THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD VESTRY MEETING Monday 13 March

Transcription

1 THE CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD VESTRY MEETING Monday 13 March Clergy Present: Vestry Members Present: The Rev. Dr. Robert Sawyer Don Blankenship, Van Giersch, Mac Gilbert, Bob Goodale, Julie Lowe (by phone), Margaret Nobles, Shannon O Brien (by Phone), Kitty Pruitt, Ed Sharp, and Jeff Whittaker Also in attendance was Caryl Fuller, Treasurer Meeting Called to Order by Rev. Dr. Bob Sawyer at 6:03 PM. Prayer was led by Rev. Dr. Bob Bible Study: Vestry was encouraged to read 1 st Chapter of John s Gospel Approval of the Feb. Minutes: Motion to accept minutes (made by Ed Sharp/Seconded by Van Giersch): PASSED UNANIMOUSLY Finance Committee Report: 1 The March financial statement was examined in detail at the Finance Committee meeting yesterday. 2 REVENUE: pledge revenue for the period is in-line with the budget because expenses were down about the same amount as revenue. 3 EXPENSES: total expenses for both the period and year-to-date are under budget primarily due to planned repairs that have not yet been completed/billed as well as unused contingency in various departments. 4 The recent conversion of ACS data storage from local server to "cloud" hosting was successful. 5 Shannon asked for funding on Membership Committee initiatives for enhancing our welcome of newcomers and guests. Approval of March Financial Report: [Attached]. Motion to accept the Financial Report (Goodale/Giersch): PASSED UNANIMOUSLY Rector s Report: 1. Feb 15 Julie polled the Vestry to approve a $500 gift to the music ministry received from the Flynns be deposited in the Herb Horton fund. The Vestry approved the request by telephone/electronic vote and the deposit was made. A motion was made to confirm the telephone/electronic vote during this vestry meeting. 1 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

2 Motion to affirm the electronic and telephone Vestry vote to move $500 donation into the Endowment. (Goodale/Blankenship): PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 2. Rev. Dr. Bob expressed his appreciation for the clean-up yesterday of both the Church and the Church grounds. Three pickup-truck loads of rubbish were moved from under the Church to the landfill. Pine straw and mulch were placed around the grounds outside. And the Church interior was deep cleaned and the woodwork polished. (More about this in the Junior Warden Report.) 3. Rev. Dr. Bob is working with Jeff on the Diocesan Requested Disaster Response Plan by reviewing the plans written for other Churches. 4. The EYC wrote several Prayers of the People that are being looked at for incorporation into a future Sunday service. 5. The use of Morning Prayer instead of the Liturgy of the Word was used 12 March at the 10:15 Eucharist with positive feedback. This will be looked at again. 6. Holy Week services will be offered every day except Holy Saturday. There will be a 7am Easter Vigil and first Eucharist of Easter and Easter Eucharist at 9 and 11 am 7. Rev. Dr. James Mickey Efird will present a Bible Study on St. Paul s letters to the Philippians May 20, from 9-1. Lunch will be provided. 8. An album of pictures from Tony s retirement party was presented to Tony 9. Rev. Dr. Bob requested two action items (and one more was added during discussion): a. Action: Create a membership mailer for Holy Week and Easter like the one that was created for Christmas. Membership Committee will investigate. b. Action: Julie L. asked if the church still has a bulk mailing permit and suggested it be used to mail out these cards. The rector was going to look into the cost. c. Action: Clean up the area around Bishop Lyman s grave under the Church. Don will get a proposal and estimate. Senior Warden s Report: [Report Attached] 1. Julie L. thanked Don and commented favorably on the chancel floor. 2. Most of the committees have had initial meetings. She would like to see the the Outreach, Columbarium, and Legacy Guild committees get underway soon. 3. Thanks were given to Ed and Dave Roten for moving the financial and church management software (ACS) to ACS company servers and Julie was successful accessing it from her computer. 4. A meeting will be scheduled with Bob G. on creating a long-term plan. 5. The Duncan-Giersch and loan balance celebration is awaiting a city permit. 6. Duke Fentress proposed Church of the Good Shepherd adopt a stained-glass window at the AME Church. He went to the open house and leaned that it cost $11,185 to adopt a window. He suggested CGS donate $8,000 and the rest of the funds raised from the parishioners. Action: The proposal will be referred to the Outreach committee and reported on the next Vestry meeting. 7. Julie Allen is being added as an administrator on CGS Facebook page. 2 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

3 Senior Warden s Report: CGS Vestry March Meeting I. March Activity A. More committees have gotten underway; need to initiate some others. B. Shannon and Kitty attended Invite-Welcome-Connect workshop in February. They will be sharing that experience with us tonight. C. A big thanks to Ed Sharp and Dave Roten for getting ACS moved to the cloud so quickly. D. Thanks too to Don Blankenship for organizing the church clean-up day and for getting the chancel floors redone so quickly. They look fabulous! II. Action items from last month A. I hope everyone has signed up for our Habitat work day on April 22 B. Thanks to those Vestry members (Jeff, Kitty, Don, Caryl, Bob S) who helped with the church cleanup day this past Saturday III. New items A. Meet with Bob Goodale re LT planning and Outreach B. Asked Bill to add Julie A as an administrator on Facebook IV. Action items A. Make sure remaining committees get started this month. B. Follow up on Duke s request re AME church with Outreach Committee C. Plan for celebration for PLC loan balance and new sign. Use this opportunity to reach out to parishioners who have not been touched by a capital campaign Junior Warden s Report: [Report Attached] 1. Most of the chancel flooring was completed and the remaining will be finished by next Sunday. 2. There will be mulch delivered this week to complete the clean-up of the CGS grounds. 3. Ironwork on the front church sign is on order and will be installed. 4. There was instructive discussion of improving the sound recording in the Church. Don had professional modifications done on the sound board. Ed indicated that there is also a loss of 3 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

4 sound resolution from the audio format used when the recordings are put onto the CGS website. Action: Ed will contact Julie Allen to ensure higher resolution recordings are posted on the web. 5. Don noted that Creative Solutions, who was upgrading the Church soundboard, has some quality video equipment for sale that would work nicely for the video testimonial project proposed by the Stewardship Committee. There was informal agreement that he could investigate purchase. 6. Jeff asked about the status of No Exception banner that was stolen from the front of the Duncan-Giersch Center. Action: Rev. Bill Bennet ordered the banner and can find the status. We have had most of the flooring completed in the Chancel area. They will be back this week to finish up. This past Saturday we had our all parish clean. We had a good turn-out and accomplished all that we intended to do. Thank you to everyone who came to help. Also, I have scheduled mulch to be delivered on Friday to put out between the sidewalk and street. I will have that completed on Saturday. The signs are on order, and we will have them installed once we receive them. I met with Steve who is the owner of Creative Acoustics, and we have made some slight adjustments to the main sound board to see if we can get a clearer sound for the choir. Also, he is pricing two options on video equipment. Committees: Family Ministry-Christian Education. The committee met and the following recommendations were made: Begin planning, interviewing and selecting a person to become the Youth Minister. A suggestion was to interview the youth minister at St. Luke s Church who will be let go in June for financial reasons. Work with the Fellowship committee to build up small events working towards an allparish retreat. Work with Membership Committee to establish more participation in Sunday School by new members. Communication/IT. The ACS transfer to their servers removes the need for volunteer IT support from the in-house version. It went smoothly. The ACS software has a capability for parishioner s pictures on the CGS directory. 4 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

5 Action: The ACS link will be sent to the vestry members so they can add their pictures to the directory. Membership. [Report attached] Kitty and Shannon attended a Welcome/Connect program to provide insight on membership projects. This workshop included a church self-assessment to help direct efforts. The first survey, Invite Check List, was passed out at the Vestry meeting. The membership committee met March 3, Those present included Shannon O Brien, Julie Lowe, and Kitty Pruitt. The committee discussed: follow up on the welcome cards o Bev said each visitor gets a letter custom to what they filled out o She also includes brochures as appropriate o Shannon to ask Bev for sample of everything we send to visitors resources for the membership committee o Julie reported no line item currently exists updating the usher book to include information about greeting visitors o Julie updated the usher book with information what items must be accomplished before a large marketing push o any outstanding website update Ed said updates will still be a few months out o create a list of all current activities at CGS Shannon to follow up with Jan Harris Invite, Welcome, Connect program that Kitty and Shannon attended o Ove the next 3 months, the 3 checklists will be filled out by all members at the full vestry meeting, then summarized at presented at the following meeting Shannon to send to Julie for printing o Discuss potential for vestry member of the month to call each visitor to be suggested by Shannon at the full vestry meeting o Potential welcome committee members Gerard O Neil Mike O Brien Ken & Karen Sommerville Jack & Nan Boyne Shannon presented postcard and business card designs o Phone numbers added to each o Shannon to determine the total cost Coordination needed with communications committee regarding a review of brochures, creating a cohesive look for all church materials The following tasks were assigned or are ongoing: Karen - talk with the former newcomer s class leaders regarding what was covered 5 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

6 Bob ask Julie Allen to update the Facebook page with church events Julie follow up with Bob on asking Julie Allen to update Facebook page Bob determine if a basic digital map of CGS exists (church, bathrooms, nursery, etc); if so, Shannon to ask Julie to add to Shepherd s Life Shannon connect with Caryl regarding new directory Shannon determine how to visually represent the goal of 2017 points of contact Shannon tell Ed Sharp to test MailChimp link Shannon ask Jan Harris for list of all activities in the church Action: The vestry is requested to complete the Invite survey and put completed surveys into Julie Lowe s mailbox. The Membership committee reported other key actions: Two other surveys for connection and invitation practices will be given out at subsequent vestry meetings. A process was discussed that will gather information from the Visitor Cards and have the Vestry member of the month call the visitor within 24 hr. of submitting the card This process will start in April. A sheet describing this process will be put in the Narthex. Postcards and business cards (draft pictures attached) have been created to make it easier to give contact information about CGS to interested newcomers. Action: Ed will investigate the MailChimp link which Shannon reported was broken on the Church website. Outreach-Beyond our Doors: Bob G. reported growing number parishioners (25-30) attending the monthly Beyond our Doors Lunch noon Sunday that promotes fellowship between the church members and downtown folks that also number around people. Bob G. told us of Kevin Cotton and his struggles. The story emphasized how getting to know people like Kevin enriches the lives of us all. Fellowship Mac appealed for entries into the Chili Cookoff this coming Sunday. He reminded us of the 5K walk/run for colorectal cancer by the CGS team, the Fee Fighters this coming Saturday. Stewardship [Report attached] Van reported that the theme for this year s Stewardship campaign will be Back to the Basics which means tell the story of Good Shepherd and how it touches lives. Activities include: Creating videos of members telling how CGS touches them. Establish regional supper gatherings with a brief stewardship presentation. Have a quarterly graphical presentation of the pledge fulfillment in the Shepherd s Life that is easier to understand. Have the pledge Sunday in the fall. Meet with the newcomers. 6 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

7 Stewardship Committee Meeting 2/27/17 6:00 pm Vestry Room Present: Bob Sawyer, Van Giersch, Ed Sharp, Bob Goodale, Meredith Swindell The committee discussed many way we might appeal to the sprit within by making our campaign more personal and touching on stewardship throughout the year. We focused on the following: 1. Theme: Tell the Good Shepherd story; of how the ministry of all at Good Shepherd has touched lives, now and in the past. We have a rich and unique tradition and we need to celebrate it. We can do this throughout the year. It can become ongoing if successful. 2. Visual representations are much more effective that printed numbers and charts. Videos of Lay members witnessing to their experience at Good Shepherd added to on-line bulletins and Web sites could be very effective. We will look into the best way to organize this and equipment to record. 3. Small regional supper gatherings at which a brief presentation on Stewardship would be made with question and answer opportunity. This would offer an opportunity to tell the stewardship story and have discussions on a wider parish basis but in more intimate settings. 4. Still have pledge Sunday in the fall on or near Rally Day. 5. Meet with Newcomer classes. Follow up: Ed Sharp will check with Fellowship Committee on a date that does not crowed any of their event dates. We would like to have the regional gatherings before summer. Bob Sawyer will check with Diocese and Ed Sharp will also check on Video and Audio equipment available to produce high quality Videos. Editing is most important. Closed with prayer. Van Giersch New Business: No new business (not covered by the previous reports) was brought up. For the Good of the Order: Julie L. thanked everyone for a productive meeting. Motion to adjourn (Pruitt/Sharp): PASSED UNANIMOUSLY The meeting was adjourned at 7:31 p.m. with a blessing by Rev. Dr. Bob. 7 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s

8 Jeffrey W. Whittaker, PhD Registrar Attached: Financial Reports Senior Warden s Report Junior Warden s Report Membership Report Postcard and Business Card Prototype Stewardship Report The next regular meeting of the Vestry is scheduled for 10 April. 8 P a g e C h u r c h o f t h e G o o d S h e p h e r d V e s t r y M i n u t e s