June 19, 2017 Stated Session Meeting
Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church
Stated Session Meeting June 19, 2017
Attending: Ruling Elders Karen Atkins, Paul Isom, John McDowell, Maggie Reif, Terry Rudolph, Al Schalk, Teaching Elder Rev. Lynn Stall (moderator), Jerry Wehmueller (treasurer), Marcia Ladd (clerk)
Absent: Stan Campbell, Barbara Strange
Guests: Denise Noble (intern)
The meeting was called to order by Lynn Stall at 7 PM. Jerry delivered the devotion, ending with a prayer. Pastoral concerns and celebrations were shared.
Approval of agenda and consent agenda
The consent agenda was approved by common consent. Lynne Hoerter removed the motion about the kitchen shower from the agenda because Joan Zollinger has decided to go ahead and purchase the needed kitchen items herself. The modified agenda was approved unanimously. The consent agenda contains the following items:
Consent Agenda
a. Approval of session minutes – Stated meeting 5/15/17, Email vote 6/1/17, Called meeting 6/11/17, Stated Meeting of Board of Trustees 6/27/16
b. Approval of committee minutes – Finance 5/21/17 and 6/18/17, Fellowship Hall Opening event task force 6/8/17, Worship 5/21/17, B&G 5/25/17
c. Correspondence – Thank you from Mitzi, Haiti reforestation, Presbyterian Mission
Board of Trustees
Lynn called to order the meeting of the Board of Trustees. The minutes from the June 2016 Board of Trustees meeting were approved unanimously. The Board was asked to vote on the following slate of officers for 2017 – 2018.
President Al Schalk
Vice President John McDowell
Treasurer Jerry Wehmueller
Secretary Marcia Ladd
Lynne moved to elect the slate, it was seconded and approved unanimously. Karen moved we closed the meeting, it was seconded and unanimously approved.
Pastor’s Report
Lynn asked for a volunteer to be elder in the narthex for November 5, Lynne will do that. She also asked committee chairs to double check the committee matrix and make sure it accurately reflects their current committee composition. She suggested the church implement a Second Sunday potluck lunch and all agreed. The fellowship team for the month will be responsible for setup/hosting the lunch.
She let session know that the church would be implementing a second Sunday pot luck each month and the fellowship team for the month will be responsible for running the.
Discussion centered on what information from the insurance company’s recommendations should be included in the church’s building use application. B & G plans on working on the document. Karen is thinking her committee will amend the pending policy using some of the recommendations from the insurance company. Al raised the question of how the church charges were determined, F & A will take a look at the costs. At this point the Fellowship Hall would be the default for events, but session did not want to close off the use of the sanctuary. Any events currently scheduled for the sanctuary should be allowed to use the sanctuary.
Lynn reported that VBS was very successful and people are already beginning to talk about doing it next year. A County Commissioner, Diana Hales, will hold a forum at CitP this Sunday afternoon to discuss plans for the county’s future. The talk will be held in the sanctuary because of the sound system. Lynn would like to have refreshments after the talk. Mission and Service will do the refreshments.
Jan Rickard will be accepting donations for the "Build a Backpack" Program for the United Way again this year. Session was in favor of this.
Jan, Nathan and Sarah Graham want to do a Strobilus art exhibit the weekend after the Fellowship Hall opening event, Sept 22-24. They will organize an opening night reception on Friday and display the art around the Fellowship Hall through Sunday.
Lynn asked Denise to explain the "Godly Play" programing that CitP is anticipating using as the framework for children’s church in the fall. Denise had the opportunity to sit in on Godly Play at Duke Chapel while she was their intern. Heather Ferguson, DCE at Westminster in Durham, will give a workshop overview of the programming for Godly Play at CitP on July 30 following worship. Heather used Godly Play at UPC and Westminster. Godly Play is not a Sunday school, but a worship practice. Godly Play is based on Montessori principles. There is a message and art time included. It is a nonjudgmental space. Denise is going to put together a flyer for session and parents of children. Karen asked who would be coordinating this during the school year. In Barbara’s absence, Denise did not feel she could answer that question. Lynn would like to pursue this Programming and talk about the potential use of a consultant to coordinate it after a final decision is reached on the programming. Denise expressed her gratitude to the church and Lynn for the opportunity to work at CitP as an intern.
Committee reports
Finance
Jerry presented the May numbers, indicating the church is still operating in the black YTD. Revenues in the non-pledge offering are not running close to budget. The church, however, is well ahead of where we were this time last year in non-pledged offering. Expenses are pretty much in line. Electricity going forward may or may not be accurate, because t is not based on an actual history. Balance sheet is still strong even with the last draw having been made for the Fellowship Hall.
Jerry presented the following motion from Finance on the hearing loop
that Jerry Wehmueller be authorized to spend $1,270 from memorial gifts, $1,730 from the concert fund, and $1,730 from the environmental fund to pay the final costs for completing the hearing loop in the Fellowship Hall
Jerry provided the following clarification on the source of funds – $5,000 has already been received from a member; $1,000 has been pledged by another member toward the completion; the $4,730 taken from the three funds listed above will complete the contract’s cost of $10,730)
After minimal discussion the motion passed unanimously.
Worship
Terry brought the following motion from worship to session for consideration
the church has a safe church policy that requires children and youth to be supervised at a ratio of 10 to 1 with a minimum of 2 adults. All adults working with children will be subject to a background check.
This will replace the wording in the Operations Manual under the Education Committee Note about Childcare and be included in the Building and Use Manual for the church and Fellowship Hall.
The motion was amended to read
the church has a safe church policy that requires children and youth to be supervised at a ratio of 10 to 1 with a minimum of 1 adult and 1 high school student 16 or older. All supervisors working with children will be subject to a background check.
After minimal discussion, the motion passed unanimously. Terry also told session that Josh Ladd would be doing homebound communion for the time being and Nathan Kotecki would become the wedding coordinator. He also indicated that the Worship Committee was going to instruct all the usher teams that an usher needed to remain in the narthex during the worship service as a safety measure. Lynne is continuing to get push back from her teams for adding to their duties; she suggested that maybe the elder or deacon for the day could be the adult in the narthex during the service.
Lynne moved
that the designated elder or deacon in narthex remain there for the duration of the service as a security measure
Paul seconded the motion and it passed by unanimously. Lynn Stall will inform the deacons and this will start effective July 2.
Personnel
The Personnel Committee met today to do Lynn’s annual evaluation.
John asked session to approve the following motion extending Lynn Stall’s contract another six months
Renew Reverend Stall’s contract in the same form for 6 months, July 17 – January 17, 2018 for a total of half the annual amount specified in Reverend Stall’s initial contract with Chapel in the Pines.
Lynne called the question, the motion, it passed unanimously.
Lord’s Supper, Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals
Since the previous stated meeting May 15 the following new members were received: Naomi Lawrence by transfer of letter and Mike and Liz Woods by reaffirmation of faith. The Lord’s Supper was celebrated once on June 7th. There were no baptisms, weddings or funerals.
As the business of the meeting was concluded, Denise closed with prayer at 8:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia Ladd, Clerk
Approved session 7/17/17
Reminders:
Remember to pray for our church each day at noon.
Next stated session meeting will be July 17th, Lynne Hoerter has the devotion