FUMC GAINESVILLE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA 25 March 2014, 6:00 PM

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1 FUMC GAINESVILLE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA 25 March 2014, 6:00 PM Note To All: Church Council is focusing on doing God s work. Accordingly, please provide written reports to the secretary for the record and the webmaster for the website. Oral comments about reports will be limited to matters of extreme urgency, great significance or requiring action by the Council. Welcome by Chairman Devotional Communion Minutes: New Business: Old Business: Closing Prayer Next Meeting: Approval of 25 February 2014 Minutes Vision Ministries of nurture, outreach, and witness Renovation Team Progress Report Progress on Invitation to Isayde and Tania Isaac-Duany 22 April 2014, 6:00 PM Thank you, keep smiling and God bless you Dan Greathouse, Chairman/Lay Leader :-)

2 FUMC GAINESVILLE COUNCIL MINUTES 25 March 2014, 6:00 PM Attending Cleo Abbott, Mary Broske, Margaret Couch, Leon Couch, Dan Greathouse, Trisha Eccles, Muffet Emmanuel, Peggy Halsey, Mary Kilgour, Lynda Knight, Sara McKinley, Jim Nation, Elizabeth Shaw, Larry Shaw, Randy Stacey, Ted Tims, David Watson. Welcome by Chairman/Opening Prayer- Dan Greathouse Opening Devotion and Prayer - Dan Greathouse Communion: Sara McKinley assisted by Dan Greathouse Minutes: The minutes of 25 February 2014 were approved as sent to members by . New Business The need was voiced to be sure that everyone on the council understands, and can explain to others who may ask, that the renovation of the Scout Hut is not going to be funded by FUMC, although members may make contributions. Doug Kirk is chairman of the Renovation Committee. Ministries of Nurture, Outreach and Witness Ted Tims, Chairman of the Staff Parish Relations Committee gave a brief verbal report saying that SPRC has been working on reworking the Policy Handbook to bring it up to date. Ted said that much of what needed updating related to the PreSchooll Workers and that Amy Watson has been very helpful in assisting with the revision. Old Business David Averill was not present at the meeting, but he sent a report by to all the Council members; his report is attached to the version of these minutes. Pastor Sara pointed out that the Renovation Committee for ideas on improving our Children and Nursery Areas is a Think Tank rather than an Implementation Program, and that implementation of ideas will be done only after they are carefully vetted by all interested parties. Monique Roberg, staff person in charge of our Nursery, has indicated that she thinks that the flooring in the Nursery needs to be reworked and that peeling paint need to be corrected, and these are being attended to first. Peggy Halsey reported that Isayde and Tania Isaac-Duany from our sister church in La Moza, Cuba will be arriving at the airport in Tampa on April 27. They will be guests of our church for the month of May and will depart for Cuba on May 23. Peggy is developing a calendar of activities for them and persons from our church who are responsible. They are going to be housed by Lynda and Jim Knight for most of the month of May, but FUMC members are requested to help entertain them for meals and excursion activities. The Spring Arts Festival is this weekend (April 5-6) and FUMC members are asked to wear red, preferably the red shirts with our Methodist logo that Lynda Knight is having produced for purchase. There is a POP S musical concert in our sanctuary in the mid afternoon. Fellowship Hall will be open, and the United Methodist Women (UMW) will be hosts in Fellowship Hall. They will not be serving food, but water will be available. Persons can come it to cool off or rest, and can being food in to eat if they have bought it outside. BJ is working on designing and producing on the computer book markers with a religious theme that can be given out at the Festival. A request has been made to ask women of the

3 church to wear a hat, if possible, on Easter Sunday. The Council approved this idea. Pastor Sara showed and talked about a book by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann entitled Congregational Phases of Planning for churches. She said that the book asks three major questions: Who are we? What does God call us to do? Who is our neighbor? The book presents three ideas about planning as follows: Problem Planning Identify, and How to Fix It Developmental Planning What is Next? Frame-Bending Planning In Depth Study of Long Range Planning. Sara said that she believed that we are mostly past the Problem Planning stage and already into the Developmental Planning stage. She suggested that we might come back to this book at a later date. Closing Prayer Dan Greathouse Next Meeting: 22 April 2014, 6 PM, Bethany Room Respectfully Submitted: James L. Nation, Secretary, FUMC Council

4 March 25, 2014 To the Church Council of First United Methodist Church of Gainesville, Florida: I am submitting this written report in lieu of an oral report. Today is the second wedding anniversary for Alesia and I, so we are going to celebrate that tonight with dinner and a movie. There are two issues with which my report will cover. First, the progress of the Renovation of our children, youth, nursery, and preschool ministries. Secondly, the progress of our preparations for Pastor Isayde and Tania's visit, beginning on April ) Renovation Team Report: a.) The structural renovation of the nursery continues. It looks great so far. In the next two weeks, the floors will be redone in the nursery, and rugs will be used instead of wall-to-wall carpet to reduce future replacement costs. b.) The youth council met on March 10, and discussed some recommendations from the Renovation Team. The members of the youth council reached a consensus to repaint the youth wing, but contingent on a few items. Hence, the youth council felt the following items should be a greater priority for the Trustees to repair/ replace in the youth wing than the paint job at the moment: i. A new refrigerator for the youth cafe. The current one consistently has a pool of water on the bottom shelf. ii. Mounting the new TV on the west wall of the youth worship/ study area. A bracket has been purchased for this job. Scott Eccles (Trustee) and Joe Ward (member) could combine for this job. iii. New sectional (enough to sit 15-18) in the study/ worship room, or another type of seating for up to 30. iv. Preserve the current, painted handprints on the walls with photographs. Future handprints by other youth classes will be done on canvas or other materials suited for framing in the future. Finding a way to honor the past while looking to the future. Though there was some hesitation to accept the recommendation to repaint and redecorate, most agreed that the youth rooms need to be repainted to reflect a more serene and harmonious environment. Marian Close or Brendan Shortley, who are the Trustees' liaison for this Renovation process, will meet with the youth council in April to reach an even stronger consensus on on how to proceed with the decoration of youth wing. The next youth council meeting will be on April 14, 6:30 PM. At this meeting, Marian and/or Brendance will elicit feed from the youth council in creating a proposal to bring to the Trustees for repainting the youth wing. This will ensure the necessary ownership and buy-in that would be healthy to receive from the youth council, which is most composed of current parents and one student involved in the youth ministry.

5 In short, the hope is that an affordable plan for redecorating can be brought for approval to Trustees in May. As you can see, the generating of ideas by the Renovation Team was actually the easy part; implementing those ideas requires much more time and effort. c.) Most of the Renovation Team's efforts have been concentrated on improving youth ministry and nursery at the moment. I anticipate that our next big push would be implementing some of the ideas in the children's and preschool areas. Though both of these ministries have several strengths, there is always room for improvement. 2.) Cuba: a.) Isayde and Tania have purchased their tickets from Havana to Tampa. They will arrive on Sunday, April 27. It is not ideal that they will arrive on Sunday, but the charter flights are much less frequent flying into Tampa. We are still working on finding a family to pick Tania and Isayde up at the airport in Tampa. While Alesia and I originally wanted to be the ones to pick them up, it simply will not be possible on Sunday due to the many other commitments at the church. Peggy Halsey has a calendar that we are currently filling with excursions and speaking opportunities for Isayde and Tania. It would be great if different groups and persons in the church could sign up with Peggy to host them for an evening or a daylong excursion. The Young at Heart fellowship will be leading a trip to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando on May 15, and I would anticipate Isayde and Tania going on this excursion. This is an example of way that we can be as hospitable to them as they have been to three of our teams that have traveled to Cuba in the last 4 years. That concludes my report for this evening. Grace and Peace, David T. Averill, Associate Pastor First United Methodist Church of Gainesville (FL) Postal: 4415 NW 50th DR APT 102 Gainesville FL Electronic: david.averill@gmail.com Mobile: (706)