February 19, 2018 Stated Session Meeting
Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church
Stated Session Meeting February 19, 2018
Attending: Ruling Elders Karen Atkins, Monty Brekke, Stan Campbell, Lynne Hoerter, Paul Isom, John McDowell, Terry Rudolph, Al Schalk, Barbara Strange, Jerry Wehmueller (Treasurer), Marcia Ladd (Clerk), Teaching Elder Rev. Andrew Taylor-Troutman (Moderator)
The meeting was called to order by Andrew at 7 PM. John McDowell delivered the devotion, ending in a prayer. Pastoral concerns and celebrations were shared.
Approval of agenda and consent agenda
Monty made a motion to approve the consent agenda and agenda. The motion was seconded and was approved unanimously. The consent agenda includes the following:
Consent Agenda
- Approval of Session minutes – Stated meeting 1/15/18, Email vote 2/5/18
- Approval of Committee minutes – Building and Grounds 10/3/17, 1/8/18 and 2/6/18; Membership 2/6/18; Worship 2/4/18; Finance and Administration 2/18/18
- Approval of Deacon minutes 2/5/18
- Approval of Congregational Meeting 2/18/18
- Approval of wedding policy
- Correspondence – IFC Request for Hunger Walk Sponsorship; Thanks you from CEDEPCA, Chatham Literacy and Presbyterian Disaster Relief; One Great Hour of Sharing Offering, Orange County Department on Aging Breakfast
Pastor’s Report Andrew has been getting to know and begin working with the staff. In Worship they are doing the announcements first so Rob’s Prelude is heard. He talked about his vision for staffing at CitP, he sees Joelle’s job description changing to Director of Children’s Ministries. He sees that as her calling and the church’s greatest need. It is not meant to not focus on adult education, but part of the reason for the pivot is that adult education runs well with little support. John said that Joelle was very much behind this re-focusing. They are thinking to bring this back to session for formalization after Easter, probably in April. Andrew is aware that once the road is paved there will be an influx of visitors/members. He asked each committee chair to focus on this. What are we going to need and what resources do we need to meet those needs? He also wants to have a retreat May 19 9-12 noon with both outgoing and incoming Elders.
Treasurer’s Report
Jerry indicated the January numbers were off to a good start, highest giving month ever basically because some larger givers gave everything at the beginning of the year. Paying the Interim severance and Andrew’s moving expenses put our expenses high. The utility bill is higher because of the extreme cold and the addition of a second building. The balance sheet shows a good cash position which is probably at its high water mark. We have $143,000 to make the mortgage payments. The question was asked about new members being asked only for operating funds. The consensus was that this should be the case.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Christian Education
Paul Isom offered a series of motions from the Committee
to create a second nursery in the room in the education wing on the right hand side, farthest down the hall
to allocate funds for a second nursery worker on Sunday mornings, in the approximate amount of $824 through May 2018
to make the former Exploring Together classroom into a Hospitality Room with no additional costs to the church
John would like to amend the second part of the motion
to allocate funds for a second nursery worker on Sunday mornings, in the approximate amount of $824 through May 2018 and an additional $1000 through the end of the year for substitutes in the nursery.
During the Sunday school hour many of the parents of the kids attending leave to go to a coffee shop, the Hospitality Room is one effort to make it more conducive for them to stay at the church. The amended motion passed unanimously after the 2018 operating budget was voted on. There was discussion to approach different groups to volunteer in the nursery, e.g. choir members, Women’s Fellowship, etc. Andrew indicated he would follow through with that.
Paul indicated Jerry had changed the way we were compensating Joelle from hourly to salaried which gave her an effective boost in pay from $700 to $1000. The $1000 was her contracted amount. There was a consensus that continuing to increase her pay was a good idea for many reasons, not the least of which is the professionalism and expertise she brings to the job.
Finance
Stan indicated the personnel budget will be 4.6% higher in 2018, including the new pastor’s terms and a full year of the DCE. The rest of the staff will receive a 2% raise. There will also be additional paid nursery help.
The Administration budget will stay the same, Building and Grounds will add minor security monies. Mission and Service was increased by 3% to $30,000 which gets it closer to 10% of the operating budget. There will be a small increase in Worship, Education and Fellowship budgets. Membership, Communications and Church Leadership will be flat.
Stan then offered the following motion from Committee
To approve the 2018 operating budget as presented by Finance and Administration
Following some discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
Membership
Barbara indicated her committee met with Andrew to go over the folks who had not interacted with the church in some way in the past two years (attending, working on a committee, giving financially). They put together the grid found in the pre-meeting packet and followed up on each one. Those that the Committee is recommending be retained will receive a letter about Holy Week services and inviting them to attend. She offered the following motion
To remove the following people from the church rolls
Lydia Creagh and Lillie Herman,
Paul and Mary Johnson,
Hank Lewis,
Emily Raitano,
George Tietz and
Amelia Wyatt
The motion passed unanimously with minimal discussion.
Barbara told session we would be receiving new members. She indicated rather than meeting with them prior to church on March 4 when they will be received, they would be approved by session tonight and session should be intentional about meeting them during the fellowship time in the Fellowship Hall on March 4. Barbara is going back to having fellowship friends who will be intentional about assimilating the new members into the congregation. She offered the following motion
To receive into membership the following new members Becky Thomas; Erin and Andrew Riggs along with their 3 children Daisy, Bear and Stella; and Matt and Lindsay Powell along with their children Levi and Dovie
The motion passed with minimal discussion.
Worship
Terry indicated that Stan and Bob Hoerter had put together an outline of their approach to ushering and were planning two trainings from 6-7 PM on April 25 and 26. Part of the plan is to ask new members to get involved. Vince Walker has asked the Deacons about their participation in the ushering endeavor and will get back to Worship. The hope is to have a plan in place by June 1.
UNC Presbyterian Campus Ministry reached out to the church about participating in Chapel in the Pines’ Palm Sunday service. Terry offered the following motion
That PCM participate in the worship service at Chapel in the Pines on Palm Sunday 2018
Andrew will be in touch with John Rogers, Campus Minister, about their intended participation. The motion passed unanimously with minimal discussion.
Mission and Service
Monty offered an update on what the Committee is doing, including trying to establish Chapel in the Pines as a Hunger Action Church. He passed along packets about Hunger action and identifying what each committee can do to achieve this designation. He also talked about working with Church of the Reconciliation (PCUSA) in Chapel Hill in their efforts as a Sanctuary Church. Mission and Service is entirely in support of working with the Church of the Reconciliation and will be doing that as will others in the congregation. Mission and Service will probably support the movement financially. Folks from the Church of the Reconciliation will be asked to come and address the next Session meeting, maybe coming around 6:30 PM to explain the movement more fully.
Building Use Task Force
Andrew turned session’s attention to the documents developed by the Building Use Task Force. He wanted to make sure they had seen the Wedding Guidelines that were approved in the Consent Agenda. He also indicated that the checklist is to be used as a guide to clean up after building use. He offered the following motions from the Task Force
To approve procedures recommended by the Building Use Task Force.
To approve the Event Coordinator job description developed by the Building Use Task Force
After minimal discussion the motion was unanimously approved. He indicated Kelly Hunter has been designated as the Event Coordinator.
Building and Grounds
Karen told the session that Building and Grounds had worked on a direction for developing a building safety program. They also developed a “model” of what elements the program would contain to give Session an idea of where the effort is headed. Both documents are in the pre-session packet. This is a high level look and the actual Safety Task Force will put the detailed “meat” on it. Along those lines she brought the following motions from her Committee
Empower Andrew to establish a Safety Task Force with wide representation from affected committees, staff and the congregation.
After minimal discussion, the motion passed unanimously. This will take several months to put together.
New Business
Barbara indicated that the denomination has made repeated statements in favor of the Deferred Action for Early Arrivals Bill. She put together a statement for the session to endorse taken from a letter to Congress by the Stated Clerk, J. Hubert Nelson. His statement and the declaration were both in the pre-session packet. She offered the following motion
For the Session of Chapel in the Pines to adopt the Statement modified from the Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, in support of the passage of the Deferred Action for Early Arrivals
The motion was seconded by Monty. There was minimal discussion and it passed unanimously. The Clerk will distribute to local papers.
Lord’s Supper, Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals
Since the previous stated meeting on January 15, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated once on February 4th. There were no new members, baptisms, weddings or funerals at the church.
As the business of the meeting was concluded, Andrew closed with prayer at 8:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia Ladd, Clerk
Approved by Session 3/19/18
Reminders:
- Next stated session meeting March 2018, Monty Brekke has the devotion.
- Next Presbytery meeting is February 20, 2018 at Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston Salem
- Pray for our church each day at noon.