St. Timothy's Church
Vestry Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2005
1. The meeting began at 6:40pm. In attendance were Sr. Warden Laurent Perkins, Pat Camm, Scott Brown, Elaine Fox, Carl McDaniel, Rebecca Sloan, Kent Davis, Betsy Goff, Schuyler Melby, Rector Fr. Russell Martin, Treasurer Gary Filer and Clerk Cindy Kaemmerer. Tom Duffey arrived later and Fr. Larry Eddingfield was away attending a funeral. Fr. Russell led a meditation on helping those in our community and then opened in prayer.
2. Minutes (attached) from the June 13, 2005 Vestry meeting were presented by Cindy Kaemmerer. A motion was made to approve the Minutes from the June 13 meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.
3. Ministry portfolios
Worship – Pat said she had received positive feedback from the worship team meeting as well as the guest preachers at St. Tim's in recent weeks. She also said she has heard that people are still having trouble hearing all the readers, etc. and suggests that the more microphones will help tremendously in that regard. It was also discussed that readers should perhaps be given more detailed instruction about where to stand and how to project their voices so that they can be heard throughout the Sanctuary.
Fellowship – Scott said that the CCC Men's group had met last week and Kent added that more voices are needed to go sing at the Arbors each month after the breakfast. It was suggested that Cindy put out the word about this outreach opportunity every 2nd Saturday from 1030-1130am at the Arbors in hopes that others will join them. Carl said he would still like to proceed with an Octoberfest and the date of October 8 was chosen. Scott will check on whether there is a Cursillo team meeting that day and if so could the meeting be held at St. Tim's to facilitate doing both events as well as to invite all the Cursillo team to participate. Scott also said that the Men's group is planning there next retreat for November 12-13 and wanted to book it at Camp Oliver in Descanso. Russell said the front office would take care of booking the camp for that date for approximately 25-50 men.
Discipleship – Betsy said that VBS at New Hope had begun and that Gaby Goff was helping out and the Duffey girls were attending. Betsy also addressed the issue that the youth group kids are eager to hold events but that adult help has not been forthcoming. It is her hope that we could perhaps hire a youth director to plan and oversee these events. Russell said he had been talking about that same issue with Rebecca Sloan and suggested that a job description be prepared and some research be done about budgeting for such a position. Betsy said that the youth were getting together to work on a St. Tim's history scrapbook. She asked for some funds to be designated for this project. A motion was made to allot up to $100 from the Book Fund (C2) to be spent on scrapbooking supplies. The motion was seconded and passed. Russell suggested that he would be glad to chaperone a movie outing with the youth soon too. Other ideas presented for future discipleship possibilities were parenting class and a women's retreat.
Ministry – The idea of a ministry fair has been tabled by the committee members but they would like to raise awareness of the various ministries and opportunities via Epistle articles, announcements and witness talks from parishioners on Sundays instead of holding a Ministry Faire. Russell said he and Laurent and Tom should get together to discuss particulars and set up a schedule for the talks. Laurent said they still plan to issue Time & Talents pledge cards in the fall. Russell also suggested that maybe a spiritual gifts inventory could be included in the packets given to those who attend the Newcomers' Brunches to help them learn about their gifts and where they might best serve in ministry. Other ministry announcements – Soaking Prayer on July 16 led by the Perkins and the 4th and final Soaking School Seminar on July 22-23.
Evangelism & Mission – Plans are being made for a Rummage sale in the fall, the proceeds of which will go toward needed supplies for the Salvatierra Orphanage in Tecate, Mexico. No date has been set. A washing machine has been repaired and donated to the orphanage as well and will be taken down on the next trip. Elaine shared the letter written by Mary Mah describing their outreach at Albertson's in June (attached). They would like to continue this outreach ministry in August. It was suggested that an abbreviated version of the letter be put in the next Epistle and Elaine said she would handle that as well as drafting a note of thanks to the Mahs. Rebecca and Elaine said they had met with Greg Wilkinson about updating the web site. Kent said there was a lot of cleaning up to do on the site and suggested that everyone look into the areas of the web that pertain to their portfolios and edit the material found there. Kent said he is still in the process of turning over the web site to Greg. Elaine and Schuyler reviewed a meeting that was held with the Chaplain for Pastoral Care, David Walden, of Pomerado Hospital about our becoming volunteers who can pray with those in need there. The plan is to start with a core of about 8 volunteers to undergo all the required training, orientation and tests this fall, and then to start volunteering by January 2006and add members to the team by March 2006. Rebecca brought up the idea of using "podcasting" to make our sermons available via people's iPods. Her husband Nick is willing and able to undertake this and was given a unanimous "go ahead" to do so! Rebecca presented a budget for the fall ALPHA course (attached) and also stated that Carolyn Burns had agreed to lead the Prayer coverage team for the course. A motion was made based on Rebecca's budget to allot up to $4500 of the Outreach budget to be spent on the ALPHA course this fall. The motion was seconded and passed. Lauren suggested that the ALPHA banquet planning and sign ups be started soon as well as other advertising. Rebecca said there are plans for a door-to-door campaign in the neighboring condos/apts as well as radio and newspaper ads. The course begins the week of September 12 but the day has not been finalized yet. Pat added that we need to move forward with the AV plans so that what is needed is in place and working before the course begins.
4. Financial reports (attached) were presented by Gary Filer. Sound system fund has $3800 in it so far. Cash accounts are up over May. Total income YTD is close to budget. Workers' Comp was underfunded based on the actual costs for this year which accounts for the overrun in total personnel expenses. A motion to accept the April 2005 financial reports and file them for audit was made. The motion was seconded and passed. Kent suggested that the Transition fund deficit be brought up to zero using reserves. Gary said he would take care of it. Further discussion about the AV equipment and console resulted in Russell asking to meet with Betsy and Kimm Boal very soon about sketching out the estimated AV area needed in the Sanctuary.
5. Buildings and Grounds – The color for the new sign has been determined and it has been ordered. Russell is working with a contractor to get the old sign and footing removed. The sign company will then contact the city to mark off the lines so that the new sign can be installed. The deposit has been paid and the final bill is in Gary's hands. Kent suggested that no account was ever designated to pay for the new sign and Russell asked Cindy to make sure Gary was aware of that concern. Russell said he would continue to get estimates for Plexiglass to cover the windows.
6. Fr. Russell gave his Rector's report. Attendance numbers (attached)were passed out. Attendance is rising slowly and several newcomers have been attending in recent weeks. Russell follows up with letters and sometimes phone calls as well. Russell will be taking vacation the last week of July and first week of August. So far he has only taken one week of his vacation this year. He will work out the preaching schedule with Fr. Larry. Russell said that several members of St. Tim's have expressed interest in the Stephens Ministry training this fall and that he has received a pledge of $1500 to cover the church's one time cost to join the Stephens Ministry organization. Lastly he said that he had met with Bishop Mathes recently and that the Bishop had expressed a concern with clergy entering into civil contracts but had not made any other statements on that issue.
7. Laurent asked that the first 3 items under General Business – bylaws, employment agreement and ACN affiliation - be held over and presented as the 1st items of business at the next Vestry meeting. The scrapbooking project had already been discussed and Cindy said the Scrip program information could also wait until later.
8. The next Vestry meeting will be Monday, August 8 at 6:30pm and will be devoted to dealing purely with Business & Administration issues. All Vestry members should come prepared to talk about and vote on these issues. Carl McDaniel said he would be out of town. Laurent asked him to prepare any comments and a proxy vote concerning the General Business items.
9. The meeting ended at 9:05pm with prayer and was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted, Cindy Kaemmerer, Clerk of the Vestry