Council Notes August 12, 2020
Council was called to order by President Gary Apgar. Opening devotions were led by Anne Hutnyk. Minutes of the June 4, 2020 regular council meeting was approved as written.
President’s Report: It hard to believe we are in the middle of August! It seems like we were just at the church picnic. We have been busy. We did have a Worship and Music meeting in June and Finance meeting in July. The finance team has been busy! They were hard at work again implementing all the things that Tracey Beasley recommended. Details to follow.
Let’s not forget the Call Committee! They are also hard at work! It will be nice to get our new Pastor. We also welcomed Chris Jones to the Special Funds Team! On a sad note we did lose a sister in Christ as Marty Boland has moved on.
We had a zoom Vacation Bible School! We need to give everyone involved a big thank you! It was the first time we ever tried a virtual VBS and what a great job they did! My granddaughter told me if she could not be at church, the zoom VBS was the next best thing!
We will all have some new keys. Movies will again make their way into our back yard. Someday we will again be in our Church singing praises to the Lord!
Treasurer’s Report:
With year to date income at $105,315.14 (69%) and operating expenses at $57,707.68 (38%) we have a $47,607.46 surplus.
Markets are back up, so we recovered some of the losses. Pledged is still on target but unpledged is down.
MINISTRY TEAM REPORTS:
Christian Education: VBS was virtual this year. Two sets of packets were purchased to cover the number of students anticipated. VBS was done on zoom, recorded and posted on our FB page at the end of each day. There were families that attended who are not current members of Faith. Only a few issues in the beginning of the week as it was new to everyone, but it got better throughout the week. 60+ viewers on FB video posts. The extra supplies will be used next year. Will also be investigating virtual Sunday School options.
Fundraising: We are looking into Amazon Smile to get a percentage of purchases as another source for our church. Have registered and provided our 501c3 information but have not heard back yet. Giant gift cards are still available.
Property Team: Locks were changed (see report below.)
The underground pipes from the downspouts are clogged and we need to get someone to clear the pipes. A motion was made to authorize the property team to address the clogged gutters. No update on the new church sign.
Special Funds: Chris Jones has agreed to join the Special Funds Team as the at-large congregational member. A meeting will be called to address the outstanding requests and work with the Finance Team.
Social Ministry: We can still donate to:
Manna on main street– https://mannaonmain.org/give-money/donate-now
Keystone Opportunity Center– https://Keystoneopportunity.org
Transportation: Dale continues to drop off Wawa food to people in our congregation and the community!
Worship & Music: We will be back to 10:30am worship September 6th. Adult Sunday School to return at 9am in September. Next meeting will be in early September.
Mutual Ministry: Need to appoint new folks to the Mutual Ministry Team. Gary has a list of members to ask.
Hospitality and Fellowship: We are hosting a drive-in/sit-in movie night in our church parking lot on Friday, August 14th. Will notify folks if it rains.
OLD BUSINESS:
Items in Review from May:
NEW BUSINESS
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 2, 2020 at 7pm.
Council was called to order by President Gary Apgar. Opening devotions were led by Anne Hutnyk. Minutes of the June 4, 2020 regular council meeting was approved as written.
President’s Report: It hard to believe we are in the middle of August! It seems like we were just at the church picnic. We have been busy. We did have a Worship and Music meeting in June and Finance meeting in July. The finance team has been busy! They were hard at work again implementing all the things that Tracey Beasley recommended. Details to follow.
Let’s not forget the Call Committee! They are also hard at work! It will be nice to get our new Pastor. We also welcomed Chris Jones to the Special Funds Team! On a sad note we did lose a sister in Christ as Marty Boland has moved on.
We had a zoom Vacation Bible School! We need to give everyone involved a big thank you! It was the first time we ever tried a virtual VBS and what a great job they did! My granddaughter told me if she could not be at church, the zoom VBS was the next best thing!
We will all have some new keys. Movies will again make their way into our back yard. Someday we will again be in our Church singing praises to the Lord!
Treasurer’s Report:
With year to date income at $105,315.14 (69%) and operating expenses at $57,707.68 (38%) we have a $47,607.46 surplus.
Markets are back up, so we recovered some of the losses. Pledged is still on target but unpledged is down.
MINISTRY TEAM REPORTS:
Christian Education: VBS was virtual this year. Two sets of packets were purchased to cover the number of students anticipated. VBS was done on zoom, recorded and posted on our FB page at the end of each day. There were families that attended who are not current members of Faith. Only a few issues in the beginning of the week as it was new to everyone, but it got better throughout the week. 60+ viewers on FB video posts. The extra supplies will be used next year. Will also be investigating virtual Sunday School options.
- See New Business.
Fundraising: We are looking into Amazon Smile to get a percentage of purchases as another source for our church. Have registered and provided our 501c3 information but have not heard back yet. Giant gift cards are still available.
Property Team: Locks were changed (see report below.)
The underground pipes from the downspouts are clogged and we need to get someone to clear the pipes. A motion was made to authorize the property team to address the clogged gutters. No update on the new church sign.
- A new round of cards will be sent in the next week.
Special Funds: Chris Jones has agreed to join the Special Funds Team as the at-large congregational member. A meeting will be called to address the outstanding requests and work with the Finance Team.
Social Ministry: We can still donate to:
Manna on main street– https://mannaonmain.org/give-money/donate-now
Keystone Opportunity Center– https://Keystoneopportunity.org
Transportation: Dale continues to drop off Wawa food to people in our congregation and the community!
Worship & Music: We will be back to 10:30am worship September 6th. Adult Sunday School to return at 9am in September. Next meeting will be in early September.
Mutual Ministry: Need to appoint new folks to the Mutual Ministry Team. Gary has a list of members to ask.
Hospitality and Fellowship: We are hosting a drive-in/sit-in movie night in our church parking lot on Friday, August 14th. Will notify folks if it rains.
OLD BUSINESS:
Items in Review from May:
- Armed Intruder information– update from Vince Hill concerning the scheduling of a meeting with Montgomery Township Police Chief J. Scott Bendig or Officer Rob Johnson. Postponed until we are back in the church.
- Update on constitution. Pastor Mary is checking with the Synod on updating our constitution.
- Proposed Acceptable Computer Use Policy -Distributed in November to read. Still pending additions pertaining to PCI Compliant language. Rich Hollenbach and Jack to discuss additional wording needed. Rich will schedule a call with Jack to complete this.
- Re-keying the church locks: The church locks were keyed in July as reported in the Property Team report above. The list of who has a key is in the church office. A motion was made and unanimously approved that when a person with a key leaves their position, they are required to return their key.
- Financial update: Financial review was approved so the call committee can move forward. We need to send a letter and communicate the status to the congregation. Pastor Mary and Gary to put together. This will happen in September along with the annual stewardship letter.
- Reopening the church task force update: We had a practice run of zoom church hosted from the sanctuary. Pastor Mary was home at her place and was on the big screen in the front. We had people do some readings up front and worked through the problems that popped up. For those who want to attend in person: keep non-family members 6 feet apart and only allow a certain amount of people in the sanctuary. We will have people call and tell us if they are coming. We did a survey of the church members to see how many want to come to the building and how many don’t want to come back yet. The results to date are 18 would like to open the church and 30 would like to stay on zoom for now. (The majority of those wanting to reopen the church are our single senior ladies.) We will meet again in September to revisit if we should open or not. No update from the Synod on their recommendation.
- Tracey Beasley thank you letter: We did send a Thank You letter to Tracey which she appreciated and is very pleased with the financial progress we have made! Counting is done every other week by Anne and Janet.
- Fellowship: The new projector, BenQ HT2050A for outdoor movies was purchased for $699.00. Special Funds Team will review and work with the Finance Team.
NEW BUSINESS
- Financial update -
- The council meeting minutes from the June 4thmeeting were updated to add more details and specific information needed for Univest.
- In preparation for the 2021 budget, the Finance Team is requesting each ministry team submit their budgets as normal but to also include any specific costs related to virtual church and the COVID-19 quarantine and note a much on the lines. i.e. zoom license, extra postage to mail weekly bulletins etc.
- Finance is recommending the projector for outdoor movies come from unused budget lines so will provide a recommendation and if Memorial money is still needed will work with the Special Funds team.
- Vacation Bible School: A review from Pastor Mary: VBS was really something! It was, to put it mildly, a real learning experience. But I must tell you that all the folks who led the different video sessions from their home (Sharon Diggins & Liana Schantz; Laura & Alexis Cooper), folks who pre-recorded the skits (Jake & Emily Halpern) and the folks who were at church live daily (Nancy Gansner, Gail Achilles, Janet and me (Pastor) all did a remarkable job. Rich uploaded them to the Facebook page every day too. The first day was full of difficulties but by the end of day three we had all the bugs out! Attendance was slim but the kids who were on zoom got into the swing of things after a day or so. Kudos to all for taking on this entirely new venture!
- Marty Boland sent in her resignation as Garden Master and subsequently asked for her name to be removed from the church membership list.
- We received a letter from Melissa, who works at Lightbridge Academy, about a request to use our church as a safe place for their kids in case of an emergency. A temporary, three-month approval for the use of the church was given based on the email response received from a quorum of council members until a formal vote could be taken. Lightbridge Academy has sent proof of their insurance coverage indicating the coverage for Faith Lutheran Church. A motion was made and unanimously approved to grant the requested use of the building by Lightbridge Academy in the event of an emergency.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, September 2, 2020 at 7pm.
