Ministry Council Minutes – October 18, 2010

Ministry Council Meeting – Regular Session

Monday, October 18, 2010

At Jenny Cascio’s House

FIRST TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH

Attendance: 

Present:             Pastor Charles Whited                              Excused:  Leo Figini

Marlene Carr – Treasurer

Jenny Cascio – Member at Large

Kim Kwietniewski – Member at Large

Jonathan Morris – President

Jim Passage – Vice President

Joel Rockensuess – Member at Large

DEVOTIONS:

The meeting was opened at 7:00 PM with devotions by Marlene Carr.

APPROVAL:

A motion by Jenny Cascio and seconded by Marlene Carr to accept the September 13, 2010 Ministry Council minutes.   Approval to accept the minutes as presented was passed unanimously. 

PASTOR’S REPORT / GENERAL DISCUSSION:

Report re-printed herein as follows:

Pastor Whited’s Report                                                                            To God be the Glory

Ministry Council                                                                                                   October 18, 2010

The mission of FIRST TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH is to transform our world one life at a time through the power of God’s Living Word.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

September:                     2007                 2008           2009           2010

Total:                             1,963               1,697           1,617          1,648

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Official Acts since last meeting:

Baptisms:  1 – “He who has believed and is baptized shall be saved; but he who has

                        disbelieved shall be condemned.”  (Mark 16:16)

Funerals: 3 – “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:43)

Weddings: 2 – “Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh.  What therefore God has

 joined together, let no man separate.”  (Matthew 19:6)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Staff Changes:

I met with Jubal and offered him the position of Director of Contemporary Worship.  He joyfully accepted.  We will look for an installation toward the end of October.

Capital Campaign:

We received the numbers from LBM.  They came in lower than expected.  That is great news.  We will be sending out a letter to update the congregation, as well as thanking them for their support of The Lord Builds campaing.

 

Executive Ministry Team:

The E.M.T. has restructured the way we meet and report.  So far it seems to be going really well, although we only have a couple of meetings under our belt.  They have set some short range goals for the coming year.  Those goals will be used to do an evaluation next year.

Speaking of evaluations, I will start on those with the staff and E.M.T. this month.

The E.M.T. is working on their budgets and reports for the coming year.

Worship:

We are making changes in worship.  We are going to try to go paperless.  We will print a handful of bulletins for those who truly need them.

Mission Madness:

Miriam Adams has taken over Mission Madness.  It will be held November 13.  It is our only mission fundraiser for the year, so please come out and support this wonderful ministry.

Haiti:

We have two teams going to Haiti because we have around 15 people interested in going.  This is exciting.  Sue will lead one team and I will lead the other.  We have about 5 young people going as well.

Something to Ponder:

We should consider going to a fiscal year, running from August to July, or September to August.  It just makes sense.

Don’t forget to check out my blog:  chuckwhited.wordpress.com

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.”  (Ephesians 3:20-21)

In addition to above what was in Pastor’s report a few additional notes:

-22 are scheduled to go to Haiti

-In discussion of possibly changing fiscal year a couple of questions came up:

1) Would we need to schedule congregation meetings different in order to meet our requirements?

2) Would changing the fiscal year require a vote at the annual meeting?

FINANCIAL REPORT:

First Trinity Lutheran Church

Treasurer’s Report

October 18, 2010

  • Giving is currently about $38,000 under budget.  Giving has been up during September and October.  I would expect us to be under budget in this area at year-end  between $25,000 and $30,000.
  • We have currently overspent our budget by about $4,000.
  • The 2009 Financial Review letter has been received.  We have been found to be in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
  • Received notification from LCEF that the interest rate on the mortgage for 193 Glenhurst has been lowered from 5.75% to 5.25% effective with the October 1, 2010 payment.
  • Capital Campaign:
    • We have received $123,009.50 of the $534,583.00 that was pledged.
    • Expenses so far have been $33,814.29
    • Per discussions with Kathy Passage and Kevin Cross the debt retirement of $19.981.17 was from Capital Campaign Funds.  We will investigate if all or part of this money was, in fact, from the debt retirement portion of the capital campaign and adjust the accounts accordingly.
    • On the Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual, the items in yellow have not been pulling over from Quickbooks.  Will work with Kathy to correct.
    • EMT’s will be receiving their budgets this week.  They will receive both an electronic and hard copy of their budgets.
    • We do not expect to have a budget surplus this year to balance the budget.  This will immediately give us $20,000.00 less to work with than we had last year. 
    • Strongly recommend that the EMT’s and M.O.M. curtail their spending because of the predicted shortfall of budget income.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Marlene Carr

Treasurer

  • There was some additional discussion regarding Marlene and Tim Hartnett planning to have a meeting with Citizen’s Bank and additionally looking at all possible funding sources to help bridge the time gap for when money would be needed for construction and when all the money would be coming in for the capital campaign.
  • Also some comments in regards to where giving is and implications in 2011 budget.

 

OLD BUSINESS / UPDATES:

 

  • Leo had prior questions regarding July minutes and he let us know they are now released on his blog.
  • Capital campaign may be some from CC and some from budget
  • Our neighbor is moving out in Spring, has  already bought a new place, still don’t have purchase price.
  • For immediate funds for construction if needed we have money from giving, current cash available, Ameritrade account.  Could potentially borrow against house next door.

 

NEW BUSINESS:  

 

  • Bids came in for the building / basement today.
    • Base project $298k
    • Full elevator w/all the construction needs was $124k.  We will need to look at other options as this price will not be feasible with our budget.
    • Additional soft costs and incidentals $79k
    • Range of $379k w/o elevator and $502k with elevator.
  • Jon will meet with the building committee to discuss options
  • We are realistically looking at being able to manage a $400k project.
  • $34k is already spent and we need to consider the house next door
  • Marlene and Tim Hartnett will look into Citizens Bank for a bridge loan.
  • There was a question if it matters if our tellers are not a member of the church and Marlene wondered if it might affect bonding or insurance policy.
  • Elections are in June – not sure what positions and who.  Will discuss in November meeting.

 

  • Upcoming Ministry Council meetings are as follows:

 

Monday, November 15th at Pastor’s house

Monday, December 13th at Leo’s house

Monday, January 10th, Joint meeting with Ministry Council and E.M.T. at Joel’s house

Saturday, January 29th, Voters meeting, 10AM

CLOSING PRAYER:

  • Pastor Whited closed the meeting with prayer.  Next scheduled meeting is Monday, November 15, 2010 at 7PM at Pastor Whited’s.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Joel Rockensuess

Ministry Council Member at Large for Leo Figini

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