First United Church will make disciples through worship, nurturing members, its witness to Christian faith and unity, and service to the human community.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM MEETING

October 14, 2008, 7PM

 

Present:

P

Cathy Hartle

Lay Leader

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Mike Perry

Assistant Lay Leader, Mission & Ministry

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Mary Twitchell

Recording Secretary

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JoBeth Marshall

Pastor

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Bryan Hill

Finance Team Co-chair

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Barb Lyons

Finance Team Co-chair

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Diane Spillum

Financial Secretary & Sunday School

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Donna Rekstad

Treasurer

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Betz Tepley

Outreach

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Betty Anderson

UCWA

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Echo Kowalzek

Archives

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Helen Isaacson

Memorial Fund Secretary/Treasurer

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Janet O’Quinn

PPRC co-chair

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Rose Jacobson

PPRC co Chair

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Dyanne Olsen

Buildings, Grounds, and Equipment 

 

CALL TO ORDER - Cathy Hartle called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

OPENING Prayer – Rev. JoBeth Marshall

SECRETARY’S REPORT - Mary Twitchell

·         Action: Barb/Betty/approved


FINANCIAL  Diane said that we are close to target – We are at 74% of budget

·         Mistake in line 900: should be 0 for “Year to date” and “Bal remaining”

·         Mike/Bryan/passes - accept subject to Margaret fixing line items

 

MINISTER’S REPORT – Rev. JoBeth Marshall

·         Passed out a form that she will use for her reports in the future.

·         She is currently spending time with things that are being referred to teams and will not report on those

·         Starting confirmation Wednesday, October 22

·         Stewardship Sunday is Nov 23. She will coordinate with  the campaign team.

 

LAY LEADER’S REPORT – Cathy Hartle

·         Cathy has been hearing nice comments about JoBeth’s work

·         Cathy distributed an update on the search and call process and recommendations from the process subcommittee.

o       Recommending 7-person team, with criteria spelled out for team members who represent various views and demographic groups in the congregation

o       Small group gatherings to discuss who we want to be as a church

o       forced choice worksheet to look at characteristics wanted in a pastor

o       Proposed ideal timeline – 12+ months process with hope to have settled pastor beginning in late fall/early winter of 2009

o       Action: Bryan/Diane S/passed -  motion to  approve the process

 

OLD BUSINESS:

·         Inactive member follow-up (all) – 246 members as of October 9 – Cathy will ask Margaret about getting numbers to UCC & UMC

·         Bryan thought that we should do a guest Sunday and invite someone for a visit possibly do it 3-4 times a year. Consensus was to do it (deleted a couple of words) December 7 with coffee after. We think about doing this 3-4 times a year.

·         Need marketing & membership group – Mike suggested an announcement asking for a few people to volunteer for a short-term task force who are interested in marketing – Bryan will approach a couple who might be able to take this on

·         Visitor packets – need to see if someone can take this on

 

NEW BUSINESS:

·         Discussion around questions distributed last month.

·         How do we decide what projects we are going to offer for the congregation to take part in?  It is part of the “who do we want to be as a church” discussion. Mike explained that at one point there was a plan for what projects would be done each month. This question will be addressed more as we go through defining who we are.

·         Technology –need a task force to investigate technology. Need by late November – Mary T. will take the lead on this.

·         Global Ministries letter – term of service for Vanderwerfs - our missionaries - is completed. Letter suggested that we re-designate our support for another missionary – Put on December agenda

 

COMMITTEE, TEAM AND TASK FORCE REPORTS

·         Finance - Bryan Hill/Barb Lyons –  Stewardship process is being defined. The team will meet twice a month through December.

·         Worship Team - Joanie Bellig reported that a team member had raised a concern about the north door being locked. Discussion around being welcoming vs. safety issues if Margaret is alone in church.

·         UCWA - Betty Anderson - No Report

·         Mission & Ministry – Mike Perry  - No Report

·         Archival Team - Echo Kowalzek – No Report

·         Buildings, Grounds & Equipment - Dyanne Olson – wonderful roof – leak in the ceiling in the nursery – Cathy asked Dyanne to talk with Bernie and ask him to contact  Jack Josephson.

·         PPR - Rose Jacobson/Jan O’Quinn – No Report

·         Education - Dianne Spillum – No Report

·         Outreach - Betz Tepley –

o       Kids Against Hunger - September 5 was dinner & September 13 a group packaged food. 15 cases of that food went to food shelves in area.

o       Home delivered meals - Oct 20-24

o       Fund raiser for food shelf – Dec. 20 at Coborns from 9-5

·         Youth Ministry Team - Jonathan Larson – printed in Sunday bulletin

·         Memorial Fund – Helen Isaacson – No Report

 

Agenda Items for next meeting

·         Balance Sheet explanation (Bryan/Barb)

 

Comments, Concerns, Questions, Other Issues

Mike suggested, and the rest of the team agreed, that  for the November meeting, we won’t have an agenda but instead we will have our first small group meeting with the leadership team. We will handle only necessary business at that meeting.

Closing Prayer - The Lord’s Prayer

 

DATES TO REMEMBER – upcoming events and Team Meetings

·         November 11 – Next Administrative Team Meeting (BG&E and Finance Meetings before Admin. Team meeting)

 

Submitted by

Mary Twitchell, Recording Secretary