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
Showing posts with label March 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label March 2010. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Growth Group
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
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
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Spiritual Life and Worship
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
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
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