Parish Council Minutes

June 28, 2005

The moderator convened the meeting at 7:05 P.M. In attendance were Phil Johnson, Tony Lucia, George Hayden, Barbara Langill, Susan Lambe, Mike Dunfee, Chris Gehret, Debbie Cotting, Bruce Gist, Linda Ladd and Hugh Penney. Our guest was Tom Clough from the Massachusetts U.C.C. Tony Lucia offered the meditation.

Phil reviewed for Tom the recent happenings at our church including the Alice Mann summit series and the beginnings of our permanent pastor search. He announced that Debbie Cotting has agreed to chair our search committee. Tom reviewed for us the U.C.C.’s guidelines for conducting a pastoral search. It is a detailed, 22-step plan. Tom told us that this is a plan that will work if we support the search committee and let them do their job. He feels the ideal size for this group is 8 people. The group discussed time frames for the search, Mike’s involvement with the process and housing issues, among other things. Tom left the meeting at the end of this discussion. Council spoke about how to best put together our church profile for the search. Our next step will be determining the other committee members. Phil and Chris have narrowed down a group of 8 people, prospective members will be called ASAP. Our goal is to have the committee in place and our profile and package ready for Tom in the fall.

Pastor’s Report: Mike informed us of some plans for fall including an informational meeting in late September to determine where we are as a church regarding Open and Affirming and a possible book group that will focus on Alice Mann’s suggested readings. Mike has 5 weddings currently scheduled. He gave us copies of U.C.C. compensation guidelines to review. He lastly reminded us that he will be gone for 2 weeks (one week vacation, one week Study Leave) beginning after church this Sunday.

Christian Ed/ Youth- Barbara informed us that 26 students have been attending Vacation Bible School this week; and that 9 of our youth who will be going on the mission trip to North Carolina for Habitat for Humanity have been helping with the classes. A portion of the school’s proceeds will go towards the trip. Last week’s yard sale for the trip netted $721, this brings the total funds for the trip up to $6,421. The end of year church picnic and softball game held at Jordan Park was a success with 53 people in attendance.

Missions: Chris told us that Mission’s Sunday will be held on September 25th.

Membership: Tony reported that Chuck Cotting is the new chairman of the membership group. They have been generating ideas for fall including a family movie night, lectures, a photography contest and a METCO night. The group will meet again on 7/21 and 8/11 at 7:00 P.M.

Properties- Phil and Jeff Langill have identified many building improvement and maintenance tasks. Some were taken care of during the spring clean-up day on 6/11. Properties will meet again on 7/14 to discuss summer and fall projects.

Stewardship- Phil informed us that the contract with our stewardship consultant, Bill VanderWyden, has been finalized. Bill will begin sending materials and we will be finalizing our stewardship committee. Bill would like to schedule the first meeting in late July.

The next council meeting will be on 7/26. Randy Russell will attend this meeting to help us strategize the future strategy of our church growth as a follow-up to our sessions with Alice Mann. This will be important so as to give the Search Committee a solid understanding of our needs, wants and desires as regards our new pastor. The moderator adjourned the meeting at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan Lambe, Recording Clerk