ASLC Council Meeting
July 25, 2024
7:00 p.m. Adix Room
Attendees:
Pastor Hellemo, Marc Funderburk, Mary Rosas, Libby Lindstrom, John Barnes and Donald Sheeler. Bev Byers joined via Zoom. Sue Brant joined us as our guest.
Opening Prayer/ Devotion:
Led in prayer by Pastor Hellemo. The devotion was led by Marc Funderburk and the celebration of the Lord’s supper was discussed. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there also.”
Approval of pervious minutes:
Corrections were made to the June minutes per online discussion. The motion was made by Mary to accept the minutes as written for June 2024. John seconded. Vote taken and all approved.
Reports:
Ministry Board:
John Barnes reported the following:
Ginya Anderson is continuing with Sunday Children’s Fellowship. Arlington Charities has no new updates, and the mowing teams are set for every other Saturday. SDA is helping with mowing. In regards to our elderly and homebound, Aleen Stephenson is not doing well. Please keep her in your prayers. The Men’s Breakfast meets the first Saturday each month and the Women’s Breakfast meets the second Saturday each month. Our Sunday School has taken the summer off, and we have begun a Prayer Meeting each Sunday at 9:30 am for 15 minutes prior to services. Mission Monday is being held the first Monday of each month through the summer. The Scouts will begin meeting again in August. The Texas-Oklahoma Regional Disaster Warehouse is asking for donations since their supplies have been exhausted due to several natural disasters recently. The Youth Room refresh 2.0 is beginning and Pastor Brower has offered to supply materials for the refresh. We need an electrician to look at the electric eye for the other sign prior to changing the lights. It is currently on 24/7. John Anderson has met with the Boy and Girl Scout troops, and he will continue to be the liaison.
Trustee Boards:
Donald Sheeler reported the following:
SDA lease began July 1, 2024, and we are currently pleased with their usage of the facility. They requested we move the thermostat up a few degrees during their usage, which we did and it is set at 74 degrees. They are also helping Steve with some sound and projection issues. SDA brough 3 riding mowers and helped with mowing on Friday, July 12th. We have an estimate for gutter repair from Frazier Roofing. It is approximately $300.00 and we will be put on the schedule but they are about a month out on repairs. Mary Rosas will be the contact. Lee Sprinkler needs to come out to
see about the sprinkler system. This will be scheduled. The AC in the Fellowship hall was low on freon. Dennis (Douglas Heat & Air) came out and added what was needed but also discovered some ducting in the attic that has come loose and is causing the air not to make it to the Fellowship hall. He did a temporary fix and we will need to address this with a permanent fix soon. The approximate cost will be $550.00. Summit Fire came out and inspected the fire extinguishers and the fire suppression system in the kitchen. All were fine. They will invoice the office. The Arlington Fire Department will need to come out for an inspection. Bids are to be obtained for the leaks in the East Wing and will need to be approved at the August council meeting. ALC was followed up with regards to the liability insurance certificate per Mary Rosas. Santisima also still needs to provide us with a liability insurance certificate. Mary is concerned that we still do not have liability insurance certificates. It is Marc’s suggestion that we contact our insurance agent and make sure we are covered for leases and also that we notify those not providing the liability insurance certificate that we begin charging them a fee. Marc will draft the letter. Our agent is going to give us a quote to add coverage to our policy.
We still need to complete the rewire and bulb replacement in the signs. The Youth room remodel is currently beginning. Carpet has been pulled up and glue removed. The Browers are taking on the bathroom repairs. Property team will coordinate with them. The service contract for HVAC is on hold with Douglas Heat & Air. We are purging the red chairs as we find damage. The donated ice machine installation is on hold. The lights in the women’s restroom in the Atrium need to be rewired. We need to get estimates for sheetrock repair in the prayer room and classroom 23 of the CLC.
The gophers began construction of a cabinet to house the ice machine. They continue with weekly trash can emptying and spot cleaning of floors and restrooms as needed. Mowing of the property is continuing. DJ is continuing to tend the Garden of Hope.
Finance Board:
Mary Rosas and Bev Byers reported the following:
Pledge cards are being collected and need to be turned in by August Town Hall. It was in the announcement and the weekly blast. The pledges will be emailed to Bev.
Budgeting will begin in September. We also need to decide on the renewal of the electric contract. It will not begin until our current contract ends.
Pastor’s Report:
Pastor Hellemo reported the following:
This month, I visited Dwight Schoneweis, Lucie Priola, Andrew DaCosta, Leonard Gunpat, Aleen Stephenson, the Livingstons and Rod Parks. I have also reached out to many members via the telephone. I have participated in church activities other than Sunday morning services. I tried to reach Pastor Kent but have not been successful. Pastor Galvez is also very difficult to reach but I am hopeful we can get together and discuss the ministries of our congregations. I attended an Ethiopian worship service on July 14th in Richarson and it was very refreshing. I will be on vacation
July 31st to August 6th. I have meet with the SDA’s pastor and it was also very refreshing and I have attended their service last Saturday at his request.
Quarterly Goals-July to September:
Church Newsletter-Marc Funderburk is working on this and would like help.
Issues and Opportunities:
Update on Cleaning Services:
The cleaners are currently cleaning twice a month and we are considering creating a list for the cleaners to see what we need to clean on a monthly basis. We will clean where SDA does not clean. A list will be created soon.
Update/Communication/Website, Etc.
Sue is currently working on the website. It has been cleaned up and we believe it is working. What does the council want to see on the website? Sue has not been using the social media sites. We need to find out who has been posting anything. Lois Stephenson has been randomly posting to the Facebook site. We need to find out the credentials and get someone to post to it. Sue to get with Julia and see who took it over and then reach out to Lois. We will bring this up at the next town hall for volunteers to post. Sue suggests that we add a membership section and allow individuals logins to reach documents such as financials and minutes on the website. We can add the membership directory and other documents also. She also suggested setting up generic council emails and having them forward to our personal ones so that it is easier for members to reach council members. Sue will get with Bev and set these up soon. Sue is also looking for a backup person to help her with this undertaking. Sue will begin posting the minutes once Libby sends them to her.
Contemporary Service-Pastor and Art
Pastor and Praise Team would like to use the remaining 5th Sundays of this year as the day for the contemporary worship service. They would also like to hold a service twice a month at 6:30 pm on Saturdays. Saturday service should begin on September 21st and go forward to the end of the year.
Media Shout?
SDA brought their projector in and used it with their Media Shout program. We are working on using their projector for our services. We will also need someone to hit the button to change the slides during the service.
August Town Hall:
- Financial Review:
Review Finance Report
Pledge Cards (due at August town hall meeting) and Budget Preparation (in September)
- Nomination Committee:
They are meeting on August 5th. We need to provide them with a list of people who we think would like to serve.
2024 Open Positions
Secretary Elect
Treasurer Elect
2025 Council Slate
President-John Barnes
President Elect
Treasurer
Treasurer Elect-Marc Funderburk?
Secretary
Secretary Elect
Board of Ministries-Donald Sheeler?
Board of Trustees
Council suggested Brendan Pedroza, Aubrey McManus as possible council members.
- Audit Committee:
No action this month
- Benevolence Committee:
Kim Mory has volunteered to serve and Lois Stephenson will step down. We need someone to be the leader of the committee. This should be addressed at the town hall meeting.
- Church Directory Update:
Distribution Date
The company is waiting for our final payment, which has been sent and proof via USPS. We are still waiting for a final distribution date.
Membership Care:
Carol may still be interested in working on this position. She will evaluate after her move.
Sign Messaging:
Julio from Santisima has asked that we add their service to our signage. Council feels if we do it for one, we must do it for all services. This ties into the revamping of the signage in general. We will discuss this once all congregations meet together.
Facilities Use-Clean up and Damage Assessment:
On hold until September when the Scouts meet again.
Email received from the Junior League regarding the use of the fellowship hall from September to November each Sunday afternoon. Council discussed this and we need more information. John Barnes to respond.
Fall Roundup for Kids:
August 31st event for the kids.
Tent Revival-Neighborhood outreach
Marc suggest we create an event which all congregations can participate in and invite the neighborhoods this fall. This will be discussed at the Mission Monday meeting.
Communion Bread:
Beginning August 4th, we will have baked bread from Marilyn Funderburk. Several members have come forward and offered to help with the bread baking process.
Electric Contract Renewal:
We need to decide whether to renew the extension of our contract once it ends in 2026. John moves that we accept the extension of our electric contract with Todd Malcom (Broker). Seconded by Donald. Vote called and all approved.
Budget for Youth Ministry:
Ginya is asking how much money is available for her to use for her future planned events. Bev will need to look at the budget and see if we have any money set aside specifically for youth ministry. She has raised some money throughout this year (approximately $400 so far) and that is available for her use. Council needs to decide how much money we can make available for her usage. Marc recommends Ginya give us a budget regarding her events and allow the council to decide where the money may be appropriated from for the youth ministry. Since she is using her events as fundraising, we are willing to fund the events so that she can use them as fundraising events to raise more money that the event costs to create. Libby will respond to Ginya after she gets specific numbers from Bev.
Council To Do’s
Schedule August Town hall August 10, 2024
Wrap up pictorial directory
Budget Preparation
We went into executive session per Marc’s motion and Donalds seconded the motion at 8:38 pm. Marc moved to close the executive session and Mary seconded. Motion carried and we came out of executive session at 8:40 pm.
On-Line Discussions
We have been asked by a Girl Scoot troop to allow them to begin meeting at ASLC this fall on Thursdays. They would like to meet every other Thursday from 3:45 to 5:30pm beginning August 22nd. Council discussed this and since we currently have no conflicts at the requested time, we agreed to allow them usage of the building.
Prayer Concerns:
Alleen Stephenson’s health. Pastor and his healing, Joe and his healing. Rod Parks is healing and will be home soon. Donald’s birthday this coming week.
Meeting ended at 8:44 pm. Closing prayer led by Pastor Hellemo.
John motioned for the meeting to adjourn and Mary seconded. Motion carried.
Next meeting scheduled for August 15, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the Adix room.