Leadership Council Minutes: March 2011

Northaven United Methodist Church
Leadership Council Meeting- Room 239
March 22, 2011- 7 p.m.

Those Present: Eric Folkerth, Mary Clair Lowrance, Betty Boyer, Dick Weaver, Dotti Timmins, Tom Timmins, Chris Reed, Kathy Delsanter, Mindy Dague, and Marlene Haskell

Betty Boyer called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

Meditation

Elaine motioned to approve the minutes and the motion was carried.

Leadership Chairperson’s Remarks:
The two chairs of BTD this year are John and Laurie Reichenbach. Another reminder was given about the upcoming summer leadership retreat that has been scheduled for June 11.

Program Council Report-See Attached
Tom Timmins asked for a reminder to be given to the program committees to get new committee member information to him, as soon as possible. He is updating the church directory. Betty suggested that a deadline be set.

Leadership Council Reports:

Finance Report-See Attached
Elaine Wiant, Terry Lowery, and Mindy Dague entered the 2011 approved budget into QuickBooks. Marlene reported that the split for the Worship and Arts Commission budget had recently been decided and would be submitted to the Finance committee in the near future.

Staff Parish-See Attached
21 Resumes for the Director of Music Ministry’s position have been received so far and the Committee will start the process of selecting which applicants will have in-person interviews and will begin scheduling those interviews. There has been a diverse pool of candidates. One candidate appears to be living in Brazil. Another candidate is living on the West Coast. The Music Ministry Search Committee will be reviewing the applications this weekend. Each candidate will have a musical piece to perform with the Northaven Choir as part of their interview.

Covenant Fund- See Attached
The Covenant Trustees reviewed 13 churches and their Columbarium price structures. The Trustees have decided to increase the burial of ashes and the cost of purchasing a niche. By raising the prices, Northaven is still considered in the middle range of the collective price structures being offered. The new pricing information will be submitted to the newsletter to inform Northaven’s members of the changes and when they will take effect. Non-members interested in the Columbarium still have to be approved by the Senior Pastor and the Trustees before being accepted. Leadership Council approved the new pricing structure.

Trustees Report-
The Co-op has requested that an awning be installed at the South Door. Dick Weaver reported that Frank Effland, a church member and Architect, is currently accessing the situation. There may be some structural challenges but Dick believes that they can be overcome. Dick reported that the rock and brick pile on the North side of the building is now gone. Dick donated the cost of the removal of the bricks through the Christ Foundry’s landscaping assistance to Northaven.

Staff Reports:

Co-op-See Attached

Worship and Arts-
Attendance has been good. All lent services will be at 7. The Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday services are scheduled at 7 p.m. There will be a sunrise service this year in the Garden on Easter at 7 a.m. The Worship Team is making plans for an exciting summer series. More details will be forthcoming.

Spiritual Formation-
Teaching Tolerance- A 12-week program is a new curriculum for the Children’s Ministry and possibly for the Youth Ministry. VBS has been scheduled for August 1-5 from 6-8 p.m. An Easter egg hunt is being planned. Mary Clair is expecting twice the amount of children attending this year based on the current Sunday School attendance. Some people have decided to give alternative treats instead of candy this year. A Clearing Season Lenten study with Mary Clair is being offered on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. each week throughout the Lenten season. The evening Lenten study did not have enough people interested in attending so it was cancelled. Fifteen youth have signed up for the San Marcos mission trip this summer. Adult Education will be offering a new array of classes for the fall. On Palm Sunday a new schedule of classes for summer classes will be distributed. This will be the first time we have produced a summer guide. Uppity Women of the Bible is being planned for the Cornerstone Class. The facilitators will be Elaine Wiant and Sally St. Clair. The class will be offered June 26 - July 31. A blanket is being made for Anita Harkey and the next one will probably be for Mark Daves.

Youth Report-
The Pancake Fundraising dinner was a big success and after expenses it realized a $500 + profit. The Youth will be hosting an Easter breakfast this year. The Youth Coffeehouse will hve donation buckets on the tables and the Children’s Choir will be participating. The Youth Trade-Up scavenger hunt will include handing out Coffeehouse flyers to give the group credibility and possibly draw in some more people to the event. The scavenger hunt starts with a paper clip and they trade-up until whatever they end up with will be auctioned off at the Coffeehouse. Kaye Warrick is making her famous cream pie for the Coffeehouse auction. Youth Sunday is May 22 and will include recognition of this year’s graduating seniors.

Administration Report-
The 1st Quarter contribution Reports will be mailed out at the first of April. A Volunteer Luncheon for the Church Office Volunteers has been scheduled for Monday, March 28. We will be discussing the office guidelines and how to maintain a safer church environment. Eric will be facilitating the meeting. The Trustees have been invited to attend.

Pastor-
The Reconciling Training is coming up to get ready for General Conference. It will be held at Grace UMC in Dallas on April 9 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. The Bishop will have different meetings in each district spending one day with each district. Anyone can attend. Our area’s meeting will be held on April 10 in Irving at Plymouth Park UMC. The Bishop is asking for feedback on the new conference structure. Eric is really happy with the turnout at the Youth Pancake Supper.

Closing Prayer

Program Council Minutes - March 8, 2011

In attendance:
Connie Marshall Fran McElvaney Lynette Hendricks
Susie Marshall Joe Hilbun Kirsten B James
Marty Brownlie Randall Oxford Chris Reed
Eric Folkerth Marlene Haskell

Marlene called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

Marlene requested that all Commission Chairs forward a list of their members to Tom Timmins
Newsletter deadlines upcoming are March 25, April 8, and April 20th (earlier because of Holy Week). Fran, in her role as newsletter reporter, asked for more input from Commission Chairs

2011 Budget was handed out and briefly discussed. Marlene pointed out that the Arts and Worship budgets are combined on that document. Members of the Arts Commission and the Worship Commission believed that a split budget had been provided to the Finance Committee, but since that was not reflected in the Budget document, Marlene asked that those 2 groups provide the split again to the Finance Committee. Fran, Susie, and Donna were to ask Stephanie Rhoades if she had that information.

Commission Reports:

Worship – Susie announced that the theme for Lent was “Journey of Fearless Faith.” The wailing wall will be up for prayers. Each Sunday will have a suggested area of prayer request. There will be services Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday, and sunrise on Easter in addition to the regular Sunday services.

Arts – Donna was out of town. Connie reported that themes for each Sunday during Lent were set and that the church would have several displays for the season. The Jane Marshall festival was pushed back from May to the fall so that there would be more time to plan.

Care Team – Lynette reported on the success of the prayer blankets and the intercessory prayer group.

Church in Society – Marty talked about Reconciling Ministries training coming up in April to prepare for the 2012 General Convention. About 50 “This I Know” studies have been sold, with Patty Harvey starting a new class at Northaven on March 8.

Communications – Randall Oxford mentioned plans for a Holy Week banner and advertising. He and his committee are proceeding with a new directory that will have pictures of new members. In 2012, there will be a new pictorial directory produced in-house. There will also be an online version with appropriate passwords and safeguards.
The new Northaven website should go live with a soft launch in March and a grand opening in April. The group decided that time should be set aside in each Program Council meeting to review our website content and make updates as necessary during the meeting.


Education –
Adult – Joe talked about preparations for a summer brochure listing classes and whether interest was sufficient to support a Wednesday evening dinner on a monthly basis in the fall.
Children – Kirsten reported that elementary classes were now using a Cokesbury curriculum. In the fall, there will probably be a need to re-align the grades into 3 elementary classes instead of the 2 that currently exist. VBS is scheduled for the 1st week of August in the evenings. They are looking for a chair for the event, which will focus on Jesus’ Parables.
Youth – busy with the Pancake dinner

Hospitality – Sherry was out of town.

Membership – Janice sent in her report and Connie went through the list of new members. Mindy asked that she get the name and address list for her records.

Special Events – Connie reported that the Pancake Supper was a success. The Women’s retreat will be April 1 – 2. The date for the Feast of Friendship is tbd. Because Earth Day is on Good Friday this year, the date for the annual vegetarian cook-off is tbd also.
The “Shower or Stoles Project” will arrive May 13. There will be about 30 clerical stoles on display from clergy who have resigned because they are part of the LGBT community. The owner’s story will accompany each stole. The display will close on June 4.

Staff Reports:
Mindy – needs announcements and articles suitable for the bulletin each week

Chris – believes that the Pancake Supper will net about $300 for Youth Missions. The Youth will have a service project on the 20th at the Trinity River Audobon Society. Youth Coffee House will be April 10.

Eric – described some of the changes in the Conference and that 3 of 4 of the District Superintendents will be new to their position after June. Annual Conference is June 4 – 7.


The meeting was adjourned at 8:45. The next meeting is April 12. Action items listed separately below:


Action Items:

All Commission chairs forward a list of their members to Tom Timmons.

All Commission chairs turn in at least one article for the newsletter in the next 6 weeks.

Donna/Fran/Susie ask Stephanie Rhoades to get the split of Arts and Worship budgets to the Finance Committee.

Marlene and Randall to work together so that we will be able to view and update the website at our next Program Council Meeting.

Eric to contact Bruce Hathaway about singing in choir.