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NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of August 10, 2008 Meeting

 

The regular monthly meeting of the NewSong Community Church Board of Elders was held on Sunday, August 10, 2008, at 4:00pm at the church. Present were Steve Jackson, Jerry Cauley, Vicki Eitel, Linda Blanchard, and Brian Brown.

 

Steve called the meeting to order and gave the opening prayer, with emphasis on those in our congregation who are having medical problems at this time.

 

The pastor’s report was approved as read, no further discussion was needed. Attendance, membership and financial data in the report include:

Our YTD average worship attendance for the year stands at 151. Our attendance for the four Sundays of July was: 131, 135, 144, and 140. These figures are lower than our YTD average most likely because of people being on vacation, etc… in the summer.

 

Current membership statistics as of the end of July are: 61 member families, 107 full members, 47 preparatory members and 103 constituent members for a total of 257.

 

Financially speaking our revenues for the July were $20,303 and our expenses were $19,867 for a net gain for the month of $436. Our YTD figures (though 07/31/08), are revenues of $193,912 and expenses of $173,919 for an YTD net income of $19,973. As of 07/31/08 the balance in our operating account was $44,150, the balance in our Fidelity (Savings) account was $31,731, and the balance in the building fund was $50,000.

 

Old Business

  1. Senior Pastor Employment Agreement: Discussion was held and a vote taken to approve the Senior Pastor Employment Agreement. The vote was unanimous to approve, all Elders signed, dated, and approved the document.
  2. Building Fund: A Building Fund has been established at Regions Bank in the form of a Business Money Market paying a variable rate, currently at 3.5%. The goal is to have a stewardship campaign for six weeks from Oct. 12 to Nov. 16. We also decided to put 10% of our weekly offerings in our Fidelity account to be eventually transferred to the Building Fund. That means each week we will give away 10% of our offerings to others and put away 10% for our church relocation project, leaving 80% of our offerings for us to operate on.
  3. Elder Nominations: As of our meeting time, Catherine Bennett and Jim Garrett have been nominated and agreed to serve should they be elected. Nominations close on Aug. 14th.

 

New Business

  1. 2009 Operating Budget: Steve went over a 2009 proposed operating budget explaining a few changes from last year’s budget and discussing how each the budget was reached. Steve asked the Elders to decide on the staff salaries and the final budget without him being present.  
  2. NewSong Leadership: The Elders looked at a list of new and returning leaders for 2009 and Steve pointed out key leadership needs we have including: Discipleship coordinator, Caring coordinator, Sunday morning refreshments leader, Small Groups coordinator, visitor follow-up leader, and nursery coordinator. All Elders agreed to make these needs an area of special prayer.
  3. Ministry Booklet: The 2008-09 Ministry Booklet was reviewed with slight changes or updates made. The booklet will be printed on Aug. 14th and distributed on Aug. 17, 24, and 31st.
  4. Worship Leader 90-day evaluation: Jordan Crossland’s 90 day evaluation period is up on September 15th. The Elders will discuss this at our next meeting.
  5. Second Service: Our early service attendance is still very low, but it is taking pressure off the late service which is growing and needs more room. We consider it a praise that we made it through the summer with both services and Sunday School continuing.

 

Other Business

  1. At this time, Steve dismissed himself for a 5:00pm Building Team Meeting.  The remaining Elders continued their discussion of the budget, particularly staff raises and other items. The final budget approved by the Elders was a budget of $318,000. This will be voted on by the congregation at our annual business meeting on September 21st.
  2. The Elders also decided that we would like to implement annual performance reviews for our staff by October 31st each year. Pastor Steve will be asked to do Mandy’s review and the Elders will work with Steve to review Justin. We will wait to do McKenzi and Jordan until next year (2009).

 

Jerry Cauley will be the Elder of the Month in September.

 

The Board’s next meeting will be held on Sunday, September 14th 4 P.M.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Jerry Cauley

Secretary