FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH AND ST. JOHN/ST. PAUL EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH COMBINING COMMITTEE MINUTES FOR MEETING HELD ON MAY 6, 2015
Attendees: Pastor Jean Hansen, Pastor Rick Gordon, John Reyes, Bill Robinson, Dave Six, and Rich Yori. Meeting Opened at 6:35 p.m. with prayer by Pastor Rick Gordon. The meeting proceeded with introductions by each of the attendees. The agenda prepared by Mark Watkins, who was excused from attendance due to commitments in Los Angeles, California, was utilized by the parties. Pursuant to the agenda and based upon discussions at the previous meeting, Mark Watkins and John Reyes agreed to serve as chair and vice-chair, respectively. The group confirmed this arrangement. The group also agreed that a recording secretary was critical as Minutes will need to be circulated to all interested parties and both congregations as a whole. Dave Six agreed to serve as secretary. Rich Yori agreed to serve as vice-secretary. These appointments were accepted by the group. The group then began developing a list of important topics to be addressed by the Combining Committee: 
Staffing. o Pastor Jean Hansen will be retained as the Senior Pastor. o St. John/St. Paul suggests and the group tentatively agrees to suggest that Pastor Rick Gordon be retained for a period of approximately one year. Salary and benefits would have to be determined. However, the salary would be covered by funds currently in the possession of SJSP although additional giving by new members from SJSP may make this unnecessary and any reserve funds could thereafter be released for use by the combined entity. o SJSP suggests, and there have been preliminary discussions with personnel from Faith including Bob Mollard, that an Assistant Choir Director or similar position be created for Julie Lehmann. This position could include responsibilities for a hand bell choir, Assistant Choir Director, assistant organist and potentially other matters. The position could also be responsible for leading the music portion of a new interactive weekday service. o Pastor Jean suggested exploring the ability to retain the Acid Cats in some capacity assuming this group continues forward as some of its members are potentially leaving the area. (The Acid Cats’ work at SJSP is currently funded by the SJSP Endowment Fund.)
Building o The sale of the SJSP building at 282 West Bowery Street has been completed and Akron Children’s Hospital is the titled owner. SJSP has lease arrangements in place until September 1, 2015. o Akron Children’s Hospital intends to use the building for some time probably for office space which will provide extra time to remove, or potentially remove, certain fixtures. o Salvaging some portion of the stained glass windows is an important priority, particularly the center panel of the Good Shepard window. Representatives from Faith have proposed creating a panel to display this stained glass in the West Market Street lobby. It is possible that some additional stained glass may be involved in a display but further analysis and discussion will be necessary. (The cost of this is proposed to come from funds in the possession of SJSP.) o Another priority is to save the hand-carved woodwork behind the altar which contains the names of two of SJSP’s members who were killed in WWI. It was carved in memory of a member who had two sons killed during the war. Plans for salvaging this material are not completed at this time.
Archives o Bill Robinson suggested that Faith may be able to set up some dedicated space for SJSP archives in the form of photographs or the like. He further suggested that Faith’s property team headed by Judy Vernon work with SJSP’s property team headed by Sue Harman. The Combining Committee will implement this subworking group. (It has come to the attention of the Combining Committee that Ms. Vernon and Ms. Harman are in contact with each other and plan to meet.)
Name o A question has been raised as to whether there should be a change in the name of Faith Lutheran Church. The Combining Committee unanimously agreed that the name of Faith Lutheran Church should be maintained and other naming areas or the like be located within the Faith facility. It is also possible that an enlarged SJSP Endowment Fund will retain the name of SJSP as well.
Method of Combining o The group discussed the Committee’s primary mission and goals. The project goal ultimately is to combine the two congregations and to produce a document that will memorialize and delineate the details of that process. The proposed combining document will be voted on by both congregations on the same date.
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o Communications with both congregations will be very important. It will also be important to solicit feedback. Some of the methods used to communicate with and request feedback from the congregations will include:
Minutes of the Meetings of the Combining Committee will be circulated and placed on each congregation’s website.
Comments will be solicited via email.
Attempts will be made in each congregation to have Combining Committee members available to answer questions each Sunday.
It was the unanimous consensus of the Combining Committee that this process will be viewed as a “combining” of the two congregations rather than a technical “merger” or the like.
Legal Approach to Combining. o It is the consensus of the Combining Committee that the two existing corporations not be formally merged. Rather, for a variety of legal reasons, SJSP as a legal entity will be maintained until all of the necessary activities to wind it down are completed. In the interim, assuming the resolutions referenced above are passed, SJSP members will transfer their membership to Faith Lutheran Church with several important exceptions. Specifically, the current members of the SJSP Church Council and the SJSP Endowment Board will remain members of SJSP and the Endowment Board, respectively, for the necessary time to complete the legal winding down process. o This approach avoids any unnecessary exposure of Faith Lutheran Church to any legal liabilities and allows the SJSP Endowment Fund to handle changes in the Endowment Fund’s tax and corporate structure required by the IRS and other requirements.
The SJSP Endowment Fund and its current mission was reviewed. Plans that are currently under discussion at SJSP to expand the mission of the Endowment Fund including the important need to have Faith Lutheran Church become the new “member” (“shareholder”) in the SJSP Endowment Fund. This will allow the combined congregation to use the Fund actively and hopefully for effective outreach ministries. It would also hopefully allow the enhanced Endowment Fund to support many ELCA entities such as Pastoral Counseling Service, the St. Luke’s Lutheran Community, Lutheran World Relief, etc.
The Combining Committee agreed to create the following working groups that will report to the Combining Committee: o Financial/Legal/Staffing. o Lay Leadership/Membership/Fellowship/Worship. 3
o Property/Physical Facilities. o Communications will be the function of the Combining Committee as a whole. The Combining Committee will approve any necessary members to be added to serve on the subgroups listed above. The next meeting of the Combining Committee will be May 13, 2015 at St. John/St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church at 6:30 p.m. THIS WIL BE A FULL MEETING WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE COMBINING COMMITTEE ATTENDING. The Combining Committee at the May 13, 2015 meeting is to decide whether to reschedule the May 20, 2015 Combining Committee meeting as it will conflict with Pastor Carolyn Wagar Hier’s presentation at SJSP on dealing with loss. The meeting concluded at 8:00 p.m. with a closing prayer from Pastor Hansen. Respectfully submitted,
David Six Recording Secretary AK3:1196937_v1
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