Charity Lutheran Church
Vision Council Minutes
Tuesday December 15, 2015 – 5:30 p.m.
Members Present
Staff: Doug Leet, Pastor Scott, Pastor Randy, Pastor Sam, Rob Peske, Lorri Mittleider
Vision Council: Don Nordquist, Cheryl Voll, Aaron Edland, Dallas Sailer, Nancy Jensen, Rob Bauer, Barb Weaver
Special Guest:
Don called the meeting to order. Pastor Scott opened the meeting in prayer. The meeting agenda was approved.
1. Prayer Requests
The following existing bulletin prayer list was approved:
· Thank and praise God for His generous outpouring of love on His people of Charity…for making
Himself known through His son Jesus; for the provision of our wonderful pastors and staff; for the tithes and offerings that enable us to be debt free and support our ministries and missions.
· Thanks for the new families and individuals joining us at Charity and for the many members who serve quietly and generously.
· Ask the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us in every decision made at Charity including the development and implementation of a Vision that places Charity on the road whose course is set by our Lord.
· Holy Spirit, we welcome you. Make us into the Church you want us to be so that all may know Jesus and His love.
· Thanksgiving for safety during Charity’s youth trips and events.
· Pray for the success of ongoing congregational and youth events.
· Lift up new Charity disciples and pray for good stewardship in church growth.
· Offer congregational prayers for the changes in our State and communities concerning growth
and the changes occurring in recent years.
· Pray for enduring unity of our staff and continued growth for all our worship services; especially Traditions and Quest.
· Pray for guidance for the congregation and our leadership as we submit to the Great Commission in all ways including ministry support, community outreach and continued assistance for Surprise.
· Prayers for the Long Range Planning Committee …that the Holy Spirit would guide their discussion and decisions regarding Charity’s future direction.
· Pray for the Life Long Learning small group ministries getting underway this fall including Alpha, World Religions, and finance classes; for the leaders and all participants, that they will be positively impacted by these ministries.
· Pray for the persecuted church around the world!
2. Staff Reports
a. Pastor Randy –
i. The Christmas service schedule is set. The times will be 12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. Sam will preach at the 5:00, Scott the 10:00 and Randy the rest. The theme for the afternoon services will be the “Prodigal Christmas Pageant”, Sam’s sermon at 5:00 will be “Old Fashioned Christmas” and 10:00 will be the Communion service.
ii. Winter Buster classes are out and ready for people to sign up. The “Beginning is the End” book class has 75 people signed up already.
b. Pastor Scott –
i. There will be a Community Grief Service on December 20th including a video, discussion, and writing out of memories.
ii. Starting January 2016 there will be a 13 week session of Grief Share as a support to the community and not just for Charity members. Scott is working with Evangel and two other churches to establish a year round GriefShare class coverage.
iii. Four people will be commissioned in late January as new Stephen ministers. After the commissioning, there will be a total of 17 Stephen ministers at Charity.
iv. The pastors will provide their cell numbers to be more accessible to those who need counselling.
c. Lorri Mittleider –
i. There is a need to accommodate more people at the Preschool Christmas program. The Sanctuary and overflow seating were filled to capacity. There were people who left and didn’t stay for the program as a result.
d. Rob Peske –
i. There was an anonymous donation of $12,000 to the Charity Music and Worship ministry. Rob is considering where to best use the resources, either HD camera equipment (currently SD) or a digital soundboard (currently analog).
3. Financial and Administrative Report
a. Treasurer’s Report: Dallas gave the report. $105,768 income for November with 3,113 people in attendance Sundays. The November 29th Sunday offering went to the Vision (future growth) fund. Charity was $11,499 budget over income for the month. Actual income over expenses was $15,358 for November.
b. Charity is $121,192 budget over income year to date and actual income over expenses is $33,945 year to date.
4. Administrative Report
a. Annual Report: The report is being compiled for the 2015 annual meeting. Doug mentioned that the 13 recommendations of the Finance Committee, including a change to the Bylaws, and the Vision Council response will be published in the annual report.
i. The nominating group is still looking for Vision Council nominees to start in 2016.
5. Old Business
a. Approval of Minutes from November 17, 2015 Meeting: Approved by e-mail.
b. 2016 and Beyond Staff Proposal: Don requested the pastors provide a synopsis of the staff Vision Proposal at the annual meeting.
c. 2016 Budget Meetings – There was mixed attendance at the congregational open forum budget meetings. There were a few comments recommending adequate explanation to the change of displaying the staff salaries as a lump sum number in the budget instead of individually. No opposition or recommended changes to the draft budget were voiced by the disciples attending the open forum.
i. Nancy recommended explaining any budget format changes and the reason for those changes at the annual meeting to help address any potential questions.
ii. The Vision Council recommends the Living Stones IPC proposal should be presented for a congregational vote at the annual meeting. Dallas and the Council agreed the source of the monies for the study will come from the reserve fund.
6. New Business
a. Trust Fund: Because earnings were limited this year, the Trust Fund Committee requested approval from the V.C. to allow for an appeal for additional monies in order to meet a request from the youth group for money. The Council declined that appeal idea and decided instead to assess the youth group request and its merits when the council considers other requests for funding if there is a 2015 income surplus. Barb motioned as such, Cheryl seconded, and approved by all.
b. 2016 Items: Don mentioned that there will be a VC retreat in early 2016, date TBD.
The meeting ended at 7:45 p.m. The next meeting will be January 19th at 5:30 p.m. Randy ended the meeting in prayer.
Respectfully Submitted,
Aaron Edland - Vision Council Secretary