Combined Ministry Council & Executive Board meeting
August 29, 2004

Present: Mike Ramsett, Dave Cupp, Sandy Larson, Kay Coryell, Jim Wolff, Dave Money, Jerry McLeland, Sallie Suby Long, Lynda Fickling, Amy Ash, Marie & David Fornof, Jim Ramsey, Janet Forbes, Randy Dunn, Cheryl Wolff, Ken Fong, Gene & Dawn Branch, Doug Wagner, Chris Wilterdink, Gretchen Armijo, Martha Boon

Martha opened the meeting in prayer. Introductions were made. We welcomed our new Mission Team chairs, Dawn & Gene Branch, Dave Cupp, our new Director of Finance, and new attendees Amy Ash for Women of St. Lukes and Gretchen Armijo, Churchwide Coordinator.

Dave Cupp distributed materials and than gave an overview of his plans and our present Financial Position. He reported that we have done a good job accounting and collecting our funds. He plans to do more analysis and forecasting, thus getting information to the small groups and church leadership.

He first addressed budget planning for 2006 and distributed budget reporting sheets to the Advocates and Small group leaders present. These need to be returned to Dave by October 3, so that we can have our 2006 budget in place by Dec. 1.

We then looked at the materials Dave distributed-- Pie Chart of 2005 Budgeted Expenses, Giving Patterns for 2003- present, 2005 Cash Flow Worksheet.

Pie Chart Summary SPRC 48.1% (Actually slightly lower than the average of other churches our size) Mortgage 21.0% Trustees 12.1% Apportionments 5.8% Office 3.1% Missions 2.1% Music 1.7% Children 1.5% Youth1.1% Communications1.1% Stewardship, Worship, Altar Guild, Adult Ed, Churchwide, Drama, Evangelism, Membership, Ministry Dev. all < 1% Dave pointed out that our spending has been pretty much in line with our budget. It’s on the income side that we are lacking. He reported that we generally get 90% of what we estimate our income will be, taking into account pledges and other forms of income, loose plate, grocery certificates and other. December is our biggest income month, however he issued a caution for this year, as Easter was not as big as in the past and this trend could impact our Christmas collections. Dave’s concern has been about getting through these last four months and what we need to get there. He has met with our major spenders and made a good faith effort to estimate what we need for the rest of the year. If we stay on course with income, using the 2003/2004 patterns of giving as indicators, we are going to be $79,000 short. Dave did ask that all groups with budgets look at the Cash Flow Worksheet, and if your estimated expenditures are different than what he has here, to let him know.

Martha and Jim W. then reported on an Executive Board meeting held, to discuss this shortfall and the plans made so far to address this. 1. Automatic withdrawal option made available for pledges and grocery certificate purchase. This has been tasked to Finance Team with a goal of start up for October 1. 2 Communication- letter from Janet to go out to all in the congregation, asking 1. Keep present commitment 2. If you have not pledged, consider doing so 3. Special gift Information on the financial position has been and will continue to be highlighted in the Chronicle 3. Special Thanksgiving offering 4. Encouragement from the pulpit to put something in the plate each Sunday to increase loose plate offerings.

We then explored additional ideas for increasing income or decreasing expenditures. Finance Team had brainstormed some ideas at their last meeting. These included possible reduction in Mission budget, which Dawn and Gene said they would evaluate with their team. Another was putting some of the funds raised from Fiddler on the Roof toward the budget as opposed to all of it towards a Mission area. Jim R. said he would look into perhaps having the dinner proceeds go towards one area and the performance another. Dave C. reported that they were reducing expenditures in the office by not using the printed stationary for in house mailings and emailing things to the congregation when they could, rather than mailing.

The plan from here is to look at our status next month and determine if these steps are enough to decrease our present forecasted deficit. Dave asked that all groups keep him updated on the estimated spending for the next four months and to continue to keep expenses down as much as possible.

We next addressed the plans for Debt Reduction in 2006 With 21.1% of our budget going towards our mortgage, Executive Board has recommended that we make plans to reduce the debt in order to free up our budget for Ministry. Therefore, plans are being made for the “Free the Vision Campaign” Janet has begun interviewing consultants. She would prefer we use a smaller company. To help put our debt in perspective, Janet reported that in 2003, we had the largest debt by twice of churches in the RMC. In 2005, two churches have larger debts than ours and both have campaigns to pay them off. Dave Cupp is researching our loan, and careful planning will be necessary as we move forward as we do have a prepay penalty. Executive Board will be interviewing consultants for this campaign, which would take place next spring. This project will come to a vote at Church Conference.

Leadership Planning

We briefly discussed what guidance we need to give our Lay Leadership Team as they begin to prepare our slate of leaders for 2006. It was suggested that we have additional teams on the “class” schedule, like we do for Trustees and SPRC. It was suggested that we do this for Evangelism Team. It was also suggested that all teams have a leader and an Assistant leader, who is being trained as the next leader. This way we wouldn’t have holes in our leadership when someone steps down, especially if it’s midyear.

Lay Leadership Team needs list of each team. Advocates are requested to get lists of their Small Group Teams, identifying both leaders and members of each group. Please have these to Janet by Oct. 1.

Lay Leadership will also be looking at term lengths for some of our leadership positions, such as the Advocates, MC & EB chairs and a few other Small Groups.

Stewardship Report

Kick Off for the Campaign will be end of September. The leadership dinner is Oct. 4. Consecration Sunday will be Oct. 23, with a brunch planned for that morning. There will be 2-3 mailings and pulpit speakers. We currently have 320 units pledging; their goal is 400-500 for 2006.

Appreciative Inquiry
Still recruiting more interviewers. The goal is 500 interviews. Sept. 25 is the reporting conference, then Executive Board will determine themes for our work for next year. Dec. 18 is our all-church conference and goals should be in place by this time.

Ministry Development & Fellowship/Support Teams
Fall Kick Off
Martha reported that plans are in place for the Ministry Fair and meal. Danny McIntosh is organizing the Fair and Dave Rhodes and Alan Ball the meal.
Women of St. Lukes
Amy Ash announced the pancake breakfast scheduled for Sept. 18, which will launch a fund raising campaign to recarpet the Fellowship Hall. They are also planning the Women’s Candlelight Dinner for December.
Churchwide
Gretchen reported that do to scheduling conflicts, no Hay Ride this year. They are making plans for Hanging of the Greens

Evangelism Team
Jim Wolff reported that the theme, going into fall is “I am Home.”

Youth
Chris reported the Pumpkin Patch is again scheduled for October. Unloading Oct. 1 and opportunities to help all month with this project that supports Youth Summer Missions.

Membership
Lynda reported the membership is at 1312.

Stephens Ministry
Pam reported that 18 new Stephen Ministers will start training this fall. Please let her know if you know of someone who could benefit from working with a Stephens’s minister in the future.

Worship Team
Sallie reported that the Women of Note’s concert at the Women’s Prison was a tremendous experience.

Janet reported on two worship opportunities for the fall Oct. 2 Blessing of the Animals Oct 21-22 Spiritual Retreat for the Congregation Opportunity for relationship building. Altar Team will be invited to use this time to create or recreate “ the sacred space:”

Meeting was closed in prayer.

Respectfully submitted, Martha Boon