April 22, 2019 Stated Session Meeting
Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church
Stated Session Meeting April 22, 2019 7 PM
Present: Karen Atkins, Stan Campbell, Pat Chappell, Paul Harrell, Paul Isom, Marcia Ladd (Clerk), John McDowell, Maggie Reif, Terry Rudolph, Jerry Wehmueller (Treasurer), Andrew Taylor-Troutman (Moderator)
Excused Absence: Barbara Amago
Re – Meeting Time at 7PM with New Members – Maggie Ford; Diana Lys and Neil Morrison and their family Ian and Eva were welcomed by session.
Marcia will ask Nana to ask First Presbyterian in Greenville which of them are joining by transfer of letter and which by affirmation of faith. Maggie will join on May 12 by affirmation of faith. New Members and session introduced themselves.
Andrew called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM.
Paul Harrell led the devotion ending in a prayer. Stan moved to approve the agenda, it was unanimously approved. John moved to approve the consent agenda and consent agenda. Paul Isom wondered since we are spraying the bag worms if there were guidelines in the earth care procedures, Karen indicated they were using a minimal and targeted spray. Maggie indicated you only get positive, not negative points. Terry seconded the motion it was unanimously approved. Terry seconded, session unanimously approved.
Consent Agenda-Please read these items in advance. They will be voted on as a group without discussion unless someone pulls a particular entry from the Consent Agenda
- Approval of Session minutes-stated meeting 3/18/19
- Approval of committee minutes – Building and Grounds 4/9/19, Personnel 4/8/19, Finance and Administration 4/11/19, Christian Education March 27 and April 15
- Correspondence – thank you from Faith Connections on mental Illness, Update from Presbytery on Re-organization, funding requests from U Kirk and Karla Koll, Chatham County Juneteenth celebration, Habitat dedication invitation. Loan approval solar panels
Pastoral Report
Andrew asked session to turn to his pastoral letter distributed in the session packet. He indicated he is grateful for the feedback from the committee discussions regarding the proposed change to Sunday morning schedule. Due to Holy Week, he has not had the chance to check-in with every elder. But it is safe to say that, for the immediate future, we will not add a second service.
There have been some great ideas that have been raised through the process! We will discuss more at the session retreat on May the Fourth.
For now, just to be clear he wanted session to know he did not suggest an early service to the parents. Several came to him with this request. He is hoping that session will approve a cookout on May 19th to receive more feedback from young families. He also did not envision an exact replica of the Monday evening worship for the second Sunday service, but rather an order of worship that incorporated some of the elements like contemplative songs. He will be trying some of these elements in our 10:30 AM service.
The most immediate need is in the nursery. He has learned that one young family stopped attending CitP because they did not feel they could leave their children in the nursery, and it seems several visitors have raised concerns as well. It was important to him to stress that this is NOT a negative reflection on our nursery workers or volunteers. They are much beloved. The space is too small. We are looking at converting the largest Godly Play classroom into a second nursery.
Moving on … He happily announced the summer’s internship with Duke Divinity and Rachel Smith. Her biography and brief statement of faith were included in your session materials. Rachel will serve from May 26th until the first Sunday in August. John asked about the May 19th gathering, Andrew indicated it was geared toward younger families, in particular the Godly Play programming and how to get greater participation. Karen asked Andrew about the Nursery Space being too small. He was told the nursery was too crowded. He has also been told by volunteers the nursery is too crowded, hot and perhaps at times not as safe as they would like. One of the problems is that young parents bring a lot of supplies that tend to get piled up on the sides. A coat rack in the hall might be a good device to have and perhaps a greeter by the door to the nursery. Stan suggested that the nursery volunteer should greet the families at the door for the first 10 minutes of their volunteer period. He wall between the Gathering Room and the Godly Play room can be torn down in case we need a larger room. There may be more young families in the summer.
Treasurer’s Report
We experienced another month where monthly revenues exceeded monthly expenses which is quite positive compared to other years. This brings our “surplus” for the first quarter to almost $61,000. Although there will be some unplanned expenses going forward we should be in good financial shape for the rest of the year based on the first three months.
Clerk’s Report
Marcia asked if anyone had updates to the duties listed for their committees in the Manual of Operations
Finance and Administration
Stan drew session’s attention to the updated Wish List in the session packet. He briefly described the changes. He then asked session to look at the motion for funding the cleaning of the columns.
Approve $4000 above the $600 budgeted to clean the columns in the front of the church
He explained the rationale behind the request. The restoration of the porch columns is much more expensive than B & G budgeted for–$600 versus $4,600. After discussion regarding why this is important to prevent future problems, and the work B&G has done to find a company that is willing and able to do this work, the committee voted to recommend the overspending of their budget with the extra cost coming from reserves. See Jerry’s note below.
Note from Jerry: The B & G committee had budgeted about $600 this year to remove the black mold from around the front columns at the church. This would include power washing and resealing them. Unfortunately, the contractors they have contacted have concluded that power washing will not remove the mold and the columns as well as the wood ceiling under the front porch will also need to be sanded and resealed. The quote they have received is $4,600 or $4,000 more than they had budgeted. They have requested that the committee be approved to overspend their budget by $4,000 to get the project done as soon as the contractor is available which is in about 4 weeks. I told Bart to go ahead and schedule to work to be done and if the overage is not recommended by F&A and approved by the Session he can cancel before the work is done.
He asked if there were any questions. The motion passed unanimously.
He also called session’s attention to the updated wish list, and indicated that people should look at the wish list and update it as needed.
Membership
Paul Harrell indicated the Membership Committee has two motions, the first
To welcome Maggie Ford and Diane Lys and Neil Morrison and their children Ian and Eva into the life of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church
The Morrison’s will all be joining by transfer of letter. Maggie will be baptized on May 12. There were no questions and the motion passed unanimously.
The second motion from Membership:
At his request, remove August Raymond from the rolls of Chapel in the Pines
Again with no questions, the motion passed unanimously.
Communication and Technology
Pat offered the following motion
to approve the replacement of signs marking the two family restrooms to clarify that they are in fact family restrooms.
The rationale behind the motion is that CitP has 2 bathrooms that meet the designation of “family restroom”. While it is not a legal requirement that they be labeled as such it clarifies their function to those who would benefit from them. Our committee feels that this simple sign change is consistent with our commitment to be a welcoming church. If approved by session the signs will be donated so their purchase will have no budgetary impact.
If the session approves it, the signs will be donated.
After several questions, the motion passed with one dissenting vote, Karen Atkins.
Pat suggested that many in the congregation do not know how to get things “done.” Andrew asked if Communications and Technology can work on how to getting the message out about how to get things done.
Christian Education
Paul Isom indicated that it is the desire of his committee to expand children’s programming and determine what the younger families, especially those who have recently joined the church want from the church. As Andrew indicated Christian Education wants to:
To budget $200 for a picnic and discussion on May 19th at the church to determine the needs of those younger families and how the church might meet those needs
Andrew indicated they didn’t want it to be a pot luck. There were several questions, but the motion passed unanimously.
Paul then indicated that his committee had the following request for Finance and Administration to consider
Request from CE to F&A
To improve the programming for children, Christian Education would like Finance to approve $1150 for summer Godly Play and nursery
- $500 for Godly Play kits to expand the story collection
- $650 for nursery (add hour x 2 workers @$25/hour for 13 weeks from June to August, previous budget only had nursery for the worship hour)
Christian Education would like to have a motion from Finance and Administration that can go to the session by email vote the first week in May so the supplies can be ordered in time.
Karen asked how much the staff and Paul Isom like Godly Play, there is an impression all around that staff and children all love Godly Play. Andrew said that part of the whole issue does children’s Sunday school make sense.
Marcia indicated that if F&A can send her a motion, she can get it out for an email vote. F&A agreed to consider the request.
Mission and Service
Maggie indicated their committee was considering adding 2 new subcommittees – Hunger Action and Earth Care. After her committee fleshes this out a little more, she will being motions to session to create the two subcommittees
New Business
Ed Park has agreed to serve as CitP’s representative to the next Presbytery meeting on May 14 at Taylorsville Presbyterian Church. Andrew asked session to vote on the following motion
To elect Ed Park as the representative from Chapel in the Pines to the May 14, 2019 Salem Presbytery meeting at Taylorsville Presbyterian Church in Taylorsville, NC.
The motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business, Andrew closed the meeting in prayer at 9:05 PM.
Lord’s Supper, Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals
Since the last stated meeting on March 18th, the Lord’s Supper was performed on April 7, April 18, 20 and 21. There were no baptisms, new members, weddings or funerals.
Respectfully submitted
Marcia Ladd, Clerk
Approved session May 20, 2019