Voter’s Assembly Minutes 4/28/19
Attendance:
Harlow and Joann Johnson, Rhonda Stoetzel, Helene Grotans, Pat Bagley, Arnie Seitz, Rhonda Hare, Lisa Pieper, LaVerne Damrao, Noah Utecht, Corinne Johnson, Jim Pieper, Amber Jensen, Jeff Taylor, Joel Bartel, Lisa Pieper, Dale Malcom, Doug Anderson, Pastor, Jenn Milner
11:50 Call Meeting to Order
Pro Tempore President Jim P.
Pastor begins with prayer.
Dale Motions to accept agenda. Joel Seconds. Agenda accepted.
Old Minutes: Jenn forgot about that. Will get them for everyone .
Will have a consent vote about board reports. Ministries can give reports if they are here.
President’s Report:
We can’t hide under a bushel. Need to let the gospel light shine. What is the foresight of the church and what kind of legacy will we be knowns for. Ask God for guidance in our future decisions. Onward Christian soldiers: let Christ be out leader.
Council Meeting was held a couple weeks ago. Jim goes over minutes from Council Meeting .
No Secretary Report.
Treasurer Report.
Handed out contribution status report. Feb ended up 3100 behind in offering (lost a Sunday to weather) but we were over in March. For the first two months we are in good shape so far. Better shape than we were last year at this time.
Memorial Fund Report
Laverne has a report with number from end of last year. We also have a report for March for the specified funds.
Ida wants to buy a new Altar cloth because our is stained. Noah makes a motion to approve the purchase. Joel Seconds. Motion carries.
Joel and Jeff request that this report get into an excel spreadsheet so it’s easier to read.
Financial Secretary Report
Main thing is the YTD number compared to last year. More than 1000 ahead on total offerings. Total wise, we are $750 above. This is for Jan-March of this year. Will change to February (beginning of fiscal year).
Elder’s Report
Wrapped up their article study Thanks to everyone who did the Lenten Meals.
Action plan for community outreach has been great. Dale brought over many loads of food and money.
Picnic will be August after memorial day. .
Trustees Report
Recent Maintenance: Installed new batteries in safety lights, got a temporary mailbox outside for pastor (rusted). Jeff did work at parsonage. New screen door, fixing door seals. Dishwasher is broken (part is on order). Didn’t have any major leaks with the flooding. Pushed all of the snow over to the shed so that helped. Should do a better job
Have to keep the front door clear of snow for fire safety reasons.
Would like to paint the interior of the church. Quote $4150.00 in November. Would be done before Christmas. Joel would like to do a fundraiser to help with it over the summer. See if we can get approval going forward.
Immediate concerns. Need approval for new stove at the parsonage. Front door needs a fire safety handle so we can get out in an emergency.
We are adding to our to do list all the time to keep things up.
In a nutshell, there is a lot of stuff to improve.
Pat Bagley There is a water spout on the outside of the church. There is only one.
We have been trying to maintain minimal costs over the last couple of years and it’s catching up with us.
Pastor Report
4 new members, 2 members removed, 1 couple married in September 2020
February was rough for attendance because of Weather. Attendance for Lent and Easter is up overall.
Officiated memorial service for Russel Loman.
Confirmation tests and dates set.
6:00 Tuesday nights we are going to have Adult confirmation. Feel free to stop by for a refresher. Working to ward baptism and membership.
Have to find a pastor to fill in for NYG.
Mark Peters has passed away this morning. We praise god for his service to our congregation and we will see him again in all eternity. Pray for his family and for Shepherd of the Hills.
Consent Vote for all updates. A-H
Motion to accept reports by Noah. Harlow seconds. Motion carries.
Review the Old Minutes:
Motion to accept from 1/13: Dale motions. Noah seconds. Motion carries.
Ministries Announcements
Education
Great year. Added four students.
Next year we are looking for additional teachers to help split up classes. Possibly mentor teachers for post-communion.
Many opportunities for volunteer for VBS. Games crafts, etc. Thanks to everyone.
Ida says adult Mentors for catechism students were here before. We would like to reestablish in Sunday School. Help keep.
Youth Report:
National Youth Gathering is now just 2 ½ months away. We are so excited that what we have been preparing for is almost here! As of right now, we are fully funded to send the 3 boys and 2 leaders to the gathering, with a little extra money for food and Gathering memorabilia. We have one more big fundraiser (The yard sale and brat fry) which will help contribute to a nest egg we can leave for future attendees. In the next two months, the boys and leaders will complete a Bible study to prepare for the gathering and will hopefully have some more group bonding events. The boys all went bowling a month or so ago.
Easter breakfast went really well. We had many volunteers so the work was done quickly and efficiently, and I think we were successful in providing a time of fellowship as we celebrated our risen lord. The Youth raised approximately $350.00 in free will donations. Because we are fully funded for the youth gathering, we decided to use the money to buy St. Paul’s a new grill. We had been using Pastor’s for several years, but last year it bit the dust. The grill is something that will be beneficial not only to youth in their fundraising, but also to any other ministry that would like to use it for fellowship meals and fundraisers.
Sunday School staff cleaned out some closets in the basement and did some spring cleaning. We found a lot of great stuff that we didn’t know we even had! Some things we are not sure what to do with. We don’t think they will be useful to the current iteration of our Sunday School and Youth programs. We are grateful for the donations and they were well used when we had a preschool. We are looking for recommendations from the voters about what to do with these extra materials.
Jim says we need to think about Stewardship.
Pastor says we need guidance.
Pat says put in totes and set to the side.
Dale asks about St. Vinniey’s.
Ida says Dime to Dollar is a good
Doug says why not put it in our own rummage sale? I trust their judgement.
Doug moves to trust judgement of the Sunday school. Noah seconded. Congregation says aye. Jim says no. Need to be aware of things that are donated and stewardship.
Doug: That’s why Corinne and Jenn came to council. So we have the voter’s approval for our actions.
Pastor: Go down and look and sort through the items to see if there is anything of importance to you.
Corinne: There is some stuff with students names on it so check it out. Barb Jensen has taken anything that she wants and has put the decision to the voters.
Fellowship:
Mother Daughter Banquet on May 6th. We have been serving 100 – 120 people. All ladies should be there and men please help serve. Brian will be here around 2:00.
Ida: What happens to offering for Mother Daughter Banquet?
Bryan: Budget comes from fellowship and Lisa takes to buy the presents, etc. and for entertainment.
Strawberry Supper is the 3rd Wednesday of June. Had a donation of banners to put up by our signs.
Altar Guild
Did an inventory of banners. Several church seasons that we don’t have banners for, so we are ordering some new ones.
Altar guild was thinking about 9:00 service with Sunday School after to bring us all together.
Ida: is there a list of ministry heads?
Jenn will double check that the list is updated.
Old Business:
Constitution reminder. Make copies of the constitution and have them available. When we install new members, they should be a copy of the constitution.
Directory: Spreadsheet of info out in the entry. Want to have it ready by September 8th for rally Sunday.
Motion to accept old business: Ida. Dale seconds. Motion Passes.
New Business:
Short and Long Term Goals.
A. Painting: Add offices to the list.
Al Williams got the quote from. Ida says check with Heinz because he’s local.
Thinking about grays neutrals.
Ida has comment about short term goals. Nothing about evangelism or bringing people to Christ.
Jim says we will bring that up later down the list.
Motion to paint the interior of the building (no celing) by November of this year. After quotes are done. Noah motions Dale seconds. Ida opposed.
Joel: Can I proceed with a fundraiser? Joel wants to do a gun raffle throughout the community to raise money for it. Dale suggests raffle for the women as well. YES good to go
B. Parsonage
No official quote for the ducts. Thinks it could be done for $300.oo Corinne says it would be nice. Joel says it can be under $50.00
C. New Stove for parsonage.
Motion to allocate money for new stove. Noah motions and Dale seconds.
Bryan: remember tax exemptions.
. Downstairs stove.
Going to get a quote on getting it repaired. Before Strawberry supper.
Jim: Bring quotes to council
D. Sealcoat on parking lot
Joel is going to get quotes.
Parking lot fund was to extend the parking lot into the grass. Not to seal.
Arnie says the village objects to extending the parking lot. Arnie suggests that we worry about the parking lot we have now. Maintain it.
Joel: Can we take money there or not?
LaVerne: building fund?
Ida: Ida moves to amend parking lot fund to include maintenance not just expansion. Pat seconded. Motion passes.
E. Stewardship
Stewardship is more than just money. We need to come up with a policy for budget shortfalls. Put a policy in place that people can designate giving under $5,000. Look at models from other churches to present. Recommend getting an endowment fund.
Bring it up in Council on June 11 and have ready for July Voter’s Meeting.
Form a committee to deal with these items?
Bryan? What do you mean by that?
Jim: We have so much funds locked up. We are trying to do the lord’s work and hard to do when the gifts are locked up.
Pastor: Specifically for memorial funds.
Noah: More important one for endowment. Have to have a giving policy in place about how people can give to the church. Like people giving a house to the church. Etc. Everything needs to be liquidated. There are many facets to this. Want to build a committee to talk about this. Recommended by the LCMS to have a policy.
Noah will chair. Jim, Ida, Harlow. That’s the committee. Will present June 11th at Council.
F. American Heritage Girls
Charter renewal was brought up at council.
Corinne Report. This will be 3rd year. Faith Service and Fun in that order. All members in good standing. Moving curriculum to even more faith based. Service is a part of all levels. Have also been working with Trustees to work on Service to this church.
Hope to have first overnight campout this summer.
$100.00 up front for each girl. $50.00 each subsequent year.
Ask church to renew charter. And make it an ongoing ministry of the church (in the constitution).
Joel motions that we add it to the constitution as a line item for $195.00 charter renewal. Motion passes.
Noah motions to amend the constitution to include AHG as a listed ministry.
Doug says it needs to be submitted in writing and voted on next meeting. And align with article four. Aligns with the Lutheran confessions. Leaders are all confessional LCMS.
Long Term Goals
Building Committee: Joel would like to chair the committee. Feasibility study.
Ida: No glass window because of structure?
Committee Members: Noah Jeff Dale
Put bulletin notice about the committee and put something larger about it in the June Newsletter.
Good of the Order
Joann: How come not going to be our president?
Jim: Nov-March rolls around I am way too busy.
Dale motions to adjourn Noah seconds.
Lord’s Prayer.