Pender United Methodist Church
Council Meeting
June 18, 2014
Worship and Communion
KT Tarro called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm with a devotional and reading from Ephesians. Pastor Kenny and Jeanne Osborne served communion.
LAY LEADER APPOINTMENTS
Katie Taddeo and Linda Mciver were welcomed as our new lay leaders.
CELEBRATION MOMENTS
· KT was very pleased to witness the rapport and support at a recent Young Adult event.
· Pastor Kevin shared that there were 57 people in attendance at the Sunrise worship service this evening. The youth from Pender assisted with the program.
· Tim Lyberger mentioned how great it was to see all our graduates.
Prayerful Consideration of Church Matters: Ministry Priorities in Light of Current Fiscal Situation
Review of Upcoming Ministry Events (6/3/1) (Beth Dougherty)
Beth reviewed the events listed on the calendar. Additional items to be added are:
July
There is a local craft/trade show near the Pender ReGift Thrift Shore (PRTS) July 19-20. Mary Ann Weber has requested our youth help distribute fliers on the cars of shoppers with info about PRTS. Dave Cacner also discussed the possibility of renting a booth (fee is $250) at this event as outreach to those shoppers as well as advertising our Thrift store.
August
· The Paraguay mission trip is scheduled for August.
· The Women of Faith conference will be held in DC.
September
· September 7 is Kick Off Sunday.
· Set up for the flea market begins September 28 through October 1, with the flea market open for business on October 2 through 4.
· September 13 is the United Methodist Women’s Fall Retreat.
· On September 6, 18 bell ringers from Pender will be in DC at the National’s baseball stadium to play the National Anthem.
Long Range Planning (Beth Dougherty)
Beth thanked everyone who participated and provided input at the planning session held June 7. It was a very productive and spiritually inspired meeting. The data collected from the presentations at the session along with the ideas recorded on the blue forms from the congregation will be grouped according to themes and then presented to Council and then the congregation by mid-August. Ideas/dreams may still be submitted by using the blue forms which are available in the narthex. All ideas should be in writing to ensure we have a written record.
Listed below are some of the comments heard with regard to the planning session:
· All who attended the session had an opportunity to voice their dreams in a very humble and constructive manner. (Action: Recording all ideas and addressing concerns through effective communication and transparency are key to the success and buy-in of our planning process.)
· With so many ideas presented, how can they all be achieved? (Action: Some ideas will be honored and some will not be honored based on resources available.)
· Some ideas can happen now or be expanded within existing ministries or committees. (Action: For those types of ideas, cluster/ministry leaders will be provided with the information to directly address the issue.)
· Constructive comments were received at the session from people that leaders may not normally hear from.
When concerns are raised by the congregation, it is important to address those concerns in a constructive manner and restate the reasons for going through this visioning process. Key points to cover are:
- Pender is a growing church and we want to keep members active.
- Process is about growing ministries, not about renovating the building.
- Communicating updates to the congregation is key to success of long range planning. This must be done through regular ministry and committee meetings, web site, emails, etc.
- As themes arise, information will be shared with the clusters and committees for those items that can be addressed immediately. (Hang Together Team is responsible for this action.)
- Updates to the congregation will be provided through church-wide emails. Preferably, these emails will be on a separate day from the weekly one sent out on Thursdays.
- When members have an idea, provide blue sheet so that the idea is documented and won’t fall through the cracks.
- Likewise, when a member has a concern, as a leader the concern should be addressed or referred to the responsible party.
Contract for Architect (Jeanne Osborne)
Jeanne shared the next step the Trustees would like to take with respect to how ministries are utilizing the church space now. This would involve an architectural firm providing an on-line survey for church members to complete during the summer months and conducting interviews. Funding for this phase is in their budget. Discussion was held on whether this phase should be delayed until the visioning process was completed. It was felt that the two phases, visioning and evaluating utilization of church space, could be run concurrently.
A motion was presented to reaffirm the Trustee Committee’s decision to sign the contract with the Architectural firm to conduct online surveys and to conduct interviews. After prayerful consideration, the Council members felt led by the Holy Spirit to unanimously reaffirm the Trustee Committee’s plan to sign the contract.
Note: In order for Trustees to progress to next phase, the UMC Arlington District conference must approve our plan at their monthly meeting which is the last week in September. Since there is no July Council meeting scheduled and the visioning themes will not be ready until the first part of August, a special Council meeting will be scheduled to review these themes. Next, a charge or church conference to approve a building committee must be done prior to the Architectural firm developing drawings. Depending on the long range plans and needs for the physical maintenance of the building, funds will need to be raised since there is no money currently available.
Pender ReGift Thrift Store Status Update (David Cacner)
There were 20 applicants who applied for the part-time Assistant Manager position (20 hours per week). Out of that group, there are 7 scheduled for interviews. The start date for the person hired is tentatively planned for July 1.
Child Protection Policy (CPP) (Heather Amos)
To relieve the office staff of running this program and tracking individuals who have been trained or recertified in CPP, Heather will be administering the program. She will be contact point for questions about the policy. Mary Dale Newsome will provide data collection support as well as provide information to ministry and cluster leads on who is certified in CPP. SE Nunnamaker will serve as a consultant.
The policy was approved in 2009 and an audit was performed in 2010 identifying areas where clarification was needed or issues existed. In 2011, a review committee evaluated the policy and audit report and submitted eight recommendations. In order to allow for a smooth transition and consistency in implementing the recommendations, Heather explained how she proposes to make the changes in phases, with the changes to be effective in January 2015. This will afford a 6-month lead time to implement changes in all areas of the church as well as the Pender Hill School.
First recommendation to be addressed is to streamline the document by using the term “servant” instead of volunteer, assigned volunteer, and parent.
The second recommendation was changing the four categories of volunteers to two categories, i.e., paid staff and volunteers (the term volunteer is to be changed to servant when changes are implemented).
The motion to change the four categories of volunteers to two categories as presented by Heather was approved by the Council. Use of the term “servant” or another appropriate description will be discussed at a later time when the Stewardship Chair is present.
2015 Budget Planning (Becky Bryan)
The timeline for preparing the 2015 budget is as follows:
Early August – the Finance committee will provide the worksheets to the cluster and ministry leaders.
First part of September – Leaders will return completed worksheet to the Finance Committee.
September 17 Council Meeting – Leaders will present budget using the “so that” format.
Important Upcoming Dates/Reminders
No July Council meeting will be held.
A special Council meeting will be called during the summer to review the visioning themes. (This meeting has been scheduled for August 6, 2014.)
August 20, 7:30 pm – next Council meeting
Closing and Benediction:
Pastor Kenny closed the meeting with prayer at 9:28 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann Hinkle
Recording Steward
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