COUNCIL MEETING
May 20, 2021
7:20pm – 9:20pm
Attendees: Robert Blankenship, Beverly Byers, Richard Giltner, Kenny Lee, Stacey Welch, Pastor Baker, Mary Rosas, D J Schoneweis
Absentees: David Gorman
Guests: Mara McGee, Karolyn Havener
Call to Order at Quorum: 7:22pm
Opening Prayer: Pastor Baker
Approval of Minutes: Motion – Beverly, Second – Mary
REPORTS:
Mara: Youth and Family Ministries
Vacation Bible School: Due to delays in construction, Mara requests that the start date be pushed back two weeks to July 11 through July 15. This will not conflict with the mission trip later in July. Council agreed with no motion needed.. At least three volunteer adults are needed since it is ‘in-person’ as a family event, each family helping their own kids. Advertising suggestions included the church signage and door hangers, asking congregation to bring nephews, nieces, etc. Mara has a copy of the 2018 and 2019 lists of attendees and a list of younger youth in the congregation.
Mission Trip:Four students are enrolled; two more are tentative. Four adults are confirmed.
Karolyn: CLC
Construction: Work is continuing with touch-ups in the CLC tomorrow. Some painting will be done after summer session opening. Emphasis is on passing inspections. Staff is doing additional cleaning, etc. and are paid when present. Timing for inspections has been a nightmare. Air conditioning units are being cleaned and checked. The large units are okay. When the CLC side opens, the air conditioning service people will come back. Vendor checks are complete. Arlington Health Department inspection scheduled for today has been put off to next week. Fire Marshall inspection is scheduled for Tuesday. Johnson controls has repair parts on back order.
Property: Mulch has been turned and treated. The additional mulch has been delayed but is expected any day. Mary and the Gophers have done amazing things, clearing the library and pulling the shelving to be installed in the supply room. The counter top has been repaired.
Mary searched and found the missing piece. Oscar at CBM stops by every few days to check on the CLC. Karolyn says that it means a lot to her. They will resume cleaning next week.
Summer Session: Staffing is complete with start date set for June 1. Karolyn is working the office alone but gets relief from staff. Online recruitment has been resumed. COVID precautions will be in place. For staff, masks will be worn in all areas for children two years old and over regardless of vaccination status to protect the kids. Parents will be allowed in the classrooms and will enter through the playground to be temperature checked. Backpacks, lunch boxes and diaper bags will be allowed back in. Karolyn clarified that as a private school, CLC can require vaccination of staff. All teachers are vaccinated.
Fall session is not being discussed yet.
Pastor Baker: Pastor’s Report
NALC: Pastor Baker attended the pastors’ conference. Dr. Wendell is aware that Pastor Baker’s stay will probably be extended with his begin date the date that the sanctuary is fully open. Convocation is scheduled for August with agenda to include discussions about the restructuring of the church, and the handling of the sacraments. National headquarters of NALC is moving to the Fort Worth area.
Services: Communion is offered in-person weekly, alternately on Saturday or Sunday. This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday so wearing red is appropriate. A schedule of hymns and liturgy has been posted on our website. July 4th is scheduled for outside but will be moved inside if it is too hot. Pastor Baker thanked Julia and Steve for producing the online services.
Health: Pastor Baker gave a detailed update on his health, showing steady improvement. He is thankful for a flexible schedule which allows him to make doctor appointments and attend Council and Mission Monday meetings.
Calling A New Pastor: The call process to fill the pastoral position will have a schedule, not a timeline but an order of processes. At the next congregational meeting which will vote on the constitution, they will also need to select 5 to 8 people for the call committee. Council should submit suggestions of people. There will then be a congregational workshop with Dr. Wendell. Then, with input from Karolyn, staff and everyone, the object of the call committee will be to select a pastor that the congregation can call. At least one person on the committee has to be on Council to report to Council and to the congregation on deliberations except for names which will not be known outside of the committee to maintain the privacy of the candidates. Some churches have produced videos for candidates to see in order to express the personal interests, dreams and aspirations of the congregation and help attract a best fit candidate. Due to the scarcity of candidates, if one is not found by the end of Pastor Baker’s stay, a meeting with Dr. Wendell to review the situation will provide an opportunity to examine alternatives if needed. There are not enough new pastors available due to the rapid growth of the NALC. NALC is looking at ordination under special circumstances, like lay ministers to preach and administer communion. Congregations will have to become more self-sufficient. As a part of the calling process, the pastor profile – the description of what the congregation wants – must be completely honest to attract someone who is not only a match but also has a
heart for the congregation. Where the congregation is weak, the pastor will need to be strong and where the pastor is weak the congregation must be strong.
Beverly: Financials
Balance Sheet:: At the end of last year, the balance was $930,000. We now have $830,000 due to salary payments to teachers. We also have not yet been paid by insurance due to business interruptions. We will be spending more to get the CLC back up and running and for things which insurance did not cover to get the church back up and running. Restricted funds seem to be fine.
Budgeted vs. Actual: This report will be revised since revenues are considerably less than anticipated. The most recent profit/loss report is more accurate.
Budget: For budget, we are keeping last year’s report so we can see where things really are.
We under-spent expenses because we are now paying only one pastor instead of two. We paid teachers to retain them, allowing CLC summer session to be fully staffed. The first PPP loan as been forgiven and is included in January income. Applications will be accepted for forgiveness of the second PPP loan at the end of the summer. The focus for Karolyn so far has been to keep everyone paid. The finance team went through financials with staff and are pleased with that process.
D. J.: MINISTRY AND FINANCE TEAMS
Thrivent: Nothing to report
Water to Thrive: Funding for the well is at $3,300 toward our $5,000 goal. Offerings from the Fathers Day cookout after services will be outreach for Water to Thrive. Lynn and Rod Parks will be fixing brats and hot dogs and providing prepackaged chips and gifts for fathers.
Garden of Hope: Marc is turning the soil over in July. The irrigation project is on hold due to plentiful rain.
Additional Items: A blessing of the animals celebration has been suggested for October when the pumpkins arrive. Saturday is a work day for cleaning of pews and moving the altar guild refrigerator to the youth kitchen area. Remember to save loose change for the Water to Thrive well.
Stacey: ONLINE MOTIONS
There were no online motions this month.
Mary: PROPERTY REPORT
A copy of the property report has been sent to Council.
Beverly: COMMUNICATION ITEMS:
Membership: ELCA has a new bishop. Mary suggested emphasis on NALC in our signage and communications for those moving away from the ELCA. She said that John Barnes suggested a link to the NALC website from ours. Pastor Baker indicated that the four pillars of NALC are listed in his email report. and that a video exists on how to link our site to that of NALC. He also asked that the Mission Monday team each contact three or four people on the membership list to find out their ongoing relationship to All Saints and to contact them on a regular basis. Pastor has a copy of all the existing membership lists and has promised to have a consolidated list together for the next council meeting. The constitution requires a physical list of members.
COVID 19 update: In-person worship now occurs every week, either at 5 pm on Saturday or 10 am on Sunday on alternate weeks. We are not enforcing the wearing of masks for outside gatherings.
Constitution: There are two at the present time: the old NALC one and our new revised one. These need to be sent out to the congregation again. Chapter 15 deals with discipline of members. The new constitution has a short chapter, though the NALC version is long with safeguards for the members. These safeguards need to be included in our version. A congregational meeting is needed by September for approval of the constitution submitted from Council. It should be in the congregation’s hands by July. By the June meeting Council should be taking in comments and by July have a constitution together to submit the congregation for the September vote. This meeting should also form a call committee.
Branding: Since David is not available, this item is tabled.
Storage Shed: Mary Baker sent out plans. Currently a 30×30 shed is planned with NALC contributing $20,000 for their part to hold their tool trailer and they will install shelving in our part. This may have to be put off until December due to a sharp rise in the price of materials.
The San Miguel congregation is interested in our old shed and have offered to deconstruct it and move it to their site.
Outdoor Shelter: This item is tabled except for the electrical connection to the open area from the patio. Currently the patio lights are not working. Mary is to check with Karolyn to see if electrical to them is not hooked up yet.
Bob: NEW BUSINESS
National Convocation: The convocation will be held in Corpus Christi on October 2 through 6 at the Omni Hotel near the American Bank Center. The NALC website includes a schedule. We need a delegate to represent us. Lynn and Rod Parks were considering it and declined.
Reservations for a room or rooms needs to happen soon since over 600 people will be attending. A local shuttle will be available.
CLC Open House: Beverly indicated that normal Chat with Council time on June 14 will be used for an in-person tour of the CLC. It will be announced at all services and in the weekly emails between now and then.
Library: The area that was the library needs a new designation. The name “The Pastor and Eleanor Adix Room has been proposed, with a plaque to be mounted on the adjacent wall in their honor. Council is asked to consider this and vote on it next month.
Back Inside: When we are back inside, sometime between August and October, a schedule has been proposed that there be a 10 am church service and an 11 am Sunday school to be out by noon so as to not interfere with the Spanish service which follows. Discussion followed about having a joint Christmas service with the Spanish congregation with discussions between Pastor Baker and the other pastor to continue regarding other shared services. It was emphasized that these are shared events and each congregation will maintain its unique identity.
Job Descriptions: It was suggested that the current job descriptions be retained and voted on in June.
Financial Audit: No action this month
Next Meeting: June 17
Closing prayer: Beverly
Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Giltner
Council Secretary