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NewSong Board of Elders

Minutes of November 12, 2006 Meeting

The NewSong Board of Elders met on Sunday afternoon, November 12, 2006 from 4:00 to 5:00pm at the Church office. Elders present included: Steve Jackson, Brian Brown and Curt Sloyer. Elder Brent Orr was ill and unable to attend the meeting.

After Pastor Steve opened the meeting with prayer the following was discussed:

Pastor’s Report

October at NewSong was a month of great strides and renewed passion for God’s work. We published a ministry booklet that included three major components: a place to sign up for various ministries, a place to make or renew your membership covenant, and a place to turn in an estimate of giving for 2007. In the end we signed up people for over 285 ministry positions including several key positions such as the Fellowship (Ellingtons) and Caring Ministries (Linda Blanchard) leaders. We also received estimates of giving totaling $246,253 (94%) of our 2007 budget of $262,500. Finally, we also added a few new families to our membership through the campaign bringing our total membership to 198 people (see below).

Our sermon series for October was “Sharpening Our Focus: Snapshots of the Church” where we looked at biblical “pictures” of the church and talked about the ways we can learn from these images. Other events in October included our annual congregational meeting (Oct. 15) where we approved our 2007 operating budget and a great fellowship event at the Sawnee Mountain Preserve (Oct. 29). All of our Sunday School classes and our Sunday Night Fellowship retained strong attendance patterns through the month as well. All in all it was a solid month for the family at NewSong.

Average YTD attendance through October dropped by one person from the previous month to 142. We had a low attendance Sunday on the 22^nd of 119 and a high Sunday of 146 on the 29th.

Current membership statistics as of the end of October were 54 member families, 95 full members, 75 preparatory members and 28 constituent members for a total of 198. We did not lose any members during the month.

Financially speaking, October was a five-Sunday month which always inflates our monthly revenues a bit. Revenues for the month were $26,627 and expenses were $19,494 meaning revenues exceeded expenses by $7,133 for the month. Year-to-date figures through Oct. 31 were revenues of $212,997 and expenses of $213,969 for a YTD shortfall of $972. Our Fidelity account balance at the end of October stands at $14,162. We have still not had to dip into that account this year to cover current expenses.

The meeting continued with a discussion of the following old and new business items.

Old Business:

• We mailed the lease extension for our space at Central Plaza to our landlord and have received our copy back in the mail. We are “good to go” through Oct. 31, 2009 if we choose to remain at this location.
• We discussed our Children’s Director position. Pastor Steve reported a conversation he had with Rhonda Sloyer where she has agreed to take the fellowship aspect of the children’s ministry which means most elements of that ministry are now covered by volunteer leaders. Since we have been unable to find an overall director for the ministry we decided to proceed under the impression that God wants us to handle this ministry with volunteer leaders for the time being. We are not closing the door to hiring a children’s director however.

New Business:

• Our Yellow Pages Ad renewal for 2007 is coming up. This year our monthly rate is increasing to $170 a month (up $10 a month) but the Cumming/Dawsonville directory is combining with the Roswell/Alpharetta directory so the circulation of the publication is being increased from 90,000 phone books to 444,000 books. We agreed to renew the ad with whatever changes are needed.
• The Elder Nominations closed on Friday, Nov. 10^th. Pastor Steve reported the total list of names received was seventeen persons. The Elders reviewed the list and could find no reason to disqualify any of the names submitted. Pastor Steve will contact the Elder nominees to see how many of the seventeen are willing to serve if elected. The list will be published by Tuesday, Nov. 14 and posted online along with a photo and some information about each candidate. Elections will be held on Sunday, December 10 by written ballot with the top three Elders being elected.
• Pastor Steve will share portions of this report tonight (Nov. 12) in the congregational meeting to be held at 7pm

There being no further business before the board, the meeting adjourned after prayer.

The next meeting of the Board of Elders is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, December 10^th at 5pm.