NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of August 5, 2006 Meeting

 

The NewSong Board of Elders met on Saturday morning, August 5, 2006 from 8:00am to 10:15am at Brian Brown’s home. Elders present included Brian Brown, Steve Jackson, Brent Orr, and Curt Sloyer. Dave Allen is on sabbatical.

 

NOTE – Between the July and August meetings an “E-Meeting” was held in which it was agreed we should renew our lease at Central Plaza. This decision had to be conveyed to the building owner on or before August 1 in order to not lose our right to renew. The Elders were unanimous that we are not in a position to move at the present time. The terms of the renewal period of the lease state that we can end the lease without penalty if we give 120 days notice.

 

The meeting included the following discussions:

 

Pastor Steve opened the meeting with his report on the state of the church. He reported things are going well as we enter the fall season. This summer was a good season of ministry. We had low attendance but our offerings were strong enough that we did not had to dip into savings through the summer months as we did last year. The El Salvador and Ghana missions were ultra-successful. Steve said he feels very good about our decision to remain at Central Plaza. Steve is also very encouraged by the start Drew Grubbs and Youth Outreach United has made with our youth. Steve also reported the results of the recent survey of the leadership he did concerning programming and activities. In general what people said they would support were those activities the people were already involved in (e.g. Sunday School, Mid-Week, etc…).

 

Steve also said there is growing support for us to go to an “all Sunday” schedule with activities on Sunday nights from 6 to 7:30. This seems to make more sense for most families and it would also facilitate having “something for everyone” all at one time.  The Elders are in agreement that if this works best for the congregation we should do it. The Elders also feel like if meals would help we should add these, at least once a month, and that we should cater them and have a suggested donation to cover the cost.

 

Steve said it appears Sunday School and most other ongoing activities will resume on the Sunday after Labor Day (Sept. 10). Steve would like to see Sunday School for all ages. He will talk to Drew about the youth class and he’ll talk to the children’s teachers to see if they are willing to return. Steve would also like to see a new adult class start. The Eitels’ class is starting a book on marriage so it would be good to have an additional Sunday school offering for adults.

 

Prayer nights will also continue after Labor Day, with the same families probably meeting (according to the survey results). Steve suggested that perhaps we could get more people to participate in corporate prayer by having occasional “less threatening” prayer nights.

 

As for the in-home meetings discussed at last month’s meeting, Steve said he wanted to start with general meetings held at the church to better communicate things to the broader congregation. These will be times of information sharing, and discovery. Steve would like to hold the first of these meetings on August 20th and he would like the Elders to attend and participate if possible. The Elders approved the idea.

 

Steve also brought up the idea of the Elders doing a better job of delegating their responsibilities, beginning with the offering counters. After a discussion of the pros and cons of doing this, the group agreed it was fine to do so. Brent Orr will work on inviting people to help out, some basic training will be held, and the Elders will have one less “administrative” responsibility allowing more focus on spiritual oversight of the flock.

 

The biggest challenge facing the congregation in Steve’s estimation is the lack of a Director of Children’s Ministry. We need to all make this a prayer focus. Steve is also going to talk to Drew Grubbs to see if he knows of anyone who might be qualified and available to lead this area for us.

 

Other areas of concern include something for the children at mid-week or on Sunday nights (assuming the shift). There is also concern that we are not offering anything for our 4th and 5th graders. Steve will ask the Junior Worship leaders if they are willing to allow the 4th and 5th graders to join them for Junior Worship.

 

Brent Orr then presented more work on the 2006 budget. Brent has fine tuned the numbers and expects we’ll have a preliminary copy to present to the church at the church meeting scheduled for August 20th. We also hope to be able to present the 2006 and 2007 budget for approval at the annual church meeting in October.

 

Steve then gave an update to the Elders about Dave and Sandra Allen’s sabbatical. Steve has talked with them and we are in agreement we will see how things are going after Labor Day to see if they will return.  

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:15am. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 16th at a time and place to be determined later.