December 2021 Mustard Seed - Notes from Council

Council Notes | November 3, 2021
 
Council was called to order by President Rich Hollenbach. Melissa Prunkel led devotions on a Church Health-Servant Leadership.  Minutes of the October regular council meeting were approved after one correction was made on the Property Team report.
 
Treasurer’s Report: Denise Bailey reported that Net Revenue was down $1560.20 for the month but was not too bad overall as our surplus was $48,562.66 for the year to date. The Treasurer’s Report was approved as written.  With year-to-date income at $127,176.10 (90%) and operating expenses at $78,613.44 (52%) we have a $48,562.66 surplus.
 
President’s Report: We have continued worship with Pastor Bruce Davis who will supply through end of 2021.  We have Pastor Maggie Ainslie scheduled to be here once a month as well.
The forms have been signed and submitted to the Synod and were approved by the bishop.  We have our congregational vote scheduled for Sunday, November 21stfollowing our worship which will be led by Pastor Tim Garman.  We will also be having a meet & greet social with Pastor Tim on Saturday with details to be determined.  The end of a long road is in sight.
 
MINISTRY TEAM REPORTS: 
 
Call Committee:Gail Achilles asked if we could have a bio on Pastor Timothy Garman emailed to our members or put in our Sunday Bulletin.  Rich added that we will have the bio available at the meet and greet on November 20, 2021. 
 
Christian Education: Melissa Prunkel was happy to report that we will be having VBS next summer (August 8 through 12, 2022). Missy and Gail are reaching out to potential volunteers and will have a planning meeting sometime in the next few weeks.  Missy also stated that we will be giving our Sunday School Children a gift this Christmas (a mini flashlight with John 3:16 scripture).  Gail asked about the appropriate Sunday School Christian Education be provided for the different age groups.  Rich informed us that this was put on hold until we have a permanent Pastor in place.  The children who are currently attending Sunday/Wednesday School are having their Christian education needs met. 
 
Communications: Jack Walls reported that the Meet and Greet our pastoral candidate (Nov 20) and the Worship Service led by Pastor Tim followed by the Congregational vote (Nov 21) will be published in the next two Sunday bulletins and by email.  Sharon Hood volunteered to call church members to inform them of these two important dates in the future of our church.
 
Evangelism:  Doug Renner, Chair, and Dale Foster will be meeting to discuss the Korean donation of money for evangelism.
 
Finance:The 2022 Budget will be discussed in new business.  Adam pointed out that he would be researching the cost of an artificial Christmas Tree vs. a live tree.  Council voted to approve the research of this idea for Adam to price artificial trees.
 
 
Fundraising: Sharon Hood reported that the scrapbooking fundraiser brought in $675.00.  Thank you, Chris Jones, Debbie Hollenbach, and everyone involved in this gracious effort.  Current Chair Linda Kratz asked Sharon to let everyone know that we still need a new fundraising chair to take Linda’s place.  If interested, please contact Linda, Sharon, or the church office. 
 
Health: Anne Hutnyk contacted Parish Nurse, Nancy Allegrezza regarding taking church member’s blood pressure checks.  Nancy is not personally comfortable doing Blood Pressure checks currently.  Anne said that Nancy and she will reach out to some others that may be able to perform the checks for members.
 
Hospitality/Fellowship:Coffee hour after worship held in the fellowship hall has been initiated over the last few weeks and is working out splendidly.  Missy brought up that maybe we can come up with a variety of food schedule for fellowship each Sunday. Anne will investigate this.
 
Shepherding:  Thanksgiving cards will be mailed out to the congregation.  Sharon reported that she has 3 more volunteers on her team making it a total of 9 good hearted people.  Thank you for all you do!
 
Social Ministry: Sharon read an email from Nancy Gansner, current chair of social ministry, that states she will be resigning from her position but would like to help wherever she can.  Council thanks Nancy for all the good work you have done in this ministry.  Sharon added that Debbie Hollenbach and Sharon will be the new co-chairs for social ministry.  Debbie and Sharon will be having a social ministry meeting on November 10.
 
Special Funds: Rich noted that special funds will be getting a tree email in the near future.
 
Stewardship: Jack reported that another member signed up with the VANCO app and that he will be talking about VANCO this Sunday during announcements.
 
Transportation: Dale Foster is still meeting the needs of those in need of a meal and/or transportation.
 
Worship & Music:Pastor Bruce will be available through the end of this year to lead Sunday Worship service.  Pastor Ainslie has agreed to hold Sunday Worship service in person for the third Sunday of the month through the end of the year.  Rich also pointed out that having Pastor Tim Garman lead Sunday Worship service on November 21, Rich will contact Pastor Ainslie to see if she could switch to a different Sunday.
 
 
NEW BUSINESS

• Nominating Team- 

Linda Kratz is head of the nominating team for 2022 council elections and will be looking for candidates to replace 3 outgoing members:  Missy and Sharon are at the end of their 3-year term and Dale is at the end of his second 3-year term and needs to sit out for one year before possibly returning to council in the future.
 

• Faith Membership updates- 

New member Requests (2):  Patricia Pullia and Alexis Norris have requested membership at Faith.  All council members voted in favor of taking them into membership of the congregation.
 

• Congregational Meeting to vote on our pastoral candidate-- 
  • Will be held on Sunday, November 21, 2021, following worship and we need a quorum of 25 members present.
  • The meeting announcement will be in the bulletin and brought up during the announcements before worship on the next two weeks and phone calls will be made to members.
  • You must be a member of the congregation to vote and must be in-person; ballots will only be handed out to those who are eligible (Must have communed and given an offering on record within the past two years.) Pastor Penman added that you must be confirmed to be eligible to vote.
  • We need 2-3 tellers, to pass out ballets and to tally them (Anne and Sharon volunteered).
  • Members will write YES, NO or ABSTAIN (Pastor Leslie Richard from the Synod will oversee the process) Pastor Penman added that Pastor Tim has 30 days to accept if the vote is in favor of his acceptance or he can accept on the spot.  
  • Reception follows – an embellished coffee hour.

 

• Meet & Greet Saturday, November 20th(day before)- 
• Get to know our pastoral candidate before vote (note: his parents will be invited) 
• Details to be worked out.  Rich noted that a Bio on Pastor Tim will be available to the congregation prior to the Meet and Greet and during the event

 

• 2022 Budget review with Debbie Hollenbach, Finance Chair- 

The Finance Team put out the preliminary budget to the congregation and then collected the pledges a few weeks later.  Total pledges were $85,548 and are up $210.00 from 2021. Regarding the breakdown of pledges—there are 32 giving units (a couple/family/single person is deemed one unit) 14 people have increased their pledges, 12 people kept their pledges the same, 2 people decreased pledges, 5 people are not pledging that pledged in 2021 (includes one death) and there are 4 new pledgers.   The team went over the budget line by line several times and with some reductions were able to reduce the initial deficit of $49,298 to $48,782. The budget includes numbers for compensation and benefits for a Pastor for 30 hours/week. Debbie explained that the surplus was brought over to this year and the PPO money (Government/Covid) was added to it. Adam noted that giving for 2021 is up.  After questioning the salaries, Pastor Penman proposed that we should not change anything concerning the staff salaries at this time.  Rich Hollenbach said that we are not going to pass the budget tonight and that we need time to review it more and will vote on it at the next council meeting in December.
 
Next Meeting:  Wednesday, December 1, 2021, at 7pm.  
Will be a hybrid meeting.  Devotions will be led by Jack.  Council agreed to bring appetizers to this meeting.
 
Coffee with Council: Sunday,November 7, 2021, after worship.