St. James Lutheran Church Council Meeting
Monday, August 10, 2009      7:00 pm Church Office
 
Attendees: Bob Bergin, Sarah Cline, Chris Cline, Katherine Cross, Craig Layman, Marvin McNabb, Gary Snyder, Lyle Stone, Bobbie Stracker, Don Summers, Richard Wilson, Pr. Russ Creydt, Nina Leip, Julia Kuhn
Absent: Cindy Luerding
Visitors- Norb Stracker, Samantha Brunker, Sue Tarkka
 
 
Call to Order- Marvin McNabb
 
Opening Devotions/ Pastor Report- Pastor Russ
Focusing on #3 of the Interim Pastor Report- Identify a new sense of mission
He suggests that we use the “Enter to Serve” statement that is on the entrances.   He explains in his report that to “serve” is another way of saying to each and every person, “How may I help you to do what God is giving you to do?” We do well with outreach, but not as well with in-reach. He asked the group what passes through our minds as we read about “Enter to Serve.” Discussion about what this means to us as St. James members and how we help each member and visitor find their talents and treasures, and the best way they can use those gifts.   Pr. Russ would like the mission to be clear, and that everyone in the congregation would be able to state what the mission is of St. James.
 
MLM Facility update- Kim Simon was going to be here to discuss MLM, but couldn’t be here tonight. Hank sent an email about this. They would like to set up a non-profit corporation to work with the funding for the new MLM building because some funders do not want to give money for such a facility to a church, and prefer to give to a corporation of some sort.
 
Call Committee Update- Sue Tarkka
They have come up with a 75 word summary about St. James congregation. She read the statement (version 3) that the call committee has settled on. They will be giving us bits and pieces of the profile as they finish them, and then once it is finished it will be send to council for approval. Question about what a program church was, which Pr. Russ explained in brief.   They had a long discussion about the demographics report that was presented to the congregation. We have an aging church. Are we committed to growth, and if so what kind of growth do we want? This is something a new pastor will need to be able to take on. How are we going to get new members, and then how do we work with others to develop their skills? Go back to committees and ask them to come up with questions that need to be presented to the call committee that deal with what we want in a new pastor. Finance question: they need to know what the budget considerations would be for the new pastor. They would like to have a second-call pastor who is younger and would be experienced with working with youth. What are their skills for church planning and execution? 
 
 
Reading and approving of the July 2009 Council Minutes-
Don moved to accept the minutes as read, Bob seconded. Motion carried.
 
Pastor’s Report addendum-goals and priorities. Committees look over this, and any changes need to be given to him by Monday of next week (August 17th). Email to Russ.
 
List of the absentee report: Go over this list and let him know who needs to be added/ removed from the list…those people who have not been to worship and communed within the last year.
 
Treasurer’s report: Nina
52% of budget for offerings for the first 7 months. We are currently $2000 behind right now. Bobbi mentioned that Nina wanted committees to let her know if they knew they had budgeted money that would not be spent this year. If committees could let her know, it will help serve as a guideline for finance. Motion to approve the Treasurer’s report by Bob, and was seconded by Don. Motion passed.
 
Financial Secretary- Julia
37 envelopes are ahead in pledges for July, and 28 envelopes are behind in pledges. We are $2928 behind on pledges right now. Keith is working full time now, and will have to have web-based software to continue to be the financial secretary from his home. It is difficult to come in to St. James to work on this all the time, and he doesn’t have the ability to work on this from home currently. If web-based software can’t be utilized, someone else will need to be found to do the financial secretary job at St. James, and will need to be trained in November and December to run end-of-the-year reports and start work next January. Marvin made a pledge that the church would get the needed software in any way possible.
 
Committee Reports/ Concerns: (other than written committee reports.)
Don- get budgets in so the Finance committee can work on it.
Chris- Technology- there is an issue with Roadrunner email, which has been bouncing emails. It is on the Time Warner end and not our internet host. Pr. Russ and Janet can’t share data back and forth yet….Chris will work on this. 
 
Break.
 
Old Business:
  1. Special Congregational Meeting agenda for August 30, 2009 Norb will lay out a sample of tile so people can see this for this meeting. Quorum number should be around 50. Potluck dinner will be at noon, and then we will hold the congregational meeting.
  2. Human Resources Task Group status- Marvin has a call in to Ty Schlisman and hasn’t heard back yet.
  3. Confidentiality statement- will just let the council know if it is a confidential issue we will be discussing, and treat each case of confidentiality as it arises.
  4. Budget input from Committees needed by August 15, 2009.
  5. Servitor Editor- there was no response from the congregation on this. Sarah Cline has volunteered to do this.    All articles for the Servitor should be sent to the servitor@stjameskc.org address. 
  6. Staff technology needs (report on finding)… There has been a lot of discussion about technology issues that are occurring in the office, and we need to come up with solutions to put an end to the issues. Evelyn’s computer memory has been upgraded. Office Pro has been ordered for her machine. The office computer needs to be replaced. Marvin has looked at a HP desktop that comes with Vista
    Home Premium, but that could be downgraded if needed. The cost is $370 at Office Max. Evelyn also got a new printer/scanner for her office.   They are also working on getting the remote access available.
  7. Council Picnic- Sept. 19th. Craig will check availability at Macken Park, or the Cline’s have volunteered their house.
 
New Business:
  1. Swangers request: Tuesday nights at 6:30- 9 pm September through December. Does this fit our mission? Is this something we want to continue? Chris checked for any conflicts with dates and the Great Hall.  He found no conflicts with their dates. Chris moves that we grant their choice to the Swanger’s dates of Tuesday nights. Bobbi Seconded. Motion carried. Marvin will leave Janet a note to place the dates in the calendar.
  2. December Congregational meeting: Dec. 13th at noon. This will consist of the budget, a few reports, and a call committee report.
 
Dates to Remember:
  1. Special Congregational Meeting: Sunday, August 30, 2009
  2. Next Council Meeting: Monday, September 14, 2009 at 7 pm.
 
Closed with the Lord’s Prayer at 8:45 pm.