2017-01-12 Council Meeting Minutes

Meeting MinutesThe January Council Meeting of the Congregation Council of St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ardmore, Pennsylvania was held on Thursday, January 12 at 7:15 pm in the Meeting Room.

CALL TO ORDERDon Parman called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. Council member attendance is captured in the table below:

Name Committee Chair Council Role Present AbsentBickert Ciarlello, Laura Social Ministry XClouse, Kevin Education XDeLomba, Paul Staff Personnel XDry, Daniel Property XErtner, Robert Financial Secretary XFreestone, Patrick Technology Secretary XHammarberg,Carol Stewardship Vice-President XHorn, Andrew Treasurer XMartin, Linda Worship and Music XNorquist, Josephine Evangelism XParman, Don Finance President XPierce, Louise Cemetery X

Also present were: Pastor Laura Tancredi

DEVOTIONSPastor Laura led an activity for star words. Members should use the word as a reference to think about through the year. The words are considered as a gift from God for the year.

Pastor Laura also led a prayer.

PRESENTATION OF MINUTESMOTION: Don made the motion to approve the minutes from the prior meeting and the motion was seconded and approved by council.

COMMITTEE REPORTSCommittee Report

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Pastor Pastor Laura provided the report. Christmas Eve numbers were almost exactly the same as last year. Pastor Laura will be away at the end of the month for a mandatory education event for first-call pastors. See Appendix for the full report.

Administration Don stated that there will be a congregational meeting on the 22nd led by a deputy of the bishop. We will need 2-4 tellers to count the written ballots for this.

Louise volunteered.

Done mentioned that audit report for 2014-15 was deferred to March or April of 2017.

Stewardship Carol stated that there had been no meeting yet this month. Information will be provided after the meeting.She stated that there had been higher pledge totals in both count and dollar amount over last year.See the Appendix for the full report.

Cemetery Louise stated that there is a bench going in for Mr. Brown, who was a former caretaker of the cemetery. Also, a bench for Louise’s mother will be going in to the cemetery.

Christian Education Kevin stated that there was nothing to add.See the Appendix for the full report.

Evangelism Josephine stated that there was nothing to add.See the Appendix for the full report.

Financial Secretary See the Appendix for the full report.Treasurer See the Appendix for the full report.Finance Committee A concern was raised about finding a backup plan for Judy. Paul brought

up the idea of borrowing a resource from another church.See the Appendix for the full report.

Staff Personnel No Report.Social Ministry Laura stated that the committee will be focusing on hunger-related items

this year. See the Appendix for the full report.

Technology Pat stated that he was working on figuring out how to set up the streaming camera to the website.See the Appendix for the full report.

Worship & Music See the Appendix for the full report.Property There was some discussion around the placement of the dumpster in the

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Torah Academy’s parking lot. See the Appendix for the full report.

NEW BUSINESS/CORRESPONDENCE

Review and approval of pastoral compensationo There was discussion and questions about the package.o MOTION: Don moved to accept the compensation package for Pastor Laura. The

motion was seconded and approved by council.

OUTSTANDING BUSINESS

Proposed 2017 budgeto There are a couple of changes since the budget approved at the last meeting.o There was discussion on personnel costs and trying to keep continuity on plans

for things like pension contributions increases, etc.o Don raised the idea of contributing budget surplus to benevolence. o MOTION: Don motioned that budget changes be incorporated for annual

meeting. Seconded and approved by council. Council nominees for 2017 annual congregational meeting

o Carolyn Ashburn –Staff Personnelo Claudia Muller –Christian Educationo Stephanie Young - Evangelismo David Wilson o Bill Wagnero MOTION: Don moved to nominate these 5 candidates. This was seconded and

approved to council. Finance resolutions for 2017 annual congregational meeting

o We don’t have to cure a deficit this year.o We will be proposing the approved budget.o We will be asking for 6% from the endowment.o The actual wording of the resolution will be “Resolved, that $20,000 be

transferred from the Endowment Fund to the St. Paul's operating account each of January 2018 and January 2019 as an advance against transfers from the Endowment Fund in support of the operating budget.”

o MOTION: Don moved to add the quoted resolution to the annual meeting. Seconded and approved by council.

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NEXT COUNCIL MEETINGThe next council meeting will be held on February 16th at 7:15pm in the Kugler room. This will be the organizational meeting for 2017.

ADJOURNMENT AND PRAYERMOTION: Bob moved for the adjournment of the meeting. The motion was seconded and approved by council.

Laura led the Lord’s Prayer to close the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

Patrick G. Freestone

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AppendixMeeting Minutes.........................................................................................................................................1

CALL TO ORDER.......................................................................................................................................1

DEVOTIONS..............................................................................................................................................1

PRESENTATION OF MINUTES...................................................................................................................1

COMMITTEE REPORTS.............................................................................................................................1

NEW BUSINESS/CORRESPONDENCE........................................................................................................4

OUTSTANDING BUSINESS........................................................................................................................4

NEXT COUNCIL MEETING.........................................................................................................................4

ADJOURNMENT AND PRAYER..................................................................................................................4

Appendix.....................................................................................................................................................6

PASTORAL REPORT..................................................................................................................................7

SOCIAL MINISTRY.....................................................................................................................................8

TECHNOLOGY..........................................................................................................................................9

WORSHIP & MUSIC................................................................................................................................10

PROPERTY..............................................................................................................................................11

STEWARDHIP.........................................................................................................................................12

CEMETARY.............................................................................................................................................13

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.........................................................................................................................14

EVANGELISM.........................................................................................................................................16

FINANCE MINUTES................................................................................................................................17

FINANCE REPORT...................................................................................................................................19

TREASURERS REPORT............................................................................................................................20

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PASTORAL REPORTPastor’s Report12 January 2017

1. The Advent season went off without a hitch at St. Paul’s! We had a great month of activities, including decorating the church, Breakfast with Santa, Lessons and Carols, caroling, cookie baking, and the Christmas pageant. Thanks to the many, many people whose hard work made it all come together!

2. One of the events in Advent, Dinner Church, continued to grow in popularity with 10, 18, and 20 people attending during the three weeks. Thanks to our head chefs, Carol Hammarberg, Linda Martin and Jane Knappe, and Don Parman for their culinary talents!

3. On December 18th, confirmation students served at the Life Center. Because of limited space, only 3-4 students can come each time, but we are working through making sure all of the kids have a chance to serve. Thanks to Lisa Lexa-Wilson who went with me as an extra adult.

4. Christmas Eve once again saw a packed church at 3 services at 5:00, 7:00, and 11:00. Some changes this year made the 5:00 service more similar to the later services. Much appreciation to Andy Heller for orchestrating beautiful and diverse music for all services!

5. With the new semester of confirmation, I am trying out a confirmation project for the first time. Using Thrivent Action Teams, I am letting the students design, plan, and execute a service project of their choice. We are learning about how our faith calls us to help others, and then getting hands-on experience doing just that.

6. From January 23-26 I will be attending the Region 7 First Call Theological Education event. This is a mandatory event for pastors in their first three years of ministry. It will be my final year attending. The focus this year is moving from conversation to action in our ministry.

7. Attendance numbers:Dec 4: 105 (family Sunday), 65Dec 11: 74 (+47 in Sunday School), 37 Dec 18: 162 (Christmas pageant), 46Dec 25: 30 (one service at 9:30)

Christmas Eve:5:00: 3117:00: 16711:00: 89

Respectfully submitted,Laura M Tancredi

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SOCIAL MINISTRYSocial Ministry MINUTES

Meeting on 1.5.17

- Devotion: Laura shared an Epiphany devotion regarding using our gifts from God to benefit others, as our committee strives to do.

- Mission of Social Ministry in 2017 – 2018: Focus on Hunger-related issues again o Key ministries to highlight for this year:

No Kid Hungry – partner with Sunday School for Lent project; host coffee hour

Aim for date of March 12 to speak to the Sunday School children/families and March 26 to decorate and hold the bake sale

Laura will reach out to Mary Lynn and Melissa to confirm dates

Community Garden Organization will reach out to us in Feb./Mar. timeline to plan

for a spring planting, likely in April; we will get volunteers revitalized again once we hear from our head gardeners

Aid for Friends – see below Continued volunteering with Ardmore Food Pantry

Pantry booked with volunteers through April; will try to schedule for late spring/summer once schedules become available

Will also reach out to AFP to see if there are other ways we can contribute aside from volunteer nights (storing items, etc.)

Others we want to look at? New? Re-vitalize old? The Chick March was successful last year, so we will plan to do

again during Lent; Helene will contact ELCA for materials and organize again

- AFF Re-invigorationo Reach out to local schools and scout troops?o Let AFF web site list us as a willing kitchen for cooking program?o Other ideas?

We decided it would be a good start to put out to our congregation members that if they or their children are part of an organization, school, troop, etc. looking for community service opportunities, using

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our kitchen to cook for AFF is a great way to do that. We felt this was a better first step rather than opening up to the general website or public community groups and then needing to manage who is coming in and out of the church and when.

- Upcoming Projects:o Winter: focus on AFF?o Souper Bowl of Caring – Feb. 5? 12? Youth usually collects, but we

advertise/partner…o Empty Bowl Dinner – several committee members have experience

participating in these at other places and we’d like to seriously consider hosting an event like this

We would need to have places to fire our clay bowls in a kiln, but can seek out members who might have access, plus local schools and organizations; similarly, we can ask area restaurants to donate soup, bread for the event and would choose an organization to donate our funds to.

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TECHNOLOGYSt. Paul’s Technology Committee Report – December, 2016

Members: Patrick Freestone, Andrew Vickrey, Dan Gale, (Bill Henderson)

Ongoing:

Working on setting up the new streaming service for the sanctuary and linking in to the website.

Upcoming:

Pursue website redesign proof-of-concept. Pursue finding webmaster for site content. Complete desktop inventory. Set up centralized credential management.

Meeting: No meeting occurred in December.

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WORSHIP & MUSICWORSHIP AND MUSIC COMMITTEE REPORT

JANUARY 12, 2017

The Committee has not yet met in January but will schedule a meeting for later this month to begin plans for the “cook-off” fund raiser scheduled for May 20, 2017 and to begin to prepare for Lent and Easter.

The Committee has received many compliments on the flower arrangements provided by the new vendor Overhill Florists. We have not heard complaints about the increase in cost for flower donations and the sign-up sheet for the first 3 months of 2017 is almost full.

Many hands assisted the Committee in decorating the Church for Christmas and for taking down the decorations. The Committee is very grateful to everyone who participated.

The Wednesday night Advent Dinners were well attended.

CAPA, the School District of Philadelphia’s school for performing arts, will be performing at St. Paul’s on Sunday, January 29, 2017 at 4:00 pm.

The choir, under Andy Heller’s leadership, has begun rehearsal for its joint concert with the Ardmore and Overbrook Presbyterian Churches. The concert will be held at Ardmore Presbyterian Church on April 2, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. The joint choirs will be performing the Duruffle Requiem and Mozart Vespers.

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PROPERTY

No report this month.

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STEWARDHIPNo report this month.

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CEMETARYNo report this month.

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CHRISTIAN EDUCATIONHello everyone,

In December, the Sunday school children put on their annual Christmas pageant, and it was a success. The youth groups baked cookies for our homebound members, which were delivered by the Christmas carolers. Evening Christian Fellowship continues their discussion of the Gospel of John.

See you tonight,

Kevin

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EVANGELISM

Dear Council,the Evangelism committee has not met yet in January. During December, all Christmas events were advertised in Suburban News (see ads below). As always, if you need anything advertised, please let me know and I can assist.See you all tomorrow.

 Josephine

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FINANCE MINUTESFinance Committee Minutes

January 10, 2017

Attending: Bob Ertner, Bill Henderson, Don Parman and Waneta Peart

1. Review of December receipts and expenses

Given the complexity of year-end closing, financial reports for December were not available for the meeting.

2. Investment update

Bill Henderson provided year-end investment summary, including statements as of December 31, 2016 for the Vanguard accounts for the endowment fund, the perpetual care fund and the Building on Blessings account. With respect to the Building on Blessings account, the final disbursement authorized by Congregation Council (parsonage windows and piano restoration) have been made and the balance of the account will be transferred to the endowment fund as directed by Council.

3. Review of proposed 2017 budget

Don Parman reviewed the changes to the proposed budget discussed at the December committee meeting. Changes from the prior version were driven by development of a final number for salaries and benefits based on the terms of the proposed call for Pastor Tancredi as sole pastor and cost of living increases for the other staff positions and the determination of the average of the year-end closing balances for the endowment fund for the past three years. The proposal still assumes a 6% transfer from the endowment fund and increases in several accounts, including social ministry and benevolence.

4. Updating finance controls – contributions, bill paying, investment accounts, etc.

The committee had a general discussion around modernizing financial workstreams, particularly bill paying, with a view to simplifying cash management and reducing administrative work. The committee agreed that modernizing financial controls and workstreams and working with the Staff Personnel Committee to assure back-up for Judi Zucker in her capacity as controller should be priorities for the committee as reconstituted following the annual congregational meeting.

Don Parman thanked all the members of the committee for their commitment, insights and dedication over the past year. We hope that everyone currently on the committee will consider serving again in the new year along with new recruits.

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FINANCE REPORT

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TREASURERS REPORT

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