October 21, 2013
Church Council
Minutes
Meeting was called to order by Charlie Yund with the
unison reading of the Trnity mission statement.
Attendees: Pastor Larry, Charlie Yund, Gail Conschafter,
Mark VonWald, Sue Kaiser, Chris Hipp, Anne Hipp, Mike Fonte, Sheila Rader, Jan
Garrison, Donna Lavalle (for Tom Burkman), Mark VonWald.
Pastor Larry
opened in prayer.
God
Sightings: Sheila reported the
Statewide UMW met this Friday night. The
duet that sang as part of the program was fantastic and a tribute to God. The ladies had a great retreat at Silver Lake
a few weeks before. Mark reported that there are a few people that came to the
Fall Festival that are interested in coming to our church. Fall Festival was a success.
Minutes from September’s meeting were approved as
corrected. Motion made by Chris Hipp seconded by Donna Lavalle.
Donna Lavalle reported that SPRC is meeting Nov. 4 at
First Church at the Church Charge Conference.
All paperwork has been completed.
The committee is addressing issues as they arise.
Calendar Events:
October
26 UMW Chicken Dinner
December
6-7 One Starry Night
December
15 Children’s Play during
9:00 and 10:30 Service
Concert
12:30
Jan 10 –
Nov 2014 Confirmation Retreat
ACE
weekend CANCELED
April 18 Good Friday Fish Fry
April 20 Easter/confirmation
Nov 9,
Dec 14
Jan 25, 2014,
Feb 25, March 15
April 12 Spiritual Enrichment
Dates
At last meeting we spoke of three priorities for
TUMC. One was exciting worship. The second is once our worship is exciting,
our next step is hospitality. The third
is evangelism!
Sheila shared a video on hospitality. Larry commented that we experience difficulty
in sustaining what we start. Charlie
would like to continue to pursue the training.
Timing for this class is crucial.
The information is well written and short enough to make it
manageable.
Ann commented that we are attempting to increase the
attendance of Chat N Chew. Something
happened last month: someone came with two friends and it appeared that they
were not welcome at a table. So consequently, they sat at a table by
themselves. We need to be more aware to
be more welcoming!! A suggestion might
be to have certain quadrants assigned to key people to be aware of newcomers or
those that appear to be confused as to where to go. The question came up as to whether or not we
need to bring out our name tags. Another
suggestion was made to perhaps wear a shirt to identify a team member as a
“helper.”
Finance/Stewardship
Report: Dare To Dream is our
stewardship campaign. The pamphlet is
one of the focal pieces. It will be introduced on Sunday. It will take us through November 17, at which
point we will bring in the commitments.
There will be short video clips that will also be shown during
worship. It is very hard to get everyone
on the same page. We are going to
maximize the number of people that will follow the booklet. Stephen Spangler
said that this campaign helps those that give “in the middle” will move up a
bit with their pledge.
There are about 40 people that have access to the Right
Now program. What didn’t happen was that
parents would get together and form a small group for parenting skills
aspect. Pastor Larry feels that Sheila’s
presentation on hospitality is right on. We need to focus on retaining those families
that enter through our doors. Larry was
very pleased with Laity Sunday and the messages that were conveyed. Perhaps we could do this on a regular
basis. We also need some more “techie”
volunteers to help with AV. Another need
is to perhaps film the Children’s Time during worship.
Charge Conference is November 4 at 7:00 PM at First
Church in North Tonawanda. Larry explained the process. Larry encouraged us all to attend.
Identifying shirts came up in discussion again. Charlie will talk to Bill and get some
samples of shirts with logos along with prices.
Committee Reports: Chris reported that founders Day fund needs a
pilot. There is $3400 in the
account. Someone is needed to decide how
and where the money is spent. Would it
be beneficial to know what the money is being used for prior to the collection
of the funds. Perhaps we should turn it
into historical recognition of our church.
Is there a standing committee working on the anniversary of the
church? Larry is communicating with
Bobbie Cap about this. There are some
interested in making some basic improvements to the “chapel” in Historic
Trinity. There is a lot of work that
needs to be done inside the building.
Founders day is Thanksgiving Sunday.
It was discussed as to where the money from this collection should be
designated.
Question: Are we still having 3 services on Christmas
Eve? Larry is leaning towards 2 with the
thought of moving the 11 PM service up in time a bit. Attendance has been dwindling at the 11:00
and increasing for the 7:00 PM service. Two
suggested times are 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM. Most people are checking the website
for service times. After lengthy discussion, a vote was taken and the consensus
was to keep the three services to accommodate our members. We have a positive
balance after September. It looks like
we will be short on our apportionments this year.
Paul Sipson reported that the Festival food brought in
$3300, basket brought in $2200. Some expenses will have to be paid out of
this. Paul suggested some money be spent
for new pots and pans and new knives for the kitchen. Also, Paul would like to purchase a few more
long, white tables. Paul suggested about
3 tables be purchased. Larry commented
that Trustees has money to purchase tables.
Perhaps this might be something for them to purchase. Trunk or Treat had
well over 300 attendees! Paul feels that Trunk or Treat was a draw, as families
came in before Trunk or Treat and had lunch before hand.
Paul also commented on the large white wall, and wondered
what was being done with it. He
suggested a mural be painted on it. Paul
will bring some ideas to share. Trustees
have had some plans for the wall also.
Unfinished
Business: none
Next meeting: Monday, November 18
Respectfully submitted,
Gail Conschafter
