NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of March 11, 2006 Meeting

 

The NewSong Board of Elders met Saturday, March 11, 2006 from 9:00 am to 10:30 a.m. at the Church office. Elders present were Dave Allen, Steve Jackson, Brent Orr, and Brian Brown. Curt Sloyer was absent.

 

Brian delivered a devotional by posing two, related questions. First, what authority do we have in our decision making? Are we supposed to ask God everything, or are we supposed to rely on our own intuition and ability to think (or some combination thereof). The second question Brian posed was does God ever get quiet (as he did between the testaments) and what should our reaction be when He is quiet? We discussed these questions at length and the discussion flowed into NewSong and our future as a church. The Elders agreed that we are a “family reunion” type church and, further, that we need to emphasize “making disciples” more (the Great Commission). No big decisions were made as a result of this discussion, but it was certainly a healthy and thought-provoking time of reflection.

 

The meeting included the following discussions:

 

Pastor’s Report

Pastor Steve reported that February at NewSong was a pretty good one. Activities during the month included an outreach at The Place serving the noon meal on Feb. 22nd. Prayer night was held every Friday night. Our preaching series during the month was on love, with our key teaching of the month that Christianity is the embodiment of God’s love.

 

Average attendance for the year dropped from 160 at the beginning of the month to 157 at the end of February. Pastor Steve tried to encourage the congregation to hit an attendance of 175 in the month, but our highest attended Sunday was 166 (the lowest 141).

 

Current membership statistics are 54 member families, 94 full (adult) members, 78 preparatory members and 28 constituent members for a total of 210 people. No one joined in the month of February nor did we lose or remove any families.

 

Financially speaking, our revenues for the month of February were $18,127 and expenses and benevolences were $22,149 for a “loss” of $4,022. Our year-to-date figures show revenues of $39,842 and expenses and benevolences of $44,666 for a “loss” of $4,824. The balance of our Fidelity account (Capital Reserve account) at the end of February stands at $13,712.

 

Old Business


Old business included a discussion of facilities. Our current lease expires in October, 2006. We have the option to renew for three more years at the current 2% per annum rent increases. We are supposed to let the landlord know if we want to renew the lease by 90 days from the renewal date. The consensus among the Elders remains that we feel a move is our best option in order to get our own facility. Our search for land/facilities thus far has been unfruitful. Pastor Steve reported that it is his understanding that the former Southside Church is disbanding and the facility they had leased and built-out on Settingdown Road may be, or become, available. Brian said he would check into this.

 

A second old business topic was a discussion of our church’s tithe plan. We continue to give away 10% of our offerings each week. We have agreed to split this tithe 50% to The Place, 25% to El Salvador, and 25% to Ghana. Assuming our revenues are at least equal to last year that would mean $12,250 would go to The Place and $6,125 each to El Salvador and Ghana. We already gave Ghana $2,000 since Pastor Yaw was headed over there and could personally take the money and see it got in the right hands, exchanged at the best rate, etc… We hope to have the entire $6,125 for El Salvador in time for the mission team to take it with them in late June. Mandy will be tracking our tithes and making sure they are distributed properly.

 

New Business

 

Steve said that Jason Lee informed him that he and Rachael are most likely relocating to Brunswick, GA this summer and thus he will be resigning from his Director of Student Ministries position at that time. Jason said he would work as long as we needed him on into the summer. The Elders agreed that we would like him to stay through the Student Life Retreat for the youth (July 3-7). Jason agreed to this. His last payday will be July 15. We also agreed to not announce his leaving until May at the earliest, for the youth’s sake.

 

We moved our next meeting from the second Saturday in April to the first Saturday (April 1st) due to calendar conflicts among the Elders and due to Spring Break week.

 

After exhorting one another to pray for the church and for God’s vision for us, and after praying for all our people who are in need of special prayer at the present time, the meeting adjourned at approximately 10:30.

 

Elder of the month for April is David Allen

 

Our next meeting will be Saturday, April 1st at 9am at the church.