Parish Planning Council Notes

Parish Planning Committee – October 18, 2016

Attending: Dann Keiser, Pastor French, Bill Crum, Jake Rogers, Candace Shaffer, Jeff Baumgarn, Jerry Ripke, Russ Shoemaker, Christopher Rowan, Ben Schoon, Steve Berman

II. Approval of September 2016 meeting minutes – Pastor French identified an error under New Business/Cash flow issues and policies and Russ Shoemaker identified an error under Board of Church Properties/Food Pantry. Motion to approve as amended by Dann Keiser and Pastor French seconded. All was in favor, approved.

III. Unsung Servant – Mindy Schlotman, Ashley Northington, Starlah Smith and Julie Grott for stepping in during Nola Hecht’s absence. All was in favor, approved. Pastor French described he received a recommendation that the Unsung Servant agenda item indicate specifically who is identified. Board Secretary, Steve Berman took note of the recommendation for future PPC minutes.

• Dann Keiser indicated that the line of credit policies are in effect. Steve Strauch, District Vice President, LCEF helped with this process.
• Need to set amount limits and setup policies on reporting. Board of Finance to make recommendations on protocol and limits.

b. Business Manager and financial methods

• Brief discussion regarding internal controls
• Discussion on communicating financial activity to the congregation. Publish in Bulletin:

                1. If line of credit is used
                2. Weekly offerings. Run a week behind in order to capture electronic offerings.

c. Planning Committee

• Dann Keiser described this committee would be a group to look at the future of the Church, how we grow and ministry opportunities. There was a fair amount of discussion including the forming of the committee, the work process, importance of the planning committee to work in concert with the Boards and a timeline for results. Discussion results include:

• Quotes are coming in. There was discussion on how far back the audit should go. No Board action was taken.

• Three people met at last meeting (Bill Crum, Michael O’Donnell and Mark Bowman) to discuss the constitution and by-laws of the congregation as it relates to the Protecting Your Ministry document that was released by the synod in collaboration with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
• The CCM (Commission on Constitutional Matters) has released recommendations for congregations in regards to the composition of their constitution and by-laws.
• The current governing constitution and by-laws will be compared with the recommendations from these documents to determine those amendments that would be most beneficial while attempting to minimize whole sale changes.
• This may be an opportune time to update language, processes and duplicate language in the documents without changing the meaning or intent of the current articles. – Such as Property Use policy and change of budget approval from January to June.
• Board of Christian Education in cooperation with the Principal will need to review their own handbook and other publications for potential changes. The Board of Human Resources will face a similar task given recommended updates to policies related to condition of employment.
• The synod recommends brevity as policies, updates and revisions are considered.
• Bill Crum mentioned the importance of consistent application of policy

• Peter and Hannah Heckert were in town this weekend. Pastor French explained that a call service/ceremony would be held on October 28 and then estimated that the Service of Ordination would be the first week of November and then Installed at St. James the second week of November.

• Brief discussion that the direction of the DCE Position can be part of the Ministry Action Team’s work.

VII. Board of Elders – Bill Crum
a. Worship Attendance

• September 4 (Labor Day) total attendance – 259, # Communed - 155
• September 11 total attendance – 312, # Communed - 88
• September 18 total attendance – 342, # Communed - 131
• September 25 total attendance – 310, # Communed - 109
• September 25 YTD Sunday Average – 364

VIII. Principal’s Report – Jake Rogers
a. Total School House 238 students 156 (K-8) + 97 (In, Td, Pre-school & Pre-K)
b. Happenings at St. James Lutheran School

• Fall Break/Professional Development

• Hot Lunch

• School Service Project

• First and 2nd graders musical – “David and the Giants” and 5th-8th graders for their Fall Concert

• Upcoming dates

• Program is coming right along. Expect 500.
• Three gates need to be manned. Need 4 more volunteers
• Need to cover the Arch books $350 for 200 to be given out. Only 5 were left over last year.
• Would like 20 trunks to participate

• Expect 80-100 international students/families
• Word is out at all the LCMS churches requesting food, cash and/or time
• Requesting help to make program a success – setup, take down

• Encourage others to wear name tags
• Wear name tags at events
• Good idea to wear name tags to help the new Pastor get to know the congregation

XIV. Board of Church Properties - Russ Shoemaker
a. Status Summer Projects

• Bus Stop Shelter

                  1. Ordered 10/6 – will arrive in 8 weeks
                  2. Discuss contractor for concrete slab – Steve Miller/Greg DePew
                            * Contractor from CityBus quoted too high. We will handle on our own
                  3. Russ working on permit with City of Lafayette

• Food Pantry

                            * Contractor work is completed
                            * Mural work to be completed - Mural Artist is James Werner.

• Sanctuary Exterior Repair – revised quote Spring 2016 $47,820

                   1. Revisit Gothshall on cost increase – original quote $38,720
                   2. Discuss revised quote estimated $43,270
                            * Status on new quote being received for approval?
                            * Estimated start date Spring 2017 of restoration work?

b. Sanctuary HVAC System

• Board of Church Properties discussed Century of Faith Committee wanting to pull Pews project ahead of Sanctuary restoration project and HVAC project

• Pre-School lower roof replacement – cost $24,900
• Fellowship Hall roof replacement – cost $18,600
• Also looking at quote for repair

• Approximately $37,000 needed to meet $200,000 goal.

• Need 5 more trunks
• Opportunity to pass out Arch books and count people coming in
• There will be a food truck and activities

• Brief discussion regarding:

Respectfully submitted by Steve Berman