Church Council Minutes, April 2008

Members Present: Carole and Paul Burris, Pastor David, Gloria Clark, Kara Berg, David and Ginny Comings, Susan Collins, Patti Floyd, Kelly Akemann, Vickie Akemann, Amy Zapata, Keith Paskiewicz, Ron Stout, Guests: Mentors and Confirmees: Steve Mink and Nick Rager, Barb DeMoulen and Mackenzie Luzen, Mareen Stanley and Tessa Hanlon, Barb Greenwald and Kathryn Bohner.

Gathering Time:

Carole welcomed our guests, four 2008 confirmands and mentors, and briefly explained the purpose of the Church Council and the alternating monthly agenda focus. Keith offered a prayer to formally open the meeting.

Mechanics:

The Church Calendar was passed for additions and/or corrections. The March minutes were reviewed. Ginny C. moved to accept the minutes; Keith seconded the motion; motion passed.

Resource & Support Areas:

Treasurer - Paul distributed March 31^st Balance Sheet and Budget Summary. He emphasized all receipts must be presented to the specific committee chair for approval and signature before submitting (to Paul) for payment.

Finance - Susan Collins explained the “Out of Pockets” fund-raising campaign. April 27^th will be the “kick-off” date for this new project to be explained/presented to the congregation. She reiterated, during the December Church Council meeting, the Council voted memorial/bequests funds be utilized for specific projects. Some project costs have exceeded budget. Susan inquired if Council approval is required to fund the over runs; discussion ensued; and, from the $49K budgeted, the following will be re-allocated: $6,900 from the Capital Replacement account, $4,100 from Building, and $5,000 to complete the mechanical requirements for the fire suppression system.

Budget vs Income – Carole shared our “giving is way down”. Easter collections were less than expected; no special Easter envelopes were mailed (to the congregation) - was that a factor?? Carole asked for suggestions on ways to inspire giving on a regular basis and make giving a priority. Compared to other churches, EUMC giving is very “low”. How can we make persons feel they are an integral part of the church? Nick Rager suggested telling the story of the widow who “gave all she had”. Others suggested double giving for one month, Catch-up Sunday, Ginny C. shared the enthusiasm an outside speaker may generate, Pastor David stated, “it’s a blessing to give”, David C. suggested “overflow” (spare $), Susan C. suggested an example- giving up “one coffee a day”. No firm or final consensus.

Annual Rummage Sale, May 30^th and 31^st – help will be needed the prior week for sorting, pricing, etc.

Keith suggested placing a Rummage Sale sign be affixed to the Boy Scout trailer; then, moving the trailer to the west side of Randall Road EUMC property) for high visibility.

Nuture People in Faith:

Taste of Epworth, June 21^st, 3-7 PM: Kelly A: Theme will be Dancing with the Star. Set up will occur on the same-day morning. Still needed: committees to sign up for their choice of “courses”. Discussion followed regarding ticket prices, size of portions, voting for the best (food, booth???), and the Traveling Pig prize. Perhaps the Youth Band will provide entertainment.

Trustees Update - Ron Stout shared the following: the tower entrance and hallway have been freshly painted; Al Rohde is interested in several “improvement” projects (bathrooms, Sacristy-area shelving, etc.); Brian Kirmse is planning a “mostly-outside” Saturday Workday; Kelly Brown and Brian K. are discussing additional wall paint; installation of the hood and fire suppress system should commence shortly. The upstairs entrance door will be moved to the west end of the parlor and become the “main upstairs” entrance… (the “old door will be gone”)…which will allow the parlor to become a “nice meeting room”. He met with the Pingree Grove Fire Chief regarding the (based upon square footage) sprinkler requirements; no sprinklers are necessary which reduces the required size of the well.

Page 2, Church Council, April 22, 2008

Nuture People in Faith (continued)

Reflection Centers- Carole explained and identified the various areas located throughout the church designed for individual reflection and prayer. In May, the Centers’ focus will be changed to “the how and why of service”.

Dancing with the Star meeting – May 5^th, 7 PM: This gathering will focus on the upcoming campaign to share ideas and “gear up” for the fall and “recap” the plans.

Witness:

Sign Update – Kara: The current Highland & Randall sign will be replaced with a new taller, wider, digital sign. Kara “found” a grant from the United Methodist Communications Division. Designs have been submitted to the County and, following approval, the sign can be installed within six weeks. We are seeking installation assistance from the congregation such as welding, pouring concrete, electrical connections, etc. Kara asked all present to “take charge” of finding persons to help with this project.

Sharing of other Topics

Youth Director, Mollie Denman, is “retiring” at the end of May…the Youth are planning the retirement farewell event. Search is underway for a Youth Director. The Staff Parish Committee will appreciate suggestions and recommendations for this position.

Parsonage – the yard has been smoothed and topsoil spread. Trees (purchased last fall and “wintered over”) will be planted shortly. Sidewalks and the driveway are installed. Bids for the Air Conditioning are being sought.

Prayers from the People

Several concerns were voiced. Specific healing prayers are requested for Charlotte Kwan and Patti Floyd’s Mother’.

The meeting was adjourned. Our next meeting date is May 27^th.

Trustee Board Minutes, May 14, 2008

Epworth United Methodist Church
Trustee Board Minutes
May 14, 2008
Present: Ron S, Brad B, David Newhouse, Jan S, Kelly B, Brian K, Al R, Brigid R.
Minutes from April were read and approved.
Good News Items - Repairs in the women’s bathroom off the Community Room are underway. The lawn looks great, Lomelin doing a great job so far. A ridge cap blew off on the roof and Brian has already taken care of it.
Expense Review - Ron went over the budget with the objective of finding funds to cut back on so that we could cover the overage created by the snow plowing from last winter. It was decided to use $2,000 of the money allocated for Building Cleaning Service, $600 from the Exterior Building Maintenance, $500 from Water, Well & Septic, $500 from General Maintenance & Repairs, $300 from Chair & Table Equipment, and $100 from Art & Accessories; making up the $4,000 overage.
Water Review - The Trustees then discussed the pros and cons of a decision that needs to be made regarding either Annexing to Elgin and hooking up with their water system or digging another deeper well. The difference in the amount of money is quite substantial however, we will try to get more answers from Elgin and figure out the benefits (or not) of Annexing to Elgin. Brad & Ron bring more info to next meeting and so this issue will be tabled until then.
Projects - Brad informed us that Karen Belt would be willing to plant by the Tower Entrance, it was suggested that she co-ordinate with the Breslich’s.
* Ron said that the Kitchen Hood and Fire System project will begin this Friday. Ron will finish with the electrical pipe and Fox Valley will hook up the fire suppression system and alarm.
* Parlor -Brian brought his proposal for all the work that is to be done, Ron made a motion to accept it as is, Kelly seconded. All approved.
*Community Room Lights -Al will remove the big lights and fans, track lighting and dimmers and put in industrial lighting with higher output, we will just have to pay for materials. He suggested that we just pay to get it done.
*Kelly stated that the carpet in the Community Room will also be replaced with something as yet unknown. She will get prices. The money for the Community Room projects can come from Bequests or “Other Pocket” money and can maybe be done over the summer.
*The bathroom remodel will come out of Bequests and include a handicap vanity, more lighting, and the mirror’s need to be addressed. The ceiling tiles also need to be replaced.
*The Eternal Flame is ready to be hung back up and the sacristy closets are ready for clean-out.
Walk-on Items - Bryan Denman was unable to be at this meeting but sent a report in which he stated that Roy has not yet signed off on the house next door to the church, Dave Akemann is working on it and Bryan is checking on demolition issues.
* David would like to see more Chancel space by adding risers to the front with carpet to match what we have.
* Ron would like to see some of the hay bales cleaned out and the rest stored better.
* Brian will set up an all-church clean-up on a Sunday in June.
David led us in a closing prayer.
Meeting was adjourned. Next meeting Wednesday, June 11^th at 6:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Brigid Rakow

Mission Committee Minutes 4-08

Present: Co-Chairs: Alyson B and Diane L. Members: Mary B, J F, Shelia B, Carol B and Mary Rees F.

1. Minutes presented and accepted.

2. Meals on Wheels: We need volunteers for May 27-30. J Fazel will take 5/28, Shelia will take 5/30, Ginny Becker-Comings will take a day, which will only leave Tuesday. If you know of any other possible people who would be able to help with this important project, please contact Alyson.

3. The Soup Kettle is this Tuesday, May 20^th at Zion Lutheran Church from 4-6:30pm. Alyson was concerned that last month we didn’t really have enough volunteers and we had to make phone calls to get more people to help. Mary Rees Freeman felt that one of the problems this month was that we were unable to make an announcement during church services. Next month, Mary Rees Freeman will again check the church for determining the meal and will meet with J Fazel to check out his supply of fresh vegetables on Monday for the meal on Tuesday. Mary Rees Freeman has e-mailed the suggested information regarding a time breakdown in the bulletin and for the e-mail blast to reflect the activity. Such as: 4-5:30pm meal preparation and dining room set-up, 5:30-6:30pm serving the meal to the guests and 6:15-6:45pm is clean-up and dinning room re-set.

4. PADS continues to need volunteers on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month, which is May 14^th. The volunteers for this month so far will be J Fazel, Alyson Beucler & Mary Rees Freeman. J Fazel announced that on Sunday, May 18^th the guests of PADS would like to show their appreciation to PADS volunteers for their tireless efforts and the cheerful work they have done for them throughout the years. To thank the volunteers for their help, PADS guests will prepare a celebratory cookout for all food-service volunteers. The event will take place Sunday, May 18th at the Hoeft Resource Center at 1730 Berkely St in Elgin, from 1:00-4:00pm. Please RSVP to 847-608-9744 by May 12^th.

5. May food collection for the Food Pantry will be pasta & sauces, rice and other grains.

6. The May Rainbow Covenant Project collection will be for PADS.

7. Red Cross Flood Buckets and Health Kits - This information will need to be placed in the bulletin for the collection to begin for this project. Alyson and Mary Rees Freeman suggested to place the lists on the table for the flood bucket display and include places to purchase supplies and the costs of the items so people could have a better idea of where to shop for needed items. We will also try to get this information into the church bulletin.

8. Elgin Christian Development Corporation: We need to send another $100 to cover our $50 a month donation commitment to cover the months of April and May. Motion by J Fazel and was approved.

9. Hostas Plant Sale during the Garage Sale on May 30 and 31 was approved. The plant sale will benefit the Heifer Project. We need to have volunteers to work at plant sale at Garage Sale. Mary Rees Freeman will send out an e-mail to mission committee members to sign up for times to help with the plant sale during the garage sale.

10. Nothing but Nets Project – went well. We are waiting for a report from Kelly and the financial report regarding the amount collected to purchase nets. We will table final report until next month.

11. The Mission Committee is responsible for coffee during the month of August. This sign up sheet will also be sent out via e-mail to the committee members.

12. Taste of Epworth: Carol Burris reported this would be a new event sponsored by the entire church. The theme is dance to go along with the Dance with the Star Project. The church is asking all committees to provide a food table at the event and our team has agreed to a table featuring Salsa to eat and music for listening pleasure and fun, with a little costuming to match, again for fun. The date of this event is Saturday, June 21^st with the times to be announced. We of course will need mission committee members to volunteer to bring salsa, chips and work the table that day.

13. Communication Suggestion: In discussion the many items and events that we have going on, it was decided that we need to be making announcements during both services most every week. How to facilitate that is always a challenge. Diane Lancour suggested that it could be as simple as who ever is at either service just stand up and make the announcement to ensure our congregation will have all of our information to know what is going on with Missions and where they can help and participate.

14. Also, we will need someone to take minutes at the next meeting, scheduled for May 18^th at 9:45am as Mary Rees Freeman will be out of town that day.

Next Mission Meeting will be May 18, 2008 at 9:45am. (due to Mother’s Day on the 2^nd Sunday)

Mission Committee Minutes 3-08

Present: Co-Chairs: Alyson B and Diane L. Members: Pastor David, Mary B, J F, Shelia B, Sandy K, Kelly S, Kara B and Mary Rees F.

1. Minutes accepted as presented and motion passed.

2. March food for the Food Pantry will be peanut butter and jelly.

3. Meals on Wheels: Joan and Dwane Clements are new volunteers and did three days during the week, however Lillian Mink fell on the ice getting out of her car and is recovering. Ginny Becker-Commings also took a day when Barb Greenwald was unable to volunteer. If you know of any other possible people who would be able to help with this important project, please contact Alyson. Our next delivery date will be the end of May.

4. PADS continues to need volunteers on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month, which is March 12^th. The volunteers for this month so far will be J Fazel, Kelly Stover, Alyson Beucler & Mary Rees Freeman.

5. The Soup Kettle is this Tuesday, March 18^th at Zion Lutheran Church from 4-6:30pm. Mary Rees Freeman will check the church for determining and will meet with J Fazel to check out his supply of fresh vegetables on Monday for the meal as well. Mary Rees Freeman suggested in adding a time breakdown in the bulletin and for the e-mail blast to reflect the activity. Such as: 4-5:30pm meal preparation and dining room set-up, 5:30-6:30pm serving the meal to the guests and 6:15-6:45pm is clean-up and dinning room re-set.

6. Mission Work: Sheila Burris reported that the proposal to send volunteers to Humboldt Park UMC to help them facilitate an office move in their building had to be cancelled because we did not receive any members to volunteer for this project.

7. Red Cross Flood Buckets and Health Kits - This information will need to be placed in the bulletin for the collection to begin for this project. Kelly and Kara will work on getting several buckets and kits put together for a display and collection area in the Fellowship Hall. Kelly noted that the disinfectant dish soap was omitted from the list and this needs to be corrected.

8. Farmers Market: Sandy Kaptain will get the schedule and will continue to work with these groups to have several market days here at Epworth and also work on signage for these events.

9. The committee also discussed the possibility of having another plant sale in conjunction with the Garage Sale that is scheduled for June 7^th.

10. Nothing but Nets Project – Alyson complemented Kelly and Kara on a job well done on the bulletin board. The committee discussed options for a fundraiser for this project. Maybe something with the children like basketball free throw game/competition. For the smaller children maybe something like Bozo buckets. It was suggested that maybe we could do this in conjunction with one of the Wednesday evening dinners before the end of April. These dates are Wednesday, April 9^th and Sunday, April 13^th. We will ask to do a child’s time presentation with a net during the services.

11. The Warren Village in Denver Colorado is the Rainbow project for March.

12. New Projects: Kara is working on a new approach and design for the newsletter. Discussion on Garden Plots being offered to members for rent on our church property on unused land.

Next Mission Meeting will be April 20, 2008 at 9:45am.

Financial Committee Minutes 4-8-08

Financial Committee Minutes

April 8, 2008

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Income shortfall plus Easter gifts were very small
• Some projects are over budget. Is reallocation of memorial money necessary?
• “Other Pockets” campaign kickoff is April 27. Committee is in place.

In attendance: Donald B, Bill B, Joe B, Pastor David Newhouse, Carol W, and Susan C.

Approval of Minutes: Bill moved, and Don seconded, that we approve the minutes of the last meeting. Approved.

Treasurer’s Report: In Paul’s absence the committee reviewed the reports he had sent. Our income is down, and the extra expenses from the long, snowy winter have negatively impacted our budget. The numbers for the Pastor’s Pension and Insurance were confusing to those present. Susan will ask Paul for clarification for the May meeting. Paul asked us to note that the Multimedia bequest fund was at $0.00, but there are still bills being presented for it. Also, there is only $1860.23 left in the Kitchen Hood bequest fund, but we still have several thousand dollars of expenses for it. Part of the concern is that some of the Architect’s fees we’ve paid from this fund were for drawings not related to the kitchen hood. Pastor David relayed that Ron Stout has requested from the architecture firm a breakdown of their fees by project. We will need to address with Paul and Jan Starner, the Trustees member in charge of Memorials, how to cover these additional expenses, possibly through reallocation of Memorial funds.

This raised the issue of Susan asking the Church Council Members to have their committee members turn in all receipts to the committee chairs who would then turn them in to Paul. This would allow the chairpersons to track the monies allocated to his or her own committee rather than having Paul carry this extra responsibility. It would also give Paul the information he needs when paying bills.

Financial Secretary, Carol Westphal, told us that statements will be mailed to members on Thursday, April 10. Carol was asked to furnish the Missions Committee with information about money that is collected for mission projects so they can keep the congregation posted on how our mission money is spent.

New Business

Taste Of Epworth: This event is June 21, at church. Susan signed up Finance to be in charge of drinks.

Communicating Financial Data: We have discussed ways to let the congregation know, on a regular basis, where our finances stand. Pastor David inserted into the April newsletter a monthly summary of our finances for the first 2 ½ months of this year. Should this be a regular feature or is there another way we would like to disseminate

Finance Minutes, 4/8/08 p. 2

this information? Should the “Goal” amount be the annual budget divided by 12, or the monthly budget as listed in our actual budget?

Special Mailings: This year our Easter gifts totaled only $240, a huge decrease in what is usually given on that day. Paul asked us to consider how not having the special holiday mailing we’ve had in years past could have affected the gifts this year. Easter is considered an “extra” Sunday for our budget, but this year the low gift total didn’t make a difference in the budget. Should we reinstate the special mailings for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Legacy Giving: This will be discussed after Lay Leadership has an opportunity to meet and appoint the committee per the Annual Conference.

Comprehensive project list: Although we have many projects in progress, a comprehensive list isn’t readily available. This may affect how some of the Memorial money is allocated or reallocated. We also need to discuss what may be some false assumptions about the availability of some of the Memorial money. This will also be important to the “Other Pockets” campaign. One of their tasks is to explain where the funds raised in this campaign will be spent.

Old Business

Capital Campaign: Our “Other Pockets” campaign will officially kick off on Sunday, April 27. Pastor David already inserted into the April newsletter a one page description of the campaign, its purpose and goals. The campaign committee is not complete, but the most of the positions have been filled. Pastor David suggested e-mailing Kevin Gowdy, our consultant, about including “economic stimulus” checks in the campaign program.

Annual Garage Sale: Susan confirmed with Janis Denman that she will be chairing the annual garage sale. The dates have been set for May 30 and 31. There will also be flowers for sale for Heifer Project, food and kids games.

Electronic sign: This sign should be installed by August. It will have 6” letters, and will be visible from Randall Road.

Adjourned at 8:17. Our next meeting is Tuesday, May 13, at 7 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Collins, Chair

Stewardship Meeting Notes 4/15/08

Stewardship Minutes Meeting 4/15/08

In attendance: Steve M, Kara B, Pastor David Newhouse, & Carole B

Highlights:

Reflection Centers focus will change to Service 5/3

Fall Financial Stewardship Campaign- important to have a personal touch and to celebrate!

Reflection Centers-

We will continue 3 stations: SonRise Room, Tower, and back of Sanctuary each one focusing on a different aspect of the stewardship of service using SSS as a spring board for it.

Ideas- Job Jar, branch with ideas attached, hall tree w/ balloons attached having opportunities for service on them(along the line of the giving tree)

Ideas for Service-

“Mainly Man” theme for one?,

note writing with addresses attached,

making of knit items to be used as gifts,

garden planting,

shut ins-offer them opportunities

travel w/David to serve communion

Talk to Trustees about physical jobs around church(Steve will contact Al Rohde, Carole will contact Brad Bohner)

Promote in worship thru interviews or skits- thought needs fine tuning

Taste of Epworth, June 21^st- 3-7 We discussed appetizers- assted skewers but we may be asked to do a different course so will work out at next meeting

Fall Campaign- We looked at various programs, will future discuss next meeting when everyone is in attendance but do feel that the personal touch and celebration aspects are very important!