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NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of May 20, 2007 Meeting

The NewSong Board of Elders met on Sunday afternoon, May 20, 2007 from 4:00 to 5:45pm at the Church. Elders present included: Brian Brown, Jerry Cauley, Vicki Eitel, and Steve Jackson. Brent Orr, Curt Sloyer and Ed Densmore were not present.

Pastor Steve began the meeting by reading Luke 12:35-40 which is about being always being “ready and dressed for action.” Steve then gave his pastor’s report. The following is a recap of that report:

April at NewSong was another good month in my estimation. We celebrated our Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday and marked our seventh anniversary as a church. Other activities during the month included Palm Sunday and Good Friday services, and two services and a pancake breakfast on Easter Sunday morning. On the evening of 15^th David Eitel did a presentation on his archaeological trip to Egypt. The women of NewSong started a new study every Tuesday night beginning April 17 called “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.” Approximately 8-10 women are involved in this study. On the 21^st our men had their monthly breakfast. Also on the 21^st we had an outreach project into our local community where 13 members worked serving others by doing yard work, and minor home repairs. On the last Sunday of the month we held a “Barbecue and Bluegrass” event on Lake Lanier where over 100 from our church celebrated our seven years in ministry. We also began a preaching series titled, “Empty Tomb Postscript.”

Other Items

Average YTD worship attendance at the end of April grew by three people to 144 mainly on the strength of our Easter services. Attendance for the five Sundays was 151, 202 (Easter, 2 services), 125, 131, and 154.

Current membership statistics as of the end of April reflect the gain of one family, Jim and Donna Garrett who joined on April 1^st. As of the end of April we had 60 member families, 105 full members, 78 preparatory members and 37 constituent members for a total of 220.

Financially speaking, April was another excellent month. Revenues for the month were $24,708 and expenses were $20,026 with revenues exceeding expenses by $4,682 for the month. Our YTD numbers are revenues of $90,038 and expenses of $78,341 with revenues exceeding expenses by $11,697. As for tithing our offerings, we continue to keep this at 10% of our offerings. The balance in our Fidelity reserve account at the end of April stands at $36,791.

Coming Up:

I concluded my preaching series entitled “Empty Tomb Postscript” on May 20^th. Pentecost arrives on May 27, which I will follow up with a few “stand-alone” messages. Jerry Cauley is preaching for me on June 10^th. We will honor our Fathers on Fathers Day, June 17.

Sunday School will run through June 10^th then break for the summer.

Our Children will attend summer camp at Camp Woodlands in Temple, GA on June 10-13 for rising 3^rd and 4^th graders and on June 3-8 for rising 5^th and 6^th graders. We will also hold VBS from July 23-26 here at NewSong with a western theme this year called “Avalanche Ranch.”

Our youth will continue meeting on Sunday nights and will be going on a “Big Stuff” retreat in Panama City Beach, Florida from June 17 to 21^st. I held a meeting with Drew and Kevin last week to discuss the overall thrust of the youth ministry. I feel pretty good about the youth group after that meeting.

Our El Salvador team will be going to Las Delicias on June 17-24 with 7 people going: Brian and Michael Brown, Amy and Leigh Jackson, Tiffany Fisher, Adam Crawford, and Nathan Green.

Our Fellowship Ministry has some summer plans in the works, but June promises to be a busy month for everyone with vacations, etc… coming up.

2007-08 Church Year – I have already begun doing some planning for the upcoming church year, which seems to mirror the academic year in terms of activity levels. The program year begins again in August, with new ministry positions, etc… starting in October. I will be trying to hold meetings between June 15 and July 15 to get with all our ministry leaders, do some scheduling of dates and activities, etc…

Following the pastor’s report the following old business items were discussed:

Worship Decorum – We again talked about the fact that we have a few folks (mainly children) who get up and down during worship, getting food from the table in back, and going to the rest room, all of which can be distracting. It was discussed that perhaps we need to do some training about how to behave in worship that would be taught in Junior Worship. We will continue to pray about this.

Missions Update: Our El Salvador team will be doing a fund raiser (car wash) to help with their trip. Several ads have been placed and we are getting some responses from the community.

Following the old business report the following New Business items were discussed:

Board of Elders: Curt Sloyer has told Pastor Steve that he feels it is time for him to step down from the Board of Elders. Steve relayed this to the Board and after discussing it the Board of Elders agreed to accept Curt’s resignation and to commend him for all his hard work on the Board. Since this leaves the Board below the minimum of seven members as called for in our bylaws it was decided we would hold an election as soon as possible to elect a new Elder. Pastor Steve will write a letter announcing this to the membership of the church (60 families).

Funds Request: Brian Brown requested that we reimburse John Krauss for any expenses he may have personally incurred as a result of the Men’s Retreat held earlier this month (May 5-6). Brian also requested that we give a gift certificate to our guest speaker for that retreat. This was approved. Brian also asked if we could purchase a gift certificate for Doug Davis to thank him for his hard work with the barbeque for our barbeque and bluegrass picnic. This was also approved.

Church Location Idea: Pastor Steve told the Board that he received a call earlier in the week from the pastor of another church, Grace Fellowship of South Forsyth in South Forsyth County. Their pastor wanted to talk to Steve about the advantages and disadvantages of meeting in a storefront church as they are considering a move to such a location. They discussed this for a while and then the other pastor asked Steve about our future plans. He wanted to know because Grace Fellowship’s old location would be available. It is double our present space for only about $2000 more a month than we presently pay in rent. The downside is the location, which is south of where we want to be. After discussing this we agreed that we really aren’t most likely aren’t interested in making another “lateral move” to leased space, and especially to a warehouse facility that is not in the area where we feel we’re headed (central Forsyth County to South Dawson County). But nonetheless, the Board agreed it wouldn’t hurt for Steve to go and take a look at their space. Steve will contact the pastor in question and go see their space.

Leadership: The above discussion led to a general discussion about how we are visioning and looking ahead. Do we want to move? If so, do we need to begin with a second service? If so, when should it start? Steve said he ponders these kinds of questions frequently but believes these are issues we should be praying about and deciding as a Board rather than him simply coming in and announcing what he (Steve) wants to do, or what he feels God calling us to do. Steve asked the Elders if they would try to assume more of a leadership role alongside him in the church in this regard. The model of leadership we are trying to attain is a “plurality of godly leaders” but Steve believes we’re still too reliant on him for vision, direction, and planning. Steve suggested the Elders might pray about this and come to the Board meetings with ideas and thoughts which we could work through together. We all agreed that God can speak to us all, and not just to the Pastor. We also agreed we need to transition to this model, especially in looking ahead to a succession plan for Steve in the future. In light of this it was suggested that perhaps the Elders should get together on a regular basis for a few weeks this summer to prayerfully seek God’s will for the church, and to spiritually bond together. Vicki Eitel suggested the “Experiencing God” study as a possible tool for us to use to facilitate seeking God’s will together. Steve will pray about this, look over the suggested study, and report back to the Board.

Prayer: After our discussion of new business items was finished the Elders time of prayer for each other, for all the needs and ideas expressed at the meeting, and for the general needs of the church including the sick, the grieving, and the hurting among us.

Elder of the Month – Our Elder of the Month schedule needs to be updated due to the loss of Curt Sloyer. Here is our revised schedule:

June – Jerry Cauley

July – Brian Brown

August – Ed Densmore

September – Vicki Eitel

October – Brent Orr

November – Jerry Cauley

December – Brian Brown

Next Meeting Date – our next meeting date is set for Sunday, June 24^th at 4pm at the church (meeting changed from our normal date due to Father’s Day).

The meeting was adjourned at 5:45pm