Council Members Present: Katie Corneilson, Pastor Ross Goodman, Maile Hedlund, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Alison Roberts, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen, Wendy Stack, Chris Trost, George Wilson.
Also Present: Vicar Jen Soltis.
Absent: none
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:35pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
The agenda was accepted.
George then led a devotion on the incarnation drawing on metaphors of water, bread, and flower. Next month, Brian Sniffen will lead devotions.
The minutes of December were accepted as amended.
We received somewhat more in 2011 than in 2010. But pledges are far short for 2012; we need at least $20k more in pledges to use our planned budget.
Ken Heyda has been helping Dan Ries, who will be taking over as Treasurer, to learn Shepherd’s Staff.
Motion 1. St. Paul designates and transfers $93.09 from the dedicated account p14 to the t7 Equal Exchange account to bring the t7 account to $0 to balance out the books for 2011. (Equal Exchange coffee and tea purchases and sales are accounted for through t7. By designating money from p14 we will not need to reimburse the dedicated account. moved, seconded, carried.
Our annual meetings in the past have been quite businesslike. This year, the organizers would like to present a more social view: to welcome visitors and to remind the congregation who we are and what wonderful parts we have. We might highlight the Altar Guild, the Ushers, or other committees that could use exposure (and participation).
| 9:15 | ordinary service, moved from 10:15 |
| 10:30 | meeting downstairs |
| 11:30 | done |
George Wilson offers to have the the Social Ministry committee take a back seat; they get lots of good exposure from their regular works. Alison Roberts proposes education as one of the areas to focus on—it always seems to need teachers. The Intern project and the Inclusion committee could also use attention. This would also be a good time for Dana Ramish to report on the next steps from his team’s work on functional re-alignment.
The Nursery will be available. We’d like Confirmation age youth1 to participate. Katie Osweiler is working on plans for kids of ages between those. Mark Olson is working on the space: an amplifier, certainly, and the arrangement of chairs. Alison asks us to remember the fm transmitter for some hearing aids. We’ll need the Coffee Guild to help us prepare.
Three Council slots will open up (those presently held by Alison Roberts, Dana Ramish, and Katie Corneilson, who are ending their first term each). We’ll refer those to the nominating commitee.
Mark promises an agenda before the meeting.
Pastor Goodman speaks about an encounter he had after church on Sunday. A newly-expecting mother suggested that we might rename this the Lutheran Church of the Fertility Goddess; at least four babies are now on the way. Carl Carlson’s funeral was this month. Al Landberg is having a tough patch of pneumonia leading to other problems. He’s now back home with hospice care. The Synod has asked for help with a call process this coming week—the candidate will be running part of both services as a guest pastor, and their call committee will be here as guests2 . Then Daniel Eisenberg, our intern-presumptive, will be here the following week. Last year’s intern, C.J. Stratton, is a finalist at a large Lutheran church in Fargo—thousands of members and a thousand in the pews at each service. She’ll be one of three new pastors coming in for the next two years as a sort of postdoc funded by the Lilly Endowment.
It turns out that the report due to the Lilly Fund about Pastor Henry’s sabbatical several years ago was never filed. She and Pastor Goodman will see that it’s filed late rather than never—and before we hit the deadline of having to pay the money back.
He’s investigating a subsidized solar-power system for the roof.
Vicar Soltis reports that her project is going well. She proposes that having the council members do the work of calling people would be good. The entire Council announces that they don’t like making or receiving phone calls.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 9:05pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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The annual Congregational meeting will be on 29 January 2012. Next regular council meeting: 13 February 2011 at 7:30pm. It won’t be a regular council meeting, but a gathering for food and some hellos and goodbyes. Mark says it’ll be our “fun” meeting3 for the year.
These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.