Minutes of the 1/26/10 Council Meeting at Nativity Lutheran Church

Taken in Lisa Bailey’s absence by Todd Wysuph

 

In attendance

Dave Nissen, Kathy Hunt, Peggy Lindsay, Todd Wysuph, Ron Werner, Chon Pugh, Bill Rodgers, Ron Melver, Bjorn Peterson, Elaine Mikkelsborg, Richard Berg, Ken Knudsen, Pam Knudsen, Frank Barnes, Kirk Sandburg, Ruth Burleigh, David Brown, Dori Girard

 

Ron Melver’s address to council

Regarding previously proposed changes to the constitution by council, he recommended strongly that a (possibly more comprehensive) rewrite be assigned to a task force. Suggestion was made to form the task force at the next congregational meeting, and to have the task force submit the changes for approval at the following congregational meeting in May.

 

Devotions

Frank tested our memory of John 3:16. Bjorn recited a gender-neutral version to the amusement of Dave N.

 

Pastor Chon’s report

Chon        She would like to encourage everyone to be a part of the Meyers-Briggs assessment, to be followed by a spiritual assessment in April. Individual appointments are also available. Several council members have already taken the assessment.

Kirk           Encouraged everyone to go for it. Suggested we could do value survey at the council retreat, so that we can see how our values and personalities blend together.

Elaine       Council should do their M-B before the retreat.

Chon        There are 2 days left, and all council members should do it. Times are tomorrow (Wed) at 10am and 7pm, and Sunday at 9.

 

Ron’s Report

Ron          Speaking as the staff person with the most seniority while Dave is gone. As for the youth ministry, we had a middle school retreat with skating, hanging out, and bible study, to prepare to transition into a study of the Gospel of John. This will involve reading aloud, and talking about life applications. The high school group is still meeting on Sunday nights, volunteering for the habitat youth build, and meeting with other churches to invite other youth groups for inter-church events. We’re also switching up at Beth. Inn, hosting a concert with 5 local bands, and taking a Summer trip to SF (also did that 4 years ago). SF is nice because it is less expensive than other trips. Speaking from a staff perspective, I’m so impressed with everyone stepping up during the sabbatical time. I have lots of support, and I’m looking at possibly going to the seminary (did he say “going on a ministry”?). Now, I need to lean into you. Please do a session with Pastor Chon. No excuses! Also, we’re adding an additional session. Council should make phone calls to get people to sign up. Chon is an absolute joy to work with.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Elaine       December ended pretty well. Net income was positive. Benevolence was completely paid. Didn’t have to dig into other funds. Family kitchen completely paid. For the year, we spent less than budgeted, but had a 5K loss overall (but that’s not too bad).

Kirk           What was the Christmas gift amount? (50% of the Christmas offering was going to go to feed the hungry)

Elaine       Don’t know off hand.

Ruth          Hasn’t come across my desk.

Elaine       There is no longer a sanctuary renovation fund, and instead it is a sabbatical money fund. Some of that money went to the parking lot project.

Peggy      Where did Mac’s money go?

Elaine       Believe it went in to audio equipment.

Bjorn         That’s a shame, we should have an exact accounting of that.

Elaine       Pretty sure it went into the sanctuary renovation fund, and then out again to pay the bills for the sound system. Dave, we have a problem with credit cards. The church has two credit card accounts through Chase, but they changed the rules, so now we don’t have a Nativity credit line. Instead the card has to be backed with an individual’s personal credit. So, we’re dumping credit cards, maybe all by February. Having no cards would be harder, but we have an account at Office Max that can help. No cards means staff might have to purchase first and get reimbursement later. Any ideas?

Dave N     How about a local bank like Liberty? Forget the big banks. Better to have a personal relationship with our banker.

Ron          Can someone make a few calls? (Kirk, Richard, Bjorn, and Dave N agreed to do so).

Dave N     What limit makes sense?

Ron          Mine is about 1K.

Elaine       Maybe you (Ron) and Dee can share a card. How about 5K on each card?

Kirk           What’s our balance to bring to any new accounts?

Elaine       We could move 75-80 K into the new bank.

 

Further discussion next month on how to use internal talent for various jobs on staff etc.

 

Food Pantry

Frank        It’s getting awfully big. Hours have changed to 1-3 pm Tues. Thirty-three people receiving 1 bag each (1 bag per family). Feeds 167 people. The need is overwhelming. We’re getting some help from Beth. Inn (they have excess). I talked to a Presbyterian Deacon about getting help, and he’ll recommend to the elders that the church give food to Nativity instead of to St. Vincent de Paul (as they are currently giving). 90% of recipients are Hispanic. Some from Redmond. Can we sustain this? I’m worried about pushing our congregation’s charity too hard.

Ruth          I want to know what direction to take this in. If we expand, we may need to possibly hire someone. What does our congregation want?

Frank        Beth Inn doesn’t get many staples because they don’t have much of a kitchen to prepare them in. Nativity, however, does give out many staples.

Kathy        The little slips of paper are not current, we need to educate the congregation about what we need. i.e., oil, sugar, rice, beans, etc.

Kirk           Well, you can just change what foods are on the little slips of paper…

Bjorn         Let’s put together an ad hoc committee to think about this. It’s going to come up in other ministries too, so we need to think about our overall resources.

Ron          This is how really cool things happen. You see the need, then you re-up. We don’t know where this is going to go, (to Ruth) but council has your back. We got some cool ideas about food distribution during the last SF trip. How to get grants etc.

Elaine       I think I speak for the council when I say that we would like to serve as many people as we can, no questions asked.

Richard    I noticed that a lot of recipients of our programs sometimes turn over and start working for the program. We can get help from the “helped.”

Peggy      Any other such ministries in Bend?

All             Not that many, but some catholic churches, Bend Community Center, etc.

Dave N     We will bring this issue to our retreat, and set up committee to go from there. Ruth will be invited to retreat so she can be involved. Thank you very much!

 

How Things Are Going with Chon and the Sabbatical Situation

Dave N     How are thing going with Chon? We had a meeting before about this, and the feeling is that things are going well. Lots of individuals participating in Chon’s program, and it’s going well. In the sabbatical budget, some areas are over and some are under budget. Regarding Chon’s utility expenses, we have contract with the Thoren’s (where chon is staying) but not sure what the utilities are going to cost even though half the house is shut off. What are we hearing about Dave’s absence?

Todd        Heard speculation in pews that last Sunday’s low attendance must be due to his absence.

Frank        Hard to tell because Winter is typically low anyway.

Ron          But the 2 Sundays before were strong.

Elaine       Offerings have been low.

Dave N     New Leaf didn’t come last Sunday, did they?

Dori          I don’t think we’re missing Dave that much! (chuckling, no offense Dave)

Elaine       Chon’s sermons are great.

Bjorn         (to Chon) Where were you last Sunday?

Chon        I had two retreats scheduled before I was hired, so those were cleared in advance.

Dave N     I’ve been asked, “if Chon is here why do we have lay people preaching?” I tell them that it’s because we want to grow—it’s a very strong element of our ministry.

Frank        Services have been getting a bit long.

Todd        We added a song for the Psalm, that’s probably part of it.

Dave N     Remember in all of this that we are focusing on authenticity of worship—please pay attention to that as we grow during this sabbatical period.

 

Pastor Dave’s Evaluation

Kirk           (motioning to his PPT slide) This is a tool I used at other churches. It’s a 5 point scale from “5-Consistently exceeds expectations” to “1-Consistently underperforms.” Twelve people were given the survey. These were randomly selected between young old, male female, etc. Eight surveys were returned, 1 came back in the wrong format (and was therefore not used???). No one signed their survey, so it’s totally anonymous.

Communication skills                      3.51

Response to supervision                  4.00

Attitude                                            4.00

Mutual ministry                                 3.875

Quality of work                                4.0

Quantity of work                             3.0

Planning and org skills                    3.375

Caring for community needs          4.6

Stimulates growth                            4.0

Leadership                                      3.0

Job awareness                                4.125

Problem solver                                4.14

 

Todd                                Average = 3.8

 

There were several detailed comments given by the participant’s (see Kirk’s report). Dave Nagler felt good about the evaluation. Kirk suggested that Dave give council his goals for next year. Some of his sabbatical work will be directly related with that.

Bjorn         Let’s not do the evaluation in December.

Dave N     Yes, let’s do in the first half of 2011.

Bjorn         How about in Feb, cause it will inform the budgeting process. After Christmas but before Easter gets too crazy.

Kirk           If there are questions that weren’t asked on the evaluation that you think should have been asked, let me know.

Bjorn         Maybe send out 20 surveys next time and get 12 back.

Dave N     Yeah, I have a feeling it was a little shy on numbers.

Todd        Are there any statisticians here? Given the population of the congregation, there should be a percentage that would be considered to be the minimum valid sample size.

Bjorn         I just took a stat. class, I’ll figure it out.

 

At this point, Todd’s laptop battery ran out and he had to pass the minutes-taking duties off to Bjorn.

 

Dave N The agenda will be to council members by Sunday. This year we did not have a presentation of the              budget ahead of time. Our budget is conservative. Increases in staff salaries. Dave’s salary was raised to ELCA recommendations. No cost of living in 2010. John Basham will receive $15,000 due to verbal                           agreement. NO standing committees make budget building a loose process. But the process has been a         good one. Faith is the key. Congregation is very faithful. Nativity needs to come to grips with a more                strategic stewardship focus.

Ron        Was there a time frame for annual meeting?

Dave N Budget in March. Stewardship should be done in a different way. Budget and Stewardship should be                         connected through vision. Think about how we give.

Bjorn      Conversation was about changing stewardship approach, making a vision for our outreach and tying            the stewardship t that. Be able to articulate to the congregation how our budget ties into our service                       life.

Dave N  Need for 4 persons for constitutional task force to help Ron Melver.

Dave N  Have 6 person running for 4 council positions.

Bjorn Can be more names added.

Dave N               Yes.

 

It was suggested that we hold the election for council early in the annual meeting so there is time to count the votes and announce the winners.

 

Council retreat 2/5. Is it possible to change to a Saturday. No, but we will make it earlier at 5:15. At Thoren’s.

 

Bill Rodgers regarding door to orchard. Door will be out-swinging, handicap access, JeldWen. Larkins have donated their greenhouse to the orchard for starts. Cost approx $2122.41. Need to discuss FUNDING MECHANISM. First idea is to just have an appeal.

 

Change annual meeting for 2010 from May to June? Discussion followed. May 23^rd or June 6^th? Can we present a budget with a 10 month snapshot? We will table this until the retreat.

 

Table the personnel committee to retreat.

 

Richard Berg brought endowment grant regarding Boldenow. Mission trip doesn’t meet requirements but endowment committee suggested that we offer her $850 for school. Motion to accept MSP.

 

Announcements:

Directory update out by end of February

Souper Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. Proceeds to Food Pantry & Prayer/Memorial Garden.