overall cost of improving the space to obtain estimated rental income of $750/month.

Planned Giving (PG): Ron submitted a second article for the Beacon and we all commended him on the quality of the articles. Ron also mentioned that Allen Bosch volunteered to assist the PG Committee. Allen has a lot of experience with planned giving in churches and educational institutions.

Web Site Subcommittee (WSS): Guy and Rod have been serving on this subcommittee. Rod indicated that he won’t be able to attend the 5:00 p.m. meetings due to parenting obligations, but Guy will continue to attend these. Rod and Guy mentioned that feedback on the proposed web site design RFP was sought and provided by church members. They noted that the final RFP was being sent out today or tomorrow to 5 vendors. The proposals should be received by March 5. The WSS will apparently receive the proposals, evaluate them and make a recommendation to the A Team.

New Business:
Growth Group Request: Chair Dave Allen asked Jim Otis for advice on how to address the issue of a lack of signage around the church. Jim said that he would bring this to the A Team for discussion. We all agreed that signage was a good idea so that we can be as user friendly as possible to our members and guests. Chair Guy of the House Committee said that his Committee would discuss this at their next meeting and take appropriate action and coordinate things with Dave and the Growth Committee.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 p.m.

The next AT meeting will be held on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

Respectfully submitted by: Jim Otis, Meeting Secretary

Mission and Outreach

2010-03-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 4, 2010

Present: Laurie Cary, Mike Kasputes, Maureen Clancy, Sandy Dyer.

Opening Reading: Sandy read from Life Tides “Kaleidoscope”. A selection which drew our attention as being a part of the whole, and trusting in the unity of the whole.

January Minutes were accepted as written.

Treasurer’s Report: No financial report was available. However, the new Fund Raising Form process developed by the Council was discussed, including the asking of donations as being part of that process. Laurie reviewed the Haiti disaster relief efforts, which included a contribution to the UCC of $1500. In addition there are opportunities through One Great Hour of Sharing plus an advance of $500 to Konbit Sante designated to earthquake relief. An open discussion of some of the challenges occurring in Haiti concluded the report.

Minister’s Moments: Elsa Peters - Elsa focused on some of her involvement in the greater community:

• What’s our vision as a community? This question arose from Pastor Parish Relations. The Council has created a group to discover a definition of our Vision. To articulate what we are and where we are going. This relates to the Mission Outreach Team. The initial time frame is for a draft in the next 3 to 6 months, but the process is open ended.

• The November marriage vote continues to draw attention. There is work being done in the secular area (Equality Maine) as well as in some religious groups. These include the Progressive Clergy of Portland which John and Elsa attend. Some of the focus is on the teaching of marriage inclusion as we have done here at Meetinghouse Hill FCC.

• She engaged in the employee protest at the Front Room over workers rights. Rock Maine a labor organizing group is coordinating efforts. Elsa had an opinion carried on the editorial page of the January 29, 2010 edition of the Portland Press.

Old Business:

• The next Micah Project is set for the 6th of March. Laurie, Maureen, and Sandy will call to find 12 volunteers. Maureen will get a request for volunteers in the next Beacon. The location for the Habitat for Humanity project is still unknown. We will be departing the church at 8:30. If we have more than 12 volunteers, we’ll attempt to set-up another Habitat project date. Volunteers will need to bring lunch, snacks, and water.

• Coffee hours went well on the 10th and 17th of January. Fair Trade Coffee orders were strong during the coffee hours. Delivery will be around the 14th of February. Sign-ups for projects included the Reynolds, Herb and Evie Strom, and a new Children’s Closet volunteer. The Food Pantry needs volunteers this winter. The pantry is an on demand system where the volunteer of the day is called in to fill a bag (3 meals for 2 days for the family size). The team feels that the coffee hour hosting was beneficial and should be done again next year.

• The Children’s Closet (9 to 11 a.m. first and third Wed. and Sat. of each month) came up with new rules to curb the impulsive over taking of clothes offered. They are working to implement the new rules. They may not need to replace Jen since the team is dividing up responsibilities. They could still use more volunteers and donations.

• The Dafur information is tabled for this month.

Other Discussion:

• Wayside Soup Kitchen: Laurie received a letter on transitioning over into the Preble Street program for volunteers. Wayside is also looking to create a mobile food pantry.

• The Florence house, a facility for both permanent and temporary women, located at the base of Maine Med – on or near Valley Street will need volunteers. Micah may help on a one time project at the Florence house. They will need servers on a regular basis. That request will be passed onto Karen Mooney of the Soup Kitchen committee here at FCC.

• Maureen shared her experience and knowledge of Amistad at St. Dom’s on State Street. This is a restaurant luncheon program focused toward work experience and social interaction for people with a mental disability. The program participants serve the public. Should we support Amistad?

• The South Portland Cape Elizabeth Emergency Food Pantry would like a food collection done later in the spring. A potential for the next food drive is May or June.

• The Azande group, connected with World Vision with a program operating in Sudan for refugees, delivers school supplies in that region of the world. Should we consider this for a donation in March? For more information: www.azandeorganization.org

• Laurie will pull together an article for the Beacon regarding the One Great Hour of Sharing on 3/21/10. This is a UCC offering that goes to international charity.

• Should we invite representatives of the groups we support during the year to attend some of our mission meetings? This would be an opportunity for each group to update the committee on their current programs and needs.

Thank-you Notes Received:

• The South Portland Cape Elizabeth Emergency Food Pantry, in thanks for the Maine Special Support and Mission Mall. Including the cash donation of December 2009, and the Holly Daze Bizarre.

• Opportunity Farm for the cash donation.

• Animal Refuge League in thanks for the Mission Mall.

• Long Creek Youth Center in thanks for the Christmas Giving Tree presents.

Closing Reading: Sandy read from Life Tides - “let us dance in the flame that we see”.

Recorder: Mike Kasputes

Next Meeting: March 4th.
Opening/Closing Prayer: Richard Parker
Recorder: Sandy Dyer

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-02-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 7, 2010
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending: Ginny Gledhill, Karen Pierce, Jana Frank, Margaret Thibodeau, Elsa Peters

The meeting began with the approval of the December Minutes.

Richard Angell joined us as a representative of the Growth Group. He updated the Team on activities of his group, which is a subcommittee of EG&F working to create a welcoming atmosphere in the church, and endeavoring to enhance the growth of our congregation.

Our Team was asked to trim our budget for 2010. The Team agreed to make modest changes to line items which include Adult Education, Library, and Supplies and Equipment, in order to meet the revised church budget.

Team members shared updates regarding their respective subcommittees:
• Jana shared that Coffee Hour continues to get volunteers on the sign up sheets available at coffee hour. The Mission Team has offered to host the next two Sundays.
• Karen reported that the Library and Scholarship Committees are going along fine.
• Ginny shared that coverage in the Nursery has been adequate.
• The next Inquirer’s meeting is January 26th, and Margaret will be there to provide refreshments. New Members occurs on February 7th.

Elsa asked for questions regarding the Faith Formation Update. Concerns for Sunday School center around inspiring parents to assist with the Kindergarten class, and behavior concerns in Grade 3-4. Suggestions for these issues include having the Kindergarten teacher enlist a support parent for each Sunday, using a signup sheet. Ways to handle the behavior concerns include making sure teachers discuss classroom rules and behavior at the beginning of the semester (set expectations). If there is a problem, teachers should contact the parent. Students will be given a warning, and their parents notified. If issues continue, the parent will be asked to have the child join the parents in the regular church service. The Team reviewed the remaining Faith Formation activities. In reference to our prior discussions regarding the children’s offering and Communion Sunday, it was decided that a special offering would be collected during the Children’s Sermon starting in Lent. The Team will focus on planning for the Communion Sunday Kids Worship for the fall of 2010.

Margaret shared the YM update sent by Aaron French.

The team should be thinking about ways to enlist new members.

Our next meeting is Thursday, Feb. 4 @ 7:00 p.m.

Music Committee

2010-02-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 4, 2010

Present: Shirley Curry, Kim Early, Anna O’Connor, and Trudi Bakke

1. Reviewed and accepted December Minutes.

2. Updates:
• Shirley reported to the committee about the Christmas Vespers program.

• The newly passed 2010 budget was distributed.

• The description of the Reed organ was e-mailed to Sue Stevens at the conference for publication in the next ACE newsletter.

3. The committee discussed names of possible new members. Anna will talk with Beth Hess and Kim will talk with Peg Carmichael, Karen Emery, and Christi Cannell.

4. Easter refreshments will be provided for the choir on Easter Sunday between the two services in the choir kitchen. Somewhere around 25 people will be present. The committee will e-mail more specifics in the weeks to come.

5. Shirley will be away from the church the five Sundays in August. She will work on arranging for a substitute organist.

6. Shirley reported that the Council has held a conversation regarding the use of the sanctuary for concerts by outside groups and would like to see something of their conversation in writing. Kim will contact Chris Keiter to ask if the Council can put their guidelines into a written paragraph.

7. Other business:
• Shirley reported that she has paid for the piano light, music stand, and Good Friday music.

• Sometime this spring or next fall, Shirley would like the red children’s choir robes repaired and washed. Trudi has volunteered to do this – thanks!

• The chairs in the choir kitchen will need to be replaced. This does not need to happen all at once, but perhaps a handful a year. The committee discussed if we should request a new line item in the 2011 budget for this purpose or check with the Trustees to find out if it would be a capital expenditure.

• For the Good Friday service, Shirley is interested in having a large, rough looking cross (3x3 or 4x4) made for the processional.

The next meeting is set for May 6th.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-02-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 3, 2009
Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Team members attending: Ginny Gledhill, Karen Pierce, Carolyn Foster, Margaret Thibodeau, Elsa Peters

The meeting began with the approval of November's Minutes.

A "Church Contacts" list was distributed. All contacts are via the church website (fccucc.org), to protect individual's personal emails. Information on the list looked correct and complete, although the question was raised whether Karen Pierce should be added as a contact for Library and Scholarship Committees. Margaret will check with Jen in the church office.

Margaret read the email from Chris Keiter and the church Council, requesting that any remaining 2009 open budget funds that are not needed, not be spent for the remainder of the year, and the Team will attempt to honor this request. Karen will contact the Library Committee regarding the remaining money in their budget. Jesus' birthday celebration will use a small amount for purchasing a large cake. Only minimal supplies have been purchased this year for Christian Education (glue sticks). The Team agreed that any supplies essential to the Sunday School program and positive experience of the children should continue to be purchased this year.

The Advent Workshop went well, according to Kim Early, one of the organizers. Approximately $90.00 was raised from the event. Kim shared that the workshop tends to require funds for supplies one year, then make money the next two years. She asked the Team where the money raised should go. This year, with the current budget deficit, the Team decided the funds should go back into the line-item for such events. Perhaps in the future, money raised during the Advent Workshop could be targeted for the soup kitchen, food pantry, etc.

The Team will host Jesus's Birthday celebration after the family Christmas service, which is Dec. 24th at 5PM. Margaret will purchase a large sheet cake and paper goods, and the Early family have offered to serve.

Jana could not attend the meeting, but sent an update on Coffee Hour. Volunteers to serve and bake are scheduled right through mid-January, when the Mission Team will host. On December 20th, there will only be coffee and apple juice served after the Christmas Pageant, as the Eskimos have their annual cookie/fudge sale.

Karen shared that the Scholarship Committee is ready to begin in the New Year. They will be looking to find two new people to join their committee for next year. Karen reported that the Library Committee is well-organized, and things are going along fine.

There seems to be consistent coverage in the Nursery to assist Diana each Sunday when Ginny has checked. Ginny spoke with a parent, Stephanie Cook, who will contact some of the parents that frequently use the nursery to see if a volunteer schedule might be developed. Some parents appear to volunteer frequently, while others choose not to. The Team discussed the idea of possibly hiring a consistent caretaker on Sundays for the Nursery, with the understanding that Diana should be paid as well, if this were to occur. For now, the Team would like to see if we can continue to use parent volunteers.

Elsa shared that the special Veggie Tales movie event was a success, and something she hopes the church can offer again. She has been working with the Adult Faith Formation Committee on some focused planning for a Lenten program. The number of youth committed to Confirmation is up to seven, and Elsa is actively recruiting mentors.

Several areas regarding the Sunday School program were discussed. One matter was the role of the Superintendent. There are currently 5-6 adults who take turns serving as the Superintendent on Sundays. Carolyn reports that there are clear instructions for this role, with the responsibilities outlined. As volunteers become more familiar with the role, they tend to be more
effective and helpful to the teachers. It is important for the Superintendent to check on the teachers early, to assess individual needs and situations where they might lend support.

A second area of discussion was the children's offering. The Team reflected on whether there are alternate ways to enhance our children's understanding and way of giving, such that their offering has relevance to their spiritual development. During Christ Kid's Club, there is participation in giving and blessing the gifts, as well as a clear understanding of where the donation goes (because the children are involved in the decision by vote). It is not as evident, during Sunday School, that our children are making that same connection. Various methods and means of giving were discussed, some of which came from Team members own positive childhood memories of giving to their church. It was decided to try a new approach of providing a cohesive giving moment, during the Children's Sermon, perhaps with a unique or unusual jar the children can place their own offerings in. The Team decided this should start the beginning of Lent, which allows the Sunday School teachers in January time to explain the new method.

Another area discussed was whether the church should offer an adaptive communion service for the children on Communion Sundays. Church service on these Sundays tend to run longer man usual, so there might be time to gather the children together for sharing and community. An idea was offered to have various grade levels take turns leading the special service. The Team was supportive of this idea, and will discuss it further for Christian Education in 2010.

Lastly, the recruitment schedule of Sunday School teachers was discussed regarding how best to provide consistency for the children. While it may serve children best to have a consistent teacher for a month or two, the reality is that coverage is dependent on the team of teachers and their various schedules. Consistency, even with several team teachers, improves when those teachers strive to communicate frequently about the children and curriculum.

The Team would like to invite a member of the Growth Group to our next meeting, to share some of the group's ideas and programs. Margaret will contact the group regarding this. We also are still hoping to recruit an additional member for our Team, and will discuss this further at the January meeting.

The next meeting is January 7th.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of September 3, 2009
Recorder: Margaret Thibodeau

Attendance: Margaret Thibodeau, Ginny Gledhill, Karen Pierce, Carolyn Foster, Elsa Peters, Aaron French.

Starting Time: 7:00 p.m.

Minutes: The 6/4/09 meeting minutes were read and unanimously approved. Margaret offered to record the minutes of each meeting and team members were supportive of this.

Introductions were made and Margaret gave an overview of the Education, Growth and Fellowship Team’s responsibilities for Carolyn Foster, attending the meeting as a prospective Team member.

Members discussed the various roles and responsibilities of our Team, and each selected a committee or area to be the contact person for. Jana Frank, who could not attend the meeting, had indicated in a previous email that she would be willing to cover coffee hour for the upcoming year. Carolyn indicated her willingness to join our Team, as well as her particular interest in Faith Formation. After a brief discussion, the committee contacts for the upcoming year are as follows:
• EG&F Contact/Chair – Margaret Thibodeau
• Scholarship & Library Committees – Karen Pierce
• Faith Formation – Elsa Peters
• Youth Ministry – Aaron French
• Faith Formation support person – Carolyn Foster
• Nursery – Ginny Gledhill
• Coffee Hour – Jana Frank
• Hospitality/Inquirers/Growth Group – Margaret Thibodeau

The Team is hoping to recruit one additional Team member, who can take on the Hospitality/Inquirers/Growth Group contact responsibilities.

Updates from Team members were shared. Margaret indicated that coverage for “Lemonade on the Porch” went smoothly over the summer, with volunteers responding to whole-church emails which went out requesting coverage. Two teenagers shared Nursery coverage (for which they were paid $10/Sunday). Aaron indicated that Terry LaPointe will be helping YM some this year. Plans are in progress for the upcoming fall activities, with more emphasis on service opportunities with the Mission Team. The Faith Formation update prepared by Elsa was reviewed. Elsa shared the positive news that teachers for Sunday School have all been recruited, and that a new Adult Faith Formation Committee has been organized. Christ Kid’s Club will focus on Sacred Foods, and a Veggie Tales family movie event is planned for Saturday, November 14th.

The Team focused on Homecoming Sunday which is September 13th. The coffee hour/Sunday school registration and committee sign-ups will not be in Guptill Hall because of the Rummage Sale, but instead tables will be spread throughout the church (a map was reviewed). The decision was made to spread baked goods and food items amongst the various tables as a way to encourage people to visit the various Teams, committees, and groups – and hopefully facilitate discussions and interest. Coffee and tea will be available in Wright Pavilion. Margaret will make a brief announcement during church, inviting people to not only register for Sunday School, but explore the other opportunities that the church offers.

A discussion followed regarding approaching visitors or people standing alone at Coffee Hour. It might be helpful to have a volunteer each Sunday make an extra effort to talk and welcome people that appear to not know anyone or be a visitor. We will contact the Growth Group to see if they have an idea like this already in the works.

Our Team is still hopeful we can recruit volunteers to assist with: coffee hour, nursery, hospitality, and serve on the EG&F Team.

In terms of Homecoming Sunday:
• Margaret and Ginny will bring baked goods, set up the “self-serve” coffee hour, and be at the EG&F table.
• Carolyn will assist Elsa with the Sunday School registration.
• Jana will contribute a baked good/food item.
• Aaron will be at the YM table.
• Karen is covering another committee table.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:30 p.m.

Next Meeting: Thursday, 10/1/09 @ 7:00 p.m.

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-02-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 8, 2009

Attending: Amy Foster, Jayne Quinn Sawtelle, Karen Pierce Souza, Elsa Peters, Margaret Thibodeau

The November Minutes were approved.

Coffee Hour – We need to make sure the sign-up sheet is out during coffee hour. Ginny’s been doing it lately, but some Sundays are covered in upcoming weeks by individuals and by church groups. Ginny may ask for volunteers to help clean the kitchen soon (we are willing and able!). Should we try an all-church email to solicit volunteers?

Nursery – Coverage has been better lately. Jen Harle and Mike Quinn have volunteered to work some Sundays. A new sign-up sheet has been posted.

Scholarship – Amy is in contact. Nothing has started up yet, but should be this month.

Library – Everything is going smoothly. They are ordering books.

Hospitality – Ash Wednesday breakfast – Margaret is in touch with a few people to provide a Continental-style breakfast. Karen is available to help if it’s early in the day. No Confirmation breakfast this year. The Elders’ Luncheon and Barbeque are both coming up. The immediate need is for the Inquirers Meeting on January 12th. Jean Fischer isn’t driving anymore and can’t do those meetings. Margaret will work with Elsa to find people. Possible the Growth Group will take on?

Budget – We need to cut 20% of our budget per request of the Council. Our proposed cuts include $700 form 7215 (supplies), $250 from 7250 (library), $160 from 7530 (YM) and $300 from $7525 (fellowship). Those cuts reflected money that didn’t get spent in 2008, so we think it won’t be missed as much in 2009. Karen will let the Library committee know. The Team discussed proposed cuts in the YM director’s salary, and would like to go on record as saying that should be preserved in order to keep the YM as active as possible.

Faith Formation – Sunday School 2nd semester is starting with a full slate of teachers. Wednesdays in January & February, Betsy Keiter is hosting Ethical Wills workshops. Lenten discussions with Elsa will focus on choices in the current economic climate and simplifying/finding out what you truly value. Deb Sandler and Cindy Arn will again teach Bible Discovery to 3rd – 4th graders in March (will buy bibles). On February 8 there will be a conversation for parents and youth grades 6-9 about confirmation.

Other – The Safe Church document will be emailed to the Team by Margaret so we can talk about it at the next meeting. We might relocate the next meeting so we can take our coats off/stop our teeth from chattering.

Respectfully submitted – Jayne Sawtelle

Education Growth and Fellowship

2010-02-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 4, 2010

Team members attending: Ginny Gledhill, Carolyn Foster, Karen Pierce, Margaret Thibodeau, Jana Frank, Elsa Peters.

The meeting began with the approval of the January Minutes.

The Team reviewed the FCCUCC website proposal. Members of the Team were supportive of the idea, and had no questions or additional suggestions at this point.

The church office was missing several of the past Minutes from 2009. Karen was able to bring them to our meeting, and Margaret will pass them along to Jen in the office.

Aaron had informed the Team that YM was not planning to provide childcare during the Easter service as they had in 2009. Elsa said that the Sunday School teachers were expecting to have that Sunday off to attend worship. Feedback from 2009 indicated that most parents were happy to have their children in worship on Easter. The Team will look into making sure there is coverage for preschool and nursery age children.

Jana explained an ongoing concern for Coffee Hour. There is a visitor with mental challenges who frequents Wright Pavilion during the set-up and serving of Coffee Hour. This person can become demanding and agitated, causing coffee hour volunteers to experience caution and anxiety. The Team discussed the challenge of supporting our open, affirming atmosphere at Church, versus the right of all people who attend to be respected and treated fairly. The best solution the Team could come up with at this time, is to request that a couple congregation members be available to help re-direct this visitor when necessary. Perhaps a Deacon or Usher could touch base with the Coffee Hour servers to see if they need support around this issue. Margaret will follow-up with the Senior Pastor regarding this concern.

Karen reported that the Library and Scholarship committees are going well. Input for the Scholarship committee indicated that they were to meet on 2/2 to begin the process for this year. They have found two new members to “fill the shoes” of a couple committee members who are leaving after this term. The EG&F Team was appreciative of the Scholarship committee finding new recruits.

Ginny reported that there continues to be adequate coverage in the Nursery. A few parents are sharing the coverage, while others do not volunteer to help. A letter written by Elsa a year ago requesting help by parents in the nursery was read by Ginny, with Team members in agreement that it was appropriate to send out again

Margaret attended the Inquirer’s Meeting in January, and reported five prospective women had expressed interest in joining the Church. New Member Sunday is 2/7, and Randall Landry will take photos.

Elsa reviewed the Faith Formation Update. A subcommittee of the EG&F Team will be formed to assist in the Children’s Faith Formation program. The Team approved a budget request for 100 placemats to be laminated as part of the Lenten curriculum, which the Team expressed enthusiasm about. Other items such as Adult Faith Formation and Confirmation were discussed.

The EG&F Team still hopes to recruit a couple new members.

Upcoming Church events which will involve our Team include the Church Picnic (5/16) and the Confirmation Celebration (6/13).

Our next meeting will be Thursday, March 4, 7:00 p.m.

Recorded by: Margaret Thibodeau

Administration Team

2010-02-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 7, 2010

Present: Ron Bennett, Eben Marsh, Guy Gledhill, Jim Otis, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order - Guy called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Ron agreed to record this meeting and run the next meeting.

Minutes of the Admin. Team December 3, 2009 meeting - reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Finance: 2009 ended with pledges received of $14,000 over budget. That more than offset the decline in rental income. In addition, all other budgeted expenses were down about $12,000. The result was that 2009 ended up at approximately a break even compared to an original budget deficit of $19,572. The team was grateful for all who helped make this a successful year.

Tenant Update: Sawyer Road house tenant has a new job at a lower income level than previously. She has requested to continue paying a reduced rent of $700. She currently is a tenant at will. Team agreed to continue rent at $700 for now. No action reported on improvements to second floor of corner building.

Planned Giving: Ron’s first article appeared in the first January Beacon. He will prepare a second article for February.

2010 Budget: Cyndi reported that as of now pledges are down from 2009. Team expense budgets have generally been held at 2009 level. The church budget meeting is scheduled for January 31.

Other Old Business: Jim reported that there appears to be confusion between the A Team and Council concerning the chancel railing proposal. Eben agreed to obtain a rough estimate to complete the project. It will be submitted to the Council, which could, if considered appropriate, include it as an item for the January 31 church meeting.

COMMITEE REPORTS:
Counting: No report. Counting appears to be fine.

House: Chair Guy Gledhill. No report.

Planned Giving: No report in addition to matters discussed in Old Business.

Website Subcommittee: Rod reported that RFP for Website design looks good. Guy is also a member of the subcommittee and concurred with Rod.

NEW BUSINESS: None.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday February 4, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:49 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Bennett

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-02-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes – February 4, 2010
(REVISED)

Attending: Frank Arsenault, Betsy Keiter, Debbie Riley, Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, John McCall.

Opening Prayer - by John.

Review of January Minutes - approved with one edit.

John McCall - Upcoming events:

• Feb. 7- Sunday service with communion and reception of new members.

• Feb. 17- Ash Wednesday- SL&W will host breakfast at 7:00 a.m. followed by a 7:30 a.m. service.

• Mar. 21- Hospice Sunday with Rev. Larry Greer giving the sermon with a talk on end of life care in Davidson Lounge after the service.

• Apr. 1 - Maundy Thursday –communion offered at 7:30 p.m. healing service by Elsa and John.

• Apr. 2 - Good Friday Soup supper – hosted by SL&W.

• Apr. 2,3 and 4- Easter vigil - with sign-ups starting on Feb. 21.

• Apr. 4 – Easter
- Sunrise Service – communion offered with 2 needed to assist John.
- Sanctuary services at 9 and 11- no communion in sanctuary offered due to larger attendance and back to back service times (but offered at sunrise service, and Maundy Thursday services).

• June 6 - Founder’s Day with the Elder luncheon.

• June 13 - Confirmation Sunday.

Elsa Peters:
What is our vision for the future of our church? – What does church mean to you?

Lenten theme is “Toward transformation” – Elsa is offering a 6 week Bible study with 2 times offered; Monday evenings at 6:30 to 8:30 and Tuesdays mornings at 10:30 - 12:30 leading with the curriculum she has written and made available electronically, with hard copies available in the office.

SL&W support needed:
• Ash Wednesday (Feb. 17) breakfast was discussed with 25 people expected. Dana and Betsey will meet the evening before to set up (coffee, tea, table settings and toaster at 5:30 p.m. Dana will bring bagels and paper goods Frank and possibly Betsy, Tex and Rick attending 6:45 for 7:00 a.m. breakfast– waiting to see who is free that week and can give help

SL&W Terms of Members - Review of Terms: We're not sure about this rotation but we are filling it in and getting more information so we have it on record.
• Class of 2010– Betsy and Debbie
• Class of 2011 – Rick and Dana
• Class of 2012– Elaine and Tex
• Class of 2013– Frank

Agenda Items for next meeting: Review Ash Wednesday; Elder selection process; Vigil signups

Next Meeting: 7:00 p.m. on March 4 (plan on another meeting Mar. 25- this will be April's meeting moved ahead one week due to Easter events); Prepare agenda and Chair next meeting - Rick; Minutes – Betsy.

Adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Dana Wiggins

Visioning Committee

2010-02-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 25, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

In attendance: Dave Allen, Deb Andrews, Chris Dow, Elsa Peters.

Opening Meditation: Joel 2

What is a Vision?
• We understand vision as both a noun and an action word.
• A vision explains who we are, but may be bigger than our church.
• Ideally, a vision is in everything we do.
• It’s something we check in with to see if we’re living up to.
• It is limited to a few words so that it can be easily repeated.
• As a group, we understand a vision is: a goal that we seek to do in our daily life as well as in community.

Why do we need a Vision?
• We need a vision because:
- Helps the congregation appreciate core values
- Suggests direction the congregation might go (projects, activities, etc.)

• It was challenging for us to understand how we would use in the life of the church. We articulated it’s most obvious gift is to be used as an evangelism tool (inviting new visitors, etc).

Where does the Vision come from?
• We understand that a vision comes from:
- God
- Bible (though we’re not totally sure how)
- From the congregation

• We agreed that this is not something this committee can decide but will look toward the congregation in finding information.

What do we need to discover our Vision at FCC UCC?
• We decided that a process of 3-6 months would work best.
• We agree that there are a number of venues we can use to explore this conversation of what our vision is, including:
- Team Meetings
- Small Groups (Eskimos, Guild, Women’s Circle, Choir, YM, etc.)
- Email/Survey Monkey
- Paper handouts on literature tables
- 3-4 facilitated after-church discussions
- Moments in worship: Announcements? Sermon? Prayers?

• These group conversations (including the written formats of paper and email) would follow a questionnaire that is adapted for each setting. (There would be fewer questions for large group conversations.) There would be a few ground rules, including:
- There is no right or wrong answer.
- You can participate in as many of these conversations as you wish.
- You don’t have to answer all of the questions but may answer those that are most interesting to you.

• This committee will work on the questionnaires to be submitted to the congregation in the venues mentioned above. To do so, we will each brainstorm 5 questions that should be asked under the theme “Where do we want our journey to go?” Elsa will collect these questions and organize them on Tuesday February 9.

Additional Thoughts:
• We could resist brainstorming a little on our own. We shared these things that are most important about our church.
- Open & Affirming (accepting of all people, including anyone that is different)
- Peace for everyone, including other faiths
- Community = church family
- Music
- Social justice

The committee will meet again on February 16 @ 6:00 p.m. in the Laity Room. We will meet as many times as we feel necessary to nudge along this process.

Administration Team

2010-02-02T05:50:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of February 5, 2009

Present: Ron Bennett, Jim Otis, Eben Marsh, Guy Gledhill, Deb Sandler and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order – Jim called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Per the rotation schedule Guy will record this meeting and run next meeting. Eben Marsh will record the next meeting.

Minutes of the Admin. Team January 8, 2009 meeting - reviewed and accepted as written.

OLD BUSINESS:
Finance - Budget was O.K.; we discussed that some items like rental, taxes and some expenses were not paid yet for January. Budget shows a 26,200 deficit, but it is less; Quick Books shows more as some funds come in from different places. The budget passed on 1/25/09. We discussed the Capitol Need Expenditures; Ron asked for a list of items spent and Cyndi will supply.

Tenant Update - We have one of the three rental’s payment in - the other two have been late before but seem to get in within the month; will continue to monitor.

Room Rentals for Non-Profit – Talked about the note from the Council on the charging for the rooms that non-profits use. We generally do not like to charge these groups, but we discussed many options. We discussed the option that we could ask them to donate, or we could set up a room rental fee program. We discussed the use of the church, lights, heat, cleaning. We talked about the groups that have rental agreements with us, school, yoga, driving. They all have an agreement, and we will discuss those when they expire. We did decide that the sanctuary would have a $110 fee for events that charge a fee to get in and non-members of the church. For the rest we decided that we were providing the rooms for the community, which is what a church is for. Also we noted that many of these groups provide food for the pantry, so they are donating.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Counting – Chair Brian Wallace has this well in hand.

House – Chair Guy Gledhill - nothing to report at this time.

Planned Giving – Chairs Ron and Chris reported that they had nothing to report.

NEW BUSINESS:
Spreadsheet of New Member Interest – Went over the spreadsheet of members that had signed up for working on committees. Members of the committees will contact.

Date of Next Meeting – Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 8:08 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Guy Gledhill

Church Council

2010-01-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 21, 2010

Present: Bob Morse, Chris Dow, Elsa Peters, John McCall, Debra Andrews, Sally Hinckley, Andy Ellis, Phil Whitney, Roger Addor, Carrie Skeffington, Chris Keiter, Dave Allen.

Convened at 6:00 p.m. Dave opened with facts about Haiti and a prayer.

2010 Budget:
• Chris distributed and walked us through the proposed budget. He explained how amounts were arrived at. Cyndi Alden was present and assisted with answering questions.
• The situation and rent agreement made with the Discovery Center was discussed.
• The addition of a new income category for “Per Capita Contribution” was discussed and agreed to.
• No increase in Personnel Expenses as a result of no staff salary increases was noted and appreciated.
• Pledge revenue budget down but projection may be conservative. Difficult to know since more people pledging but for a lower total dollar amount. Growing trend of people being reluctant to make a commitment with pledge dollars even though they still contribute.
• Proposed new budget deficit is 28K. Council agreed to allow Retained Earnings to cover it. Fund raising ideas will be pursued to assist with covering the deficit.
• Proposed budget as presented was approved and will be presented to the congregation on January 31st.

Referral Directory:
• Don Russell came to answer questions related to the Referral Directory proposal document which he created.
• Questions and potential issues associated with creating and maintaining the directory were discussed.
• The Council approved the concept and the recommended approach.
• Don will chair a committee to design and implement the idea.

Pastor Parish Relations Report:
• Ken Ross and Mandy Schumaker presented.
• Ken recounted the history of Pastor Parish Relations and how they came to do the recent ministerial performance reviews.
• Mandy explained the methodology (“When Better Isn’t Enough”) and process they adapted.
• Ken provided some highlights from the comprehensive review documents.
• The committee, John and Elsa all felt the review process was valuable.
• Committee recommends repeating the review process every 4-5 years.
• Pastor Parish will check-in with John and Elsa in 6 months regarding their stated developmental activities.
• Ken distributed a summary document of results entitled “Reflecting On Our Ministry”. Chris was given a copy of the comprehensive review documents.

December Minutes:
• They were reviewed and approved.

Minister’s Time:
• Elsa communicated Nancy Foran’s plans to bring John Bell to Maine in May. Plans include having him do a singing workshop in our church on May 23rd.
• Elsa talked about the importance of lay ministry and distributed an article called “From Stressed to Blessed”. She asked the Council to review it in preparation for an extended discussion on the topic at our February meeting.
• Elsa asked us to pray for the current confirmation class.

Miscellaneous Agenda Items:
• Chris provided an update on the church website redesign efforts. Requirements have been defined and an RFP will be sent out for bid in February.
• There was no update needed on the sanctuary railing.

Adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Recorder: Dave Allen

Administration Team

2010-01-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 3, 2009

Present: Ron Bennett, Eben Marsh, Guy Gledhill, Deb Sandler, Chris Mills, Rod Redstone and Cyndi Alden (Business Manager).

Call to Order: Chris called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. Per the rotation schedule Guy will record this meeting and run the next meeting.

Minutes of the Admin Team November 5, 2009 meeting: Reviewed and accepted as written.

Old Business:
Finance: Things are looking great, we may do O.K. for ‘09 - $19, 000 was projected for a loss, we may cut that to $16,000. We have been asked to watch what we spend very carefully. 2010 Budget was done for us last meeting.

Tenant Update: Sawyer road house still struggling; dog is gone; corner top floor vacant and bottom floor doing great.

Planned Giving: Ron is still working on the article to go into the Beacon in January.

Committee Reports:
Counting: Chair Peggy is working on getting people to sign up via email for a long term commitment.

House: Chair Guy Gledhill. Yard work has been done. We had the yard clipped and cleaned for winter, and we had an alarm in the middle of the night - a circuit breaker tripped.

Planned Giving: Chairs Ron and Chris reported above.

Independent Accounting: Pricing came in at 4,785 to 4,975, with an hourly rate for other investigation at 50 to 150. Holiday Bazaar and Discovery Center to be added in the future.

New Business:
New Web Site: Rod went over the meeting that the web site committee had; 400 already committed to get a RFP put together. Dana putting the survey together, and we have a few sites that are of interest to us.

Date of Next Meeting: Thursday January 7, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:49 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Guy Gledhill

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-01-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 14, 2010

Attending: Elaine Brownell, Dana Wiggins, Debbie Riley, Frank Arsenault, Tex Haeuser, John McCall.

Opening Prayer - by Elaine.
Review of December Minutes - approved as written.
SL&W Welcomes Frank Arsenault.
Expressions of concern for Haiti – we talked of the disaster and of ways to offer help.

John McCall:
• Good attendance and energy at worship services this year.
Jan.3 - Elsa gave worship in the chancel round with an interactive activity for the children.
Jan.10 - John integrated the congregation with the baptism and it was well received.
Jan.17 - will be an engaging service around Diversity. Jan.31 - will be the annual budget meeting after service.
Feb.7 - will be a reception for new members.

• The church budget is in good shape due to generous pledges; also a flat budget with no increases to any items, except utilities, helped as well. Council will review the budget on Thursday Jan.21 at 6:00 p.m. - open forum.

• Work of SLW should include talking about future budget priorities – what's most important if attendance decreases and budgets become harder to balance?

• April 4 is Easter –the usual first Sunday-of-the-month communion will be deferred to following week or month, due to time logistics of serving the two crowded services. Communion will be available at the Maundy Thursday service and the Sunrise service.

• Administration Team is reviewing a proposal that may give help and stability in climbing the chancel stairs.

Elsa Peters:
• Children's offering was discussed in Education Fellowship and Growth and will be collected during 10:00 a.m. service starting Feb. 21. It will be saved in a see-through container for a collective gift to Wayside Kitchen which was decided on by the kids. Debbie suggested including coins from the adult offering plates.

• Confirmation classes have an interesting new 6 month schedule - June 13 confirmation planned.

• Lenten services – no deacon needed for Ash Wednesday service; possible art project – need people to help and to brainstorm concepts.

Hymnal Memorial Bookplates -
• Debbie finished the custom printing of the memorial bookplates and all were placed in books. She'll write a Beacon note. New memorial bookplates can be made ordered at any time.

• Pilgrim Hymnals are scheduled to be recycled; so many are flooding the secondary market resulting in no takers, even after many inquiries.

SL&W Terms of Members – Bylaw guidelines state the following:
"Each Team shall consist of at least six members and shall inform the Council of the number of Team positions. Approximately one third of the Team membership, at least two Team members, shall be elected at each Annual Meeting for three-year staggered terms. No member shall serve on any one Team for more than six consecutive years."

Agenda Items for next meeting –
• Ash Wednesday Breakfast for 20-25 people will need to be assembled.

• We would like review Elder luncheon calendar (early, but good to know ahead of time).

Next Meeting: February 4, 7:00 p.m.; Prepare agenda and Chair meeting: Rick; Minutes: Betsy

Adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Dana Wiggins

Food Pantry

2010-01-28T10:31:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of January 21, 2010

PRESENT: Gail Dransfield, Barbara Merrill, Betty Crane, Barbara Merrill.

BALANCE: $5518.84

REQUESTS OCT. - JAN.: Families/ 157; Adults/ 268; Children / 249

OLD BUSINESS:
1. There were a large number of donations from church members and civic groups. Cape Elizabeth H.S. Volunteer Club/ $200.00, Cape Elizabeth United Methodist / $130.00 + food drive, Mission Team / $200.00 Church members. Gail will write “Thank you” notes to all above.

2. The new system of leaving the bags for clients in the pantry until someone comes to the office to ask for them the following day seems to be working well for everyone.
*Record the date of the request on the yellow pad and in the file box, not the pick up date
*Please re-shelve any bags left in the pantry for longer than 7 days. Cross out the client’s name from the yellow pad and also the date on the index card in the file box. Otherwise, they will not be eligible for food for another 2 months.

NEW BUSINESS:
1. Gail had an interview with a social worker from Preble St. Preble Street is surveying all the Portland area food banks and programs. They are trying to assess the needs and to explore other ways to serve those needing food.

2. St. John’s Food Bank gave us 50 boxes from Hannaford from the Feed the Hungry collection.

3. Girl Scout Leaders meeting, Feb. 1, food donations will be collected.

4. Ann Elissa will prepare the Annual Report this April.

5. Barbara reported that Hannaford now offers restricted gift cards: (cannot be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco). We will only purchase these cards from now on.

6. Betty Crane has asked to be relieved from working every Tues. for at least 6 weeks. This leaves only Mon. and Fri. covered by a regular volunteer. Three substitutes winter in Florida. Two members are out for a time. Barbara Merrill will write a piece for the next Beacon asking for new volunteers.

7. Gail will write to the Bazaar committee thanking them for the past support and telling them that we will not be requesting money this year as we have such a comfortable balance. It is hoped that their money will then help another group.

8. The Spirit Team asked us to consider including an invitation along with each bag to attend worship. After an honest discussion it was decided to not do this. The group felt that the pantry is “housed” at our church but not solely supported by our church. It was suggested that an invitation to visit our church with a listing of the holiday services be including in the Thanksgiving Baskets as that program is done by our Mission Team and seems more appropriate.

9. Next meeting May 20 @ 4:00 p.m.- Laity Room.

Spiritual Life and Worship

2010-01-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

Meeting Minutes of December 3, 2009

Attending: Betsy Keiter, Dana Wiggins, Debbie Riley, Rick Angell, Elaine Brownell, Tex Haeuser, and John McCall.

Opening Prayer – by Debbie.

Review of November Minutes - Approved as written.

Formal Welcome Back – to Tex Hauser who is rejoining SL & W Team.

John McCall:
• Inquired whether or not Ed Saxby would be joining SL&W – Dana will check with Ed again regarding his interest.

• Reported that letters were sent to inactive members informing them that they would be removed as of 12/31 if no communication – 2 responses were received asking for letter of transfer.

• Reminded all of a few upcoming (and past) specific services:
- 4 Monday evening services led by Elsa (pastoral prayers and scriptures) and
accompanied by Ben Bigney playing jazz renditions of Christmas carols on
the piano on Nov. 30, Dec. 7, Dec. 14, Dec. 21.
- Vesper Service at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 13.

All other Christmas and Advent services coming along well thanks to Shirley Curry’s “ever-present energy and creativity”.

• Shared a request from Elsa on behalf of Family Potluck Group asking for money to cover cost of paper products for a family caroling party on Dec. 12; SL&W agreed to support, but Deb suggested that Elsa first check with Shaw’s or Hannaford as to possible donations – John will speak with Elsa.

Betsy:
• Reported that Education, Growth and Fellowship will assume responsibility for Birthday Party for Jesus.

• Asked about Christmas readers - Dana will prepare sign-up sheet and congregation will be invited to volunteer, including new members and returning college students - envisioning intergenerational participation.

• Shared Elsa’s ideas with regard to one Communion service on January 3: Elsa would like to welcome and include our young people in the service, perhaps having one involved in leading worship and others sitting at tables in front of the lecterns working throughout the service on a project reflecting the theme of worship. Dana and Deb volunteered to help with details.

• Shared budget concerns from the Council. $20,000 deficit - still waiting for outstanding pledge monies. All groups asked to consider “not spending” remaining $$$ budgeted for ’09. Prior to request, $80-$90, was spent on memorial bookplates. Dana asked about SL&W’s budget specifically, which is the smallest budget among recognized groups in the church. Reviewed our $2100 budget and what it covers:
Altar Care & Worship Supplies Signing
Confirmation & Membership Devotional Booklets
Food for: Ash Wednesday Lenten Breakfast, Good Friday Soup Supper,
Confirmation Reception, Elders Luncheon

• Reported on attendance/participation at the Thanksgiving service at Thornton Heights Methodist Church on November 23. Many faiths were represented and she felt very welcomed and moved. She helped with “passing of the peace” and the offertory dedication prayer. Thanks for representing us, Betsy.

Debbie:
• Reported that the memorial bookplates are finished and ready for Dana and “crew” to edit. Thanks for all your work, Deb!!

Dana:
• Suggested that national offices of UCC be contacted to see if there is any interest in “old” hymnals – either by congregations or individuals (organists, for example) - John will make contact.

Up-Coming December 6th Service: Communion – Deb, Rick, Elaine

Next Meeting: January 7 at 7:00 p.m. Chair: Elaine Minutes: Rick

Adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by: Elaine Brownell