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King of Kings Lutheran Church Church Council Minutes

Via Zoom Video Conference May 19, 2020

Attendance Members Present Dave Cowan, President Jason Livingston, Vice President – arrived at 7:15 pm Molly Schultz, Vice President Brian Gager, Member at Large Jim Docken, Finance Pastor Jon Larson, Lead Pastor Dianne Johnson, Executive Director Angie Olson, Treasurer Jodi Iliff, Secretary Members Absent Warren Wessel, Member at Large The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by Dave Cowan, presiding.

Opening Prayer – Pastor Jon

Approval of Agenda Jim moved to accept the agenda. Molly seconded the motion. Motion passed (CC.20.05.21)

Approval of Minutes Brian moved to accept the minutes of the last regular meeting of April 21, 2020. Jim seconded the motion. Motion passed (CC.20.05.22)

Celebrate Our Culture Council shared what the first restaurant we would like to visit once open again.

Guest Presentation None.

Old Business 1. Update on new speakers.

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a. The sub and 2 side speakers are installed and the sound is phenomenal. They will be fine tuned within a few weeks. Pastor Jon agrees that the sound is great and is such a plus as they also have audio now in the choir loft. Dianne said it was well worth the cost.

New Business 1. Action to elect Church Council President for the term of one year, ending May 2021.

With a quorum, the Council moved to approve, on a vote of 6 to 0, Molly Schultz to be our new Church Council President for the term of one year, ending May 2021. Motion passed (CC.20.05.23)

The Council is so happy and thankful to Molly for faithfulness to our church and for stepping up and serving as Church Council President.

2. Review online worship experience.

a. Dianne stated she didn’t have a chance to meet with Brandography in regards to our analytics, so she decided to take a course in Google Analytics and has learned that more and more people are signing in. She stated that we have big fans in AZ and TX signing in also. We have tripled our numbers from last April. Tuning into our worship is number one.

b. Dave told Pastor Jon that there is a lot of people connecting with the children’s message.

c. Pastor Jon would like to have the men’s choir come and sing. Molly would echo that and would also like to have female voices also. Also suggested to have choir leaders to lead the congregation for the worship experience now and later when we open.

d. Dianne wondered if we could also focus towards the senior members, with it being a prayer or songs.

e. Wondered about having the full choir singing from home on a zoom platform for all to hear and see. Not sure if it would work, but will look into it.

f. Pastor Jon mentioned he needs to slow down when he says the Lord’s Prayer.

3. Church re-opening strategy update. a. Dave, Dianne and Pastor Jon have been talking and decided we need to step back

and make a thoughtful strategy to make a safe opening. They have talked with the Minneapolis Synod and other experts to help with the reopening. Brian Gager will the leader of the new committee. Below is the King of Kings Reopening Strategy Process:

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King of Kings Reopening Strategy Process

Last Revised: 5/19/2020

Purpose: The strategy process outlines the responsibilities, plans, and communication requirements for how the King of Kings Council will reopen the church and keep our members, staff, and visitors safe for in person worship, after the closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision Responsibilities: The responsibility for making decisions regarding the reopening of King of Kings resides with the church council, based on input and recommendations of the Reopening Committee. Reopening Committee: An ad-hoc committee of congregation members, staff, and council members will be formed to establish a Reopening Plan, that includes guiding principles, identified data sources and tactics to be used to guide King of Kings through a safe and efficient way of reopening or contracting of face to face worship. This plan would be flexible and provide clear ‘phases’ of how King of Kings is able to reopen and provide a safe in person worshiping space for members and our community. Once the Reopening Plan has been completed, it will be submitted to the council for approval. The leader of this committee will be Brian Gager, Council Member at Large. He will be assisted by Dianne Johnson, Executive Director of Operations and Dave Cowan, Executive Vice President. In addition, members of the committee will be selected to participate based on their knowledge, skills, and abilities with regard to the following areas:

1. Synod/ELCA connection

2. Other area churches

3. Medical Profession

4. Facilities

5. State/Local Government

6. Congregational Voice

Committee Meetings: The Reopening Committee will meet regularly (remotely) and shall provide bi-monthly updates to the church council. Communication: A communication plan, developed by the committee with insight from King of Kings Staff, will be shared with the council with the intent to keep the congregation, staff, and other stakeholders aware of the progress towards reopening.

b. Brian stated that this is a really high-level draft format, and will be consistently

tweaking or changing as we will be learning daily. This is something that we never thought we would have to go through.

c. Dianne cautioned us that this will not happen quickly. This will not be a quick and easy process. We will continue to learn things as we open the doors.

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d. Pastor Jon stated that as other churches are hoping to launch on July 1st, he wants us to do things well and safe.

e. The Council will need have a motion for approval for the new ad-hoc committee.

Jason moved to approve the addition of a new ad-hoc committee, King of Kings Reopening Committee. Jim seconded the motion. Motion passed (CC.20.05.24)

2020 Strategic Focus Area Updates & Goal Statements 1. Online presence & technology – Dianne

a. Within the 6 area churches, we have more engagement on facebook/social media, more than EBC. Jane has done a phenomenal job in promoting King of Kings and engaging people through social media.

b. Now that our online presence is going to be an important part of our church now and in the future, we may need to look at an additional staff person to help Jane as this does put a lot more under Jane’s already heavy workload; this would be a discussion to have with Jane on what she would feel her needs would be once we reopen.

2. Welcome team & attendance – Molly a. Chris/Molly and Mike have been talking and are looking at putting together a

welcome message to go before the services. Should be ready by the second week in June and then maybe every week. Pastor Jon suggested into contacting Jennifer Wendt as should would be a great help with that.

3. Facilities Committee – On Hold a. Pastor Jon asked if the Facilities Committee would look at adding carpet to the

Multi-Purpose Room and the Fellowship Hall as those rooms are going to be needed with the reopening. The Multi-Purpose room will need to house many of the children’s ministries and God’s Gals, etc. Dave will get an update.

Reports

1. Pastor’s Summary (Pastor Jon) a. He is working on stewardship and parables. He is trying to connect with as many

folks as possible. b. Sue Oberg will be teaching in July on learning. c. There will need to be some flexibility with the children’s message. What will it look

like when we open up, as there is more time put into these messages. d. Pastor Jon is looking at serving communion at some of the homes and prefers to do

this in person (screen door ministry). e. He is also tending to the people who have lost loved ones. He can hold gravesite

services with less than 10 people, and it is not open to the entire congregation. His first memorial service will be in July at Fort Snelling.

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f. Molly asked if the Care Ministry will be able to help, or if the Council can help in any way. Between Sue and Pastor Jon they are connecting with the people in need. Sue is leveraging the ministry team to help with calls to the congregation.

g. Now that the State is opening up elective surgeries, there will be more of a need to call on our congregation after their operation. At this time, we will not be using the Caring Casserole ministry.

h. See appendix A for detailed report 2. Finance and Treasurer’s Report (Angie Olson)

a. April was a really good month. b. We are continuing to pay our personnel. c. Paid the benevolence. d. Our giving has been great, with an average of $185,000. e. The investment fund had a gain of $28,000. f. We received a couple of year-end checks now, one in March for $50,000 and one in

April for $25,000. g. May giving may be down 35% h. We continue to receive checks by mail, by PayPal and Simply Giving i. Dianne is not worried and is encouraged by the notes and comments by the

congregation. The Holy Spirit is working. j. Angie is thankful for a positive cash flow. k. We need to sing praises for Angie for all she does for our church. She is Dianne’s

rock and right-hand man! Thank you Angie!

April 2020 Year-to-date Contributions 381,637 922,041 Expenses 126,684 510,897 Net 254,953 411,144 Attendance

3. Executive Director (Dianne Johnson)

a. Our application for PPP forgiveness is out. She thinks we will do well in getting this loan forgiven.

b. With the “Stay at Home” slowly being lifted and bringing back staff, we will not be in a hurry. We are not equipped at this time to take temperatures, etc. We want to be cautious.

c. The custodial staff is cleaning and getting ready, even if we are not opening until later.

d. Dianne has been busy with taking a Google Analytics course, attending many meetings and webinars. Talking with some of the Texas churches as they are opening up and see how they are doing. Wanting to get all the information we can get and to take it slow.

e. Kudos to the CSF ministry team for realigning the summer program/VBS/American Girl camps. Most of the participants request rolling over their fees until next year

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for VBS and American Girl Camp. Also, some of them just donated the fees back to the church instead of a refund. But if they want a refund, we will give it to them.

f. See appendix B for detailed report

Future Topics June TBD

July TBD

Summary of Meeting Action Items 1. Dave will connect with getting together the Reopen Committee and will get templates

together and out. 2. Brian/Dave and Dianne will talk about getting people added to the Reopen Committee. 3. Pastor Jon will connect with Chris regarding finding choir leaders that will add variations

with the young/old, having the men’s choir start singing and also regarding potentially singing remotely.

4. Pastor Jon to share ideas for the Reopen Committee members. 5. Jason to check with Facilities Committee about adding carpet to the multi-purpose room

and the Fellowship Hall. The Council gave a BIG thank you to Dave for his faithful dedication to KOK in his role as Church Council President!

Meeting Adjourned Jason moved to adjourn the meeting. Molly seconded the motion. Motion passed (CC.20.05.25) The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m.

Closing Prayer – Pastor Jon

Appendix A: The Report of Pastor Larson Report as of May 2020 General:

• Staff Continues to work remotely. • General safety guidelines have been communicated with staff for occasions when they

may need to work on-site. • Continue to try to connect with as many members as possible and provide online video

devotions. • While honoring continued restrictions, we are seeking ways to provide care to those in

critical situations. Stewardship/Finance/Vision Appeal:

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• During the weekend of May 23 and 24 we will be focusing on the Parable of the Talents and the Pounds as part of our Short Stories – Deeper Meaning Series. This message will highlight how we have each been given gifts to be used to build the kingdom.

• Announcements will be geared towards those who may be traveling this summer and how to continue to stay connected to King of Kings.

Leadership: • Continue to evaluate what future ministry may look like and how to best position

ourselves for future growth. • A big thank you to David Cowan and Brian Gager for taking the lead on creating a re-

open strategy. This has allowed me some much needed breathing room to focus on other aspects of ministry that require my time and attention.

Worship: • A more significant investment has been made in the creation of the Children’s Message

in order to engage students and families who are worshipping remotely. • Working in conjunction with Sue Oberg on a potential bridge between summer worship

themes and a learning opportunity. • I am grateful to David Cowan who will be preaching on June 6 and 7. • Thanks to the garden team we have real flowers in the sanctuary to enhance our online

worship experience. I just need to remember to move them back inside after taping worship.

• In anticipation of celebrating Our Lord’s Supper differently, individually wrapped communion kits were ordered. After a time of transition, we will then go to individual cups of wine rather than the one chalice for intinction. See Chris Vorrie’s report for additional description.

Children Student and Family Ministries: • Continue to work with the CSF Team on adjusting summer programming to provide

alternate opportunities for those who have registered. • Discussing how to keep families connected after programming is completed. • Discussion surrounding Confirmation weekend and providing additional worship

opportunities. Additional:

• Attended the Missions Team Meeting. • Hannah Tietz will be serving as an intern this summer. Hannah is getting a degree in

Child Development and Family studies. It’s great to have her onboard.

Appendix B: Executive Director’s Report (Dianne Johnson) Report as of May 2020

Finance:

• We are still holding our own with the revenue; with expenses being reduced along with

the PPP loan, we have a solid cash balance.

• Will begin the application process for forgiveness of the PPP loan; the application is

pretty involved and hopefully, we may be able to get all if not a large part of this loan,

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forgiven. Yet, with a 1% interest fee on any remaining balance with no repayment until

the end of the year, I believe we still are in good shape.

• Mortgage was refinanced.

• I am hoping the Finance Committee will be able to meet in early June to discuss the

possible rebalancing of the budget and any expense management we may have to occur

as though businesses are gradually and cautiously opening, the effects of

unemployment, economy uncertainty will continue to have an effect on our

contributions for some time.

• I continue to enter all donations along with making sure that we are sending cards. Please join me in thanking Patty Bishop for handling all of those mailings.

Personnel:

• We did make the decision to hold off bringing staff back into the office at this time. As we look at the re-opening plan, this will be a part of the task force. Things to consider:

o Alternative scheduling to limit the number of staff in the building at one time o Preparedness plan for staff- masks, disinfectant, meeting rooms, office set ups o Common areas such as copy room, kitchen, entrances o Comfort level of staff to return and what is the opportunity to continue to work

remotely in some capacity. Building:

• Continue to walk through and check on building; we have experienced a couple of leaks with this last rain- so clean up and temporary solutions as pails in the ceilings.

• I met with Johnny on a plan for deep cleaning the building in the next month, to include organizations of storage areas, painting, carpet cleaning; all which can be done with our current custodial staff on different schedules and different areas of the building.

Speaker update: The speakers have been installed. The final step in this process is the fine tuning by Bosch which will be scheduled within the next 2 weeks. First impression is that they will make a world of difference.

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Online Technology:

• We have not yet had an opportunity to meet with Brandography in regards to our analytics and I am taking an online class called Google Analytics yet wanted to share this graph that indicates users for the month of April. As you will be able to see, our largest hits are during Sundays and Easter was our largest online service to date.

Re-opening:

• Participated in meetings across the country with other organizations that are looking at

re-opening. One good resource is Vanderbloemen.com.

• In reviewing the building, there are simple things that can be done now in looking

forward. Disinfectant stations, which probably would have been a good thing to have in

the building prior to the pandemic. These are simple wall mounted, battery operated

devices for locations to be determined. Jane is working on signage options.

• Toe kick; these can be assembled on doors in order to open doors without touching

handles.

• Worked on a survey for congregational input.

Appendix C: King of King Staff Reports Report as of May 2020 Director of Worship Arts- Chris Vorrie

• We did a test run of a mid-week 20 minute worship service on Wednesday night featuring music, Scripture, and prayer. It’s a very intimate-style service with just piano, guitar, and a couple voices. We had about 25 people online and another 25 on the website, plus several more views (at least partial-views) on Facebook after the live stream. Comments on Facebook were very positive. I am determining if/how to move forward with it and how to market it as well.

• I have ordered and received 4,000 individual pull-and-eat communion kits in preparation for safe communion in worship once we return to in-person services. We will be planning on disposable

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cups and wafers instead of intinction once we feel we’re ready to take that next step after the individual kits.

• The worship team, Jim Lindstrom, Pastor Jon, and a 3-person tech team continue to meet weekly on Thursday evenings to record all of the various parts of the traditional and contemporary services.

• I’m continuing to schedule readers to send in readings recorded from home. I’ve also been lining up special music for each weekend’s broadcasts. Our members have been very eager to help! I’ve been in talks with the welcome team about enhancing our pre-worship experience with some short welcome videos from greeters and ushers. We’ve used similar short video segments for Mother’s Day, Easter, and general greeting videos from our congregation. I’ll be exploring this next option with greeters and ushers for future weekends.

Children’s Ministry Coordinator - Paula Arland

• Kids of the Kingdom finished remote learning this past Sunday. We had a PreK class, 4th and 5th grade classes that met as a class. I also hosted a 3rd/4th gr meet. Our Wednesday night class continued to meet for the past several weeks. Overall, we had a positive response to the online class. A special shout-out to Brandon Alpers, Allison Benjamin, Megan Rands and Anne Benjamin and Emily Anderson who had a great PreK class. I heard back from lots of parents who had great feedback for their class.

• Justin Alpers is back this summer to help. He has been a great part-time summer staff for the past two years and looking forward to this summer having him around.

• Grateful to the many hands who make CSF ministries happen throughout the year. Our volunteers are truly amazing. Thanks to Jane Halbert who created the video for us.

• Virtual VBS planning is underway. The student leaders are really excited to have some additional leadership opportunities.

• American Girls Camp planning team has decided to wait a year on what they have planned. Many of the outside guest presenters are not available this summer. In addition, we will shift to a combination of in-person camp (if able to) and virtual camp. Student leaders would still meet with their crew and do the activities together virtually. In addition, they would create videos featuring interesting facts and how-to’s (i.e. cooking lesson) for each day. The plan moving forward is to survey student leaders to see what their favorite activities were when they were campers and to select 4-5 of those American Girl characters from their feedback. We would dig into our archives to bring back some older crafts and experiences.

Middle School Coordinator - Michael Carmack

• We wrapped up confirmation programming this week - we actually extended programming a few extra weeks due to students being quarantined. I think the transition from in person class to virtual was about as seamless as it could have been and really lays the groundwork for the future and any possible distancing.

• I have had to cancel ServeCamp for this summer, I had kicked around several ideas about how we could still do it, but to do it remotely and there was just not a good and safe option. So, instead Susan and I are working on an alternative - it would just be a one-time event, so still not the same.

• Continuing ways to be able to bring ministry home for students, creating and providing opportunities for families to do together at home or eventually when we can gather together again!

High School/Young Adult Coordinator Kelsey Battleson

• We celebrated Baccalaureate online with 50 seniors on April 25-26! We had fantastic participation on behalf of this senior class (likely thanks to being at home!) and had great feedback about the blessing and service from the congregation. The ELCA Scholarship recipient is Ellie Bergquist who will be attending Gustavus Adolphus College in the fall.

• Due to the Woodbury Lions decision to reschedule the community Garage Sale, we have also rescheduled collection and the sale for September 14-18, coordinating with staff and Ready, Set,

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Grow Preschool to accommodate for fall scheduling. We are working out plans for how to best organize this event safely and serve the community.

• Instead of taking our students to Nashville this summer, we have shifted gears to a locally focused Summer Immersion which will likely include a significant digital component featuring existing partners of King of Kings, some hands-on work (if permitted), and a group discussion/bible study.

Local/National Mission Coordinator - Susan Klosterman-Finke

• Our team is partnering with Woodbury Thrives in sending greeting cards of encouragement to residents of senior living facilities in Woodbury.

• I’m working with Famous Dave’s to send boxed lunches to the volunteers at Christian Cupboard in appreciation of the work they are doing.

• The Mission Team will be hosting the worship services the weekend of June 6/7.

• Quilts and prayer shawls were donated to Moments Hospice from KOK teams.

Global Mission Coordinator - Elizabeth Hendrickson

• I’ve been working with the tour company and travel agent about refunds for the canceled Germany trip.

• I am updating content for the Global Mission pages on the King of Kings website and working with Jane to make the needed changes to those pages.

• Staying connected with our global mission partners and exchanging updates about how the coronavirus is impacting their communities.

Director of Marketing - Jane Halbert Marketing:

• Continue to track online attendance (website & Facebook) per Synod guidelines

• Created CSF Volunteer Appreciation Video

• Created Duck release video

• Creating social media publicity for various organizations to use to promote KofK

• Working on new signage for our return to church

• Continuing to film/edit/post devotional videos of Pastor Jon, assist Chris when needed

• Completed editing/uploading/posting of staff devotional videos

• Completed editing/uploading/posting of “Stay Connected” videos/homework

• Creating/posting/responding to interactive social media content Website:

• Updating daily, including adding summer Newsletter content

• Created CSF Student registrations for Fall programming, along with Confirmation registration

• Continue to work with Brandography on SEO work Evangelism:

• Continuing to meet on Zoom Misc./Personal:

• Participated in Synod Communicators Zoom meeting

• Participated in 2-day Church Online Summit—great info!!

• Participated in Mission Outreach Team meeting

Director of Congregational Life - Sue Oberg Care:

• Coordinating care/connection calls for the 50-69 demographic which is a huge list. I have sent out 12 calls each to the congregational care team and I am in the process of gathering some other volunteers to help fulfill the 29 lists I have made.

• I met with the entire Congregational Care Team on May 7th via Zoom and discussed the plans for the future meetings and how to do ministry with social distancing.

• I continue to make care and connection calls to further support Pastor Jon in the care ministry.

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Congregational Learning/Small Groups: • God’s GALS summer study started last week. I had to make two groups that will alternate

Wednesdays so there weren’t so many people meeting on Zoom at once. The groups are 15 and now 17 in the other group because a few gals signed up late. The first meeting with the first group went really well. I am leading both groups.

• I am in the planning stages with God’s GALS to figure out a plan for the fall since the first plan will not work if we have to be meeting virtually and even with social distancing. Met with leaders of God’s GALS to discuss the plans and share ideas. We decided we will have to downsize to one study for everyone. Annette Sherrill has been a leader for a large portion of the Wednesday God’s GALS but she states she does not have the internet capabilities or the computer skills to be as big of help to me if we run virtually this fall. I also have leaders on Friday and Saturday that will need some form of zoom or other virtual system to be able to do the study. I am trying to sort this all out.

• I completed the online study of Colossians and have received some good feedback from members. Although I also know some people started strong but didn’t finish because of the lack of accountability. If I did this again, (big IF) I would also lead a discussion time.

• I continue to work with Sunday Forum, MOPS and leaders for connection groups to help with planning for this summer and fall. Helping with ideas for content and also how to do ministry with social distancing.

• Discussing with Pastor Jon what would be most valuable and helpful for me to do next for this summer. Haven’t decided if that is an evening study or discussion forum or if there is something else I can do to utilize my skills.