November 18, 2013
Church Council
Minutes
Meeting was called to order and opened in prayer by
Pastor Larry. Unison reading of the
mission statement.
Attendees: Pastor Larry, Charlie Yund, Gail Conschafter,
Chris Hipp, Anne Hipp, Mike Fonte, Jan Garrison, Terri Bellanca, Fred Claus,
Laura Mason, Sue Kaiser., Liz Von Wald, John Harbison, Sheila Rader
God
Sightings: Mike shared the
experience that his daughter is having during her time of student teaching at a
city school in Niagara Falls. She is
looking to do something special for her underprivileged class. (PJ’s,
toothbrush, books, crayons, and a small toy.) This is all for children in
grades K – 1. Prayers for those that have been affected by the tornadoes in
Illinois and Indiana.
Changes in Agenda:
Larry has to step out early, so he will present his report earlier than
planned.
Pastor’s Report: Larry and Nate met today. He is doing better, and will be entering the
work force soon. Confirmation has gone
well and thanks to those that are helping.
Wednesday evening continue to go along. Holidays are well planned. There will be three services for Christmas
Eve. Information on One Starry Night is
not going to allowed to be distributed within the school district. A great deal of publicity has gone out to Ken
Ton, and Niagara Falls, as well as the in-church Nursery Schools.
Minutes from October’s meeting were approved as
corrected. Motion made by Chris Hipp seconded by Fred Claus. Motion approved unamimously.
Calendar Events:
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 14 Internet Safety Course
by Fred Claus here at TUMC.
Feb 25, March 15
April 12 Spiritual Enrichment
Dates
March 5 Ash Wednesday Prayer
Vigil
July 13
(week) Possible VBS week (tentative!) Liz does not want to conflict with
Bible Pres and Whitehaven Baptist.
Finance/Stewardship
Report: Chris Hipp reported from the
blog:
Through
October, General Fund giving is $259.0k vs. $281.6k in 2013, while expenses are
$273.5k vs. $299.9k. The General Fund balance is -$4.3k vs. - $8.4k
last year. To date we have paid $8.6k on apportionments of $43.2k
ytd.
The
year-end forecasting software suggests that we may end up 8% below 2012, near
$325k and thus unable to substantially reduce our apportionments arrears.
A
contingency 2014 budget has been developed for implementation if
needed, which reduces spending by about $30k, should it be necessary
once the results of our current Stewardship campaign are known. We
simply cannot continue down the unsustainable path we have been on.
Chris
Hipp – Chair, Finance Committee
Fall Festival money may be used to pay apportionments.
The knives and cutting boards have been taken care of by the UMW, so that money
will not be taken out of the Fall Festival profits. The total of apportionments changes each
year. 2014 it is $46,000. This year it
is $51,000 and we have paid $8600. There
was discussion on the giving and those giving at TUMC. The formula for apportionments is largely
based on the income of the church. We
need to help our congregation understand what the apportionments are used
for. Larry commented that in 2014 we
need a dynamic group of people that will be key in evangelism.
Committee Reports: Sheila reported that the decorations for
Starry Night are almost up, and wondered if the 5:00 Christmas Eve service
might be held in Historic Trinity. The question came up as to whether or not we
could video tape One Starry Night.
Discussion followed. Charlie
suggested Sheila talk with Paul Sipson and the worship committee. Charlie reported he met with the Historic
Trinity committee. It has served several
purposes to many people. How do we get
people enthusiastic about using the building. Discussion followed on how to
utilize the space, perhaps during the week.
There is discussion that seating will be put into it at a later
date. It is a good place for small
weddings and funerals. Sue Kaiser
reported that some improvements need to be made. If you have any suggestions or know of anyone
who might be interested in using the building, talk to Sharon Nichols.
There was discussion on new attendees and how to get
mailing information from them. It was
suggested that we start taking attendance again with the sign in pads. Charlie will discuss it with Larry and
perhaps start that up again.
Hospitality: Sheila
shared what some churches are doing with those people that miss a “few”
Sundays. Jan remarked that we still have all the attendance pads should we
start taking attendance again on a regular basis. Suggestion was made to call last year
attendees for One Starry Night and invite them back this year. A short video was shown on Inviting Others to
Grow in Faith. Sheila motioned we reinstate the attendance pads at all
services. Motion seconded by Fred Claus. Motion passed unanimously. We have fulfilled
some of the areas we had addressed a few years ago: vibrant youth/Sunday
school, growing Confirmation class, and momentum. Small group concept was discussed. Perhaps once a month is a good place to
start. Ann commented on the Time and
Talent survey. What happened to the
“results” and the follow through from that survey. Jan still has them in the desk drawer. Fred expressed interest in developing a
dinner and movie with free child care.
Fred and Nate will talk and perhaps offer this to young families. Charlie encouraged Fred to move forward with
this idea! The young families are the ones that need to be nurtured.
Unfinished
Business: none
Larry closed the meeting in prayer at 8:55 PM.
Next meeting: Monday, December 16, 2013 at 7 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Gail Conschafter
