Council Members Present: Pastor Ross Goodman, Maile Hedlund, Mark Olson, Dana Ramish, Alison Roberts, Heather Sheridan, Brian Sniffen, Chris Trost, George Wilson.
Also Present: Clancy Chan, Vicar Jen Soltis.
Absent: Katherine Corneilson, Wendy Stack.
A quorum was gathered and we came together in God’s name at 7:38pm. A candle was lit to remind us that Christ is present with us as we meet.
The agenda was accepted.
George Wilson then led a devotion on “Who’s behind it?” by Albert Lee. In September, Brian Sniffen will lead devotions.
The minutes of June were accepted as amended.
We are receiving excellent donations over the summer.
We’re under-spending for the year, but that’s mostly from last year’s easy Winter. We should not spend that lest next Winter be correspondingly harsh.
The shipping is a bit more than in previous years, because we’re shipping direct.
Motion 1. St. Paul designate up to $1400 from n7 to pay for costs associated with the midwife kits. moved, seconded, carried.
Clancy Chan talks about the website as material for marketing the church to an outsider considering coming—but we could do more. It could be brighter, more dynamic, and more cost effective—continuing to use Joomla, but paying about $80 for a template and a few months of tech support.
She imagines a section for youth, a section for smaller kids (bring in Bible games? Do people want to come interact with the site?), a forum with an “Ask the Pastor” section. She proposes a theme from Joomla’s archive http://www.bambootheme.com/showcase/jan12/
Alison raises concerns about mobile accessibility, accessibility for the visually impaired, risks of publishing kids’ writing, and how continuous attention to marketing and photography twists our community within the church.
Brian asks about security updates and about separating the issues of general housekeeping from inward-facing improvements.
Mark, Dana, and George respond to the joy of photos as an archive. Mark follows up with the idea of splitting this into the outward-facing section (Calendar, schedule, photos of us) from the inward-facing and reflective parts. Consensus builds around that separation and the utility of the e-mail.
Clancy moves into her second topic: that the Church admin should be updating the calendar and the front page, while others update their own sections—e.g., the Council Secretary updates the Council section. Mark, Brian, Alison all talk about how it’s hard to draft people into writing, and we’ll do better to respond to pressure of others asking to publish.
Clancy leaves with a loud approval of the weekly e-mail, endorsement of the refresh of the front page, and request to come back to talk about the inward-looking parts.
We’re interviewing Music Directors and Sextons. We expect to have a Music Director hired within the next few weeks and a Sexton in the weeks after that. Mike will be with us through July 21, and we’ll have a service for a while after that, then adding a part-time Sexton.
Pastor Goodman asks for comments about the solar proposal from last month. Mark and Brian worry about the durability of the equipment. Alison worries about the risk of interference with the cell tower. Pastor Goodman asks about the benefits of witnessing to care for the Earth, and our response is muted.
He then says that the Doughertys are moving to California and that Toni Chancellor and Curtis Adams are moving to Maryland. They’ve all been essential to the life of the church: ushering, social ministry, coffee, property maintenance, treasurers and Shepherd’s Staff admins.
We had ordinations, an engagement, funerals, loss of two staff, births, baptisms in June. A whole church year in one month.
Vicar Soltis gives her last report: starting on the start of the Women’s Bible Study meeting Sundays after Church. They’re starting with four weeks on the Gospel according to St. Mark. The 0–3 playgroup is starting; the first week had extremely limited attendance, so it may be necessary to switch to Saturday mornings at another location. She’s also been working with the Vacation Bible School at First Lutheran, Waltham.
Pastor Goodman gathers us in prayer and leads communion at 8:55pm.
Respectfully submitted, Brian Sniffen
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Next regular council meeting: 10 September 2012 at 7:30pm
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These minutes can be found online at http://evenmere.org/~bts/Church/.