NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of September 16, 2006 Meeting

 

The NewSong Board of Elders met on Saturday morning, September 16, 2006 from 8:00am to 10:07am at the home of Steve and Donna Jackson. Elders present included Brian Brown, Steve Jackson, Brent Orr, and Curt Sloyer. Dave Allen is now back from his sabbatical, but was unable to attend.

 

The meeting included the following discussions:

 

Brent Orr opened the meeting with prayer and a devotional from 1 Cor. 3:6 about the seed of God’s word and how it grows.

 

Pastor Steve then gave his report on the state of the church through the end of August. Steve said August was a good month at NewSong. During the month we were able to send the final installment to Ghana for the Yama Project. All totaled we sent $15,000 to them to build a clinic and church at Yama. We also sent the final $2,000 for a roof on the church at Nabari, completing the building of that church which we started last year. On Sat, Aug. 12th our men’s group gathered at the home of Bill Hoover for breakfast with him. On the 23rd we served a meal at The Place. Our youth traveled to Six Flags and attended a back to school event at Forsyth Central. On the 20th we had a church-wide meeting at NewSong that was well attended (23 member families were represented). At that meeting Steve emphasized the “one thing needed” using the story of Mary and Martha as his text (Luke 10:38-42). He described our current reality at NewSong including membership statistics and our financial condition (reporting a $12,739 YTD deficit at that point). He reviewed our core strategic process of the five purposes which will should lead to numerical growth, spiritual growth, ministries expansion, and missions advance. Steve also pointed out what constitutes a “win” for us, summing it up in one word: relationships. Steve stressed that we need to concentrate on four key relationships: Our relationship with God, with one another here at church, with other churches (as a church) and with non-believers. Steve concluded by giving those gathered four things they needed to know: That we are going to Sunday night for our mid-week activity, that we have decided to renew our lease and to stay at Central Plaza, that we have partnered with Youth Outreach to run our youth program, and that we are continuing to look for a children’s director.

 

We have now passed Labor Day and kicked off most of our fall programs. We have restarted Sunday School for all ages. We have also launched what we are calling “Sunday Night Fellowship” (SNF) which involves a meal at 5:30pm followed by activities for all ages. We got off to a good start the first week (Sept. 10) with these two programs with high attendance in Sunday School (60) and with good attendance at SNF (approx. 60 including youth). We have also started a second adult Sunday School class taught by Pastor Steve. This class will be discussing the book “The Great Omission” by Dallas Willard.

 

Attendance, Membership and Financial Report

Attendance, membership and financially speaking, here is where we stand as of the end of August. Our average YTD attendance through the end of August dropped by one person from the previous month to 146. It appears our visitor flow has increased however. Current membership statistics as of the end of August were 53 member families, 91 full (adult) members, 76 preparatory members and 28 constituent members for a total of 197 people. We had two people to join the church in August: Brenda Marquardt and Thomas Porter. We lost no families in August. Financially speaking, our revenues for the month of August were $18,415 and expenses were $20,861 for a monthly “loss” of $2,226. The year-to-date figures as of Aug. 31 were revenues of $165,695 and expenses of $174,201 for a total YTD loss of $8,506. Our Fidelity account balance at the end of August stands at $14,045. We have not had to dip into that account so far this year to cover current expenses.

 

Old Business:

  • The first item of discussion was the need to find a Director of Children’s Ministry or come up with an alternative plan. The Elders discussed two possibilities. The first is to increase the salary for the position in hopes of finding someone from outside the church to fill the position. The other alternative discussed was to reduce the requirements of the position (no staff meetings, less reporting, etc…) in hopes a member of the church would volunteer for the position. It could be that some of our existing members are not taking the position because they fear the demands of the job as a paid position but they might be interested in it as a volunteer position. The Elders empowered Steve to proceed with discussing it both ways at the church-wide meeting of Sept. 17
  • The second and most lengthy item of discussion was our 2007 budget approved which the Elders needed to get prepared and approved before our annual business meeting scheduled for Oct. 15th. Our bylaws call for the Elders to develop and approve the budget and for the congregation to ratify it by a vote each year. After a lengthy discussion the Elders approved a balanced budget of $262,500 for fiscal year 2007. This budget will be circulated among the congregation and put on our website well in advance of the vote on Oct. 15.
  • One other old business item discussed was the offering counter and building lock-up schedules. Brent Orr will get a list of names to Steve for the counter schedule and Curt Sloyer will assist Steve in getting the building lock-up covered.

 

New Business:

  • A discussion was held concerning whether or not to expand the Board of Elders since September is when that process is supposed to start according to our bylaws. The consensus was we don’t need any more Elders but we should consider clarifying the role and function of the Elders and the possibility of adding another body – Deacons – to handle more of the day-to-day serving to allow the Elders to spend more time handling spiritual matters (versus the physical and administrative needs of the church). It was agreed after this discussion that Steve would work up a job description of a Deacon and the Elders would all pray about coming up with a list of names of possible Deacons at NewSong and we would then revisit the topic at a later date. The list of potential Deacons will be sent by each Elder to Pastor Steve via email.
  • Next Steve confirmed that Sandra is not returning in her paid staff role as Director of Worship. We agreed to continue “as is” with volunteer leadership in worship until further notice. Dave Allen will be returning in his role as an Elder effective immediately.
  • The final order of new business was Pastor Steve reported that at the September church-wide on Sept. 17 he will be mentioning the following:

o       He will explain the two options about the Director of Children’s Ministry position (increased pay or reduced responsibilities).

o       Announce a ministry sign-up event happening the last week of September. Members can then change jobs, get new schedules, etc…

o       Announce the Annual Business Meeting for NewSong scheduled for Sunday night Oct. 15th at 7pm. At that meeting we will approve our 2007 budget and confirm everyone in their new positions.

o       Announce a fellowship event scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 29th, a church-wide picnic at the Sawnee Mountain Preserve immediately following church that day.

o       Announce the launch of a relationship-building supper club at NewSong called F.E.A.S.T. (Fellowship, Eating, and Social Time).

o       Steve will also go over his priorities and vision for NewSong in 2006-07: We will be teaching, preaching, praying, and emphasizing these three priorities this year.

§         Relationships (mentoring, team ministry)

§         Spiritual Formation (disciplines, Bible Study, prayer)

§         Missional Focus (outward focus—lifestyle evangelism)

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:15am. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 14th at a time and place to be determined later.