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February 2008 Council Meeting Minutes
Present: John Hulbert, Jerry Jacobs, John Natterstad, Amy Goheen, Michelle Bach, Jill Maas, Rick Hart, Edi Dirkes, Gretchen Mitchell, Beth Husted, Kylene Binder, Dan Kipperberg, Jeff Whitehead, Roy Wenzel, and Patty Pote.
Excused: Larry Beach and Joel Mills.
The meeting was called to order by President Jerry Jacobs at 7:02pm.
Edi Dirkes led the opening prayer.
The council approved the minutes from the January 8th and the January 22, 2008 meetings.
Members of the council took a moment to introduce themselves and give a brief description of their responsibilities on the council.
The agenda was amended and approved.
Treasurer’s Report: John Hulbert covered the budget sheet for January 2008. The projected contributions for January were $57,500 and we received only $41,286. Expenses for January were $7828 less then projected for the month. John said he is hopeful that our contributions will come up once we hire a senior pastor.
Pastor’s Report:
Pastor Snider-(see attached report) Pastor Snider expressed his happiness with the results of the election. He thanked all of the council members for their service.
Standing Reports:
Worship & Music-Edi said as she was preparing for the annual report she reflected on all the great progress the Worship & Music committee had accomplished over the past year. She said it has also been a difficult year with some members of the congregation not supporting these accomplishments. She has decided to resign as the council representative for Worship & Music, and is also withdrawing her membership from Bethlehem. She reminded the council there are still items that need attending to including the replacement of the sound system and the installation of the projection equipment.
Youth and Family-Beth Husted said the youth committee currently consists of Ryan Brown and herself. She asked the council to consider adding a position to the council that would be represented by a youth member of the congregation. Jerry recommended that we start with getting the youth involved on the youth committee, and then later we could explore the possibility of adding a position to the council.
Missions-Patty Pote announced that Marv and Jean will be here on March 14th for "A Moment for Missions” during the Vesper’s service. She will work with Ryan Brown and Tracy Smith to coordinate this with the youth’s schedule for the evening.
Stewardship-Jill Maas said last Sunday, Kylene Binder was the first member of the congregation to share her story of tithing. There has been a lot of positive feedback from Kylene’s story. Jill said she has the next three months lined up with people willing to share their giving experiences. Jerry suggested we print a condensed version of these stories on member’s quarterly giving statements.
Pastor Snider said we had about 74 members of the congregation sign up for membership with Thrivent Financial last Sunday. Ben Richards will be here again next Sunday.
Children’s Ministry –Kylene Binder said she has nothing to report at this time. The committee will be meeting tomorrow at 3:45. Patty asked Kylene to include her on the agenda to discuss March 14th with them.
Evangelism- Jill said that ACE will be meeting soon to get small group updates. She invited all the new council members to attend the council’s small group Bible study which is on the first Sunday of each month from 6:30-8:30pm at Jill’s house.
Old Business-
Call Committee-Rick mentioned that the committee completed interviewing the final candidate last night.
New Business:
Pastor Bob Roiko’s Housing Allowance-Pastor Snider made a motion that 50% of Pastor Roiko’s remuneration be designated as housing allowance. John Hulbert seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Council Retreat-Jerry asked council members to consider meeting for a one day council retreat. He said in the past this has been a great way to get to know each other and helps us to work better as a group and a family. Many of the council members were enthusiastic about a retreat. Patty offered her parents beach house as place to meet for the retreat. Pastor Snider suggested we hold off on scheduling a day until we have a new Senior Pastor.
Membership Update-Pastor Snider said Judy Snider has spent many hours cleaning up the membership records. She is just about done with the S’s. He informed the council that 47% of the congregation gave 0% monetarily for 2007. There will need to be some follow up with this group to confirm they are still attending and are interested in continuing their membership with Bethlehem.
Kirk & Kristin Borseth Membership-At the last council meeting a motion was approved to remove the Borseths from Bethlehem’s membership due to their recent membership with the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of this action Pastor Snider received a letter from their mother/mother-in-law with details of the Borseth’s involvement with the Roman Catholic Church. She is requesting the council to reconsider their motion to remove them from BLC’s membership. After a review of Bethlehem’s constitution and after further discussion, it was suggested that “Associate Membership” may be an alternative for the Borseths instead of complete membership removal. Rick Hart suggested we wait until we speak with the Borseths personally to see what their clear intentions are. Jerry will contact Kirk Borseth to discuss the associate membership alternative. Patty suggested we implement a documentation process before acting on future membership removals.
Mission Aviation Training Academy Benevolence-Butch Martin said we recently received a request for a $150 donation. He said we have been donating to this organization for the last couple of years. Butch asked if this is an organization that we would like to continue to support. John Natterstad said this is a great organization. The academy trains missionaries to fly into remote areas all over the world to deliver supplies that otherwise have no access. John Hulbert made a motion to make the $150 donation to the Mission Aviation Training Academy. Patty Pote seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
For the Good of the Order:
Patty said she felt the congregation meeting went well. She was a little concerned when Jeff Whitehead was presenting his Wilcox proposal and mentioned that there had been discussion of using the CD funds to pay down the mortgage for up to a year, giving the impression that we as a council have been discussing this for a year which has not been the case. She suggested when people make presentations that they present it to council before they propose it at a congregation meeting, or we need to have a point of clarification during the meeting to cut down on the errors of communication.
Patty mentioned that before Pastor Walles left we were in the process of restructuring the council to make it smaller with the intention of being more productive. The current youth and family council position is intended for a youth member, and she reminded the council that congregation members are welcome to attend the council meetings, they just can’t vote. Patty thanked everyone, and expressed how she was glad to be continuing her service on the council.
Worship & Music council position-Rick Hart took a moment to say a heartfelt thank you to Edi Dirkes for her time spent on the council and in this ministry. He said it is real clear where her heart has been. Edi received many more words of gratitude from council members. The Worship & Music council position will be advertised in the Sunday bulletins, and then a candidate will be appointed by the council.
Budget Format-Jerry recommended we create a separate line item under benevolence for the $12,000 benevolence to Lutheran Counseling Network for the use of the brick house. This would be transferred from the $18000 “other” expense under benevolence. Roy said we have not created a separate line item for this because it is not a reoccurring benevolence.
Beth requested a copy of Bethlehem’s Constitution. Pastor Snider made a note of all those who need a constitution and said he would email them each a copy.
Prayers: March 11th
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Opening:
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Jerry Jacobs
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Closing:
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Patty Pote
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Michelle Bach led the closing prayer.
The meeting adjourned 8:20pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michelle Bach
Council Secretary
Attachments:
Pastor Snider’s Report
January 2008 Budget Sheet
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