Leadership Council Minutes: May 2011

Northaven United Methodist Church
Leadership Council Meeting- Room 239
May 24, 2011- 7 p.m.

Those Present: Betty Boyer, Mindy Dague, Kathy Delsanter, Eric Folkerth, Marlene Haskell, Terry Lowery, Jim McBride, Chris Reed, Dotti, Timmins, Tom Timmins, Dick Weaver, and Elaine Wiant
Betty motioned to approve the minutes and the motion was carried.

Leadership Chair’s Remarks:
Betty mentioned the following upcoming events:
Draft night will be in the evening on Tuesday, September 20.
Updating the Hymnals will be on June 12 after church.
Annual Conference will begin June 5, 6-6:30 p.m., so please come, participate and wear a reconciling stole.

Meditation

Leadership Council Reports:

Finance Report- See Income Statement
Terry Lowery reported that we are $7800 higher in income than expected this month. Terry attended Program Council and felt it was productive. Elaine said the finances were going very well.

Staff Parish- See Report

Covenant Fund-
Dottie Timmins reported that the Covenant Fund will be offering a class on Wills and Estates on July 31 at 12:30 p.m. The Arbor in the Celebration Garden should be completed this summer.

Trustees Report-
Dick Weaver reported that Northaven is currently on the North Texas Conference plan for electricity and is planning on making a change after Northaven’s contract has ended. The group is planning on making a final decision on which electric company to sign up with at their next Trustees meeting. The Trustees have already informed the conference about Northaven’s future plans. The Co-op’s awning has been installed and everyone is happy with it but Kathy reported that there is a flow of water coming down off of the awning when it rains so the company that installed it is coming back to fix the problem. Frank Effland will be notified.

Stewardship- No Report

Co-op Liaison-
There are summer camp availabilities and a new Co-op website is in development.

Black Tie Dinner –
The all church BBQ, Sunday, July 10 needs help with cleanup and setup.
The next BTD meeting will be on June 14.
Dick Weaver mentioned that BTD scholarships are available and an application is available on the BTD website. The scholarships are not 100% but are still substantial. There was discussion about publicizing this to Northaven church members.

Program Council-
Marlene Haskell reported that there have been questions in the past concerning the budget and decided that it was best if the Finance Chair would attend the Program Council meeting to answer current questions people may have. The Council members appreciated Terry Lowery coming to their meeting to discuss more in depth how each committee’s budget works. The Council members looked at the new website on the overhead projector and reviewed the church calendar together at their last meeting. This encouraged a productive and interactive discussion and helped committees to catch possible conflicts and things that still needed to be done. VBS was profiled.

Northaven’s History Project- Tom Timmins said that it was going well. The idea of working on Northaven’s history began when Tom Timmins wanted to prepare a report for the Leadership Retreat this summer but found that the project proved very challenging since we have information dating back approximately 50 years. It became clear that the historical project should be presented in a more formal and permanent format. Mary Beth Rogers volunteered to be the Editor of the project. She has an impressive background in working with former Governor, Ann Richards. There will be an individual chapter for each pastor. Tom has already met with printers for printer specs on a booklet that will be put together. There will be an addendum at the back of the booklet called Learnings that will reflect on those things that Northaven has leaned over the years. Tom is still deciding on how many copies need to be printed and is working on finding money in the budget to help pay for it. The project will be offered as a Video too. There are various recordings from past pastors, including Bill Holme’s sermon after the Kennedy assignation. Digital photography is readily available during the Folkerth years. There will be stand alone video for each pastor. The video will be edited down for the final version. A teaser should be available by the Leadership Retreat.

Staff Reports

Co-op School Report-
Kathy Delsanter reported that the last day of school is May 25.

Office Administrator- No Report

Youth Director-
Chris Reed reported that the Youth viewed the Shower of Stoles project last Sunday. There will one more Youth bond sale this Sunday. UMYF will not be meeting this Sunday since it is Memorial Weekend. The Youth are getting ready for Annual Conference and will participate at the opening. The Youth’s Mission Trip to San Marcos begins on June 11. There will be a swim party after the Youth return from their mission trip. The Leadership Council thanked Chris for Youth Sunday and commented on how nice it was.

Worship and Arts-
Eric Folkerth reported that Stephanie Rhoades will begin as the new Music Minister of Music & the Arts on June 1. There will be a Welcoming Reception and Litany for her on June 5. This year’s summer series will steer away from the Chautauqua name because it is associated with camp music and this summer the focus will be on the theme The Glory of god’s Creation- As a part of spirituality. It will be an 8-week series that will include a week on Scriptures, Creativity and Science, Creativity and Art, Destruction of Nature, etc. The Northaven Choir will be off only during the month of July.

Spiritual Formation-
Eric Folkerth reported that the VBS Committee has met twice already. This year VBS will be discussing the Parables of Jesus. Each night will focus on one parable and the group will discuss what they learn from it. The Faith Voices of Justice program on May 19, Tested: Stories of Faith and Justice featured several of the Exonerees and was well attended with over 100 people. There was a potluck dinner with Exonerees and Craig Watkins, the current Dallas County D.A. arrived as a surprise guest.

Senior Pastor-
Eric Folkerth reported that the North Texas Annual Conference will begin June 5 and there will be discussions of upcoming elections at General Conference and the Jurisdictional Conference. There will be computerized voting this year.

Closing Prayer