JOURNEY LUTHERAN CHURCH - VISION BOARD MEETING MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 6:30pm on August 19, 2014, with devotions led by Wendy Evert followed by Lows & Highs.
Present: Jonah Denson, Carla Amundson, John Haese, Terry Aakre, Wendy Evert, Eric Siegel, Eric Davidson, Pastor Steve, Julie Rudolph Absent: Courtney Bergum
Review of last month’s minutes & financial report.
· Have not had a meeting with Wiggles & Giggles yet to discuss property taxes and rent increase; plan to meet with them next week.
· The invoice for the air conditioning unit was received and was at the expected cost.
· The purchase of diaper changing stations was discussed and the cost should be between $140-$195. Should purchase one for the women’s bathroom first and then the men’s eventually.
· Would like to change how the Sanctuary Improvement income/expense, and other short term non-budgetary items, appear on the financial statement.
· The Vision Board was happy with the financial status of the report, considering it is July.
· Wiggles & Giggles made no rent payment in July, in error, but has paid double in August so the income is off by $2,800 and will be elevated in the August financial report.
· There was no payment made to the borrowed funds, hope to catch up by year end.
· The balance of Journey Forward is at $37,769 at the end of July; after the Sanctuary project is complete we will look at making additional principle payment on mortgage.
· Would like a year to date financial report available for the All Teams Meeting in September so that the Teams can see how they are managing their budget lines. This should be sent out early for Teams to review.
· Pastor Steve will be getting the Confirmation Schedule and letter out to the Confirmation Class
· Holmen Lutheran has a High School Peer Ministry Program in place; and have extended an invitation for our youth to be involved if they would like
· The school supplies drive for Lutheran World Relief was discussed and was felt that we should rotate the donation drives that we promote. Any school supplies that we receive will be donated to a local agency.
Furnace Need
There are two furnaces that heat the Sanctuary and both of them are nearly 20 years old and we have been informed that it is hard to get parts to adequately maintain them, so they may need to be replaced. It was recommended by the service contractor that we not use one of the furnaces because of its condition. The cost has not been determined but estimated at $3000 each. It needs to be decided if we should try to get through one more heating season before replacing or use Journey Forward money or possibly the Emergency Fund to purchase them and not take the chance of them failing this winter.
Sound Equipment
Pastor Steve mentioned that the musicians are requesting additional sound equipment. The items requested are speakers in the back of church to add sound quality to the back chairs
(the wire was run as part of the Sanctuary project in preparation for this need), more channels are needed on the mixing board which has been used to capacity and some equipment keep the tweeters in the speakers from being blown again (has happened twice)
These are not budgeted items so special donations may be requested or use Undesignated Memorial Fund money; possibly redesignate the Stained Glass Fund money.
Estimated cost for project is $2,500
The Vision Board authorized the go ahead with this project and use the Stained Glass Fund money and any other designated funds or special gifts before drawing on the budget.
Future Staffing
· The Property Guys are retiring and they would like to encourage others in the congregation to take charge of zones of the church for maintenance; similar to how the housekeeping schedule is done. They plan to prepare a detailed list of everything that needs to be done and when. Should we look into sharing a part time maintenance position with another church?
· Bell Choir is starting
· Looking into hiring a new Youth position
· Plan to discuss at next meeting budgeting for staffing expenses in 2015 and present at All Teams Meeting
o Need to prioritize need/want
Faith Formation
Vacation Bible School went very well. We had 44 children attend. We had great cooperation with the Halfway Creek Church in organizing and attendance. Halfway Creek plans to host the VBS next year in their new facility. The costs for VBS were between $200-$300 with most of the decoration being shared from Prince of Peace Church and the Methodist Church and then the decorations were then sent to Holmen Lutheran. This is a great example of Stewardship.
Property Team Report
John brought up that a coffee pot had been left on over a weekend and was completely dry and presented a fire hazard. It is felt that we need to institute a policy with everyone who uses our facility (AA, NA, daycare) that they must only use coffee pots with automatic shutoffs.
Jonah brought up the idea of having a on-demand coffee maker installed so that there is no need for individual coffee makers in the church.
John presented a detail report of the scope and cost of the Sanctuary Improvement project. We are about 1 week ahead of schedule for the project. It was noted that it only took Darren Amundson 2 ½ days to paint the entire Sanctuary. The carpet installation will be completed by Wednesday of the current week and the sheetrock is up and ready to be finished. It is planned to request help from the congregation on Sunday to help move chairs back into the Sanctuary. The plan is to have a couple work nights the following week to do final move in items; band set up, place altar risers, banners, etc. Worship in Sanctuary on August 31st.
Fellowship Report
We have had several people sign up for coffee and treats in the past weeks. Carla has looked into getting a Sam’s Club business membership which costs $45 for 2 cards or $405 for 16 cards. The Board did not feel that 16 cards was necessary. It was also presented that with a business account, you can also set up a line of credit so that the church is billed by Sam’s Club instead of having to reimburse individuals. Carla is still looking into the cost of a standing order for donuts/muffins. We need to determine what is an estimated amount needed. Fellowship attendance is usually between 50-60 people with both services so 6 dozen of treats should be plenty. We will start with providing treats 2 Sundays each month and use Fellowship Donations to pay for items. It was noted that the Sam’s Club cards can also be used to benefit elsewhere in the church for supplies.
Worship Team
They have a meeting scheduled for August 21st. The Team members organize and communicate well between themselves to make sure we have what is needed for Worship each week. It was mentioned that we look into providing Pastor’s sermons online; what would this entail?
Outreach Committee
The Outreach Committee is making plans for the October Open House. It was felt that we need a name for this event instead of Open House; possibly JourneyFest again.
Still working of Friday night events for youth.
Saturday event will be a Chicken Q by Chicken Andy with a concert by “Hot Sauce” and pie at intermission. The cost of the chicken is $5 per plate but will charge $8 to help cover cost of band. Will need a minimum of 300 meals sold to get this price. We have been offered the use of the chicken costume to bring attention to the event.
On Sunday, Hans Mayer will play at both Services; more details to come.
The KornFest parade went well and we had great weather. We had 14 people walking in the parade and gave out 2,000 pencils. All three Holmen churches were present in the parade; this may be a great way to show cooperation between the churches to have a joint float next year.
Service Committee
Holmen’s Hope had largest turnout ever so was great success.
Planning for Feed My Starving Children. May need to pay for second team which is $400 for 20 people…use CareBear offering or budget line? This is the fourth year that we have participated in this effort for packaging food for famine relief.
Book Discussion
Chapter 2 of “Ask, Thank, Tell” was reviewed. After reading the chapter, Pastor Steve feels that he should change how he presents the offering taken in church each Sunday, instead of it being a Thank offering. The main point of the chapter was that God provides everything and it is our responsibility to be good stewards of what we receive. Since everything that we have is from God, it is should be our main focus to be disciples to others.
The book brought in the question for all the Teams, what should we be doing that we are not currently? What more could we be doing with the gifts received?
Next month we will review chapter 3.
A Stewardship Team needs to be formed. Possible leaders would be Larry Dalton and Dale Ruosch.
Team Job Descriptions
We would like all the Teams to have their Job Descriptions ready to be presented at the All Teams Meeting in September and encourage the Teams to get all their members active.
The Teams are encouraged also to bring ideas of needs/wants to the Vision Board next month to help with the planning and budget for 2015.
The goal of the Job Descriptions is to clarify what the Teams do since the merge of the 2 congregations.
· Maybe we can use ideas from other congregations
· Get the Teams thinking about what more we could be doing here at Journey
Possibly hold a Ministry Drive at the Open House in October where each Team can provide information on what their team does and what events they promote.
Action Items
· Team Job Descriptions – All
· All Team Meeting, September 16
· Look further into repair/replacement of Sanctuary furnace
· Sound system upgrades for musicians
· Acquire Sam’s Club membership and possible credit line
· Purchase of diaper changing station
· Teams to provide ideas of needs/wants for annual budget planning
Devotional for next meeting – Jonah Denson
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm with a prayer by Pastor Steve.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Julie Rudolph
4